33 Million Gods of Hinduism

[Music] [Music] today we're going to discuss Hinduism and what I can tell you is that I can't tell you all that I need to tell you about Hinduism in 45 minutes so I apologize because I can tell you right now that this lecture will go a little bit long so for those of you who can only tolerate me for about 45 minutes you should probably sit closer to the back and this is when my wife generally walks to the back so let's get started the 33 million gods of Hinduism number one come on you guys that was way too late of a reaction for that that's the best I've got come on I was thinking about how I was gonna play that one off Hinduism is the world's oldest religion and according to many scholars it has roots dating back more than 4,000 years so what we're going to learn today is that much of what we know in our current religions our current faiths comes to us with roots from this ancient faith of Hinduism and so I invite you today to think about your own faith and your own beliefs and potentially how those beliefs could have had their roots in the faith and practice of Hinduism roughly 95% of the world's Hindus live in India because Hinduism has no specific founder it's really quite difficult to trace the origins in the history of Hinduism it's not really considered a single religion but more a compilation of many traditions and philosophies and so consequently it's very difficult to put a finger on the timing of the birth and the foundation of Hinduism how did Hinduism begin Hinduism was developed from the religion that the Aryans brought to India with them at about 1500 BC its beliefs and practices are based on one of the eight in scriptures the Vedas you also have the bhagavad-gita and a number of other sacred texts that all feed and give substance to the faith of Hinduism Hinduism concerned primarily about living a good life living a good life in accordance with one's path an individual path and direction and we'll talk a little bit about that it's called Dharma Hinduism is the third world's third largest religion Christianity is number one with over two billion followers Islam is number two with about 1.3 to 1.5 billion followers and Hinduism has about 1.1 or 1.2 billion or about 15 to 16 percent of the total world's population Hindus can be found in a number of countries but the majorities are found in India Nepal and Mauritius and you can also find significant Hindu communities all around the world the actual term Hindu comes to us from the Persian term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus and we see the same thing happening with the name Hebrew these are the people who come to us from beyond the river of air and so it's an interesting connotation that these were people who are perceived as beyond a certain River and the name Hindu comes to this from beyond the river Indus Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality that are very different from other world religions so what you will see here is that other religions have branched off from here Buddhism for example but what you'll see is that the foundations for Hinduism are very very different there's no ecclesiastical order there's no right of of priests if you will or bishops or or Cardinals there's no unquestionable religious authority so there's no group of people who says this is or isn't Hinduism and so consequently Hinduism is alive and growing because there's no one to say this isn't essentially Hindu thoughts or Hindu philosophy and that ability to change and adapt and diversify is what has kept Hinduism alive and growing and expanding and changing for almost 4,000 years there's no governing body there's no one to kick you out if you disagree with someone else you can disagree with another Hindu and still be okay you can still consider yourself a Hindu there's no excommunication don't want to say that what you believe isn't incorrect there's no prophets there's no one to say hey this is what's what we believe and this is what's about to happen there's no prophecy to be fulfilled so there's no pressure to create backstories and there's no binding holy book now there are many books there are many sources that are the foundations for Hinduism however there is no single binding holy book that defines all of the principles for Hinduism I'm going to talk a little bit about some basic Hinduism into concepts most importantly is that what we consider to be Hinduism is not really a religion it's considered a way of life most forms of Hinduism are Hino theistic and that they believe in one God above all other gods while acknowledging a multiplicity of other gods so it's considered polytheistic but it's probably more accurate to say that for the majority of Hindus they would be considered Hino theists and they consider that there are multiple paths to finding and reaching their God there's not just one way Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara the continuous cycle of life death and reincarnation and karma the universal rule of cause and effect so what we'll talk about primarily throughout this lecture is the idea of samsara the idea that there is a cycle to all things that there is life there is death there is reincarnation and then there is life all over again and at the root of all of this is the freedom from suffering to remove yourself from the cycle of samsara which is called moksha and we'll talk about that in a little bit and karma as you know which is the the universal law of cause and effect which we'll talk about a great deal in this is also called caused you know a great deal of concern for people who think about next lives how do you live your life how you live in this life greatly affects how you will live in your next life one of the key thoughts of Hinduism is othman so we have a duality here you have Brahman which is the high god the god creator and then you have Othman which is the spirit the soul that which lives in each one of us the spark of the divine if you will that is dwells in each and every one of us that is in balance and is both a part of God part of Brahman but is also something that continues this cycle so