assignment

madam-professor

rel_212_living_religions_9th_ch1-4.pdf

Home >History homework help >assignment

LIVING RELIGIONS

N I N T H E D I T I O N — M A R Y PAT F I S H E R

CONSULTANTS

CHRISTOPHER QUEEN Harvard University

DAMARIS PARSITAU Egerton University, Kenya

RITA SHERMA Taksha University

CHRISTOPHER CHAPPLE Loyola Marymount University

RODNEY L. TAYLOR University of Colorado at Boulder

JOHN BREEN International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto

HILLEL LEVINE Boston University and International Center for Concilliation

MARY DOAK University of San Diego

OMID SAFI University of North Carolina

GURINDER SINGH MANN University of California, Santa Barbara

EILEEN BARKER London School of Economics

GEORGE D. CHRYSSIDES University of Birmingham

M. DARROL BRYANT Renison University College/University of Waterloo, Canada

Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River

Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto

Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

Editorial Director: Craig Campanella Editor in Chief: Dickson Musslewhite Publisher: Nancy Roberts Project Manager: Nicole Conforti Editorial Assistant: Nart Varoqua Managing Editor: Maureen Richardson Operations Specialist: Amanda Smith

Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on pages 555–56.

Published by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 07458. Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Printed in Hong Kong. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions Department.

Pearson Prentice Hall™ is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson® is a registered trademark of Pearson plc. Prentice Hall® is a registered trademark of Pearson Education, Inc.

Pearson Education Ltd. Pearson Education Australia PTY, Limited Pearson Education Singapore, Pte. Ltd Pearson Education North Asia Ltd Pearson Education, Canada, Ltd Pearson Educación de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Pearson Education–Japan Pearson Education Malaysia, Pte. Ltd

A Cataloguing-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

This book was designed and produced by Laurence King Publishing Ltd, London www.laurenceking.com

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders, but should there be any errors or omissions, Laurence King Publishing Ltd would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgment in any subsequent printing of this publication.

Picture Research: Mari West Design: Jo Fernandes Production: David Hearn, Simon Walsh

Printed in Hong Kong

Front Cover: © Scott Stulberg/Corbis Frontispiece: GM Photo Images/Alamy Page xiv: I. V. Chizhov

Student edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-205-95640-1 ISBN-10: 0-205-95640-8

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 1

Before sunrise, members of a Muslim family rise in Malaysia, perform their purifying ablutions, spread their prayer rugs facing Mecca, and begin their prostrations and prayers to Allah. In a French cathedral, worshipers line up for their turn to have a priest place a wafer on their tongue, murmuring, “This is the body of Christ, given for you.” In a South Indian village, a group of women reverently anoint a cylindrical stone with milk and fragrant sandal- wood paste and place around it offerings of fl owers. The monks of a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery sit cross-legged and upright in utter silence, which is broken occasionally by the noise of the kyosaku bat falling on their shoul- ders. On a mountain in Mexico, men, women, and children who have been dancing without food or water for days greet an eagle fl ying overhead with a burst of whistling from the small wooden fl utes they wear around their necks. In Jerusalem, Jews tuck scraps of paper containing their personal prayers between the stones of the ancient Western Wall, which once supported their sacred Temple, while above that wall only Muslims are allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock to pray.

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

C H A P T E R 1

• Attempts to defi ne religion 2

• Why are there religions? 3

• Understandings of Sacred Reality 10

• Ritual, symbol, and myth 14

• Absolutist and liberal responses to modernity 18

• The encounter between science and religion 20

• Women in religions 26

• Negative aspects of organized religions 28

• Lenses for studying religions 29

KEY TOPICS

Jewish women praying at the Western Wall. Many scraps of paper with personal prayers are tucked into the cracks between the ancient stones.

Listen to the Chapter Audio on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

2 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

These and countless other moments in the lives of people around the world are threads of the tapestry we call religion. The word is probably derived from the Latin, meaning “to tie back,” “to tie again.” All of religion shares the goal of tying people back to something behind the surface of life—a greater reality, which lies beyond, or invisibly infuses, the world that we can perceive with our fi ve senses.

