Hinduism and the many ways to the divine in India

Bhagavad GitaWithin the Gita, there are three paths laid out

to understand the DivineKarma Yoga

Yoga of actionJnana Yoga

Yoga of intellectBhakti Yoga

Yoga of devotion

Different views on religion* Hinduism and the “Three Ways” There are not only different paths to the divine,

but different ‘divine natures’ to which you should/could aim your practices

Also, in Hinduism, there is an interesting gender dynamic which you do not see in Western cultures Vishnu – definitely male Shiva – male/female Devi – definitely female

Approaching the DivineThere are three

main ‘God-heads’VishnuŚivaDevi

And three main pathsKarmaJñanaBhakti

There are also various methods for employing these devicesAsceticismYogaTantra

AsceticismAsceticism of some

form or other can be found in nearly every religion in IndiaIt can involve

fasting, holding the body in a particular posture, or otherwise challenging physical demands

AsceticismJainism makes a very

extensive use of asceticism, especially involving fasting and pulling out one’s hair Asceticism can also be

milder and more mental, such as spending a long time sitting in one place in meditation (such as on a corpse)

AsceticismWhen we talk about

ascetics we usually mean those persons who give up living at home to either become

wanders, or live in a religious

institution such as a Hindu or Jain ashram or a Buddhist monastery

AsceticismFormal vows of

asceticism include Sannyasin, becoming a

Hindu monk, becoming a Jain monk,becoming a Buddhist

monk (Bhikshu/bhikku) Jains have more women

monks than either Hinduism or Buddhism

AsceticismSome people don’t

take a formal vow and just become wanderers These people are

usually called Sadhus

AsceticismGoals

Generally, the development of spiritual energy, or tapas, is the goal of asceticism, as well as detachment from the world

Sacrificing the self to the Self

Defeating suffering by charging right into it

YOGAYoga involves

mastering the mind by quieting the thoughts

It takes its cosmology from Samkhya and believe in Purusha/Prakrit The goal of yoga is

union with Iswara, or the Lord.

YOGAThis means especially

to not let the mind, which is likened to wild horses, carry one away, but rather to learn how to concentrate the mind on a particular thought wave citta-vrtti-nirodhah

"Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhah) of the modifications (vrtti) of the mind (citta)"

YOGABy directing the mind

one is able to eventually attain enlightenment Yoga is a practice

which relates to all the different religions in Indian, including Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, as well as Sikhs

YOGAYoga is about

concentrating the mind and learning how to direct itThe ideas of Yoga are

used by all these traditions, however, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism don’t refer (or accredit) the text Patanjali wrote (Yoga Sutras) even if these religions use these ideas of Patanjali

HOW DOES YOGA RELATE TO ASCETICISM?The practice of yoga in

most cases involves asceticism, though asceticism in yoga is mostly directed inwardly and is not so often expressed outwardly The exception is Tantric

Yoga where the body becomes the vehicle instead of the object to transcend

YOGA – Texts UsedThe main text used is

Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutra

Some people also use the Bhagavad Gita to explain Yoga as well

Some people also use the Upanishads as a way of understanding the mental practice and goal of Yoga

BHAKTI/DEVOTIONBhakti begins to

become prominent very early The Bhagavad Gita

(2nd century) extols devotion to Krishna.

BHAKTI/DEVOTIONBhakti really starts to

become very popular by the 6the century with songs to Śiva by the Nayanar poets in South India and the Vishnu Namalvar poets a few centuries later, also in South India Telling the stories of the

young cowherd boy Krishna are a main form of bhakti practiced also, even today.

BHAKTI/DEVOTIONThis begins in South India

with Srimad Bhagavatam Puranam in approximately the 9th century This book has lots of

stories of the life of the young Krishna, how he steals butter, how he as an adolescent steals the clothes and hearts of the cowherd women (gopis) and how he meets with them and dances with them in the forest

BHAKTI/DEVOTIONThe pictures of Krishna

with his flute come from this cycle of stories

Later in the 16th century, Mirabai thinks of Krishna using these same stories featured in the Srimad Bhagavatam Puranam and has great devotion for Krishna and writes her own poems about and to Krishna

MirabaiMirabai (मीराबाई) 1498-

1547CE A Hindu mystical poetess

whose compositions are popular throughout India

Mirabai composed between 200 to 1300 prayerful songs called bhajans

These bhajans are some of the most passionately praised Lord Krishna.

KabīrKabīr कबीर (1398—

1518) was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose literature has also greatly influenced the Bhakti movement of India

KabīrA weaver by

profession, Kabir ranks among the world's greatest poets In India, he is perhaps

the most quoted author The Sikh community in

particular and others who follow the Holy Granth, hold Kabir, a Bhagat, in high reverence.

KabīrKabir openly

criticized all sects and gave a new direction to the Indian philosophy

This is due largely to his straight forward approach that has a universal appeal

Kabīr“You’re Mother is a

slut!”“There, now I have

your attention – work hard towards liberating your mind”

HOW DOES BHAKTI RELATE TO YOGABhakti and Yoga are said to lead to the same goal, but

these two methods are probably the most different from each other

This is because Yoga involves the mastery of the mind, while bhakti is about surrendering the emotional self to GodSo the mind becomes still when one uses yoga to control

it, actively inculcates an opposite thought, and the mind becomes still when it gets absorbed in love with the form of Krishna

These are two different methods, which both lead the mind to stillness ascetic arrest

HOW DOES BHAKTI RELATE TO ASCETICISMBhakti is a path of love, devotion, so it tends to

not involve conscious asceticism The only asceticism it employs is one is so much

in love with the deity that one doesn’t even realize that one hasn’t eaten, etc.

On the other hand, numerous ascetics really do have much ‘devotion’ to the divine and will adopt bhakti practices to help them in their ascetic quest, even though as a method for approaching the divine, bhakti does not at all require asceticism

HOW DOES BHAKTI RELATE TO ASCETICISMBhakti is probably the single most popular

way to approach the divine, today especially Even today in India, many people practice

devotion by singing songs to different gods, offering puja to them

Some people today even write their own songs as a practice of devotion to God, just as Mirabai and Kabir did in the past

People also don’t’ just have devotion bhakti for Gods; they have them for the saints as well.

Hinduism – Belief and PracticeThus, Hinduism offers us a case in which a

varied set of beliefs results in a shared body of beliefs and practices

There are other traditions, however, that are, by comparison, ‘belief-free’These traditions look at ‘religion’ the same way

we look at ‘craftsmanship’Belief is inconsequential, it is a result based

method