The Role of the Three Gunas in the Hindu Vision of the Cosmos To tackle this question we need to look at the way in which the Gunas
are incorporated into the Hindu vision of the Cosmos. I will base a
lot of my essay on the Bhagavad-Gita.
The three gunas, exist in all beings and govern the events of the
world. They are sattva (goodness, virtue), rajas (power, passion) and
tamas (dullness, inertia). All earthly events, like the laws of
nature, are guided by one of the three gunas or a combination of some
of them. There should be a balance between them for harmonious
workings of the world. Disequilibria will lead to chaos, war,
suffering, corruption and destruction. The concept of gunas is well
documented in Sri Krishna’s rendition of the sermon (Bhagavad-Gita) to
Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra
In the fourteenth chapter of the Gita, Lord Krishna gives us a very
detailed description and definition of the three gunas.
‘Sattva is pure, without impurities, illuminating and free from
sickness. It binds the soul through attachment with happiness and
knowledge. Rajas is full of passion and is born out of intense
desire and attachment. It binds the soul through attachment with
action. Tamas is the darkness and the crudeness in man. It is born of
ignorance and is the cause of delusion. It binds the soul through
recklessness, indolence and sleep.’
The three gunas compete among themselves for supremacy while they
exist in the beings. Sattva exists by suppressing Rajas and Tamas.
Rajas exist by suppres...
... middle of paper ...
...avad Gita, get
to abide in the eternal Happiness. When you realise that you can
conquer the Gunas, you are free from birth, old age, disease and
death.
When you are completely free from the Gunas, you are neither a
Saatvika, or Raajasika or Taamasika person. When you can stand above
the Gunas and see everything as one, for example: you treat everybody
the same way, stone or gold are the same to you, one is not more
precious than the other. When you do not become proud because people
praise you, or angry when they disgrace you, you treat enemies and
friends alike. When you have managed to do all these, it is said that
you have overcome the Gunas.
Bibliography
============
Essays on the Gita- Sri Aurobindo
Hinduism-Biardeau
A survey of Hinduism- Klaus Kloustermaier
www.bbc.co.uk
The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.
In the chapter on Hinduism in Philip Novak’s book The World’s Wisdom the section titled “The Transmigration of the Soul” describes the Hindu concept of reincarnation, the wheel of life, and ultimately becoming one with god. The lines in this passage very concisely describe the Hindu concepts of Brahman, Atman, Samsara, Karma, Maya and Moksha (Molloy). I believe that these concepts are at the core of all of the expressions of the Hindu religion; which makes understanding this paragraph the key to having a basic understanding of the Hindu religion.
Although Daoism and Hinduism are two completely separate religions with the former indigenous to China and the latter to India, both of them encompass striking similarities that undeniably make it seem that one influenced the other. However, no known relations between the two religions exist. Comparing the small, but contextually vital part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata known as Bhagavad Gita with the central text to Daoism, Tao Te Ching offers an unparalleled journey of knowledge and understanding. Tao Te Ching emphasizes the crucial concept of Dao, which is translated as the “Way” while Bhagavad Gita stresses the all-encompassing Brahman. Since no sufficient language can express the full meaning of Dao, the most suitable example that shows its operations is the movement of water (TTC 8). Water simply flows with unity with nature – it can transform itself into whatever form is needed to flow. Dao is essentially an indescribable eternal energy and origin of the entire universe. Fully arriving at the Dao is the main goal of Daoism. Similarly, Brahman is the ultimate end to everything in the universe. In the Bhagavad Gita, Brahman is described as the source from which all beings originate from and eventually return. The fundamental principle of both concepts is, therefore, one and the same. I will specifically focus on vital parts of the two concepts in order to illustrate the parallelism of the eventual goal of the Dao and the Brahman. The emphasis on action with no desire for the “fruit” of the action, Dao and Brahman’s inexpressible essence, and following one’s own duty in order to complement the movement of the universe. These concepts illustrate the similarity between Dao and Brahman and ultimately demonstrate that they are ide...
Over the course we have seen how the Absolute has been linked to every concept or idea we covered. The one that holds the most weight however is within the gods and goddesses of the Hinduism religion. Three deities in particular have appeared to reference the Absolute the most; Vishnu, Siva, and the Devi. These references to the Absolute have become recognizable through the readings of Kinsely’s, Flood’s, and Clooney’s books. In their works they talk about how each deity has thought to be the Absolute throughout the ancient times. However, in each of the readings there is some overlap in who is thought to be the Absolute. Most of these examples occur between Vishnu and Siva. There is evidence within the Hindu tradition that labels both of the gods as the Absolute, and makes use of the same ideas to prove their title. One example would be the notion of Vishnu being the sustainer of the cosmos, and Siva being the “Lord of Dance” who creates, destroys, and sustains the cosmos. We must ask ourselves if this is simply a coincidence, or if there is an underlying body of knowledge that helps us to understand the similarities between the two.
