Hinduism is a religion practiced by more than 80% of the population. Temples and sacred altars are obligatory attributes of any city in the country. The organization of space in Hindu temples is of particular importance. Believers must reach a higher state of consciousness in order to communicate with their gods. The location of each room, its proportions and colors, should express love for the absolute. Architecture is designed to capture the vital forces and direct them towards the statue of the holy spirit. In order to maintain this delicate balance and not disturb this mysterious harmony, often, representatives of another religion (non-Hindus) are not allowed to enter the temples. The role of a priest, mostly a brahmin, is to serve in the temple. His duties include the preservation and transmission of sacred texts, culture and everything that is dear to people.
Hindu religion refers to the appearance on the territory of India of the first Aryan tribes who came here about 4 thousand years ago. Hinduism is not only a religious cult, but also a philosophy of the life path. The religion of Hinduism is exceptionally rich in its symbolism.
Hindus worship over 10,000 gods, who are similar to people - also get married and have children. The main god is brahma he is the creator of the world. Then follow Vishnu(guardian) and Shiva(destroyer). Brahma, one of the three highest gods of Hinduism, symbolizes the idea of creating the world. He is often depicted sitting on a lotus flower, the stem of which grows from the belly of the god Vishnu. Shiva can be recognized by the weapon in his hands, he is often depicted with a sword or a trident.
Two fundamental Hindu principles are dharma and karma. Dharma is the universal law of the reincarnation of life and death, which determines the place of man in the universe. Karma is the law of action, according to which, all the actions of a person will reverberate in his afterlife. It is believed that the conditions of a person's life are determined by his past. To get out of this vicious circle, a person must strive for a virtuous life. This kind of spirituality is still influential in India today. This belief, which has deep roots, has remained unchanged for centuries.
HINDUISM
Hinduism is the oldest national religion of India. According to the number of adherents, it is one of the most widespread religions in the world. Hindus make up approximately 83% of the country's population. It is also common in other countries of South and Southeast Asia: Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Followers of Hinduism (migrants from India) live in Indonesia (Bali), on the islands of Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, South Africa and some other places.
By the end of this century, Hinduism has transcended national and regional boundaries. It became popular in a number of countries in Europe and America, claiming to be recognized as one of the world religions (along with Buddhism, Christianity and Islam).
In India, numerous religions and beliefs are represented, including all the world's, however, it is predominantly a country of Hinduism. It was around him that the cultural, political and social unity of the country was built in all ages.
As a religious phenomenon, Hinduism is complex and controversial. The very definition of the term is a considerable historical and cultural problem. Until now, there is no satisfactory definition and even explanation of what belongs to Hinduism proper, what are the content and boundaries of this concept.
Both Western and Indian scholars have written about the impossibility of giving a precise definition of this religion. "Hinduism as a faith is vague, amorphous, multifaceted, everyone understands it in their own way. It is difficult to define it or even say definitely whether it can be called a religion in the usual sense of the word. In its current form and even in the past, it covers many beliefs and religious rites, from the highest to the lowest, often opposing or contradicting each other," Jawaharlal Nehru wrote about Hinduism in his book The Discovery of India.
There are two most common points of view regarding the time of occurrence of the term "Hinduism". According to one of them, it appeared during the formation of religious and philosophical systems - darshans and later texts - shastras in the 10th-14th centuries, when opposition to Buddhism, and then to Islam, became a conscious ideological fact. Those who hold a different point of view argue that the word "Hinduism" was introduced by Europeans as a religious term in the 19th century. In this sense, Hinduism (Skt. - indumat, indusamaya; hindi - hindu dharma, sanatana dharma) is usually understood as a set of religious, mythological, philosophical, legal and ethical ideas, formally most often associated with the cults of the main Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu .
Historically, the term "Hinduism" means beliefs that originated in India in ancient times and, changing in some features, have survived to this day.
The essence of Hinduism is not limited to its religious and ideological content. An organic, integral part of it is a number of social institutions, legal norms, social institutions, cultural phenomena. All this diversity is superimposed by a complex social hierarchical structure and numerous local features, since adherents of Hinduism belong to different social strata and live in different geographical regions.
Such a synthesis of social organization, ritual and magical activity, theological views, mythological symbols and philosophical systems has been developing for more than one millennium in various natural and historical conditions, developing into a complex complex consisting of many interpenetrating layers.
It is not surprising that with such a historical development, Hinduism is distinguished by extreme polymorphism, which is expressively illustrated, for example, by its pantheon, numbering more than one thousand divine, semi-divine and demonic characters with diverse and colorful features. Among them, along with common Indian deities important for each region, there are many secondary, often hybrid figures, and many of them duplicate each other. In terms of the degree to which the idea of a deity is endowed with an independent essence, the characters of the Hindu pantheon form a wide range, from the spirits of tribal beliefs to the extremely abstract images of gods in theological treatises, personifying absolute and impersonal reality.
An equally complex, colorful and confusing picture is presented by other components, concepts and doctrines of Hinduism, on which the social organization of certain Hindu communities is based, as well as practical morality, labor and economic activity of the Hindus. Hinduism permeates all spheres of life of its adherent - ideological, social, legal, behavioral. In this sense, it is not only and not so much a religion, but a way of life and holistic behavior, which may have its own specific spiritual practice.
These characteristics show that Hinduism does not fit into the usual stereotypes developed by the Judeo-Christian systems. First of all, it is not a single confessional system, the peculiar features of which can be easily enumerated and thereby reveal its specificity. Hinduism is a conglomeration of a wide variety of ideas, currents, sects and directions, and all of them coexist within a single holistic entity and are not in radical contradiction with the main worldview core. In Hinduism, there are not and cannot be heretical forms (in the Christian sense of the term) that oppose the true orthodox faith. There are no doctrinal heresies in it either, since there is no clearly fixed single central doctrine. Every form and every cult has a certain ethical value. An adherent of Hinduism can choose among the many objects of worship and many ways of honoring him, that which is psychophysiologically closest to him. This is another striking feature of Hinduism: as a religious worldview, pluralism is inherent in it. It manifests itself not only in spiritual differentiations, but also in social (caste system), as well as in spatial and temporal (many local traditions; special rites for each age). Various pluralistic characteristics nevertheless exist in the general mainstream of traditional culture and are linked into a single whole by common worldview attitudes and principles of life, which are obligatory for most Hindus.