from the cycle of life one is born with his Atman and you might die your body dies off but your Othman continues it is the soul that continues throughout this process of samsara of life and death and rebirth and continues to repeat to be reborn one of the interesting things and we'll talk about this too is the idea that how one lives in this life directly affects your next life your current life and also future lives Hindus strive to achieve Dharma which is the code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality so there isn't any salvation for you there's no God who's going to come down and save you from your sins or tell you that you've done something wrong but it's okay we're going to forgive you your actions are the sole determinant of your life in this life and in the next how you live how you treat others how you respect the planet and those who live and share it with you directly affects your life in this life and in the next it removes all responsibility away from a salvation or redeeming God and says you oan are responsible for the happiness the joy or the pain and the suffering of your own life so it puts the whole responsibility on our shoulders as individuals Hindus Revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal food is an important part of life or hence to Hindus but most don't eat beef pork or pork most Hindus that you'll meet are vegetarians because they take seriously the idea that how we treat animals in this life will directly affect us in the next life and also that it could possibly be that someone who you know and love who is maybe not lived a better life than you or has lived a better life from you might be reincarnated as an animal and so consequently cows are the sacred animals they're respected but there's also a reverence for all life did you know the swastika is actually a symbol of Hinduism and many faiths this is an ancient ancient symbol Siew asti means well-being it later became associated with evil when it was used by Germany's Nazi Party actually there was a German scholar a German businessman who went to Greece and found this the symbol of the swastika and he believed that it was connected to the Arion people you've heard of Hitler talking about the Aryan race the REM people were connected to an indo-european race they're an ancient race of people and they were called the prototype race the pure race and so as this thought came back to Germany it was utilized by Hitler's party by the Third Reich to share with people the idea that this represents the purity of an indo-european people the Arion race and so consequently that fed hitler's drive to use this symbol as a symbol that would reflect the unity and the purity of the Arion race swastikas are used all over the world and have been sadly this beautiful symbol of well-being and life and beauty which was used by many many other cultures is now forever changed in our minds because of Hitler and his devastation and the people the millions of people that he killed in his wake Hinduism is a way of life and this is according to the Supreme Court of India unlike other religions in the world the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet it does not worship any one God it does not believe in any one philosophic concept it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances in fact it does not satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed it is a way of life and nothing more so this is what the people of India the Supreme Court has said about Hinduism from a Western standpoint Hinduism like other faces referred to as a religion but it really is the Dharma the way of life which is much more preferred term than religion itself Hindus as I mentioned are largely considered to be Hino theistic but Hindus can choose to be anything they'd like to be they may be polytheistic they can believe in multiple and many gods they can be pantheistic believing that God is eminent that Brahman and most of them are also pantheistic and he know theistic believing that God is immanent in all things that Brahman is the source the creator and he's also in each and every one of us through the form of Atman and so they're both polytheistic pantheistic Hino theistic which is the worship of one God which is the primary god of Brahman while not denying the existence of other gods monotheistic belief in the worship of only one God which would be Brahman monistic belief that all things come from a source that is distinct from us and transcended from us agnostic belief that the existence of God is unknowable atheistic you can be a Hindu and not believe in God at all you be non-theistic having an apathy towards the existence of gods or other gods or you can be humanists belief that the potential value and goodness of human beings is far more important than the consideration of a god now how many of you didn't even know that there were this many ways to believe or not believe in God right looks like well there we go the eternal way his den do ism has been called the oldest religion in the world and is often referred to as the Sun Athena Dharma the eternal way meaning that the faith is beyond all of human history similar to what Islam believed that there's a primordial faith that is expressed differently Buddhism also believes that this is a faith that is beyond human history scholars largely regard Hinduism as a synthesis of many religions and ideas and faiths all coming together and while this faith had as its origins at 1500 BC the Hindu synthesis as we know it today began to develop in modern-day India and Pakistan around 500 BCE it contains a broad range of philosophies and rituals and comeup cosmologies but the major scriptures and for those of you who are really interested in learning more about Hinduism it is a dynamic and very interesting faith I encourage you to pick up some of these books and read some of the scriptures you can also pick up some of the commentaries but the Vedas the Upanishads the Bhagavad Gita wonderful wonderful books are filled with very interesting commentaries and philosophies on the way to live life on the way to achieve happiness