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The nature of religion essay
The nature of religion essay
Belief system hinduism essay
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We are far from obtaining any type of enlightenment. Not only because society dictates and blinds us from the truth, but also because we choose to allow this to happen, depriving ourselves from reality. In order to acquire some truth knowledge, we need to be able to detach self from all humanistic ambitions, only then we could get closer to our true nature, which is always doing the right thing for the right reasons. The book The Tiger for Malgudi, brings us closer to an understanding of the true nature of Karma. This true nature is also express deeply in the Hindu sacred text of The Bhagavad Gita. Accordingly, Hinduism is considered a religion or a life style. It's believes are diverse and complex, since they have many gods. Moreover, Hinduism …show more content…
According to The Bhagavad Gita, Karma is characterize by the inferior nature of the human being and recognizing that there is a Superior Power—God. Also there are moral principles that must be recognized and obeyed in order to accomplish a path of comfort, happiness in this world and the next one. In addition, each human being has a Karma from birth that most be carried whether you want to or not; in other words, birth determines the place that each individual would occupy in the world and the obligation of each individual is manifested in their own destiny. As an illustration, from The Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna in his despaired cries out to Krishna-God for help. Krishna then enlightens Arjuna with the true knowledge of His will for him. This are the words of Krishna to …show more content…
he who, with strong body serving mind, gives up his mortal powers to worthy work, not seeking gain, Arjuna! such an one is honourable. Do thine allotted task! Work is more excellent than idleness; the body's life proceeds not, lacking work. There is a task of holiness to do, unlike world-binding toil, which bindeth not the faithful soul; such earthly duty do free from desire, and thou shalt well perform Thy heavenly purpose.” This passage exemplifies the idea of Karma. Arjuna had a choice to go to war against people he cared for or not; but Krishna’s will for him was to go to war. If the task was completed, he would become a better person, since he was going to fulfilled his destiny, his job in life. After all, dead or not Arjuna was going to be free once God’s will for him was accomplish. Furthermore, Narayan also expresses the Hindu idea of Karma in A Tiger for Malgudi. Notability, Raja’s Master provides a vision of Karma when he spoke these words to
From the beginning of humankind, people have constantly had to deal with inner battles. Many of these issues cease to exist as time goes on, while new ones arise to take their place. There is one issue, however, that has remained consistent throughout time – morality. For centuries, humans have fought against the outside world and themselves to keep their morals properly aligned. The issue of morality is so dominant that it is still plays a vital role in today’s society. This can be seen in wars, law systems, codes of conduct, and religious texts. An example of a religious text where this can be seen is in pages 185 - 188 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna, also referred to as “The Blessed One”, guides Arjuna through his inner struggles between
The story of Arjuna and his conversation with Krishna, begins before the start of a war with Arjuna’s grandfather. In the Hindu faith Krishna is known as an avatar for the God Vishnu. Vishnu is the as their God/Creator all things. This conversation between the two, is told as an epic poem, known as “The Bhagavad-Gita”. In this poem, Krishna is presented to Arjuna as his charioteer. It is in this conversation that Krishna that he reveals who he is, and delivers onto Arjuna his 18 teachings, of the universe. The Bhagavad-Gita presents many ideas ranging from the true spirt of man, to the sacred duty (dharma) of the individual, society, and the universe. The aim of this paper is to examine these ideas. I’ll first discus Dharma, where it comes from, and how to obtain it. Then I will
The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the most famous, and definitely the most widely-read, ethical text of ancient India. As an episode in India's great epic, the Mahabharata, The Bhagavad Gita now ranks as one of the three principal texts that define and capture the essence of Hinduism; the other two being the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. Though this work contains much theology, its kernel is ethical and its teaching is set in the context of an ethical problem. The teaching of The Bhagavad Gita is summed up in the maxim "your business is with the deed and not with the result." When Arjuna, the third son of king Pandu (dynasty name: Pandavas) is about to begin a war that became inevitable once his one hundred cousins belonging to the Kaurava dynasty refused to return even a few villages to the five Pandava brothers after their return from enforced exile, he looks at his cousins, uncles and friends standing on the other side of the battlefield and wonders whether he is morally prepared and justified in killing his blood relations even though it was he, along with his brother Bhima, who had courageously prepared for this war. Arjuna is certain that he would be victorious in this war since he has Lord Krishna (one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu) on his side. He is able to visualize the scene at the end of the battle; the dead bodies of his cousins lying on the battlefield, motionless and incapable of vengeance. It is then that he looses his nerve to fight.
... divine law and letting reason govern one’s actions, they can achieve complete happiness. One must not totally disregard temporal goods, but their actions should be based on their goods of the will, not temporal goods.
...onsibility in life which is decided by the caste they are born into. However, living amongst other people, one’s soul might become “forgetful of the Lord” which leads to “[attaching] itself to pleasure” which would make it “bound” to the wheel of the universe. For a soul to escape this cycle birth, death, and rebirth, it is necessary to connect with this god. The Hindu people believed that “by uniting oneself with him…one ceases to be ignorant” and this means “Birth, death, and rebirth will be no more.” This credence of rebirth and karma highly influenced the way the Hindu society developed.