The polytheistic character of Hinduism was reflected not only in the variety of cults, objects of worship, the abundance of mythological and ritual complexes, but also in the very special relationship of Hinduism to other cults. He, like quicksand, absorbed and integrated them, thus providing himself with a wide distribution in space and time, practical unity and exceptional stability. Another feature of religion, its extreme tolerance, is connected with this property.
Hinduism appears logically unorganized and unsystematic only in terms of the usual European standards. From the point of view of traditional Indian culture, of which he is the spokesman, he is characterized by a systemic nature of a very special kind, connected with the mythological basis and preserving the flavor of the archaic era. Hinduism, thus, can be interpreted as a system of signs and symbols of culture, carrying a tradition from ancient times, continuing and developing it in other historical conditions. Hinduism, as it were, preserved in itself the principles of organization of archaic culture with its main emphasis on the ritual and magical side. This feature of Hinduism manifested itself, in particular, in its bright playful beginning.
For this reason, Hinduism still retains an inextricable link with the mythopoetic and folklore tradition, and even philosophy in Hinduism forms a combination with mythology that is closer to organic unity than to compromise.
The symbols of Hinduism are ambiguous, they allow for many shades and give room for different interpretations. As a result, the religious tradition is flexibly and organically associated with traditional norms of behavior, ethics, as well as with economic, social and political institutions.
In Hinduism, there was and is no church or any other single centralized organization, either on an all-India or even on a local scale. Brahmins or members of other castes who perform priestly duties have lived and live an ordinary life in the world, run a household and have a family, if they do not take any special vows. Their role is not identical to the role of Christian priests, for whom ordination to the dignity is obligatory. Brahmins perform their priestly duties by the right of the "twice-born", that is, by the right of belonging to a certain higher caste. In South India, in the Dravidian-speaking area, members of other, non-Brahmin castes may also perform priestly functions. In the role of priests and mentors of kings, individuals, families, clans and sects, acharyas and gurus (teachers, mentors) can also act. But all of them, neither in the past nor now, are organizationally connected. There is not even a remote semblance of a church hierarchy in Hinduism. Hindu temples have always existed autonomously, while communities, sects and other associations acted independently. Organizational principles, bodies or higher spiritual hierarchs and authorities that are common and uniform for all are unknown to Hinduism. All-Indian councils have never been convened to codify the doctrine and develop common guidelines, rules of conduct, etc. In the foreground in Hinduism, there has been and remains the observance of ritual and behavioral norms sanctioned by myths and confirmed by authoritative sacred texts.
Proselytism is also completely absent in Hinduism: one cannot become a Hindu, one can only be born one.
Existing for more than four millennia and in contact with different cultures, traditions and religions during this period, Hinduism demonstrates extraordinary vitality, suppleness and resourcefulness, the ability to combine the incompatible and the ability to take on the most bizarre forms. He has an amazing ability to constantly give rise to new sects and currents and, as it were, to be reborn from himself.
For European and Western understanding in general, Hinduism remains largely alien and incomprehensible. For most people who first get to know him, he appears as a huge and chaotic labyrinth of buildings that are piled one on top of the other in the most bizarre way.
It is best to start your acquaintance with Hinduism from its origins. The genesis of the earliest stage of Hinduism, as well as of all Indian culture, is associated with the proto-Indian civilization and with the relics of other, pre-Aryan, cultures, which by the time the Aryans came to India were at different stages of evolution.
Proto-Indian civilization was one of the major links in the chain of early agricultural cultures (4th-3rd millennium BC), which formed the so-called "fertile crescent". Created by the Dravidian-speaking population, it was a highly developed urban-type civilization with a complex religious and mythological system of beliefs, typical of the entire early agricultural zone, but at the same time distinguished by a bright local color.
R. N. Dandekar and other Indian and Western religious scholars see the ancient origins of Hinduism in the religious views and mythological complexes of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro and characterize them as proto-Hinduism. So, in the image of the many-faced horned god on the throne, they see a distant image of the proto-Shiva and elevate to his cult the whole range of ideas associated with yogic practice and asceticism. His divine wife, the buffalo goddess, the supreme mistress and the Great Mother, was reflected in the subsequent tradition in numerous cults of mother goddesses, which also absorbed local features. The distant predecessor of the Hindu "young god" was, in all likelihood, a Harappan mythological figure with a spear, called the proto-Skanda. Cults of trees and animals, sacred rivers and stones, snakes and lunar constellations, the practice of ritual sacrifices and ablutions - all this is attested in the deep archaic and has been preserved up to the present day.
Archaic elements more than once "surfaced" from prehistoric depths and came to the surface in various cults, sects and directions, demonstrating another expressive feature of Hinduism: the old is not canceled by the new, but continues to live in it.
Approximately from the middle of the II millennium BC. e. through the mountain passes in the north-west of Hindustan, the warlike nomadic tribes of the Aryans began to invade, speaking the ancient language of the Indo-European family - the predecessor of Sanskrit. An inevitable consequence of the migration of the Aryans to India and their advance into the depths of it was the interaction of cultures. It took place in different spheres of life and with varying degrees of intensity, but one of the main arenas of contact was religion.