through simplicity and through living the proper way sources of authority play an important role but they also question and encourage all believers to seek a deeper truth one of the things that is often a concern with most people in religion today is that they feel that religion sometimes is fighting up against science and here the Hindus and also the Buddhists which will be the subject of my next couple of lectures the Hindus believe that if there is truth God must be a part of that truth and if it's not truth God can't be a part of it so consequently they encouraged the search and the pursuit of truth with the ideal that when you find truth you will find God the doctrine of Atman Brahman most Hindus believe in Brahman an uncreated infinite eternal transcendent and all-embracing God Brahman contains himself both in being and non-being is the sole reality the ultimate cause source and goal of all existence so all that is all that was all that ever will be is Brahman that sound familiar ok as the all Brahman either causes the universe and all beings to emanate from itself as the Creator transforms himself into the universe or assumes the appearance of the universe and here we understand now that Brahman is the universe he causes all things to flow from the universe and is present in and to the universe Brahman is in all things in the self the Atman and in all living beings so again we're talking about a spark of divinity in each one of us Brahman is the Creator the preserver transformer and re absorber of everything karma this is one of the the best parts of talking about Hinduism is talking about karma visi that's the idea that our actions determine our life and our happiness and our future what we do in this life will directly impact what happens to us in this life but it will also directly impact what happens to us in the next life the common goal of all Hindus is this release called moksha from samsara this cycle of birth and rebirth birth death rebirth the goal at the end is freedom from all of this so that we are no longer bound by the burdens of this life but that were freed from it were released from this cycle so karma is used to help people leave this wheel this cycle of samsara so how you live in this life is important and it provides you the idea of karma provides you with the motivation to live a moral life and it also explains the existence of evil so for those of us who are wondering how does evil exist the idea is that we create our own evil on ourselves and in the world and that we are responsible for all of the evil that we see there isn't another force outside of us to blame there isn't someone to look at who's going to save us if you don't like the way your world looks it's your fault many religious trician traditions such as Judaism Christianity and Islam place the idea of reward and punishment for human actions in the form of a divine creator and judge in Hinduism that idea is completely thrown out the door in contrast classical traditions of Hinduism Buddhism and Jainism believe that no divine or extant external agent intervenes in the relationship of the moral act to its inevitable result what you set in motion has an equal and opposite motion and action correct what you said in action has an equal and opposite reaction the laws of science tell us that this is true in and of itself and on a faith perspective what we see is that what we set in motion comes back to us maybe not in this life maybe not in the next life but sooner or later all of these things come back so it's a very very interesting concept that takes the hands takes the responsibility out of the hands of God and puts the representation to explain here why there is evil in the world samsara is the idea of reincarnation but really the the idea of reincarnation we use we call it today transmigration so it's the journey of the soul this is samsara the body dies but not the soul the soul is eternal indestructible and blissful everything is connected and composed of two things the soul and matter matter changes adapts dies is born again but the soul is constant eternal and blissful the eternal soul called othman never reincarnates the soul continues on it's the body that changes its the package that changes in contrast the body does change both are constantly changing from this life to the next Karma impacts the circumstances in this life as well as the future forms and realms of life so there's multiple realms of living as well so if you live a good life in this life you'll be rewarded in the next life and you continue to advance in wisdom and consequently those who are we say sometimes will say will see a child and will say that child has an old soul right or you'll see someone they that whose wisdom seems to extend beyond their years this is the explanation that even though that person is a child that person's soul has continued to live on and has built off of the experiences from their past life and in this present life manifests and reflects all of the wisdom all of the experience all of the joy and the love and the learning from past lives and presents that in this life much to our own amazement good intentions and actions lead to a good future bad intentions and actions lead to a bad future pretty simple stuff the range of samsara stretches from insects so this is where it gets interesting so you can see now where the little the fine details came in somewhat said well where does it start does it start with an animal well no they'll say that it goes all the way back to vegetables and minerals so that all things that if God is immanent and in all things then all things must van Othman so anything that is natural that comes from nature itself has an at man has a soul and that if that mineral or vegetable lives its best possible life then the next life it continues to move on until you get to the point where you're responsible for your decisions and then you can go backwards and forwards on the karmic wheel the rank of one's birth in the hierarchy of life depends on one's action a virtuous life consistent with one's Dharma is believed to contribute to a good karma better future