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Hi. My name is Raj Narayan and I'm
going to talk about Hindu history,
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beliefs and culture.
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Hinduism is the oldest living religion
in the world
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and the third largest.
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More than one billion Hindus live in 150
different countries,
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mostly in India. The United States alone
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is home to over two million Hindus.
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Origins of Hinduism:
To find the distant beginnings of Hinduism,
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we have to go back over 6,000 years to
the Saraswati-Indus region of
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the Indian subcontinent. This vast
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area extends from Sri Lanka in the south
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to the Himalayan mountains in the north,
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from the Arabian Sea in the west to the
Bay of Bengal
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in the east. The Saraswati-Indus
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civilization developed here,
eventually becoming the world's largest
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and most advanced,
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surpassing even those of Egypt,
Mesopotamia
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and China. The civilization
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is named after the area's two great
river systems,
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the Saraswati and the Indus. It is called
the Vedic culture
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after the earliest Hindu sacred text. It
is also known as the Harappan culture,
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after the site of its first discovery in
1920.
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This was an urban culture
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centered around many highly organized
cities, some with populations of
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8,000, which was rare in those days. The
cities
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were connected by trade routes which
extended west to Mesopotamia
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and East to central Asia.
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Five thousand years later
archaeologists discovered pottery,
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seals,
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statues,
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beads,
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jewelry,
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tools, toys,
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miniature carts,
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and dice, all of which hint at what life
was like
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at the source of the civilization that
has evolved into modern-day
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India.
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The flat, stone seals have writing on
them and images of Deities,
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ceremonies, symbols, people,
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plants and animals.
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Even though writing was widespread among the people,
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we have not deciphered it yet.
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From these artifacts, we learn that
certain religious and cultural practices
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were identical to those followed by
Hindus today.
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One seal shows a meditating figure
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that scholars link to Lord Shiva, while
others
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show the lotus posture used today in
hatha yoga.
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Other discoveries connect the far past
with today,
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including swastikas, statues of the
Mother Goddess,
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worship of the Shiva Lingam, fire altars
that show the ceremonial practice
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of Vedic people, who were also known as
Aryans, sacred baths,
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priests,
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sacred animals and symbolism
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in the performing arts.
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You must be familiar with the
traditional greeting namaste.
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Here's a small clay statue portraying
the same.
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And this statue shows a woman with red
powder in the part of her hair.
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Married women even today observe the
same custom.
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As the Sarasvati-Indus
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culture declined when the river
dried up around 2000 bce,
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many people migrated to more fertile
places,
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in eastern and central India,
especially along the river Ganga
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and also beyond the subcontinent.
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Hindu Scriptures:
The four Vedas,
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the central holy books of Hinduism, were
composed in Sanskrit starting at least
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six thousand years ago.
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The Rigveda, the earliest to the four,
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speaks repeatedly of the Saraswati,
describing it as the most mighty of
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rivers,
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flowing from the Himalayan mountains to
the sea.
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Thus, we know that a large part of this
sacred text
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was composed well before 2000 bce, by
which time the river had dried up.
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Vedic hymns praise God,
Gods and Goddesses
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and describe a powerful and spiritual
people, their clans,
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kings and emperors, fights and battles.
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Their sophisticated economy included
agriculture,
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industry, trade, commerce and cattle
raising.
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Vedas call the country
Sapta Sindhu,
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meaning the Land of Seven Rivers. The words
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Hindu and India both come from the
Sanskrit word
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Sindhu, which means "river." These
Vedic hymns describe a form of fire worship,
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yajna,
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performed around a specially built altar.
Archaeologists
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have unearthed such altars in several
Saraswati-Indus cities.
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Hindus still perform fire worship in this
form.
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Originally, these thousands of hymns
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were not written down but memorized. Even
today
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there are priests who can chant from
memory as many as 10,500 verses,
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which takes 50 hours.
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the
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There are dozens of other sacred
texts
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that Hindus revere, including the Puranas
and the writings
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of illumined sages.
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The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are
traditional histories of India
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and storehouses of Hindu heritage.
The Ramayana
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is the story of Lord Rama, seventh
incarnation
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or avatar of Lord Vishnu,
and his divine wife,
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Sita. The Mahabharata is the world's
longest epic.
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It is about a massive war in ancient India
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between cousins fighting for the throne
of a great kingdom.
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A central episode called
the Bhagavad Gita
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is a dialogue between commander Arjuna
and Lord Krishna,
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the eighth incarnation of Vishnu,
on the day of the battle.
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The Mahabharata remains one of the most
widespread scriptures in the world,
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with its dominant message of justice.
