I wrote this article for a website, which may have published it by now, to dispel the ignorance of their two-paragraph definition of Hinduism.<\/p>\n
Hinduism Gerald L. \u201cMoss\u201d \n<\/p>\n There \n<\/p>\n Anthropologically \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n At any \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n Apparently \n<\/p>\n In the \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n Around \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n In \n<\/p>\n Around \n<\/p>\n About \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n Much \n<\/p>\n In the \n<\/p>\n There \n<\/p>\n Moss January <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote this article for a website, which may have published it by now, to dispel the ignorance of their two-paragraph definition of Hinduism. Hinduism In Brief Gerald L. \u201cMoss\u201d Bliss, D.D. There is a paucity of information in the West as to what is the religion called \u201cHinduism\u201d. The truth of the matter is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn Brief<\/font><\/p>\n
\nBliss, D.D.<\/font><\/p>\n
\nis a paucity of information in the West as to what is the religion
\ncalled \u201cHinduism\u201d. The truth of the matter is that it is no
\nsingle religion, but a grouping of religions, all of which originated
\nat different times and locales in what is commonly called the Indian
\nSubcontinent.<\/p>\n
\nspeaking, the earliest two religions of the Bharat Peninsula (as the
\nIndians themselves often refer to their country) were Vaishnavism, as
\nepitomized by the various Vedas and Upanishads, and Shaivism, found
\nin the earliest texts in Tamil.\n<\/p>\n
\nVedic civilization is believed to have formed around the Saraswati
\nRiver, now mostly a dry ditch seen only in satellite photos, which
\nrelocated to the area around the Indus River when the Saraswati dried
\nup (in other words, modern day Eastern Iran and Afghanistan,
\nrelocating to modern Pakistan). The Vedas themselves may (or may
\nnot) predate the Saraswati civilization; indeed, some find passages
\nin the Sama Veda which appears to have originated either in the
\nfarthest Arctic regions or even off-planet, depending on who you
\nbelieve. The infamous caste system of present-day India was due to a
\nmis-reading of the Vedas; originally it was little different from the
\nEuropean system of Guilds.<\/p>\n
\nrate, the Vedic civilization was based on the Vedas, which spoke the
\nworship of Vishnu (hence Vaishnavism) and his ten avatars (the tenth
\nis assumed to be incarnated yet in the future). The Upanishads
\nexpanded upon the Vedas, and other great poems, such as the
\nMahabharata (of which the popular Bhagavad Gita is a part), further
\nresulted in the religion’s growth among the people.<\/p>\n
\nancient Tamil documents spoke of Shiva as the Creator (with his
\nShakti, which can either be seen as his creative energy, his feminine
\nside, or even his wife). The Tamil-speaking (and related languages)
\npeople were in the southeast of India, now the states of Tamil Nadu,
\nAndhra Pradesh, and the country of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
\nat some point, the two cultures traveled widely enough to meet one
\nanother. In what is perhaps the only time in the history of mankind,
\nthese two cultures examined each others’ religions, and rather than
\ndeclaring war, declared them co-equal (which through the centuries
\nhas confused even Hindu scholars into thinking it truly is a single
\nreligion).<\/p>\n
\nbackground, for whatever reason the women were mostly left out of the
\nobservances of this religion, and from this rose the worship of Devi,
\nor Shakti, which today is called Shaktism. All three groups today
\ninclude male and female worshippers, but only the Shaktins have any
\nfemales in the priesthood.<\/p>\n
\nfourth, and smallest, sect which makes up \u201cHinduism\u201d is called
\nSmarta or Smartism. The Smartas believe in the Vedas and other
\nVaishnava writings, but rather than believe in Vishnu as the Supreme
\nDeity, they feel it is up to the believer to choose his or her
\nprimary deity from among the gods. The main effect this has had upon
