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s1 {font-kerning: none}The caste system is further classified through thousands of subcastes called jatis. Jati literally means “birth group.” The term is often used to describe different orders of plants and animals, implying that the difference between human groups is similar to that between different species. Usually, a jati is composed of an endogamous group. One can marry within jati communities that are equal in social and ritual status, but not into a jati above or below one’s own position.
Marriage across jatis is usually undertaken to widen communal alli- ances. Over time, the jati system has made social hierarchy more fluid. In Hinduism people are divided into classes that is known as the caste system that people are either born into this caste system or have an occupation that is associated with this system.
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It is a belief in Hinduism that each class represents represent different sections of the first person Purusha. The mouth were represented by the brahman the priest class, the priests performed the Vedic rituals and were consolers to the other classes. The arms are represented by the rajanya the warrior-noble class, the warrior-noble class were the aristocracy and protectors of Hindu society. The thighs are represented by vaishyas the merchant class. 8. All religions have pitfalls as well as strengths, since they are merely routes to Truth; they are not Truth itself. Religions can inspire and instruct, but the individual must do the work of getting back to God, in cooperation with divine grace. Religion is a starting point for many people, but it is certainly not a finishing point.
As Swami Vivekananda said, “It is no doubt a blessing to be born into a religion, but it is a misfortune to die in one.”The important thing for every person is to transcend religion in favor of spirituality, the measure of which is personal experience. Belief, outward practices, reason, intellectual freedom, etc. can be helpful, but they cannot take a person out of the ego, into union with God.
Experience alone can do that, and such experience comes only to those who do inner work?—?devotional surrender to God, and deep meditation?—?that goes far beyond any particular religion.9. Monistic Hinduism, true to its basic premise that all reality is ultimately one, teaches that the atman is Brahman.
In a famous passage from the Upanishads, a young man named Svetaketu receives instruction from his father on the true nature of the atman. Using a number of analogies, the father explains that despite the appearance of multiplicity, all reality is one. Brahman and atman are different but still one in the same. Brahman is the foundation of everything, both in and beyond the universe.
It is also known as “world soul.” The Upanishads (Hindu philosophical scriptures from the end of the Vedic period) teach that it is the underlying reality in a spiritual essence. It is not an individual soul, it is more of a primal ground. Even though the Brahman is known as being the “world soul;” it is spiritual but not a spirit. It is external and infinite. The Brahman is present in everyone. This presence is known as atman. The atman is an individual soul.
It refers to the energy of each living thing; the essence of each individual. Each person has an atman that forms who they are. Atman does not die and lasts forever. The “atman is Brahman” saying means that the individual soul is a part of and contributes to the world soul.11. For Hinduism, the term dharma can mean law, duty, righteousness, or even “religion,” all of which have to do with living in a way that upholds cosmic and social order. Dharma is traditionally believed to have been divinely revealed to the rishis, the poet-sages who composed the Vedas. Through the centuries, Hindu texts have set forth ritual and social obligations that define a good life.
The Laws of Manu, for example, a classic juridical text from the period 200 b.c.e. to 200 c.
e., contains detailed prescriptions for correct behavior in all aspects of life. The two ancient and enormously influential Indian epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, depict the simultaneous particularity and universal- ity of dharma.
As we will consider in more detail in a later section, both poems present epic heroes who must resolve conflicts between social or family obligations and their own personal sense of what duty demands from them. 13. Hindu tradition has tended to be patriarchal, both subordinating and marginalizing women.
Although there is some evidence in the Vedic literature that some women participated in early philosophical movements or dialogues, for the most part their public roles have been secondary to those of men. The role of Hindu women has been primarily domestic.Classical Hindu texts generally give little attention to women, but there are excep- tions. One example is the Laws of Manu, which, in the course of its extensive coverage of varnashrama dharma, includes some statements that confer upon women a relatively high place: “Where women are honoured, there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honoured, no sacred rite yields rewards.”12 At the same time, numerous pas- sages subordinate and marginalize women, clearly asserting the predominance of father, husband, and even sons.The bhakti movements enabled women to overturn social hierarchies. Women poets and saints such as Meera, who lived during the fifteenth century in Rajasthan, rejected marriage, devoted themselves to a spiritual life, and challenged the limits of gender, class, and caste.
Today, Hindu women are increasingly assuming leadership roles in India and in the Indian diaspora. Women sometimes act as priests and are be- ginning to wield influence as spiritual teachers, monastics, and theologians.15.The path of devotion, bhakti marga, is the most widely practiced of the three paths to liberation. This chapter’s survey of the history of Hinduism in- cludes a section detailing the rise of the bhakti tradition. In an important manner, the tradition is grounded in the Bhagavad Gita, which, along with prescribing the other two margas, gives pride of place to bhakti. In the Bhagavad Gita, the featured deity is Krishna.
Bhakti, however, can be directed toward whatever deity one chooses. Hindus typically worship more than one deity, depending on personal preference and on the occasion; for instance, during the festival in honor of Saraswati, goddess of education, Hindu schoolchildren offer devotion to her. There are numerous such festivals of the gods in the Hindu year. The concept of bhakti influences the development of the dualistic or devotional Hindu traditions. Bhakti is intimately connected to the rise of Hinduism’s various sectarian affiliations and the growth of temple cultures. Bhakti advocates a deep, abiding love for God and encourages the devotee to nurture an intimate and personal relationship with the divine.
The devotee is free to choose a favored, personal deity, who is perceived as the supreme entity and toward whom devotion is directed. For many Hindus, bhakti is both a belief and a practice. That is, they cultivate bhakti as the most effective way out of samsara.