Attempts to connect with or comprehend this greater reality have taken many forms. Many of them are organized institutions, such as Buddhism or Christianity. These institutions are complexes of such elements as leaders, beliefs, rituals, symbols, myths, scriptures, ethics, spiritual practices, cultural components, historical traditions, and management structures. Moreover, they are not fi xed and distinct categories, as simple labels such as “Buddhism” and “Christianity” suggest. Each of these labels is an abstraction that is used in the attempt to bring some kind of order to the study of religious patterns that are in fact complex, diverse, ever-changing, and overlapping.

Attempts to defi ne religion

The labels “Buddhism,” “Hinduism,” “Taoism,” “Zoroastrianism,” and “Confucianism” did not exist until the nineteenth century, though the many patterns to which they refer had existed for thousands of years. Professor Willard G. Oxtoby (1933–2003), founding director of the Centre for Religious Studies at the University of Toronto, observed that when Western Christian scholars began studying other religions, they applied assumptions based on the Christian model to other paths, looking for specifi c creedal statements of belief (a rarity in indigenous lifeways), a dichotomy between what is secular and what is sacred (not helpful in looking at the teachings of Confucius and his followers), and the idea that a person belongs to only one religion at a time (which does not apply in Japan, where people freely follow various religious traditions).

Not all religious behavior occurs within institutional con- fi nes. The inner dimensions of religion—such as experiences, beliefs, and values—can be referred to as spirituality. This is part of what is called religion, but it may occur in personal, noninstitutional ways, without the ritual and social dimen- sions of organized religions. Personal spirituality without reference to a particular religious tradition permeates much contemporary artistic creation. Without theology, without historical references, such direct experiences are diffi cult to express, whether in words, images, or music. Contemporary artist Lisa Bradley says of her luminous paintings:

In them you can see movement and stillness at the same time, things coming in and out of focus. The light seems to be from behind. There is a sense something like a permeable membrane, of things coming from one dimension to another. But even that doesn’t describe it well. How do you describe truth in words?1

Religions can be dynamic in their effects, bringing deep changes in individuals and societies, for good or ill. As Professor Christopher Queen, world religions scholar from Harvard University, observes:

Lisa Bradley, Passing Shadow, 2002.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 3

The interpersonal and political realms may be transformed by powerful religious forces. Devotion linking human and divine beings, belief in holy people or sacred space, and ethical teachings that shape behaviors and attitudes may combine to transform individual identities and the social order itself.2

Frederick Streng (1933–1993), an infl uential scholar of comparative reli- gion, suggested in his book Understanding Religious Life that the central defi ni- tion of religion is that it is a “means to ultimate transformation.” A complete defi nition of religion would include its relational aspect (“tying back”), its transformational potential, and also its political dimensions.

Current attempts to defi ne religions may thus refer more to processes that to fi xed independent entites. Professor of Religious Studies Thomas A. Tweed, for instance, proposes this defi nition in his book Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion:

Religions are confl uences of organic-cultural fl ows that intensify joy and confront suffering by drawing on human and suprahuman forces to make homes and cross boundaries—terrestrial, corporeal, and cosmic....This theory is, above all, about movement and relation, and it is an attempt to correct theories [of religion] that have presupposed stasis and minimized interdependence.3

Religion is such a complex and elusive topic that some contemporary schol- ars of religion are seriously questioning whether “religion” or “religions” can be studied at all. They have determined that no matter where and at what point they try to defi ne the concept, other parts will get away. Nonetheless, this diffi cult-to-grasp subject is central to many people’s lives and has assumed great political signifi cance in today’s world so it is important to try sincerely to understand it. In this introductory chapter, we will try to develop some under- standing of religion in a generic sense—why it exists, its various patterns and modes of interpretation, its encounters with modern science, its inclusion or exclusion of women, and its potentially negative aspects—before trying in the subsequent chapters to understand the major traditions known as “religions” practiced around the world today.

Why are there religions?