whether in this life or future life's and now we'll talk about the four objectives of life to obtain moksha Hindu must follow the four Buddhist arthas the proper goals or aims of human life the first one is artha this means wealth or prosperity financial and material satisfaction is not something to avoid this is not an ascetic way of living this isn't a way of life that says you must decline and abstain from enjoying life in fact what is good what is wealthy what is prosperous comes from the divine and when kept in check by Dharma your moral obligation and righteousness when you pursue the when you pursue artha when you pursue prosperity in a meaningful way it aligns you with God since abundance and prosperity are seen as qualities of the divine seeking and these possessions and having these this lifestyle is seen in accordance with the divine the key here is not to become attached to what you have to understand that all things are change and that what you have today you might not have tomorrow and that's okay but it's a stepping stone instead of the cornerstone on the way to becoming your supreme self you must have artha in balance finding contentment and then the cities of life so it's okay to have a nice house it's okay to have a nice car it's okay to go on Viking cruises so these things allow you to pursue your other produce arthas and it comes from the basic idea that how can we possibly be focused on our better self our greater self when we're too busy worrying about whether or not we can pay the bills how many people do you know that are so caught up with paying the bills with working every single day trying to make that buck trying with whether you have children or not to get ahead in life that you lose sight of what you're living for and this is what the Hindus believe is a loss that you must have us balance of artha that you must have a certain amount of prosperity that allows you to pursue the other goals in life when it's not in check when it's not in balance this is when you see people who are buying fourth and fifth houses having private lots of private planes and and these kinds of things that are exorbitant and excessive displays of wealth that this becomes artha out of balance because what you've done now as you continue to aggrandize yourself and your own being you continue to add to your own wealth without considering your moral obligation to those who live in the world around you and this now becomes unstable artha kama most of you guys out here probably are thinking the only way I know the Kama is from the Kama Sutra and that's right this is exactly where it comes from the idea of for kama is desire or pleasure experienced by your senses and hinduism tells us that in order to reach god in order to reach fulfillment and enlightenment you must also be engaged with your senses of pleasure that all of these things that surround us are not meant to be ignored they're meant to be enjoyed in balance and then proper balance with your dharma and your artha and everything else the other three produce arthas it should not become an obsession session if kama is not fulfilled with mindfulness or suppress keep in mind this goes both ways we're not just saying hey don't become a hedonist here don't eat and don't enjoy everything to an extent it also means don't deny yourself don't suppress or repress these desires to have pleasure that the universe has given us the means for pleasure why should we deny ourselves as pleasure the key again isn't in this balance and we'll see in the next talks about Buddhism it's called the middle way it's pursuing the middle way that we have access we have asceticism on one side and what we need to pursue is the middle way and the middle way is the key to happiness one must give and receive comment in accordance with Dharma and accords with your way and create and appreciate kama to pursue moksha which is this freedom from the cycle being fully present to each other experiencing the joy that we bring to each other whether that sexual pleasure or the joy of being with a small child and enjoying the beauty of that child's face holding hands walking along the beach these are the moments of joy and pleasure in one's life being present to each other in every single day holding hands with each other these are the moments that bring us closer to the divinity bring us closer to our realisation of self and bring us closer to enlightenment that we have a role together of encouraging and being enlightenment and tools of enlightenment for each other what a beautiful message now on the flip side of that overindulgence hedonism greed addiction and sloth all at the expense of Dharma and when we talk a little bit we're going to talk about more about Dharma but one needs to know one's Dharma and we're going to continue to hear this word over and over and it might seem repetitive and excessive but I'm doing it for a purpose I want you to walk out of here today with a few words in your mind and to ask yourself how they apply to you and Dharma is one of those words moral obligation or righteousness Dharma is our path not only social and moral ethics but it's our own path how many of you have seen the movie city slickers remember that with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance I remember the name of the character was curly and Billy Crystal's character said what's the meaning of life and Jack Palance his character raised up his finger and he said it's one thing just one thing he said what is it I can't tell you that that's for each one of you to determine on your own that is your Dharma the path that each one of us must follow we must discover we must realize we must engage and we must follow that is our path that is our Dharma all of the things all of the Palouse arthas everything that we do whatever we achieve must all be kept and check with whether or not what we are doing what we are saying what we believe in what we do is aligned with our path my path is different from your path to judge any other person by my path would be unfortunate and unfair each one of us needs to develop and realize and follow our own path and