| Hindu Scriptures |
| There are many scriptures of the Hindu religon, but I will write about the three that I feel are the most important. The Bhagavad-Gita is a text which is considered to be authorative for the Hindus. It literally means 'song of the divine'. It is in the form of a spiritual dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjun, the mighty Pandava warrior. It has 700 verses and captures the essential teachings of the Upanishads. The central themes of Gita are the concepts of 'renunciation' and 'devotion to God Krishna'. The Bhagavad-Gita, more commonly known as the Gita, is part of the Itihass scripture Mahabharata. It is an extremely popular |
| scripture. If the Upanishads can be compared to a cow, the Gita is their milk. The battlefield of Kurukshetra is its place of origin. Its central message is that one should discharge one's duty however hard and unpleasant it may be, bravely and with selfless dedication. |
| Every one of us has to perform his or her duty designated as Svadharma to please God, to serve the world and to repay one's debt to the society. Svadharma implies ambition commensurate with one's capacity and the necessary inclination as also the drive to achieve it. Our well being lies in the performing of our Svadharma. Paradharma, duty suitable for others but not for us, will positively harm us if chosen by us. The term 'Upanishad' means inner or mystic teaching. The term 'Upanishad' is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and shad (to sit), ie sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him the secret doctrine. In the quietude of the forest hermitages the Upanishad thinkers pondered on the problems of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge to fit pupils near them. Samkara derives the word Upanishad as a subsitute from the root sad, 'to loosen', 'to relax', or 'to destroy' with 'Upa' and 'ni' as prefixes and 'kvip' as termination. If thid determination is accepted, Upanishad means brahma-knowledge by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed. The treatises that deal with brahma-knowledge are called the Upanishads, and so pass for the Vedanta. The different derivations together make out that the Upanishads give us both spiritual wisdom and philosophical argument. There is a core of certainty, which is esentially incommunicable except by a way of life. It is by a strictly personal effort that one can reach the truth. The Upanishads more clearly set forth the prime Vedic doctrines like self-realization, yoga and meditation, karma and reincarnation, which were hidden or kept veiled under the symbols of the older mystery of religion. The older Upanishads are usually affixed to a particularly Veda, throgh a Brahmana or Aranyaka. The more recent ones are not. The Upanishads became prevalent some centuries before the time of Krishna and Buddha. The main figure in the Upanishads, though not present in many of them, is the sage Yajnavalka. Most of the great teachings of later Hindu and Buddist philosophy derive from him. He taught the great doctrine of 'neli-neli', the view that truth can be found only through the negation of all thoughts about it. Other important Upanishadic sages are Uddalaka Aruni, Shwetaketu, Shandilya, Aitareya, Pippalada, and Sanat Kumara. Many earlier Vedic teachers like Manu, Brihaspati, Ayasya and Narada are also found in the Upanishads. In the Upanishads, the spiritual meanings of the Vedic texts are brought out and emphasized in their own right. These are the sacred texts that form the basis of the Vedantic teachings. Upanishads literally mean 'siitng near the teacher'. There are overall 108 Upanishads, 11 of which are very popular.These Upanishads occur at the end portion of the Vedas (the book of authority for Hindus). They talk about the real nature of the universe as 'Brahman'. They then proceed to discuss the possible relationships between them. The Vedas are the ancient scriptures or revelation (Shruti) of the Hindu teachings. They manifest the Divine World in human speech. They reflect into human language, the language of the Gods, the Divine powers that have created us and which rule over us. There are four Vedas, each consisting of four parts. The primary portion is the mantra or hymn section (samhita). To this are appended ritualistic teachings (brahmana) and theological sections (upanishads) are included. The hymn sections are the oldest. The others were added at a later date and each explains some aspect of the hymns or follows one line of interpreting them. The Vedas were compiled around the time of Krishna (3500 B.C.), and even at that time they were hardly understood. Hence they are very ancient and only in recent times has their spiritual import, like that of the other mystery teachings of the ancient world, begun to be rediscovered or appreciated in India. Like the Egyptian teachings they are veiled, symbolic and subtle and require a special vision to understand and use properly. Now that I have discussed the three scriptures, I will talk a little bit about ahimsa. Concepts like non-violence and sacredness of all living things come out very naturally from these philosophic teachings. The reason why we should not hurt another living thing is because in reality we are harming ourselves say the teachings of Advaita. These kinds of conclusions form the basis of moral laws in Hinduism. |
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