In many cultures and times, religion has been the basic foundation of life, permeating all aspects of human existence. But from the time of the European Enlightenment, religion has become in the West an object to be studied, rather than an unquestioned basic fact of life. Cultural anthropologists, soci- ologists, philosophers, psychologists, and even biologists have peered at reli- gion through their own particular lenses, trying to explain what religion is and why it exists to those who no longer take it for granted. In the following pages we will briefl y examine some of the major theories that have evolved. They are not mutually exclusive.

Materialist perspective: humans invented religion

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, scientifi c materialism gained considerable prominence as a theory to explain the fact that religion can be found in some form in every culture around the world. The materialistic point of view is that the supernatural is imagined by humans; only the material world exists.

Read the Document Methodologies for Studying Religion on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

4 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

An infl uential example of this perspective can be found in the work of the nineteenth-century philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872). He rea- soned that deities are simply projections, objectifi cations of human qualities such as power, wisdom, and love onto an imagined cosmic deity outside our- selves. Then we worship it as Supreme and do not recognize that those same qualities lie within ourselves; instead, we see ourselves as weak and sinful. Feuerbach developed this theory with particular reference to Christianity as he had seen it.

Other scientifi c materialists believe that religions have been created or at least used to manipulate people. Historically, religions have often supported and served secular power. The nineteenth-century socialist philosopher Karl Marx (1818–1883), author of The Communist Manifesto, argued that a culture’s religion—as well as all other aspects of its social structure—springs from its economic framework. In Marx’s view, religion’s origins lie in the longings of the oppressed. It may have developed from the desire to revolutionize society and combat exploitation, but in failing to do so it became otherworldly, an expression of unfulfi lled desires for a better, more satisfying life:

Man makes religion: religion does not make man. … The religious world is but the refl ex of the real world. … Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.4

According to Marx, not only do religions pacify people falsely; they may themselves become tools of oppression. For instance, he charged Christian authorities of his times with supporting “vile acts of the oppressors” by explaining them as due punishment of sinners by God. Other critics have made similar complaints against Eastern religions that blame the sufferings of the poor on their own misdeeds in previous lives. Such interpretations and uses of religious teachings lessen the perceived need for society to help those who are oppressed and suffering. Marx’s ideas thus led toward twentieth-century atheistic communism, for he had asserted, “The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness.”5

Functional perspective: religion is useful

Another line of reasoning has emerged in the search for a theory explaining the universal existence of religions: They are found everywhere because they are useful, both for society and for individuals. Religions “do things” for us, such as helping us to defi ne ourselves and making the world and life com- prehensible to us. Functional explanations have come from many disciplines.

One version of the functional explanation is based on sociology. Pioneering work in this area was done by French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858– 1917). He proposed that humans cannot live without organized social struc- tures, and that religion is a glue that holds a society together. Surely religions have the potential for creating harmony in society, for they all teach social virtues such as love, compassion, altruism, justice, and discipline over our desires and emotions. Political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell concluded from a survey of religiosity in the United States that people who are involved in organized religions are generally more generous toward their neighbors and more conscientious as citizens than those who do not participate in religions.6 The role of religion in the social process of identity

Read the Document Religion as the Opium of the People on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 5

formation at individual, family, community, and national levels is now being carefully examined, for people’s identifi cation with a particular religion can be manipulated to infl uence social change—either to thwart, moderate, or encourage it.

Biology also offers some functional reasons for the existence of religion. For instance, John Bowker, author of Is God a Virus?, asserts that religions are organized systems that serve the essential biological purpose of bringing people together for their common survival. To Bowker, religion is found uni- versally because it protects gene replication and the nurturing of children. He proposes that because of its survival value, the potential for religiosity may even be genetically inherent in human brains.

Medical professionals have found that religious faith is good for our health. Research conducted by the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke University found that those who attend religious services or read scriptures frequently are signifi cantly longer lived, less likely to be depressed, less likely to have high blood pressure, and nearly ninety percent less likely to smoke. Many other studies have indicated that patients with strong faith recover faster from illness and operations.