Hindu sacred music,
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dance, drama and the arts
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draw heavily on these
two literary epics.
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The Hindu Society:
By 600 bce,
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the social, religious and philosophical
ideas
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and practices central to Hinduism today
were fully
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evident, having emerged from the Indus-
Saraswati culture,
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the Vedas, Dravidian culture and
the tribal religions.
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A distinctive feature of society
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was the varna or class system. People
were classified into groups with
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specific occupations.
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Parents taught their skills to their
children from a young age,
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providing a strong grounding in their
profession or trade.
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These groups eventually became
hereditary:
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priests
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warriors
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merchants
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and workers, including
craftsman and farmers.
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However, this class system did not
include the various forest tribes.
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It also did not include small
communities considered untouchable
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because their occupations were unclean,
such as the cremation ground chandalas,
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scavengers and leather workers.
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This system
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give identity to the kinship groups and
gave all citizens
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a sense of belonging, greater social
order and stability.
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The socially cohesive contributions
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of caste continue to play a key role in
economic,
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social and political life, most visibly
in marriages
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and elections. Life in ancient times was
hard work for both men and women.
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Women were responsible for running the
household while men
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for looking after their craft, farm and
family security.
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In general,
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women participated equally in religious
ceremonies,
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festivities and social relationships.
Some of the foremost religious and
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political leaders in India's history
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have been women. Some even composed Vedic
hymns.
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The period from 1000 bce
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through the Gupta period, ending in the
mid-6th century ce,
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was a time of great scientific and
mathematical advancement.
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Hindus developed the counting system we
use today,
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including the mathematical concepts
of zero and decimals.
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Indian astronomers knew that the Earth
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orbits the Sun, and they calculated
the length of a year
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with amazing precision. Medicine was so
advanced that doctors were performing
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complex surgeries
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not be equalled in Europe
until the 18th century.
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India was the foremost supplier of steel
to the world.
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In 400 ce, its foundries created
an iron pillar
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which even stands today and has never
rusted. Modern science cannot
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equal this feat. For thousands of years
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India has been home to one quarter of
the human family.
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It has been honored as a nation of
wealth and wisdom
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and, of course, it is famous today as the
world's largest democracy.
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Hindu Beliefs, Practices
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and Saints
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The religion of this land, Hinduism, has
always been open minded
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and tolerant with the belief that,
"Truth is One,
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paths are many." Thus Hindus respect all
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other religions. Hinduism is the only
major religion that worships God in both
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male and female form,
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as well as with and without any
attributes. The original Sanskrit name
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for Hinduism
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is Sanatana Dharma, meaning "eternal
religion."
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Most Hindus believe
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in a Supreme God, many Gods and Goddesses,
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spiritual worlds, the divinity of the
soul,
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dharma, karma, reincarnation,
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God Realization and liberation from
rebirth.
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The Supreme God
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is known by various names depending on
region and denomination:
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Brahman, Bhagavan, Siva,
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Shakti, Vishnu and more. He-She
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is all-powerful, all-knowing, all loving,
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immanent, (that is, present in all things)
and transcendent,
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(beyond them as well). God exists within
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each person as atman, the divine soul.
God Realization
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describes the experience of the divine
within oneself.
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This profound encounter with God is
regarded as the ultimate goal of
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life. Hindus teach that every human being
can know God personally.
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Hindus also worship other divinities.
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Each divinity has distinct powers
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and areas of responsibility. For example,
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Lord Ganesha is the Remover of
Obstacles,
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Saraswati is the Goddess
of knowledge and Hanuman
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is the God of service and devotion. Each
Hindu
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freely choose the Deities he or she
wishes to worship.
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Dharma is a cardinal concept in
Hinduism. It includes
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righteousness, truth, Sacred Law, ethics,
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duty, justice, religion and the laws of
nature.
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Dharma means, "that which upholds." The
dharmic principal of ahimsa,
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or non-violence, is important to this day.
Mahatma Gandhi
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led India's independence in 1947
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using nonviolent means such as peaceful
protests,
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boycotts, strikes and speeches that
aroused the nation
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to throw off British rule. He once said,
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"Non-violence is the greatest force at
the disposal of mankind.
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It is mightier than the mightiest weapon
of destruction
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devised by the ingenuity of man." In the
1950s,
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Martin Luther King Jr. understood the
power of Gandhi's methods
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and went to India to meet his followers.
He later applied those methods to fight
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for and win
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civil rights for America's Black
minority. In the same way,
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Cesar Chavez won rights for the farm
workers of California.