that's what leads us to happiness we must live in accordance with the law governing the universe to come into being and come into presence with our supreme self it is a revelation and it's the path to enlightenment Dharma is the natural law that upholds the world and keeps the universe in balance it is the law of diversity that each one of us is different ergo we must each have a different path and in our different nests in our differences we find balance if all of us being different chose the same path there would be imbalance only balance can be attained by diversity embracing itself as diverse that each one of us has a unique path to follow and we must determine and find what that path is I've often believed that the true path to happiness in relationships is based on two very simple practices whenever I meet someone I determine that I must fulfill one of two roles the first role is that of teacher and the other is student that with every person that I meet I ask myself what do I have to teach that person and secondly and perhaps even more importantly what do I have to learn from that person and in asking that question with every single person I meet whether it's the CEO of a corporation a housekeeper gardener whoever this person might be and everyone in between is the recognition that I have something to learn from that person and then I also have something to teach and that the fullness of life and the fullness of happiness comes when we embrace those two roles in our relationships with each one of us that I try not to wake walk away from any relationship without asking whether or not I have achieved the goal of both being teacher and student accepting an event in one's life or feeling loneliness or joy and feeling it fully and accepting it that is part of Dharma it's your path we must accept the fact that we can't change everything and that the things that we have in our life maybe we have for a short period of time and then they're gone whether it's the loss of a husband or a wife or a child before that child's time has come or a parent regardless its accepting that that loss is a part of your journey a part of your path unstable Dharma is holding on too tight to things whether it's holding on to that job as your source of meaning unwilling to change at that moment of retirement when you've been an attorney for 40 years and by god I'm going to continue to be an attorney or dentist or whatever it is that causes an imbalance in your system and it's accepting that that stage of my life has passed and the next stage is equally valid and important and let me embrace that to have an unstable Dharma is to understand that our fixture reality is fixed it's not to be free of this we must recognize that our fixed reality things that we think are fixed is neither fixed nor reality chew on that for a while huh moksha spiritual liberation the word muck means deliverance or to yield enjoyment so to be free of this moksha is the ultimate goal for believers moksha offers feelings of peace and oneness with the design it is the step before Nirvana so Nirvana is that state and we'll say we learn about ISM as well Nirvana you'll know that you have achieved Nirvana when you no longer think about Nirvana right so if you're still thinking about Nirvana you haven't achieved it yet but moksha is the step just before that it's the idea that I am now at one with myself and with my greater purchase purpose and that I am releasing myself giving myself the freedom to be free of all of these were earthly worries and concerns and as we get older it becomes easier and easier to see things because we get this little thing called perspective I often tell people I wish I knew as much as I did when I was 18 I knew everything there wasn't anything that anyone could tell me in the seminary that I didn't already know and I thought that they were ridiculous and today it's I'm sure most of you feel the same way the best that I can do today is to help people ask better questions because if you're coming to me for answers you're gonna be soundly disappointed and that's really the gift that all of us can give each other is to help each other ask better questions mucks is a place of self-acceptance and oneness with the universe to reveal the supreme self it offers a place of freedom from the cycle of life and death life and balance we need to attain wealth but don't let wealth corrupt or distract you enjoy life's pleasures to the fullest but don't become obsessed by them and on the other side it's a good thing to be moral and righteous but don't become fixed or rigid in your righteousness because no one wants to be around those type of people number one they're no fun at all but it gets in the way of one enjoyment of one's life and the whole point is that if no one wants to talk with you if no one wants to be around you how could that possibly be your way now we'll talk a little bit about the 33 million gods of Hinduism I'm only going to cover half according to the Mahabharata there are thirty three thousand three hundred and thirty three gods but other sources multiply this 233 million gods but it usually boils down to about 33 Hindus acknowledged that the most fundamental level there's one God without a second the absolute and formless Brahman the universal soul Brahman has no form he has no limits Brahman is reality and truth so to seek truth is to seek Brahman Hinduism is a pantheistic religion meaning that God is immanent and in all things that we can't touch any corner of our world without also touching God and that when we speak to each other we are speaking to other gods as well that God is a part of us God is in us and God is us now how many Catholics do we have in here few how many recovering Catholics very hahaha I always have to ask that so when we take a look at Brahman here is there anything that strikes you as interesting the three faces for those of us who have been brought up with the understanding that the triune Godhead is a unique feature to Catholicism I present to you the first triune Godhead this comes to us from 2,000 years before Christianity and this is Brahman and is a triune