Many medical studies have also been done on the potential of prayer to heal illness, but results have been mixed. However, meditation has been proved to reduce mental stress and also to help develop positive emotions, even in the face of great diffi culties. Citing laboratory tests of the mental calm- ness of Buddhists who practice “mindfulness” meditation, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama points out that:

Over the millenniums, many practitioners have carried out what we might call “experiments” in how to overcome our tendencies toward destructive emotions. The world today needs citizens and leaders who can work toward ensuring stability and engage in dialogue with the “enemy”—no matter what kind of aggression or assault they may have endured. If humanity is to survive, happiness and inner balance are crucial. We would do well to remember that the war against hatred and terror can be waged on this, the internal front, too.7

From the point of view of individual psychology, there are many explana- tions of the usefulness of religion. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1938) suggested that religion fulfi lls neurotic needs. He described religion as a col- lective fantasy, a “universal obsessional neurosis”—a replaying of our loving and fearful relationships with our parents. Religious belief gives us a God powerful enough to protect us from the terrors of life, and will reward or punish us for obedience or nonobedience to social norms. From Freud’s extremely sceptical point of view, religious belief is an illusion springing from people’s infantile insecurity and neurotic guilt; as such it closely resembles mental illness.

On a more positive note, the twentieth-century psychoanalyst Erich Fromm (1900–1980) concluded that humans have a need for a stable frame of reference, and that religion fulfi lls this need. As Mata Amritanandamayi, a contemporary Indian spiritual teacher, explains:

Faith in God gives one the mental strength needed to confront the problems of life. Faith in the existence of God makes one feel safe and protected from all the evil infl uences of the world. To have faith in the existence of a Supreme Power and to live accordingly is a religion. When we become religious, morality arises, which, in turn, will help to keep us away from malevolent infl uences.

Read the Document The Future of an Illusion on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

6 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

We won’t drink, we won’t smoke, and we will stop wasting our energy through unnecessary gossip and talk. … We will also develop qualities like love, compassion, patience, mental equipoise, and other positive traits. These will help us to love and serve everyone equally. … Where there is faith, there is harmony, unity and love. A nonbeliever always doubts. … He cannot be at peace; he’s restless. … The foundation of his entire life is unstable and scattered due to his lack of faith in a higher principle.8

For many, the desire for material achievement offers a temporary sense of purposefulness. But once achieved, material goals may seem hollow. A long- ing for something more lasting and deeply meaningful may then arise. The Buddha said:

Look! The world is a royal chariot, glittering with paint. No better. Fools are deceived, but the wise know better.9

Religions propose ideals that can radically transform people. Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) was an extremely shy, fearful child. His transformation into one of the great political fi gures of the twentieth century occurred as he meditated single-mindedly on the great Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, particularly the second chapter, which he says was “inscribed on the tablet of my heart.”10 It reads, in part:

He is forever free who has broken Out of the ego-cage of I and mine To be united with the Lord of Love. This is the supreme state. Attain thou this And pass from death to immortality.11

People need inner strength for dealing with personal problems. Those who are suffering severe physical illness, privation, terror, or grief often turn to the divine for help. Agnes Collard, a Christian woman, reported that her impend- ing death after four painful years of cancer was bringing her closer to God:

I don’t know what or who He is, but I am almost sure He is there. I feel His presence, feel that He is close to me during the awful moments. And I feel love. I sometimes feel wrapped, cocooned in love.12

Conviction that Someone or Something that cannot be seen exists may be an antidote to the discomforting sense of being alone in the universe. This isolation can be painful, even terrifying. The divine may be sought as a lov- ing father or mother, or as a friend. Alternatively, some paths offer the way of self-transcendence. Through them, the sense of isolation is lost in mystical merger with the One Being, with the Ultimate Reality.

According to some Asian religions, the concept that we are distinct, auton- omous individuals is an illusion; what we think of as “our” consciousnesses and “our” bodies are in perpetual fl ux. Thus, freedom from problems lies in accepting temporal change and devaluing the “small self” in favor of the eternal self. The ancient sages of India, whose teachings are preserved in the Upanishads, called it “This eternal being that can never be proved, ... spot- less, beyond the ether, the unborn Self, great and eternal, ... the creator, the maker of everything.”13

Buddhists see the problem of human existence differently. What humans have in common, they feel, is the suffering that comes from life’s imper-

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 7

manence and our craving for it to remain the same. For Buddhists, reliance on an Absolute or God and the belief in a personal self or an Eternal Self only makes the suffering more intense. The solution is to let go of these ideas, to accept the groundlessness and openness of life, and to grow in clear awareness and humanistic values.