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Gandhi also inspired Nelson Mandela
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in his fight for freedom and racial
equality in South Africa.
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Today
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everyone knows about the Hindu concept
of karma, the law of cause and effect.
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It means that anything a person does,
whether good
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or bad, will eventually
return to him in this
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or a future life. A popular way of
expressing this
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is, "What goes around comes around."
Reincarnation
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is the central Indian belief that the
soul, atman,
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is reborn in the new body time and time
again,
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to grow and mature through all the
experiences human life has to offer.
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Eventually every soul achieves salvation
by realizing its oOneness with God
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and is no longer reborn. Hindus do not
believe in a Satan
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or an eternal hell.
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Worship is central to a Hindu's life.
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So, every Hindu home has a place of
worship.
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It may be as simple as a shelf with
pictures of Deities,
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or entire room dedicated to the family's
daily worship.
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A worship ceremony called puja,
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performed elaborately or very simply
every day in the temple
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or in the home shrine invokes the
Divine Beings
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for blessings and happiness. The puja
ceremony
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includes sacred chanting, bathing the
image of the Deity,
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offering food, flowers, incense
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and other sacred substances
and the waving lights.
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Hindus practice yogic disciplines
everyday, called
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sadhana. Sitting on the floor,
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often in a yoga posture, they chant,
sing devotional hymns
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repeat the name of God while counting on
beads or simply meditate in stillness
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and silence.
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The temple is revered
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as the home of God. There are millions of
temples in India,
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many quite ancient. The most important of
these mystically designed structures cover
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hundreds of acres
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and receive thousands of pilgrims each
day. Every Hindu
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is expected to pilgrimage to temples in
holy places far and wide.
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These pilgrimages unify the religion
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as tens of millions of people travel
throughout the subcontinent
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and interact. Hinduism has a rich history
of sages and saints,
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both men and women, from all castes. Some
other great saints
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wrote detailed explanations of the
Upanishads and related scriptures,
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such as Adi Shankara in the eighth
century ce,
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Ramanuja in the 11th and
Vallabhacharya in the 15th.
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Others, including Sambandar,
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Mirabai and Tukaram, expressed their
experience of God
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through devotional songs. Recent saints
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include Sri Ramakrishna, Swami
Vivekananda,
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Anandamayi Ma, Swaminarayan
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and Shirdi Sai Baba. Millions of swamis
and other saintly souls make up the
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spiritual leadership within Hinduism.
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Swamis have renounced the world and
taken up spiritual life
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full-time. Special among these are the
gurus,
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enlightened men and women who serve
as religious teachers.
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Some gurus have millions of followers,
others are humble hermits.
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Hinduism has no central organization
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and no single dogma. No one person or
institution is in charge.
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Instead, there are thousands of
independent guru lineages,
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spiritual traditions, monastic orders and
religious institutions.
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Hindu Festivals
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Hindus love festivals and
enthusiastically celebrate many holy
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days each year.
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The biggest is called Diwali or
Dipavali, the festival of lights.
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This five-day event, held around the new
Moon in October or November,
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celebrates the victory of
good over evil, light
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over darkness. Thousands of small lamps
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including traditional clay oil lamps are
placed everywhere,
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and fireworks signal hope for mankind.
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It is a national holiday in India and in
many countries with large Hindu
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populations.
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Barack Obama was the first US president
to celebrate Diwali
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in the White House. "I want to wish you all
a Happy Diwali and
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a Saal Mubarak."
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Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya
Om, Keep me not in the Unreality,
but Lead me towards the Reality
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Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya
Keep me not in the darkness,
but lead me towards the Light
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Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya
Keep me not in the fear of death,
but lead me toward the Immortality
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Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Peace, Peace, Peace
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One special festival, the Kumbha
Mela,
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takes place every three years at four
sacred river sites.
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The 2013 Kumbha Mela
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was held at Prayag, which is modern-day
Allahabad in northern India.
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During the six weeks, 130 million people
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pilgrimaged there from all across India
and the world.
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On one day alone, 30 million pilgrims
were present.
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It was the largest human gathering ever
held on Earth.
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Hinduism has persisted for thousands of
years
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because the dharma, faith and culture
have instilled in
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each Hindu a unique and strong sense of
identity,
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family and spiritual purpose. It endures
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because it is a dynamic religion which
gives complete freedom of practice,
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accepts that there are many ways to
worship God and provides festivals,
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temples, pilgrimages, gurus and scriptures
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to illumine the path,
thereby celebrating life
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itself. We hope
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that this documentary has increased your
understanding of Hinduism
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and its history.
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Namaste
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