With the Aryans, a completely different world of religious beliefs, ideas and mythical characters invaded India. Aryans own the earliest of the monuments of ancient Indian literature that have come down to us (even earlier proto-Indian texts are only brief inscriptions on seals, vessels and other archaeological objects). These monuments are usually united under the general name of the Vedic literature or the Vedic canon. The texts included in it are heterogeneous not only in time of creation, but also in structure, semantic orientation, and function in culture. Nevertheless, they represent a single whole, since in Hinduism they have always served as an authoritative sacred text.
Monuments of the Vedic canon are classified on various grounds. The most common is a two-term classification, dividing ancient Indian texts into two groups: shruti (literally, heard) and smriti (literally, memorized). The whole set of actually canonical sacred texts (shruti) is opposed to additional texts (smriti).
The Shruti tradition is opened by four Vedas: Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. They are collections (samhitas) of hymns, ritual chants, sacrificial formulas and magic spells, that is, texts that differ in volume, composition, time of creation and role in the ritual practice of sacrifices. The first three Vedas refer to "sacred knowledge". They capture the entire body of knowledge of the ancient Aryans about the world around them and the place of man in it. Adjacent to the Vedas is a whole class of texts based on them and developing their individual aspects: the Brahmins, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.
Each Veda-samhita has its own brahmanas. They contain commentaries by learned Rshualist Brahmins, which explain the essence and origin of the Vedic rituals, the rules for their performance, their interpretation, etc. The elements of the rituals are built in them into complex classification systems and are shown as identical to the phenomena of the surrounding world (the law of magical equivalence).
Bringing the paradigms of the most ancient rituals and giving them interpretations, the texts of the Brahmins represent an independent stage in the development of religious and philosophical thought in ancient India. The final part of the Brahmins, adjacent to one or another Veda, are Aranyakas. These esoteric texts were apparently intended for study by forest hermits or people who periodically retired to the forest to perform special rites. They contain symbolic and metaphorical explanations for rituals and constitute a transitional step between the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. Thus, the Aranyakas adjoin the Brahmins, and they end with the Upanishads - texts of a philosophical and speculative orientation.
The Vedic corpus of texts is closed by an extensive circle of auxiliary works not belonging to shruti, called vedanga (members of the Vedas): phonetics (shiksha), prosody (chhandas), grammar (vyakarana), etymology (nirukta), ritual (kalpa), astronomy (jyotisha).
The second tradition, smriti (which includes the Vedangas), differs from the first first of all semantically, and only then - chronologically. The most extensive section among them is the Kalpasutras, which continued and developed in detail the ritual prescriptions of the Brahminical texts. Some of them are devoted to solemn public ceremonies (shrauta-sutras), the other - to everyday household rituals (grhya-sutras). The latter are adjoined by dharma-sutras and dharma-shastras - monuments of law.
Subsequently, independent branches of sciences (shastras) developed from the Vedangas. The most impressive among them are the sciences of language. Their special development was stimulated by the tasks of careful preservation of sacred texts in the oral priestly tradition.
The Smriti tradition also includes epics and Puranas.
The religious and mythological views of the inhabitants of the proto-Indian cities and the Vedic Aryans formed that deep and solid foundation on which the entire grandiose building of Hinduism was built. Period from III-I I millennium BC. e. according to the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. can therefore rightfully be considered formative. Already at that time, one can attest to the existence of those main components from which the worldview system of Hinduism subsequently developed.
The lowest layer is formed by the most ancient beliefs and tribal cults (the cult of ancestors, leaders, family and tribal patrons, funeral and agrarian cults), as well as magical and shamanistic ideas. At the same time, cults of deities associated with agriculture (dying and resurrecting gods, patrons of fertility, deities of thunderstorms, rain, earth, and vegetation) were established. The vast majority of these beliefs, the cults of deities in a transformed form, have survived to this day.
The cult of ancestors still occupies one of the leading places in Hinduism. The idea of reincarnation is connected with funeral rites - one of the main dogmas of dogma. Shamanic cults were plastically and subtly integrated into some Hindu trends (Shaivism, Tantrism). Magic has been and remains one of the most essential parts of Hinduism. For the majority of believers, one of the most important aspects of religion lies precisely in the magical significance of rituals that affect everyday everyday needs. In emergency cases (crop failure, epidemic, famine, drought, fire, loss of livestock, etc.), the Hindus turn primarily to magical means of influencing nature.
In the Vedic texts, the dominant is the religious-mythological system of views with increased and close attention to cosmogony. It could not be otherwise: a person of a traditional archaic society saw and felt himself inextricably linked with the cosmos, with cosmic rhythms, in contrast to modern man, who is primarily associated with history.
The Rigveda offers several variants of cosmogonic schemes. Some of them are connected with the concept of the first embryo - the Golden Egg, which arose in the primordial ocean and in which the gods and prototypes of all living beings were enclosed. This idea was further developed in the Brahminical texts, and the general scheme was inherited by other texts and was elaborated in the cosmogonic parts of the Puranas.
A different answer to the question about the origin of the world was given by the hymn to Purusha. He painted a picture of the creation of the world from the body of some primordial being, the first man. The image of Purusha also firmly entered Hinduism and was picked up by the Upanishads and religious and philosophical systems. Over time, he lost his anthropomorphic features and turned into an abstract symbol of the original substance.
Vedic cosmogony operated with the concepts and terms "yajna" (sacrifice), "tapas" (heat, heat), "maya" (illusion), etc. The idea of sacrifice, central to the Vedic texts, outlived the Vedic time for a long time. In subsequent Vedic ritualism, she was assigned a dominant position among all sacred actions, and her connection with the world-creation and cosmogonic symbolism were preserved. Tapas, associated with heat and warmth and associated with sunlight, later became identified with the ascetic's willpower and denoted one of the creative principles. Maya, the magical power that the Vedic god Indra used in duels with demons, in subsequent texts began to denote a cosmic illusion, with the help of which the primordial spiritual principle creates the material world. The cardinal idea of the Vedic worldview remained to exist in Hinduism: the subordination of people, gods and the whole world to the universal impersonal force. It expressed itself most fully in the idea of karma.