Godhead but different in the way that we've come to understand the Christian God as father son and holy spirit Brahma is the Brahma is the first member of the Holy Trinity the creator so we'll see this would be effectively God the Father Brahman then we have Vishnu the preserver so we have God the Creator who creates the universe and all things inside of it but then what happens you need Vishnu who preserves all things and keeps this wheel moving he's the one who makes sure that everything continues its movement and continues its being Vishnu is worshipped in many forms and avatars or incarnations such as the Rama and Krishna and when you read the Upanishads and the bhagavad-gita you'll read the stories of Rama and Krishna and all of their exploits Shiva then is the destroyer the third element of the Trinity so you remember what we talked about with the cycle of life death and rebirth we see it represented now in the Trinity we have the Creator we have the preserver and now we have the destroyer in much the same way that we would see nature itself recycling and regenerating Shiva's destructive power is regenerative it's the necessary step that makes renewal possible without destruction without death there can be no rebirth now we'll talk about some of the other gods we're only going to cover a few of these before we get into other topics but Ganapati or ganesha is the remover of obstacles and for those of you where we're gonna spend some time in India I encourage you when you get into a taxicab to look at the rear view mirror because they will have a statue of Ganesha hanging there as the remover of obstacles so if you've ever been in a traffic jam in India this will make a great deal of sense to you they put this God hanging from their rearview mirror in the hopes that like the Red Sea is just gonna part and they're gonna open up that all obstacles will be removed before them but it's a very interesting social concept Saraswathi is the goddess of learning she is the consort or the wife of Brahman as the creator god brahma the creator and is worshipped as the goddess of learning of wisdom of speech and music now with many of these gods you'll see that they all have four or more arms the reason behind this is to show that they are indeed gods that your mother probably told you boy I wish I wish I had more arms I wish I had more hands well this is what they gave the gods so that the idea is that a god can be doing multiple things at the same time that you're not bound by the idea of only having two hands restricted to only doing two things that these gods can do multiple things and some gods you'll see money you'll see music you'll see instruments for writing these are all meant to convey the attributes of this God Lakshmi is the goddess of good fortune wealth and well-being she's also the consort of Vishnu then we have Indra the king of heaven and the Lord of the gods he wields a thunderbolt do we know of any other gods that will the Thunderbolt Thor right then Surya the Sun is a golden warrior arriving on a chariot how many of you are familiar with Apollo the same thing riding in on the golden chariot so these are themes that are utilized and used over and over again so we have acne the fire god Hanuman the monkey king these are all interesting Hindu gods and now imagine these r33 that become 33000 that become 33 million gods dualism for those of us who believe that God is Allgood all-knowing all-powerful this is difficult to understand and accept because the idea for polytheism and the idea for these gods is that God is all things which means that if evil exists if trials and tragedies exists that this must also be a part of our gods so the distinction represented by the differences in these gods is not a distinction between good and evil but it's a distinction in the two ways that God manifests itself there's both benevolent and fearful so we'll see the god of the Christian scriptures is Jesus refers to God as Abba which is daddy and yet in the Hebrew Scriptures that God is a very different sort of a God he's a God who as a destroyer he is a protector he's a warrior God and so we see these two balances in our own face but we don't really reconcile them because this struggle is that when we think God is Allgood it's difficult to understand where evil comes from but when we understand that these gods are both benevolent and fearful harmonious and dis harmonious transcendent beyond our understanding as well as imminent present to all of us at all time and in all things this makes a great deal of sense the key beliefs Hinduism is not an organized religion and has no systematic approach to teaching oops a little bit movement here now belief in the authority of the Vedas the sacred scriptures serves as the definition for Hinduism Hindus pursue knowledge and understanding of the truth which is the very essence of the universe and of reality according to the Vedas truth is one but the wise Express it in a variety of ways Hindus believe in Brahman is the one true God who is limitless formless all-inclusive and eternal it's not an abstract concept it is a real thing to them that God is in fact in all things and it's reflected in the way that most Hindus live their lives the Vedas are Hindu scriptures that contain revelations received by the Saints and the sages they believe that the Vedas have no beginning and are without end so in the beginning was the word right they believed the exact same thing that in the beginning was the word but here the word did not become flesh the word remained the word and that at the end of all of the cycles of transmigration of samsara of birth and death and rebirth that the Vedas will still remain Dharma as we've discussed before we should make Dharma central to our lives individual souls are immortal this othman the soul that each one of us has is a part of brahman the god creator and that our soul will continue to accumulate the consequences of our actions in this life and in the next the process of movement of the Atman from one body to the next is known as transmigration and that what we live in this life is the accumulation of the