In south Asia, it is well accepted that a person’s action determines his or her own personal destiny. This idea that actions have repercussions in life is known as karma. Karma is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as, “the total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.” Karma is called las rgyu-bras in Tibetan, where las can be translated to “work” or “actions” and rgyu-bras translates to “fruits.” Combined, las rgyu-bras can be translated as the fruits of one’s actions (Keyes 232). If a person performs a good action in life, Tibetan Buddhists believe that good things will occur later on in life as a result, and they expect the reverse for bad actions. By understanding this concept and trying to live a l...
Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna it is one’s dharma to stop evil. Lord Krishna puts everything in perspective to Arjuna where he explains to Arjuna that his actions must not be dictated his desires or by his family’s desire to take back their land, but it must be dictated by what is right for the society as a whole. His actions must free all the evil from the world he lives in. By the end of Bhagavad Gita, it becomes clear to Arjuna that he is a warrior with dharmas, and before he can a son or a brother, he must be a warrior and fight for betterment of society. It is his duty towards the world as a warrior to keep it clean from all evil. Arjuna realizes that for the betterment of society as a whole, it was important for his brothers to rule over the land which was only possible if he defeated his cousins. Arjuna figured out that his dharma was not to kill his cousins but to make sure that his brothers ruled over the land which coincidentally lined up with having to kill his cousins. Lord Krishna did not convince Arjuna to fight his cousins and his people; however, he taught Arjuna the importance of dharma and karma and one’s actions and responsibilities towards the world instead rather than towards himself or his family. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that all humans are
The Bhagavad-Gita teaches many things, and amongst these, morality and moral law are developed for the Hindu religion. What Krishna, the primary Hindu god, declares in this somewhat epic poem to be the "basis of good in this world" (stanza 3, pg. 620 of text) is for people to take action. Action, as he goes on to state, is within the very nature of our beings to do. Krishna even states that "without action you even fail to sustain your own body" (stanza 8, pg. 620 of text). Thus, Krishna feels that action is very important and key. To take this concept as a relation to ethics, Krishna tells Arjuna, the warrior he is talking to in this poem, that "Action imprisons the world unless it is done as sacrifice; freed from attachment, Arjuna, perform action as sacrifice!" (stanza 9, pg. 620 of text). Thus, Krishna is prescribing that, in order for an action to be considered good, the good that he already declared to be the basis of all good in the world, one must detach himself from the action being performed and perform the action sacrificially. The detachment aspect is incredibly important to Krishna, for he proclaims that in "performing action with detachment, one achieves supreme good" (stanza 19, pg 620 of text). By doing this, Krishna believes that the world is preserved, for other people will follow the warrior's actions and imitate them in their own lives. A leader, such as a warrior or king, "sets the standard for the world to follow" (stanza 21, pg. 621 of text), as Krishna says and thus must take whatever action is necessary for the world to not be destroyed, to set examples of goodness and right in his own actions. By separating himself from these actions, thus becoming detached, he can achieve this. Another main reason that Krishna feels detachment is necessary is this: "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty." (Bhagavad-Gita 2.47). Thus, so long as one does not profit from his own actions, the action itself is good. And, this is Krishna's prescription for leading a life of morality and duty is the moral law to follow in order to achieve this.
...ttachment to the family that Arjuna is supposed to cut, only then will he gain the courage to take up arms against his teachers and cousins, follow his Dharma and restore righteousness to the world. If Arjuna fails to follow his Dharma and wage war against the karuvas, he would be abandoning his duty and allowing evil to reign over the land, something Lord Krishna does want to occur. Equally important to duty, is focusing on the action itself, in this case destroying evil. By focusing on the action and displacing all other outcomes, you become detacherd to failure and success. What Arjuna is fearful of are the outcomes of the war, the death of his family. As a result, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to detach himself from the fruits of action and be intent on the action alone because only then will he be able to detach himself from the emotional ties he holds near to him.
Print. The. http://www.hinduism.co.za/karma.htm>. 3) Robert Neil Minor,. Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita.
...ons of the gods in conjunction with man’s acts of will can result in a life that is newly aligned on a desirable path of truth and respect both for and from the divine.
In other words, if one loves God and serves Him with wholeheartedly, he or she will be granted with moksha, liberation.
The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture written around 200 B.C.E. that summarizes many of the significant documents of Hinduism and includes a philosophical discourse on the meaning of life and death. It is part of the Mahabharata and tells the tale of Arjuna, a warrior Chieftain and his charioteer and supreme being Krishna. Upon arriving on the battleground, Arjuna is surrounded by two branches of the Bharata family. He is in conflict as to weather he will be able to fight his kin and friends. His physical body is weak as he drops his bow and arrows on the battlefield in despair. He sees no good coming from this battle. He turns to Krishna for guidance and there ensues a long conversation related to the philosophy of dharma or righteousness.
Arjuna has a dharma to uphold for he is a warrior and must defend his older brother’s claim to the throne; however, Arjuna has fallen into a state far from his path of liberation. (Easwaran 1985). It is for conflicts like this that is the purpose of samsara. Without hard decisions to be made, one can ever separate from the human self into the true self, or Atman. Through understanding this story I can develop my religious life by remembering that life is meant to be acted with a pure heart.
However, Arjuna states, “I see no good in killing my people in battle.” He feels like he is violating his dharma because he will be killing his own family members. Also, this affects Arjuna’s ability to have devotion, liberation, and inner peace because he does not feel right about the duties he needs to fulfill. Therefore, this demonstrates the experiential dimension of religion because he is afraid about the effects of his actions. However, Arjuna must fulfill his duties in order to restore the right balance of karma in his life.