Finally, from the Vedic mythology, superimposed on the pre-Aryan basis, the entire subsequent mythology of Hinduism grew, which retained a successive connection with its deep sources. Throughout the foreseeable course of its existence, Hinduism has remained a mythological religion with a complex pantheon of gods and no less complex mythological and ritual complexes. Mythology still penetrates into all areas of traditional culture and all forms of knowledge of the world. Many ancient mythological models and symbols retain their significance in modern India.
Thus, the entire subsequent culture of India was formed around Hinduism, and it reflected and continued the ancient worldview of the Vedas.
The next period (approximately from the 8th-6th centuries BC to the 4th century BC) was the era of the Upanishads. They entered as an essential part of the system of Brahmanism and marked the post-Vedic period in the development of religious and philosophical thought. The Upanishads, totaling over 200, were created over a long period and constituted the final part of the Vedas - Vedanta ("the end of the Vedas") - a name later transferred to the philosophical school, the main source of which they were.
Unlike the Vedas, the attention of the Upanishads to ritual rituals is minimized, and mythology serves only as a starting point for philosophical speculation.
The most ancient and authoritative Upanishads are Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya (VIII-VI centuries BC). The central concepts of the Upanishads are Brahman and Atman. They also develop ideas about Purusha, dharma, karma, samsara, expound the doctrine of two paths (the path of the gods and the path of the ancestors), formulate the ultimate goal of human existence in a new way. The Upanishads contain elements of the doctrine of the three gunas, prakriti, prana and its varieties. All concepts serve not only as an object of abstract speculation, but also as a starting point for quite specific discussions about the phenomena of the surrounding world, their origin and interconnection. The texts of the Upanishads also contain various cosmogonic theories. They do not give a single cosmogonic legend or scheme, repeating mainly variations on the themes of the Vedic hymns and continuing to develop the ideas of self-existing creativity and its various manifestations.
The presentation of the natural-philosophical concepts of the Upanishads is not an end in itself. They are given mainly in order to lead the adept to comprehend this or that idea expressed by the teacher in instruction to the student. Unlike the Vedas, the emphasis here is not on cosmic plots and their consistency, but on their symbolic rethinking.
Of great interest are the views of the Upanishads on the physiological and psychological activity of man, on his functions, abilities, state of the human psyche and the whole organism. The texts also give programs of proper behavior and proclaim certain ethical norms, and ethical views are in close connection with cosmological, physiological and psychological teachings.
The Upanishads thus demonstrate the rich complex of philosophical ideas that have been the fruit of the creativity of many sages over several epochs. It is in the Upanishads that the origins of most of the later philosophical teachings of Hinduism lie.
The religious and mythological concepts of the Upanishads originate in ancient mythological and ritual representations, but develop them on a different level. Thus the Upanishads made a radical revolution in the development of archaic magico-ontological traditions.
The texts related to the smriti tradition reflect the next important period in the development of Hinduism. Conventionally, it can be called epic and classic. In the general chronological framework (IV century BC - VI century AD), it approximately coincides with the period of the final development of northern India by the Indo-Aryans. By this time, the Indo-Aryan culture had spread over a large area and came into contact with local cultures.
Among the smriti texts, some of the Puranas, the epic works of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and some of the dharmashastras received the greatest popularity and distribution among the Hindus. Of the latter, perhaps the most important for most adherents of Hinduism were and remain the "Laws of Manu" ("Manu-smriti", or "Manava dharma shastra") - a collection of laws on righteous behavior.
The Hindu standard of conduct was associated with four stages of life (varna-ashrama-dharma): disciple, householder, hermit and ascetic. Traditionally, he belonged to the conservative aspects of human life and constituted one of the distinctive and striking features of Hinduism.
The doctrine of the four ashrams correlated with four life goals or principles: dharma (moral duty), artha (activities aimed at achieving material well-being), kama (love, enjoyment) and moksha (spiritual liberation from the bonds of being). For each period of life, not only a special program of behavior and activities was proposed, but also a preferred circle of reading: for the student - the Vedas, for the householder - the Brahmins, for the hermit - the Aranyakas, for the ascetic - the Upanishads.
The transition from one period of life to another was marked by special rites. The most important among them was the rite of passage - upanayana, which marked the entry of the Hindu into a socially active phase of life.
The ritualistic character marked the whole way of life of the Hindu in traditional society. Ritual was the most important "instrument" that included a person in society. It was also one of the most effective ways of socio-cultural regulation of behavior, an emotional and psycho-regulatory mechanism. The Hindu fell into a dense network of rituals even before his birth, and was far from being freed from it immediately, even after his physiological death.
Birth and death in Hinduism were not considered at all as the limits of individual existence. The correct growth and formation of a person, according to Hindu principles, is not only and not so much a physiological as a mystical process and therefore requires constant sanctification. It is achieved through a system of sanskaras - rituals of the life cycle.
The meaning and significance of sanskaras will become clearer if we recall the worldview idea expressed in ancient Indian texts: a person is a sacrificial vessel, his life is a closed cycle of sacrifices, and sanskaras are purifying actions that consistently purify him before the last sacrifice - death.
In different Hindu texts, a different number of sanskaras is called, from 10 to 48. Their main set is usually reduced to 12-18. The traditional order of presentation is from the wedding and the conception of a child following it to the funeral rites.
True knowledge of the stages of human life and the obligatory adherence to prescribed behavioral standards were seen as a guaranteed path to the highest goal - breaking the chains of endless births and deaths.
The specificity of the perception of a person in Hinduism lies in the fact that he is considered not as a separate individuality, but as a special form of existence of a thinking being in the earthly world, and this form is subject to general hierarchical laws, due to which it arises, develops and ceases to exist as a result of actions, done in the right order and in the right way. This perception of a person determined specific ethical principles in Hinduism.
