Movie Night

Hindu philosophy is one that developed over time from a study of the human experience by those we call Rishis. Because this experience is universal, so are the conclusions drawn from it within Hindu Philosophy. As such, we see many concepts prominent in Hinduism make their way into expressions of other cultures. During this meeting we examined two such examples- the idea of Karma Yoga in The Dark Knight and the idea of Maya in The Matrix.

                The goal of Karma Yoga is the destruction of ego so that one may obtain realization. Karma Yoga teaches us to act without ego or personal preference, and to do so without attachment to the fruits of our action. In Batman we see many of these characteristics at play. He remains anonymous throughout the movies, showing that he has dedicated himself to the ideal of justice and does not care for any recognition- he has given up his ego and acts purely in service of an ideal. He is an imperfect example at times, for example when he chooses to save Rachel instead of Harvey Dent, but at the end of the movie he is willing to completely surrender his identity as a superhero and take on the role of a villain just so that Gotham may have hope in its future. This final action represents the most karma-yogic action of all in the movie.

                In the Matrix, we see the theory of Maya come into play through the idea that the world around us that we perceive to be real may actually not be. Rather, according to the Advaita philosophy, this world is one form of reality that is less real than the ultimate reality- Brahman. Through our own flawed perception we believe this world is all that exists when in fact Brahman is the foundation of this very world. We come to know the nature of Brahman through 3 methods: perception of him through knowledge (symbolized in the red pill Morpheus offers Neo), through a reliable witness (Morpheus), or through logic. Using these methods we come to see Brahman as defined by 3 attributes: existence, consciousness, and bliss. From these 3 characteristics comes the name satchidananda, a common name used for Brahman.

Can you make any connections between Batman and Karma Yoga?

DQ#2:

●What does “less real” mean to you? Is it possible for there to be degrees of reality, or is something either real or an illusion?

Different Sects & Drawing Lines in Hinduism

Hinduism is not a single bodied entity; rather, it is comprised of many, heterogeneous individuals, each of whom possess their own outlook towards their faith. We can categorise Hinduism into four distinct major sects, namely Vaishnavism (followers of Lord Vishnu), Shaivism (followers of Lord Shiva), Shaktism (followers of the Goddess Shakti), and Smartism (followers of Brahman). This is not to say that each and every Hindu belief falls under these categories; rather, these four encompass the majority of traditional Hindu followers. Other sects such as Arya Samaj, for example, have similar doctrines but differ in their own ways.

This in turn leads us to question the basic philosophies upon which Hinduism is based. Nine major schools of thought have been identified, six of them labeled "Astika" and the other three "Nastika". It must be noted that there exists no such one to one correspondence between sects and schools of thought. More often than not, many different philosophies can be applied to individual sects and individuals. By definition, the Astikaschools hold stock in the Vedas as the ultimate scriptures while the Nastika three do not. The three Nastika schools include Buddhism, Jainism, and Charvaka. Classified as separate religions by many, this begs the question:

How does one draw the line between Hinduism and other faiths? Perhaps with belief in the Vedas as the ultimate scriptures?

If there are so many varieties of Hindu beliefs, what does it truly mean to be Hindu?

Raising a Cross-Faith Kid/Westerners Converting to Hinduism

With our ever evolving society, the number of interfaith marriages that occur are increasing slowly but steadily. Today, over a quarter of Americans are involved in an interfaith marriage. Pros and cons come with this type of marriage. It is common to see that these kind of couples develop a greater perspective of the world and become more tolerant of others. There is also the issue of agreement within relationships and the possible dilution of faith. It may sometimes prove difficult to retain certain aspects of one's religion exactly as they are supposed to be when involved in an interfaith relationship. Statistics show that divorces of interfaith couples are three times more common than of same faith couples. Along with marriage comes the idea of creating a family and raising children. Parents usually go about raising cross-faith children in one of two ways: choose one of the religions before any children are born and agree to teach them those beliefs or incorporate aspects of both religions and allow the children to decide. Young children tend to default to the more "fun" or socially prevalent religion because they do not have the capacity to make educated decisions about different religious traditions. Learning about both parents' faiths encourages the children to be less ignorant of others' beliefs. Western Conversion is rising as people explore more into different religions. Each person finds what they want in the religion and create their foundation off of that. For example, football player Ricky Williams converted into Hinduism after being introduced to yoga. With Hinduism being "a way of life," it allows individuals to create their own path. 