We may look to religions for understanding, for answers to our many questions about life. Is life just a series of ran- dom and chaotic incidents, or is there some meaning and order behind what is happening? Who are we? Why are we here? What happens after we die? Why is there suffering? Why is there evil? Is anybody up there listening? We have diffi culty accepting the commonsense notion that this life is all there is. We are born, we struggle to support ourselves, we age, and we die. If we believe that there is nothing more, fear of death may inhibit enjoyment of life and make all human actions seem pointless. Confronting mortality is so basic to the spiritual life that, as the Christian monk Brother David Steindl-Rast observes, whenever monks from any spiritual tradition meet, within fi ve minutes they are talking about death.

It appears that throughout the world man [sic] has always been seeking something beyond his own death, beyond his own problems, something that will be enduring, true and timeless. He has called it God, he has given it many names; and most of us believe in something of that kind, without ever actually experiencing it.

Jiddu Krishnamurti14

For those who fi nd security in specifi c answers, some religions offer dogma—systems of doctrines proclaimed as absolutely true and accepted as such, even if they lie beyond the domain of one’s personal experiences. Absolute faith provides some people with a secure feeling of rootedness, meaning, and orderliness in the midst of rapid social change. Religions may also provide rules for living, governing everything from diet to personal rela- tionships. Such prescriptions may be seen as earthly refl ections of the order that prevails in the cosmos. Some religions, however, encourage people to explore the perennial questions by themselves, and to live in the uncertainties of not knowing intellectually, breaking through old concepts until nothing remains but truth itself.

Faith perspective: Ultimate Reality exists

From the point of view of religious faith, there truly is an underlying reality that cannot readily be perceived. Human responses to this Supreme Reality have been expressed and institutionalized as the structures of some religions.

How have people concluded that there is some Unseen Reality, even though they may be unable to perceive it with their ordinary senses? Some simply accept what has been told to them or what is written in their holy books. Others have come to their own conclusions.

One path to faith is through deep questioning. Martin Luther (1483–1546),

For some, religion offers relief from feelings of loneliness and isolation.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

8 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

father of the Protestant branches of Christianity, recounted how he searched for faith in God through storms of doubt, “raged with a fi erce and agitated conscience.”15 Jnana yoga practitioners probe the question “Who am I?” Gradually they strip away all of what they are not—for instance, “I am not the body, I am not the thinking”—and dig even into the roots of “I,” until only pure Awareness remains.

The human mind does not function in the rational mode alone; there are other modes of consciousness. In his classic study The Varieties of Religious Experience, the philosopher William James (1842–1910) concluded:

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the fl imsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. … No account of the universe in its totality can be fi nal which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.16

To perceive truth directly, beyond the senses, beyond the limits of human reason, beyond blind belief, is often called mysticism. George William Russell (1867–1935), an Irish writer who described his mystical experiences under the pen name “AE,” was lying on a hillside:

not then thinking of anything but the sunlight, and how sweet it was to drowse there, when, suddenly, I felt a fi ery heart throb, and knew it was personal and intimate, and started with every sense dilated and intent, and turned inwards, and I heard fi rst a music as of bells going away … and then the heart of the hills was opened to me, and I knew there was no hill for those who were there, and they were unconscious of the ponderous mountain piled above the palaces of light, and the winds were sparkling and diamond clear, yet full of colour as an opal, as they glittered through the valley, and I knew the Golden Age was all about me, and it was we who had been blind to it but that it had never passed away from the world.17

Encounters with Unseen Reality are given various names in spiritual traditions: enlightenment, realization, illumination, satori, awakening, self-knowledge, gnosis, ecstatic commun- ion, “coming home.” Such a state may arise spontaneously, as in near-death experiences in which people seem to fi nd them- selves in a world of unearthly radiance, or may be induced by meditation, fasting, prayer, chanting, drugs, or dancing.