past lives the of individual soul must achieve moksha liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth but several paths can lead to this realization in unity but the most important one is the path of devotion the unconditional surrender to God which is giving up control that you live in a fixed reality that you are in control of anything and giving that control to the universe now that being said this belief has consequences and these consequences have diminished and enslaved groups of people for many hundreds of years and it's important to understand that when we say to someone hey the life that you have poor person that you have nothing you live in a slum and in a ghetto you must have lived a bad life in your past life because you deserve this now you are getting exactly what you deserve this is where the idea of the caste system comes into play and where the idea of samsara and reincarnation is it's a raw nerve with most of us because I think most of us would say it's not fair to blame a poor child dying in the streets for his actions in a past life and yet if we believe in the wheel of karma and in reincarnation and transmigration that that Atman exists throughout all time and is being regenerated then we must also accept that the consequences of that dying child or the consequences of that person who is being abused is a consequence of his own actions the main castes were divided into about 3,000 castes and then about 25,000 sub caste based on one's jobs and occupation most societies have some sort of social class system based on education culture and income levels but this is probably the most stratified social system that you will ever see this is a society where all essential functions were addressed and based abilities and on your level so if you were born to a family and your name was X you are never going to get out of that family name that name follows you for the rest of your life at 3,000 years old India's caste system is the oldest form of surviving social stratification it's very flawed but it's based on the following divisions so you have the Brahmin culture do you see the similarity here Brahmin versus Brahmin this is the godly caste these are the priestly intellectual people the Brahmin have qualities of serenity self-restraint purity forgiveness knowledge and belief in God these this is the class that most directly reflects Brahman they must serve as gatekeepers of knowledge Brahman provide intellectual advice two governing bodies offer priestly in religious services and then grapple with the fundamental questions of life so these would be our priests philosophers and teachers today the next class is the Kshatriyas the warrior class these would be people today who would defend our country be in the military these are people who are courageous people and who are generous with their talents and their gifts so they would defend the country from internal from external aggression specialize in the science of arms ammunition strategies and warfare so modern examples will be politicians police and the military this is the second highest class underneath this is the Visayas which is the commerce class these the people who are involved in business people who are involved in trades they're primarily entrepreneurs and traders there's no specific duties ascribed to this class but they're mostly involved in the business they're the majority of the people who are involved in business and in work and then you have the shooters the labor class the labor class works in the fields manages cattles manages cattle manages livestock and crops and they would be the lowest class except for the untouchables and the untouchables are the assured elite the untouchable class and you can see automatically did you see the skin color of the earlier classes was later and now when we take a look at these people their skin color is darker so even among Indians from the lightest skin to the darkest skin there is still this I guess it's a timeless theme isn't it that the darkest among us tend to be enslaved it's seen among the African classes as well that the darker the skin they are the least respected in their societies but here for certain in India the darkest colored people were considered the untouchables these are the people who performed menial labor they were the sewer cleaners they were the people who did the tanning of the led of the leather and while there is evidence to suggest the class system is supported by the Hindu scriptures this is really considered a perversion and in such a way that people from the Brahmin class would consider themselves dirtied if they were walking across the street and if the Sun was setting on the other side and a shadow from the untouchable fell on them they could be punished for that so these are people who have grown up truly in the shadows of their culture unseen and it's a culture with so many people that it mandates that this class of people exists for the existence of the other classes that if someone isn't out there cleaning the sewers doing this sort of untouchable menial labor that no one else would do it so how does the caste system work each space each group occupies a very specific place in a complex hierarchy communities rural communities were arranged on the basis of castes the upper and lower castes lived in segregated colonies the water wells were not shared Brahmins would not accept food or drink from the shoe dress and one could only marry within once caste so this sort of a system bestows all sorts of privilege on the upper class while giving the lower castes all of the work and almost none of the benefits some things never change is the caste system legal in 1950 the concept and banned discrimination on the basis of caste and announced quotas for institutional institutions but this is in 1950s and what you'll see when you go to India is that very little has changed substantially for the people of India it's still the idea that when you have your name your name follows you and that name determines your caste it determines your place in 1989 quotas were extended to include a group called the OBCs the Other