Would you consider marrying someone of another faith? Why or why not?
How would you go about raising your children if you did marry someone of another faith?
What aspects of another religion would make you consider converting?

HAW Week/Hinduism 101

This week is Hinduism Awareness Week at The University of Texas at Austin! The meeting topic was titled Hinduism 101 to give individuals a very basic idea of what Hinduism is!
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Hinduism is generally regarded as the world's oldest religions. As such, it is enormously complex and mysterious, even for those who have studied it their entire lifetime. Additionally, because of the complexity of the religion, misconceptions become easy to perpetuate. One such misconception is that Hinduism is a minor religion rooted in India. This could not be farther from the truth, as Hinduism is spread to almost every region of the world and is not just practiced by Indians. Other such myths are that Hindus worship cows, are anti-materialistic, and mandate the caste system. All of these, in one way or another, are false. Switching over to Hindu art, which is what Hinduism Awareness Week is dedicated to, the origin of it is just as old as the origins of Hinduism. The main body of religious text on Hindu art is known as the Natya Shastra, which is derived from the now extinct Natya Veda. Temple architecture and classical Hindu dance all fall under Hindu classical art. In total, there are approximately 64 types of art defined as traditional art.

With so many differences between religion in the north and south, can we still label them both as Hinduism?

How do misconceptions start, and what is the best approach to eliminating them?

Why are art and culture always tied so closely together in all cultures? 

Different Hindu Perceptions of a Diety

The ultimate truth or reality in Hinduism is Brahman, and the goal of Hinduism is to comprehend this truth. It is difficult to attempt to understand something like Brahman because Brahman is formless and eternal, so we visualize specific aspects of him, in the form of deities, to help us understand Brahman. Thus, deities come to represent specific aspects of the ultimate truth. With the rise of the Bhakti movement in India, an individuals personal relationship to God became very important. This created the concept of an ishta devata, or a deity of choice. Essentially, it is one's own deity of preference. The factors that go into choosing an ishta devata are numerous, and are primarily dictated by the lifestyle of the individual. However, there is also the idea in Hinduism that a deity is not necessary to realization, and that realization can be attained by pure self inquiry; this was the method used by Ramana Maharishi, and is also seen in Jainism. There is also the perception to some Hindus that at least some deities were people that physically existed on this earth. This idea gains credibility from evidence supporting the historical occurrence of the Ramayana, though such evidence does not in any way lend to a clear conclusion.

What's your ishta devata and why? 
Does a deities being real or not impact the way you view Hinduism?"

Oh My Gods!

In Hinduism there are many deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, Lakshmi
and Ganesh just to name a few. However, those deities were not always the
predominant and most popular in Hindu religion. Before Hinduism actual existed as
its own religion, it existed as only one piece of the PIE or the Proto- Indo- European
Religion. This religion was to thought to have originated in Volgograd, Russia in
4000 BC and proceeded approx. 0.7 miles/year. This religion gave rise to the Italic,
Greek, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic, Germanic, Indo-Aryan, etc. as well as many central
religious themes such as slaying of a serpent in many stories or the world tree view
(Mount Meru in Hinduism to Mount Olympus in Greek Mythology). After the PIE
religion, Hinduism started developing more independently. At this time the Rig
Vedas were written where there were four major types of deities: Indra- the leader
of Vedic Gods, Gods of Nature such as Sūrya -“Sun”, Vāyu -“Wind”, Maruts -
“Monsoon Winds” and Parjanya -“Thunderstorm”, Gods of Principles and Functions
such as Varuṇa “God of commandments”, Mitra “God of alliances” and Aryaman “God
of customs”, and Gods of Ritual such as Agni- “Fire”. From the Rig Vedas, the
Puranas followed giving a more modern perspective on the Hindu deities, which
was a supplement text to the Rig Vedas outlining genealogy of gods and creation of
universe. After that the shift in perspective lead to the focus on devotion to God
over rituals and caste system and ultimately the four different sects of Hinduism:
Vaishnavism= Vishnu and his incarnations, Shaivism= Shiva as Supreme Being,
Shaktism= Worship goddess Shakti, Smartism= Choose which deity to worship.
Here is where the more familiar deities become popular, such Vishnu, Lakshmi,
Ganesh, Surya, Saraswati, and Parvati. The interesting thing is that most of the
Hindu deities have comparable Greek Gods association with them. For example,
Surya is parallel to Apollo, Saraswati is parallel to Athena, and Laxshmi is parallel to
Hera. However, there are some, like Ganesh, that do not have comparable Greek
gods. This shows that even though all these religions branched from a central
religion, each religion adapted deities that incorporate different aspects of the
different cultures. For example, the elephant is an important animal in the Hindu
culture and Ganesh was adapted to represent that.