Many religions have developed meditation techniques that encourage intuitive wisdom to come forth. Whether this wisdom is perceived as a natural faculty within or an exter- nal voice, the process is similar. The consciousness is initially turned away from the world and even from one’s own feelings and thoughts, letting them all go. Often a concentration prac- tice, such as watching the breath or staring at a candle fl ame, is used to collect the awareness into a single, unfragmented focus. Once the mind is quiet, distinctions between inside and outside drop away. The seer becomes one with the seen, in a fusion of subject and object through which the inner nature of things often seems to reveal itself.

Kabir, a fi fteenth-century Indian weaver who was inspired alike by Islam and Hinduism and whose words are included in Sikh scripture, described this state of spiritual bliss:

Sufi dervishes in Sudan chant names of God’s qualities as a way to God- realization.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 9

The blue sky opens out farther and farther, the daily sense of failure goes away, the damage I have done to myself fades, a million suns come forward with light, when I sit fi rmly in that world.18

[The “fl ash of illumination” brings] a state of glorious inspiration, exaltation, intense joy, a piercingly sweet realization that the whole of life is fundamentally right and that it knows what it’s doing.

Nona Coxhead19

Our ordinary experience of the world is that our self is separate from the world of objects that we perceive. But this dualistic understanding may be transcended in a moment of enlightenment in which the Real and our awareness of it become one. The Mundaka Upanishad says, “Lose thyself in the Eternal, even as the arrow is lost in the target.” For the Hindu, this is the prized attainment of liberation, in which one enters into awareness of the eternal reality. This reality is then known with the same direct apprehension with which one knows oneself. The Sufi Muslim mystic Abu Yazid in the ninth century CE said, “I sloughed off my self as a snake sloughs off its skin, and I looked into my essence and saw that ‘I am He.’”20

A sense of the presence of the Great Unnamable may burst through the seeming ordinariness of life. (Samuel Palmer, The Rising of the Skylark, 1839, National Museum of Wales.)

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

10 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

An alternative kind of spiritual experience brings one into contact with what the German professor of theology Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) called the “Wholly Other.” Otto referred to this as numinous—a nonrational, non - sensory experience of that which is totally outside the self and cannot be described. In his landmark book The Idea of the Holy, Otto wrote of this myste- rious experience as the heart of religion. It brings forth two general responses in a person: a feeling of great awe or even dread and, at the same time, a feel- ing of great attraction. These responses, in turn, have given rise to the whole gamut of religious beliefs and behaviors.

Though ineffable, the nature of religious experience that leads to faith is not unpredictable, according to the research of Joachim Wach (1898–1955), a German scholar of comparative religion. In every religion, it seems to fol- low a certain pattern: (1) It is an experience of what is considered Unseen Reality; (2) It involves the person’s whole being; (3) It is the most shatter- ing and intense of all human experiences; and (4) It motivates the person to action, through worship, ethical behavior, service, and sharing with others in a religious grouping.

Understandings of Sacred Reality

In the struggle to understand what the mind cannot readily grasp, individu- als and cultures have come to rather different conclusions. Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) was a very infl uential scholar who helped to develop the fi eld of comparative religion. This discipline attempts to understand and compare religious patterns found around the world. He used the terms “sacred” and “profane”: the profane is the everyday world of seemingly random, ordinary, and unimportant occurrences. The sacred is the realm of extraordinary, apparently purposeful, but generally imperceptible forces. In the realm of the sacred lie the source of the universe and its values. However relevant this dichotomy may be in describing some religions, there are some cultures that do not make a clear distinction between the sacred and the profane. Many indigenous peoples who have an intimate connection with their local landscape feel that spiritual power is everywhere; there is nothing that is not sacred. Trees, mountains, animals—everything is perceived as being alive with sacred presence.

Another distinction made in the study of comparative religion is that between “immanent” and “transcendent” views of sacred reality. To under- stand that reality as immanent is to experience it as present in the world. To understand it as transcendent is to believe that it exists outside of the material universe (e.g., “God is out there”).

