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Week 2
Hinduism and Jainism
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-Neither Hinduism; Brahman, is In the beginning there was Existence alone—One only, without a second. He, the One, thought to himself: Let me be many, let me grow forth. Thus out of himself he projected the universe, and having projected out of himself the universe, he entered into every being. All that is has its self in him alone. Of all things he is the subtle essence. He is the truth. He is the Self. And that, ... THAT ART THOU. p77
Jainism; Jains believe that the universe is without beginning and that it has no creator or destroyer.p124
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-Hinduism; According to tradition, there are actually 330 million deities in India. The feeling is that the divine has countless faces. Brahman takes on many faces P 71
-Jainism; In Jainism, unlike Christianity and many Hindu cults, there is no such thing as a heavenly father watching over us. To the contrary, love for a personal God would be an attachment that could only bind Jainas more securely to the cycle of rebirth. It is a thing that must be rooted out
P124
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-Hinduism; The process of attaining spiritual realization or liberation is thought to take at least a lifetime, and probably many lifetimes. Birth as a human being is prized as a chance to advance toward spiritual perfection. In the past, spiritual training was usually available to upper-caste males only; women and shudras were excluded. Women have also become sannyasins, however, and today an estimated fifteen percent of the ascetics in India are female. Spiritual training for men has historically been preceded by an initiation ceremony in which the boy received the sacred thread, a cord of three threads to be worn across the chest from the left shoulder.p101
-Jainism;
All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure, unchangeable, eternal law ... Correctly understanding the law, one should arrive at indifference for the impressions of the senses, and not act on the motives of the world.P125
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-Hinduism; A man becomes pure through pure deeds, impure through impure deeds.”5 Not only do we reap in this life the good or evil we have sown; they also follow us after physical death, affecting our next incarnation. Ethically, this is a strong teaching, for our every move has far-reaching consequences.p77
-Jainism; The world operates by the power of nature, according to natural principles. Jains do believe in gods and demons, but the former are subject to the same ignoble passions as humans. In fact, one can only achieve liberation if one is in the human state, because only humans can clear away karmic accumula- tions on the soul. Like Hindus and Buddhists, Jains believe that our actions influence the future course of our current life, and of our lives to come.p 124
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-Hinduism; . To escape from samsara is to achieve moksha, or liberation from the limitations of space, time, and matter through realization of the immortal Absolute. P77
-Jainism; The jiva—the individual’s higher consciousness, or soul—can save itself by discovering its own perfect, unchanging nature and thus transcend the miseries of earthly life. P123
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-Hinduism; the rishis taught that the soul leaves the dead body and enters a new one. One takes birth again and again in countless bodies—perhaps as an animal or some other life form—but the self remains the same.p77
-Jainism; Jains, like Hindus and Buddhists, believe that we are reborn again and again until we finally free ourselves from samsara, the wheel of birth and death.p123
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-Hinduism; Public worship—puja—is usually performed by pujaris, or brahmin priests, who are trained in Vedic practices and in proper recitation of Sanskrit texts. P95
Ritual fire ceremonies around a havan, or sacred fire place, are also con- ducted by brahmin pandits, following ancient Vedic traditions. P96
-Jainism;
In addition to practicing meditation, monks and nuns adopt a life of celibacy, physical penance and fasting, and material simplicity. They may sleep on the bare ground, cardboard, or wooden slabs, and are expected to endure any kind of weather with indifference. At initiation, their hair may be pulled out by the roots. They must learn to accept social disapproval, to depend on others for their food, and to feel no pride at being more spiritually advanced than others. P128
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-Hinduism; Hinduism honors the divine in so many forms that almost every day a reli- gious celebration is being held in some part of India. Sixteen religious holidays are honored by the central government so that everyone can leave work to join in the throngs of worshipers. The holidays are calculated partially on a lunar calendar, so dates vary from year to year. Most Hindu festivals express spirituality in its happiest aspects. Group energy attracts the gods to overcome evils, and humorous abandon helps merrymakers to forget their fears.
Holi is the riotously joyful celebration of the death of winter and the return of colorful spring. Its many attributed meanings illustrate the great diversity within Hinduism. p108
-Jainism; Jains do not cel- ebrate their holy days as jubilantly as Hindus. Even the festival days are char- acterized by meditation, renunciation, fasting, scriptural study, and hymns. However, these activities are undertaken with enthusiasm and dedication. Jains an occasion for a three-day fast and an entire night spent reciting hymns and meditating on Mahavira, who is said to have attained liberation on Divali. The fifth day after Divali is set aside for the worship of pure knowledge. One of the activities is cleaning and worshiping of the books in religious libraries.
Among all Jain festivals, the most important is Paryushan Mahaparva, the annual festival of atonement. Many Jains undertake an eight-day fast, while listening to scriptural readings and lectures about ethical living, par- ticularly the virtue of forgiveness. The final day is celebrated as Forgiveness Day. P131
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