In their most general form, they boil down to the following. A Hindu from birth has karma - a certain energy potential and destiny, which he must follow as a member of his family, clan, caste, village and, finally, the country. This is his religious duty - dharma, and he will best fulfill it if he follows the existing ritual scenario and the rules of the four ashrams.
The sociocultural space in which a Hindu goes through all the stages of his life path is determined not only by the traditional Hindu ideology, but also by the traditional social structure of society. Each person is deeply integrated in a kindred, clan, caste community and cannot fully exist outside of it.
Hinduism introduced a high degree of ritualization into the caste system as well. Each caste and, accordingly, each of its members has a certain ritual status - a place traditionally recognized for the caste (it is determined primarily by the sacred opposition "pure / impure").
Returning to the smriti tradition, it is important to note the special place of the Puranas and the epic in it. In fact, they are an encyclopedic description of different aspects of life, shown through the prism of the main principles of Hinduism.
The Puranic codes imprint the traditional ideas about the origin and development of the world - from ancient cosmogonic myths to the facts of real history. They also describe the deeds of the gods, the establishment of cult practices, lists of temples and places of pilgrimage, astronomical, geographical and other knowledge, as well as behavioral and social prescriptions addressed to members of different age groups and social statuses.
The epic works "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" are unique in many respects: in the composition of the monuments, in the history of their creation and existence, in their subsequent fate. They are revered in India as sacred books. The epos greatly contributed to the formation of the national cultural tradition. It was not without his influence that the further development of the religious and philosophical principles and ideals of Hinduism took place.
The epic existed in an environment of authoritative sacred texts, and their influence could not affect it. He remains faithful to the Vedic cosmogony, but in many parts it has been superseded by the Puranic. The epic texts include mythological fragments, philosophical and ethical doctrines, closely related primarily to the doctrine of karma. It reveals the postulates of orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, and also mentions unorthodox ones (Lokayata, Buddhism).
The Mahabharata includes the Bhagavad Gita, a key text for understanding Hinduism. It is sustained in the traditional form and is an instruction in the form of a conversation between Krishna (the great god Vishnu is hidden behind his charioteer appearance) and Arjuna (one of the main epic heroes).
"The Bhagavad Gita for the first time introduced the theme of love into Hinduism as the main link between God and his adept. She also proclaimed love and boundless devotion to the deity as a way of salvation from the hardships of being, giving him preference over the path of disinterested action (karma-marga), and before the path of knowledge, i.e. philosophical comprehension of the truth (jnana-marga), and before yoga.
The Puranas and the epic testify to the changes that the Vedic-Brahmin tradition had undergone by that time. The Vedas still retained the status of the most authoritative texts, but were the property of only a narrow circle of educated priests. Brahmins themselves often interpreted them metaphorically in the spirit of new teachings. Unlike brahminical texts, epics, puranas, and dharmic texts could and did reach a wide audience, including members of the lower castes and women.
In the era of the Guptas (4th-6th centuries), Hinduism turned into a powerful religious movement, which had an extremely wide cultural and ethnic base. Despite the blows dealt to Hinduism by the Muslim invasion and rival Buddhism, he persevered and won an impressive victory over them. Islam remained in existence in India, forming in some regions a kind of synthesis with Hinduism, while Buddhism was almost completely driven out of India by the end of the ancient period, having had a certain influence on Hinduism. The latter occupied a strong dominant position, having established itself as the state religion, and has not given up to this day.
In the clash and confrontation with Islam and Buddhism, Hinduism once again showed its characteristic features - extraordinary flexibility, openness and tolerance. He absorbed both the religious traditions brought by the conquerors and local cults, and recognized the new deities as incarnations or manifestations of his ancient gods. Thus, not only pre-Aryan deities, but also Muslim and Christian beliefs and cults, and with them new strata of the population, were drawn into his sphere.
Hinduism of that period was able to oppose the closed and overly complicated ritualism of the Brahmins and the abstract-speculative approach of the Buddhists and late Vedic thinkers with its new democratic form - bhakti, which presupposes, first of all, emotional devotion to a deity who is ready in return to bestow grace and deliver from the hardships of life and the fear of death.
The main objects of devotional worship and at the same time the central deities of Hinduism were three gods (trimurti): Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, but the first soon faded into the background, retaining a negligible number of adherents.
Each of the supreme gods of Hinduism - both Shiva and Vishnu - had origins in ancient times and absorbed a number of images and ideas that were included in the general system of the cult either as different manifestations (Shiva) or as avatars or vyuhas (Vishnu).
The emotional side of religion has become dominant. The change in emphasis was associated with a change in socio-economic relations that took place in the early Middle Ages (frequent conflicts between powerful kingdoms, the destruction of former social structures, and with them the former ethical norms, the instability of many significant values). All the social realities of that time contained the prerequisites for the formation of bhakti as an ideological trend. The earliest evidence of it dates back to the 6th-8th centuries. and come from the Dravidian south. In other parts of India, similar currents arose later, but in their essential features they show complete similarity.
Among the various sects, currents and trends that at different times originated in the bosom of Hinduism, bhakti seems to be the most widespread geographically and ethnically and the least organized socially. This is a long stage in the development of Hinduism. The "explosion" of temple construction and the establishment of regular temple worship, which the Vedic cult did not know, is associated with it. Temples became places of pilgrimage; rituals and festivities were performed in them, temple households were formed.
An important aspect of cult practice was hymn creation, therefore, an extensive corpus of texts in local languages is associated with bhakti. Many of these works are among the vivid and expressive monuments of religious poetry. And although the poetry of bhakti was predominantly cult and in the center of it was the intimate side of worship, nevertheless, many general philosophical and theological ideas are expressed in it. Most of them arose in connection with the development of Vedantism in Indian philosophy.