\nHinduism has been the naming of the ultimate deity as Brahman, as he
\nis often referred to in the Vedas, and allowing Vishnu, Shiva, and
\nand Brahma to be seen as a tripartate form of Brahman; they can be
\ntrivialized to \u201cpreserver, destroyer, and creator\u201d, as they often
\nare when seen by the West, or considered each and all to be full
\nBrahman.<\/p>\n
\nthe 6th
\nCentury b.c.e., the 24th
\nTirthankar, Mahavira, solidified the Tirthankar teachings into
\nJainism, still a powerful sect despite its small size and belief
\nnon-procreation, as well as in the holiness of the tiniest creature
\non the planet. This is perhaps the gentlest religion on the planet,
\nas it reveres all life and seeks to harm nothing in any way.<\/p>\n
\nnext \u201creform movement\u201d in Hinduism was begun by Gautama, called
\n\u201cthe Buddha\u201d. At one point in time, Buddhism encompassed not
\nonly most of India but also much of eastern Asia. The earliest
\norigins are clouded in history, but the Second Council (which became
\nschismatic) was thought to have been held around 100 b.c.e. As the
\nBuddha mostly taught the same basic spirituality but was essentially
\nnon-theistic (practice was emphasized over belief), it engulfed many
\nother native religions in the region, but this was ultimately
\nresponded to.\n<\/p>\n
\nAndhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kashmir, from 800 to 1100 c.e., new
\nversions of Shaivite thought emerged, adopting the Vedas but
\npromoting Shiva as the Supreme Deity and expanding upon both ancient
\nteachings and the more modern Buddhist teachings, showing the
\n\u201cfallacies\u201d in either or both, resulting in Virashaiva and
\nKashmir (Trika) Shaivism. In the predominantly Vaishnavite areas of
\nPunjab and Bengal, Krishna emerged from the Mahabharata as the
\nSupreme Form of Deity (Vishnu).<\/p>\n
\nthis time also came the Islamic invasion, which nearly wiped out
\nVedic teachings and destroyed thousands of books (some of which
\nsurvived by having been transported out of India by Buddhist monks
\nover centuries). Remember, by this time even the Shaivas had adopted
\nthe Vedas.\n<\/p>\n
\n1600 c.e., the great teacher Arjan Dev, in Punjab, collected the
\ngreatest surviving teachings in the Hindu world, in poetry form,
\nforming what became the Adi Granth, and created the Sikh religion
\nusing this book as their center. This book by itself preserved much
\nof the sacred poetry from the torch of the Moslems, as the Sikhs
\nbecame known as ferocious fighters and, slowly, beat back the
\ninvading Moslems. The Adi Granth was expanded by later Sikh Gurus,
\nuntil, upon the death of the 10th
\nGuru, the book itself was proclaimed the True Guru (Guru Granth
\nSahib).<\/p>\n
\nvarious forms of Hinduism have changed the West in many small ways,
\nbut are still largely misunderstood in the West. For instance,
\nBuddhist monks created \u201cmalas\u201d, necklaces of meditation beads,
\nwell before Christ; when this came into contact with the Catholic
\nChurch, I cannot say, but it was modified into the Rosary. Madame
\nBlavatsky in the 19th
\nCentury c.e. tried to adopt and even alter Hindusim and present it to
\nthe West as Theosophy; she hoped to raise J. Krishnamurti to be the
\nAvatar for the New Age, but the man himself, upon reaching majority,
\ndeclined the honor.<\/p>\n
\nmore could be said; indeed, much of what I just presented is in doubt
\nand the sources may be fuzzy. Hinduism today consists of (in the
\nview of Hindus) Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism, and Shaktism, but it
\nis easily seen how one could include Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,
\nas well as other sub-sects (such as ISKCON, a branch of Vaishnavism),
\ninto the mix.<\/p>\n
\nlast 20 years, Western Pagans have found many similarities between
\ntheir beliefs and those of the various Hindu religions. The result
\nis IndoPaganism, which was reported on in PanGaea Magazine, Spring
\n2007, by Devi Spring.<\/p>\n
\nis no end to this subject. It is my fervent hope that this document
\ncan be improved, especially with the addition of appropriate
\nfootnotes.<\/p>\n
\nBliss<\/p>\n
\n30, 2008<\/p>\n