Backward Classes which fall between the traditional upper classes and the lowest so this is a commentary that this is a constant conversation that's being held in India about these types of the classes and how to treat them in recent decades there's been a great number of changes where people from classes can in different castes can inter marry but it's still seen as very distasteful among the upper class to marry anyone other than someone who is in the Brahmin class so the Brahmin class still largely keeps to itself to maintain but the other classes may in fact enter marry and this is where it's difficult because the caste system now becomes justified by karma the consequences of your past decisions affect your life and your present state so according to this law you are exactly where you should be and you are receiving exactly what you deserve this is the last bit so thanks for hanging with me are we all okay all right we're going to talk about life-changing quotes from the Hindu scriptures the bhagavad-gita and what I'd like you to do is to think about and compare briefly these quotes with maybe some quotes and scriptures from your own faith love the process without depending on the outcome set a heart upon thy work but never on its reward the idea is that one should do what one does because you love it and because there's a benefit that trans sends reward and when you work only for your own reward you're going to be rewarded with just that reward but if you work for a reward that extends beyond this life into the next that you're roar will be multiplied and given back to you in the next as well dream big this is my absolute favorite we're kept not from our goals we're kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal we set our dreams high and it's not other people standing in our way it's that something easier came along how many things times in life have we said you know I really want to do that yeah something else came up it's not other people who are standing in our way this is what the bhagavad-gita wants us to understand we're standing in our own way because we're lazy we take the easiest way and so instead of choosing the more difficult path we choose the easiest path and then we blame it on other obstacles that got in our way and what the bhagavad-gita says is dream big and move your dream into the present moment to manifest it so if there's something that you want to do damn it quit talking about it and do it that's the whole point we make our own predicaments we create for ourselves our own problems and we stand in our own way in the middle of our dreams we see our dreams off there and what they would say is bring that dream close to you if there's a beautiful woman that you've been wanting to ask I'll stop waiting go and ask her out maybe she'll say no maybe she'll say yes but it's a numbers game right guys know that let go of attachment you came here empty handed and you will leave empty handed if you expect to take anything with you you're mistaken and I presume that's why all of you are on this cruise instead of giving it to your children right yeah there you go God my kids won't see this one but sensory pleasures are short-lived when they disappear from you they can cause suffering it's okay to have pleasures it's okay to have good things in your life but when we hold on to them and we make them everything we end up causing ourselves pain when we lose them be careful when you follow the masses sometimes the M is silent wait that's not from the book that's not from Hinduism I'm sorry I don't know where that one got it everything happens for a reason whatever happened was good whatever is happening is good whatever will happen will also be good there's nothing more to be done there's nothing more to be said it is always now the future never ever happens because we only live and exist in the present moment so to expect or to look forward to something in the future is to plan for something that will never come because we only live in the present moment so to embrace and to find the beauty and the joy and the present we are all one I'm gonna read this just so that I can sink in and hopefully at the end you'll see the similarity the man who sees me and everything and everything within me will not be lost to me nor will I ever be lost to him he who is rooted in oneness realizes that I am in every being wherever he goes he remains in me when he sees all being as equal in suffering or in joy because they are like himself that man has grown perfect in yoga we are happiest and we are at our best when we see the inherent goodness in all creatures and all beings every other person essentially wants to be treated like you and so the golden rule has as its predecessor 2,000 years prior in the Vedas we are all one give something without expecting something in return a gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place and when we expect nothing in return you are what you think you are we behold what we are and we are what we behold and this is similar to you are what you think you are if you believe you're successful you are if you believe you're happy you are and if you believe you're miserable you damn well are the closing thought what we believe determines how we act if we believe that we are all equal we will work together to strive for equality but if we believe that we're better than another we subjugate others or we live quietly and silently accepting the status quo that inevitably ends in our advantage our world today accurately flex what we believe for better or for worse and so I closed today was saying be the change you want to see in the world this is from Mahatma Gandhi but I say to each one of you make the changes in your life and be that change for the world thank you all very much for your taking the time for me today thank you [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Patrick Goodness

Views: 42,916

Rating: 4.3153391 out of 5

Keywords: World religions, lecture series, Comparative religions, Patrick Goodness

Id: 9E6sQqqW6rI

Length: 61min 53sec (3713 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 18 2018