An essential factor in the Hindu ideology was Tantrism, associated in its origins with the ancient cult of the Great Mother Goddess (Devi). This life-giving mythological image has always influenced the non-Brahmin masses of the population and was popular in many parts of India, especially in Bengal and the Dravidian south. The mother goddess had a noticeable influence on the Sanskrit-speaking tradition during the period of the formation of the Puranic codes, into which Tantric ideas merged in a wide stream.
The goddess entered the official Hindu pantheon as the wife of Shiva. Together with her, ideas about shakti as the energy of God and the true basis of his power also joined his cult. In the teachings of Shaktism, she becomes the mother of the world and the personification of the feminine, indisputably dominating her divine spouse. Like Shiva and Vishnu, the goddess has her devoted devotees who use a special ritual technique to achieve final liberation.
The system of Hinduism also includes six philosophical teachings-darshan, the theoretical formulation of which took place in the first centuries of the new era or even earlier: nyaya and vaisheshika, sankhya and yoga, vedanta and mimamsa. They pursued different goals, but were considered as equally effective ways to achieve the ultimate goal - liberation from the cycle of samsara. Along with the six orthodox, there were also non-orthodox (i.e., not recognizing the authority of the Vedas) directions: ajivika and lokayata.
The basis for various philosophical views was laid in antiquity, and all subsequent activity of philosophers was reduced to the development of these ancient ideas. Unlike European thinkers who criticized and rejected their predecessors, Indian philosophers were primarily concerned with strengthening the arguments of the ancient teachers and developing their system in one aspect or another. Therefore, the religious and philosophical systems of Hinduism are successively connected with the ancient sources of thought set forth in the sutras, and do not completely outlive mythological syncretism. Subsequent philosophical works were commentaries on the source sutras; they, in turn, were commented on by their followers, and so on.
The formation and development of philosophical systems took place in stormy public disputes, which were a striking feature of ancient and medieval India. The struggle of ideas, which was constantly going on and sometimes reached a dramatic intensity, was reflected in the style of philosophical works, setting out different points of view, arguments and counter-arguments.
It is legitimate to begin the modern period in the development of Hinduism from the 18th-19th centuries, when its revival began in the activities of reformist and educational organizations, primarily Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj. It took place under the strong influence of European colonization and was brought to life by a number of reasons (the clash of traditional Indian culture with Western European civilization, new socio-economic and political relations, complex ethnic processes, etc.).
Being a flexible worldview system, Hinduism has once again adapted itself to changing conditions. Rammohan Roy, Keshobchondro Sen, Dayananda Saraswati, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh and other prominent enlighteners not only revised the conceptual foundations of Hinduism, but also tried to modernize it, linking it with the development of the national idea.
Hinduism retains a strong position at the present time, despite a noticeable simplification of ritual and cult practice in everyday urban life, a change in the role and status of the Brahmin class, and the destruction of some traditional values of religious life.
In certain sections of modern society, God-seeking tendencies are observed, which are expressed in attempts to create a new universal religion that reconciles all contradictions. They are marked by a critical attitude towards traditional Hinduism, but most of the followers of the new religion belong to the Hindu community.
The roots of the Hindu worldview still remain alive and strong. Moreover, since the second half of the 70s. 20th century there is a rise of a new religious wave in Hinduism. New places of worship are erected, mass pilgrimages are made, and Hindu festivals are held; Numerous books on Hinduism are published. New gurus who declare themselves the incarnation of this or that deity are very popular. In the appeals of the leaders of modern Hindu organizations, the ideas of the spiritual community of religions and Hindu messianism, expressed at one time by Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Mahatma Gandhi, and others, once again sound. Having existed for several millennia, Hinduism successfully adapts to modern conditions. As already noted, the "export" of Hinduism to the countries of the West, where it began to actively manifest itself in religious life, is increasing.
Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism: Dictionary. - M.: Republic. M. F. Albedil, A. M. Dubyansky. 1996 .
Name: Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma)
Number of followers: 1 billion
Country of origin: India
Time of occurrence: 7th century BC e.
Main sacred texts: Veda
Hinduism is a set of religious traditions and philosophical schools that arose in the Indian subcontinent and have common features.
The historical name of Hinduism in Sanskrit is sanatana-dharma, which means "eternal religion", "eternal path" or "eternal law".
Hinduism has its roots in the Vedic, Harappan and Dravidian civilizations, which is why it is called the oldest religion in the world. Hinduism did not have its founder, it lacks a single system of beliefs and a common doctrine. Hinduism is a family of diverse religious traditions, philosophies and beliefs based on monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism and even atheism. Religious positions such as dharma (divine law), karma, samsara (wheel of rebirth), maya (illusion of the external world), moksha (liberation from illusion and rebirth) and yoga (merging with the divine) can be recognized as typical for Hinduism.
There are a large number of scriptures in Hinduism, which fall into two main categories: shruti and smriti. Important Hindu texts are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita and the Agamas.
Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism is practiced by more than 1 billion people, of which about 950 million live in India and Nepal.
In the second half of the 20th century, Hinduism spread beyond India, crossed national borders and acquired many followers around the world. Ideas such as karma, yoga, and vegetarianism became widespread and commonplace. According to modern research, the basis of Hinduism was the religious beliefs of the ancient Aryans, who brought them from north to south, which explains the multiple parallels in the scriptures of the ancient Slavs, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism.
Etymology of the word Hinduism
The term "Hinduism" arose on the basis of the word "Hindu" - the Persian version of the Sanskrit name for the river Sindhu (Indus). So in the Persian language they called people who lived across the Indus River. In Arabic, the term "al-hind" still refers to the inhabitants of modern India. At the end of the 18th century, the British called "Hindus" the inhabitants of northwestern India. Later, the word "Hindu" began to be applied to any resident of India who was not a Muslim, Jain, or. Under it began to understand a wide range of religious views and practices. The term "Hinduism" itself appeared around 1830 as a result of adding the suffix "ism" to the word "Hindu" in order to designate the culture and religion of the Varna Brahmins. Subsequently, this concept was adopted by the Indians in the course of their struggle for independence.