Discussion Question #1
Does knowing about the origin of Hindu deities take away from the divine
and mystical origin of the Hindu gods?

Discussion Question #2
Do you see the formation or removal of deities from Hinduism in the future?

Mahabharata Meeting

Our last meeting was about the Mahabharata, the presenters came up with an abridged version of the important events. 

• Dhritarashthra and Pandu were brothers, both princes of the Hastinapur. Because Dhritarashthra was born blind, Pandu took over as King, but was later cursed. Pandu went hunting and shot a stag who was mating. Before the stag died, he cursed Pandu that if he ever lay with a woman, he would die. Knowing he could never have sons, he stepped down from the throne and Dhritarashthra took over.
• Pandu and his wife Kunti left to the forest, where Kunti revelaed that she possessed an incantation that would allow a God to fill her womb with his power. This way, the five Padavas were born.
• Yudhisthira was conceived by Dharma, and grew to be the most law abiding of men. Bhima was conceived by Vayu the wind, and he grew strong and powerful. Arjuna was conceived by Indra, and grew to be the master of weapons, the Lord of Victory. Finally, Madri, Pandu’s second wife used the incantation to bare twins Nakula and Sahadeva, sons of the twin physician gods.
• Pandu later dies do to the curse put on him by the stag as he cannot resist Madri as she is bathing. Once he dies, Madri throws herself on the funeral pyre, leaving Kunti with her 5 sons.
• In Hastinapura, Dhritarashthra had 100 sons and 1 daughter, by Gandhari. The oldest was Duryodhana, who took the role of crown prince.
• Draupadi, who was won by Arjuna at her svayambara, goes with Arjuna to the hut that they reside in. Jokingly, Arjuna tells his mother that he got something new in his begging bowl. Kunti, without looking up, tells Arjuna that whatever it may be, he must share it with his brothers. As a mother’s word is law, Draupadi marries all 5 brothers.
• Kunti returns to Hastinapura with the Pandavas and wants them to rule what is rightfully theirs.
• The kingdom is split in half, Dhritrashthra ruling Hastinapura and the Pandavas taking reign over the undeveloped east, renaming it, Indraprasta. The Pandavas prospered in Indraprasta and over 12 years surpassed Hastinapura. Yudishtira then decided to perform the Royal Sacrifice that would make him king of all the known world. When he did this, he invited all the kings in his dominion to celebrate, outraging Duryodhana.
• Duryodhana and Sakuni, younger brother of Dhritarashthra’s wife Gadhari, scheme to defeat Yudishtira in a game of dice. Yudishtira accepts, due to his inability to resist a challenge.
• Vidura warns Yudishtira that they will cheat, but he cannot refuse to play.
  In this game of dice, Yudishtira loses all he has. When he has nothing more to bet, Duryodhana asks him to gamble his brothers, which he loses one by one, then himself, Draupadi and finally wagers a 12 year exile and a year in anonymity.
• Draupadi is forced to come to court and is shamed. They try to remove her saree, but it never ends, as Krishna protects her. At the end, Dhristarasthra allows her to have 3 boons. She asks for Yudhistira to be free, as well as his 4 brothers and nothing more.
• They all then leave  for the forest for 13 years, then return to reclaim their kingdom, which they are refused.
• This then leads to the Kurukshetra War.
• During the war, the Bhagavad Gita scene occurs. Here Krishna and Arjun speak of Dharma, the duty that one must fulfill.
• As Arjuna stands, overlooking the battlefield, he asks Krishna, why he must be subjected to kill his own family. Krishna retorts, saying that he must carry out his dharma, and do what is right, and be heedless of consequence.
• The 18 day battle ends with all 100 sons of Dritarashtra dead. Only the Pandavas and a few others survive.

As for interpretations go, everyone has their own view. How to do you perceive this poem? The Gita? Are there parts of the story you heard but we didn't cover? Let us know!