The Question of Origin: Hinduism believes everything has been in existence and is a part of numerous gods. In (Foundation of Indian Psychology Vol.2 Pg.116) the text Hinduism is a treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different people in different times of life. Over the centuries the Hindus beliefs are not literally interpreted by the scriptures and there ethics are derived from them.
Hindus believe that when a soul expires, it acquires rebirth in a new body. This cycle is called samsara. To be set free from the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth one must discover their true nature in order to be with the Brahman in Nirvana. In figure G a picture of a Cambodian statue of the A.D. 900 of Brahma meditating is presented. Nirvana is a state where pain, worry and the outer world do not exist. When a person in Hindu religion has bad Karma, they must take rebirth multiple times. The sacred source of all existence is divided among three gods. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer. All three contribute to a person’s life and death and afterlife. In figure H a picture of a Vishnu sculpture is shown, and in figure I a picture of a sculpture of Shiva is
Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why each was shaped a certain way and how they preserved the interest of followers on into the modern times as well.
Asceticism is derived from the Greek word “askesis”, meaning practice, bodily exercise, and athletic training (Cambell). Early Christians adopted this concept to foretell of the spiritual things in order to acquire habits of virtue. Virtue is the behavior showing high moral standards. There also is natural asceticism in meaning it is for self-improvement and aims directly to natural virtues such as temperance, patience, and chastity. The following will explain what asceticism is, why asceticism is practiced, and the nature of asceticism practices in Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
Inevitably, there is no way to validate the claims of Jediism. This covers epistemology; yet another component of religion. It is defined by Basic Characteristics of Religion as, “[referring] generally to the problem of knowledge” (Characteristics of Religion, paragraph 3). Within a religion, there is a criteria of truth. Though a it appears improbable, a religion comes from some form of fact nonetheless. Jediism has records, a lot of them in fact, but one problem stands in its way: it is derived from a set of fictional movies by George Lucas. The Temple of the Jedi Order highlights in their Doctrine of the Order, “Jediism finds its roots in philosophies similar to those presented in an epic space opera called ‘Star Wars’” (Temple of the Jedi
Hindu mythology has evolved from the times of the Indus Valley; already in the Vedic Period a sophisticated pantheon of gods and rites (was described). The main body of Hinduism narratives is contained in Sanskrit literature such as the Vedas, ...
The Upanishads are a series of mystical poems that are classified as religious Hindu texts written in Sanskrit. In the Upanishads, there are 108 authentic poems, but as a whole there are 150 poems which were written from 800 B.C. to the late fifteenth century A.D. The poems being interpreted in this paper are Isa, Kena, Katha, and Chandogya Upanishads, which shows the representation of Hindu values and the idea of Brahman/Atman. In this paper, I will be looking at each Upanishads selection and look at how the delivery and explanation of the Hindu “ultimate reality.” Each Upanishad encompasses a different aspect of Brahman/Atman and the ultimate reality of Hinduism, but still come together as the same beliefs that further pushes that Brahman/Atman
the Vedic poets and theologians. They are as followed: (1) creation by fecundation of the original waters; (2) creation by the dismembering of a primordial giant, Purusa; (3) creation out of a unity-totality, at once being and nonbeing; (4) creation by the separation of heaven and earth.[2] [Image] The first cosmogony relates to the celebrated hymn of the Rg Veda. The god imagined as Hiranyagarbha (the Golden Embryo) hovers over the Waters, Hiranyabarbha enters the waters and fecundates them. This gave birth to Agni (the god of fire).[3] The second cosmogony can be found in a hymn, the Purusasukta. Purusa is represented at once as cosmic totality and as an androgynous being.
‘Out of the hillock the first god emerged. He was referred to as a ‘he’ for the mere sake of expediency, but he embodied both the male and female principles with himself. As a result this enabled him to create new forms all by himself without the help of another deity. By spitting and masturbating he created a pair of new gods. This new pair copulated and created another pair, who in turn created another pair. This continued until the entirety of the cosmos had come into
Hinduism has been a religion for a long time, the Buddha was a Hindu before seeing how terrible the world was, he then found the religion Buddhism. Since the creator of Buddhism was Hinduism as a child, it is only expected for the two religions to be similar. While the two religions are similar they are also quite different as seen by their creation stories. The creation stories are these religions way of explaining how the world started. With most religions the creation story gives the most basic beliefs of the religion as this is where their religion supposedly starts its life. The two stories this paper focuses on is no different, and since they technically have the same origin, it can be obvious as to how they would be similar. However, in the case of the idea of social order and moral decline, they can be different too.
In Hindu mythology, one god created the world and is three people as one. How Hindu’s believe the earth was created by a single god that was three gods together, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Vishnu was cradled by a snake he was sleeping in, when a loud sound came from nowhere and awoke him where then a lotus flower grew from his navel with Brahma in it. Vishnu commanded Brahma to make a world, and so Brahma took pieces o...