Although the term "Hindu" in its modern sense originated in the 19th century, it is also found in Sanskrit and Bengali texts of the 16th and 18th centuries (for example, in the Hare Krishna text Chaitanya Charitamrita). In the texts of the Bengali tradition, the term "Hindu" is used together with the term dharma. The concept of "dharma of the Hindus" was used to denote the ritual practice of the "Hindus" and with the aim of opposing it to the religion of the "foreigners".
1) Reincarnation of souls (samsara)
The reincarnation of souls is perhaps the most attractive idea of Hinduism, as this idea conquers the fear of death.
If after death your soul moves to another body, young, beautiful, full of energy, and a new life awaits you, perhaps more interesting and happy, then why should you be afraid of death?
“Just as a person, throwing off his old clothes, puts on new ones, so the soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old and useless.”
(Bhagavad-gita, 2.22)
Christians still have a fear of death, even true believers sometimes have a doubt: “What if there is nothing there?” After all, the existence of God does not guarantee us immortality: “What if He doesn’t need us there?”
This is confirmed by the fact that even the most righteous people, being already very old and sick, still cling to this life, which for them is filled with suffering.
Hindus, with mother's milk, absorb faith in the transmigration of souls and relate to death much easier. In India, people do not mourn the dead people, as in Europe, but on the contrary, they celebrate this event. 
The idea of the transmigration of souls has many supporters, although no one considered them, I think that most people on earth believe in the transmigration of souls.
2) Law of retribution (karma)
Karma(translated from Sanskrit means "deed") is a set all the actions of a person that together determine his future.
“Poverty, sickness, grief, imprisonment and other misfortunes are fruits from the tree of our sins.” (Sri Chanakya Niti-sastra, 14.1)
Hindus believe that a person's future is determined by how he lives in this life and how he lived in his previous incarnations. Every human action has its consequences. If a person does good deeds, then his karma improves, and if he does evil, then his karma worsens.
This is the universal law of life.
Karma is not a punishment for sins or a retribution for virtues. A change in karma is the result of the natural course of events, which are interconnected by a cause-and-effect relationship: each human action gives rise to its own consequences. At every moment of life, we have a choice of what to do, good or evil, and by exercising this free choice, we create our future.
The idea of karma is also very attractive, because it answers the most difficult questions that believers ask themselves:
Why does the all-good God allow so much evil into our world?
Why do maniacs torture and kill small children?
Why do pious people live worse than prostitutes and thieves?
Why do innocent people die from terrorist explosions, from natural disasters and from man-made disasters?
If you accept the law of karma, then all these questions will disappear by themselves, because any misfortune can be explained by karmic consequences.
In addition, the law of karma gives a person hope for justice, because according to this law, a person determines his own fate, each time making a choice between good and evil.
3) Liberation from the chain of rebirth (moksha)
The main goal of Hinduism is to get out of the chain of rebirth.
Note, not a partial work off of karmic debts and, as a result, a more favorable fate in a new incarnation, but a final departure from the world of samsara (translated from Sanskrit means “circle of rebirths”).
Every person, rich or poor, handsome or ugly, having a villa in Nice or homeless living on the street, sooner or later gets a full cup of suffering. Who can avoid old age, illness, loss of loved ones? In India, where many people live in dire poverty, this is especially evident. Therefore, the idea of the termination of earthly existence and the transition to other worlds where there is no suffering has become the central idea of Hinduism.
In Hinduism, the reason for the existence of the soul in the world of samsara is ignorance - a misconception about the laws of the universe. In our world, the human soul is consumed by passions - lust, greed, envy, hatred. And all this gives rise to new suffering, because under the influence of negative feelings we create evil and, thus, worsen karma.
In order to get out of the cycle of birth and death and thus be freed from all suffering, a person must realize his true nature. When the individual human soul realizes its oneness with the source of all that exists (with God), it will find itself in a state of pure spirit, full of knowledge and bliss (nirvana), which defies description.
“Who looks at the world through the eyes of knowledge, and sees the difference between body and soul,
he can find the path leading to liberation from the bondage of the material world and achieve the highest goal.” (Bhagavad-gita, 13.35)
The main way to achieve liberation is Yoga (translated from Sanskrit means "unity, connection, harmony"), which is a combination of various spiritual and physical practices aimed at controlling consciousness. In Hinduism, there are many types of yoga, but you need to start your spiritual path with observance
5 basic principles of moral purity:
1) refusal to use violence,
2) rejection of lies,
3) refusal to steal,
4) abstinence from sensual pleasures,
5) rejection of greed.
4) Polytheism and trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
There are thousands of gods and goddesses in Hinduism, each with their own sphere of influence. For example, (the god with the head of an elephant) brings good luck and promotes success in scientific research, so scientists worship him. is the goddess of wisdom, eloquence and art, and is worshiped by philosophers, poets and artists. She holds a musical instrument in her hands, symbolizing art. - the goddess of destruction, she destroys ignorance and maintains world order. She holds a sword in one hand and a demon's head in the other. In India, there are many temples dedicated to the goddess Kali, she is revered as a demon slayer.
The pantheon of Hindu gods has a complex hierarchical structure. Each god has his own sphere of activity, and all of them are included in a complex system of interactions. In Hinduism, there are many different rituals, including sacrifices, with which the Hindus try to establish personal contact with the deity and get some help from him.
A special place in the Indian pantheon is occupied by the trimurti (Hindu trinity), represented by three gods:
Brahma is the creator of the world, Vishnu is the preserver of the world and Shiva is the destroyer.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are considered different manifestations of the single supreme deity Brahman, which expresses the fundamental principle of all things - absolute reality, containing the entirety of the universe with countless gods and goddesses, who either appear or disappear, following certain time cycles.