The concept of sacred Being is another area in which we fi nd great differ- ences among religious traditions. Many people perceive the sacred as a per- sonal being, as Father, Mother, Teacher, Friend, Beloved, or as a specifi c deity. Religions based on one’s relationship to a Divine Being are called theistic. If the being is worshiped as a singular form, the religion is called monotheistic. If many attributes and forms of the divine are emphasized, the religion may be labeled polytheistic. Religions that hold that beneath the multiplicity of apparent forms there is one underlying substance are called monistic.

Unseen Reality may also be conceived in nontheistic terms, as a “change- less Unity,” as “Suchness,” or simply as “the Way.” There may be no sense of a personal Creator God in such understandings; in nontheistic traditions,

Read the Document The Sacred and the Profane on myreligionlab

Buddhism is sometimes referred to as a nontheistic religion, for its beliefs do not refer to a personal deity. Practitioners try to perceive the impermanence and interdependence of all things.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 11

Ultimate Reality may instead be perceived as impersonal. Some people believe that the sacred reality is usually invis-

ible but occasionally appears visibly in human incarnations, such as Christ or Krishna, or in special manifestations, such as the fl ame Moses reportedly saw coming from the center of a bush but not consuming it. Or the deity that cannot be seen may be described in human terms. Christian theologian Sallie McFague thus writes of God as “lover” by imputing human feelings to God:

God as lover is the one who loves the world not with the fi ngertips but totally and passionately, taking pleasure in its variety and richness, fi nding it attractive and valuable, delighting in its fulfi lment. God as lover is the moving power of love in the universe, the desire for unity with all the beloved.21

Throughout history, there have been exclusivist religious authorities—in other words, those who claim that they wor- ship the only true deity and label all others as “pagans” or “nonbelievers.” For their part, the others apply similar nega- tive epithets to them. When these rigid positions are taken, often to the point of violent confl icts or forced conversions, there is no room to consider the possibility that all may be talking about the same indescribable thing in different languages or referring to different aspects of the same unknowable Whole—a position which may be called universalism.

Atheism is the belief that there is no deity. Atheists may reject theistic beliefs because they seem to be incompatible with the existence of evil in the world, or because there is little or no concrete proof that God exists, or because they reject the concept of God as an old man in the sky, or because theistic beliefs seem unscientifi c, or because they inhibit human independ- ence. In 2009, atheists in England mounted a major campaign to put up billboards and signs on buses proclaiming, “There’s probably no God. Now

The concept of God as an old man with a beard who rules the world from the sky has been supported by the art of patriarchal monotheistic traditions, such as William Blake’s frontispiece to “Europe,” The Act of Creation, 1794.

Atheists in England ran a large-scale campaign to advertise their point of view, posting large “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” signs on buses and in public places.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

12 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

EXCLUSIVISM VS. UNIVERSALISM

A Letter from I. H. Azad Faruqi

In this letter, the highly respected Muslim scholar Dr. I. H. Azad Faruqi, Professor of Islamic Studies and Honorary Director of the Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, gives his views on exclusivist and universalist standpoints.

Despite the attitude of the majority of the followers of world religions justifying the claims of exclusive nature found in almost all world religions, there are suffi cient grounds in the scriptures of these traditions which allow a universalistic interpretation of the phenomenon of the multiplicity of religions. That is, the scriptures of the various world religions within themselves contain the elements which can be interpreted to claim a viewpoint looking at various religious traditions as so many paths leading to the same Goal. Secondly, almost all world religions contain a vision of a Supreme Reality, which ultimately is considered beyond the categories of the rational thought, Incomprehensible and Unlimited. Thus, by their own admission these traditions appear to claim their vision of, and approach to, the Supreme Reality as short of exhausting It, and limited to a particular view of It. Otherwise also, although almost all the basic truths and aspects of religious life are represented in each of the religious traditions, each of these traditions tends to emphasize certain dimensions of the religious experience more than others. And these particular accentuations, at the core of the