Followers of some modern Hindu movements consider Hinduism to be a monotheistic religion, since different deities worshiped by representatives of various Hindu denominations, in fact, are only different hypostases or manifestations of a single spiritual entity - Brahman. At the same time, a person can worship the hypostasis of God that he likes best, if he respects all other forms of worship.
5) The caste structure of society
Unlike other countries, Indian society was originally divided into various social groups - varnas and castes.
There are 4 large social groups - varnas (translated from Sanskrit means "color"):
1) varna of brahmins - the class of priests of the brahmins;
2) varna kshatriyas - the estate of rulers and warriors;
3) vaishya varna - class of artisans and merchants;
4) varna shudras - the class of inferiors and slaves.
People who did not belong to any of the four varnas were considered outcasts and occupied the lowest rung in society.
Castes correspond to a finer division of society into groups according to professional affiliation.
In India, social inequality did not arise simply as a result of the stratification of society into rich and poor. The division of society into varnas is a reflection of the cosmic laws of the universe, described in Rig Veda. According to the philosophy of Hinduism, the level of a person's self-consciousness is determined to a large extent by what varna he belongs to. Thus, social inequality is natural for Hindus, since it follows from the fundamental laws of the universe.
We live in a world where human equality is one of the most important values. It is proclaimed as a moral right and as a law of the state. Now the constitutions of all countries contain a provision on the equality of all citizens among themselves.
However, does this equality really exist?
Look around, someone is driving a Mercedes, and someone is living on the street in a cardboard box. You can say that the homeless person is to blame, it is his own choice - to live on the street - the main thing is that people have the same opportunities. But are there the same opportunities, for example, for the son of an oligarch and a boy from a family of alcoholics? Already at birth, we are very different from each other: one is born smart, beautiful and rich, and the other is stupid, poor and sick - and this largely determines the future fate of a person.
Once I was at a lecture on philosophy at the university. The lecture was given by the head of the department, who taught Marxism-Leninism all his life, preaching "freedom, equality and fraternity." And so he told us: "Sometimes it seems to me that some people live only to serve other people." Don't you feel that way sometimes?
6) The universal law of changing the world (dharma)
In Hinduism, there is a universal law of changing the world - dharma (translated from Sanskrit means "the eternal order of things"). Awareness of this law helps a person to find life harmony. The word dharma in Hinduism also has the meanings of truth and reality, and is often interpreted as a correct understanding of the laws of reality or God as the root cause of reality.
People who live in accordance with the principles of dharma get out of the circle of rebirth faster, so the word dharma is often translated as “right actions” or “duty”. In other words, each person has his own task in life, which he must fulfill. If a person acts in accordance with this task, then his life proceeds normally, otherwise problems arise on his way.
The source of universal law is God, whose attributes are truth, knowledge, and bliss, which is why dharma is often referred to as truth in Hindu texts.
“The king of kings is what dharma is. Therefore, there is nothing higher than dharma.
And the powerless hopes to overcome the strong with the help of dharma,
as if by a king. Truly I tell you, dharma is truth.” (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.14)
This religion is not as widespread as others, but historical data say that about an eighth of all mankind profess this religion. Most of these people live in India.
Historians claim that about 3500 years ago Hinduism began to take root in the territory of modern India and Pakistan. It was at that time that the white-skinned Aryans came from the north west to the valley of the Indus River. What the settlers believed was based on ancient Persian and Babylonian teachings. Their beliefs spread throughout India.
The religious custom of Hindus is that every morning, even before breakfast, you need to wash yourself in the nearest river, and if there is none nearby, then this must be done at home. After that, they go to the temple and sacrifice flowers and food to the local god.
In almost every Hindu house there is a nook or a whole room in order to worship the family god. The most popular can be called Ganesha - the elephant god, who, according to Hindu beliefs, brings prosperity to the house and wisdom to the household. There is a place where such gods as Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Durga and others are considered more popular.
Hindu scriptures
The Vedas are considered the most ancient scriptures. They were composed for several centuries, and over time other scriptures were added to them, such as the “Brahmanas” and “Upanishads” and “Puranas”.
The brahmins contain information on how to properly perform rituals - domestic and public. Also, their meaning is explained very deeply and in detail.
The Upanishads are treatises on the Hindu philosophy of thought and action. Also, these scriptures include the doctrine of the transmigration of souls - metempsychosis, or reincarnation.
The Puranas are long allegorical stories that include myths about gods and goddesses.
Hindus do not believe that life is a chronological sequence of events. They look at life as a universal cycle that constantly repeats itself and in which the history of mankind is not so important.
The older the text, the more authoritative it is.
There is an interesting point connected with the concept of “antiquity” of Indian texts. Some researchers note that the Indians are trying to present the sacred texts of Hinduism as ancient as possible.
The fact is that in the view of the Indians, history is divided into four epochs of long duration - the so-called "yugas": Satya-yuga, Treta-yura, Dvapara-yuga and Kali-yuga. Consciousness of mankind, successively passing through these yugas, slowly but surely degrades.
In the Satyu Yuga, people were generally kind to each other, peace and justice reigned in everything.
At present, the Indians believe, Kali-yuga reigns - dark times, the main content of which is wars, strife, betrayal, sinfulness.
Accordingly, the older the text, the greater the chance that it was written in a more beneficent historical era - for example, in the Satya Yuga.
Note that the desire to “ancientize” texts or their own history is characteristic not only of Indians, but also of other peoples. Probably, only Americans - residents of the USA - being an extremely young nation, do not suffer from a complex of an “ancient” people. They have no homeland (at least as ancient as the peoples of Eurasia). But the Americans did it better: without focusing on the ancient history of the state in which they live, they consider the whole world to be their home.
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