spiritual experience of these traditions, are the factors which appear to determine the special hue or distinctiveness of these traditions. Thus, each of the different religious traditions can be claimed to express some particular aspects of the Ultimate Reality which, in spite of its myriad manifestations, remains unfathomable and far beyond the sum of all Its expressions. Seen from this perspective, the uniqueness of each religious tradition, and Its particular experience of the Supreme Reality, should no more remain as a hindrance in the cordial relations amongst them, as the usual case has been hitherto. Rather, these very particularities and distinctions would turn into the grounds for mutual attraction between them. Thirdly, the individualistic claims of various religions can be taken as true only in a relative sense. Each of the religious traditions being a close and complete world in itself, these are bound to claim their particular standpoints as absolute. Perhaps these could not develop into self-suffi cient traditions in their own right without their exclusivist claims of being the only truly guided ones. But today, in the pluralistic societies of modern times, the claims of these traditions having the monopoly of the Supreme Truth can be considered as relatively absolute only, if the term of a relative absolute can be permitted. That is, we can attempt to approach and study these traditions on their own grounds, with a more humble attitude, and let them speak from within their own world, while being aware that this is only one world out of many such worlds.22

stop worrying and enjoy your life.” A movement called “New Atheism” is attacking religious faith as being not only wrong, but actually evil because it can be used to support violence. As we will see throughout this book, extremist religious views have indeed been used throughout history to justify political violence and oppression. The leading fi gure in the New Atheism movement is Richard Dawkins, Oxford Professor of the Public Understanding of Science and author of The Selfi sh Gene and The God Delusion. Around him a debate is raging about whether science itself is fully “scientifi c,” in the sense of being totally objective, or whether it is a culturally shaped enterprise based on unproven assumptions—the same criticism that its atheistic proponents make about religious faith.

Agnosticism is not the denial of the divine but the feeling “I don’t know whether it exists or not,” or the belief that if it exists it is impossible for humans to know it. Religious scepticism has been a current in Western thought since

Read the Document The God Delusion on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 13

classical times; it was given the name “agnosticism” in the nineteenth century by T. H. Huxley, who stated its basic principles as a denial of metaphysical beliefs and of most (in his case) Christian beliefs since they are unproven or unprovable, and their replacement with scientifi c method for examining facts and experiences.

Beyond agnosticism, there is secularism, in which people go about their daily lives without any reference to religion: all focus in on material life. This trend is particularly pronounced in contemporary Europe.

These categories are not mutually exclusive, so attempts to apply the labels can sometimes confuse us rather than help us understand religions. In some polytheistic traditions there is a hierarchy of gods and goddesses with one highest being at the top. In Hinduism, each individual deity is understood as an embodiment of all aspects of the divine. In the paradoxes that occur when we try to apply human logic and language to that which transcends rational thought, a person may believe that God is both a highly personal being and also present in all things. An agnostic may be deeply committed to moral principles. Or mystics may have personal encounters with the divine and yet fi nd it so unspeakable that they say it is beyond human knowing. The Jewish scholar Maimonides (1135–1204) asserted that:

the human mind cannot comprehend God. Only God can know Himself. The only form of comprehension of God we can have is to realize how futile it is to try to comprehend Him.23

Jaap Sahib, the great hymn of praises of God by the Tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, consists largely of the negative attributes of God, such as these:

Salutations to the One without colour or hue, Salutations to the One who hath no beginning. Salutations to the Impenetrable, Salutations to the Unfathomable … O Lord, Thou art Formless and Peerless Beyond birth and physical elements. … Salutations to the One beyond confi nes of religion. … Beyond description and Garbless Thou art Nameless and Desireless. Thou art beyond thought and ever Mysterious.24

Some people believe that the aspect of the divine that they perceive is the only one. Others feel that there is one being with many faces, that all reli- gions come from one source. Bede Griffi ths (1906–1993), a Catholic monk who lived in a community in India attempting to unite Eastern and Western traditions, was one who felt that if we engage in a deep study of all religions we will fi nd their common ground:

In each tradition the one divine Reality, the one eternal Truth, is present, but it is hidden under symbols. … Always the divine Mystery is hidden under a veil, but each revelation (or “unveiling”) unveils some aspect of the one Truth, or, if you like, the veil becomes thinner at a certain point. The Semitic religions, Judaism and Islam, reveal the transcendent aspect of the divine Mystery with incomparable power. The oriental religions reveal the divine Immanence with immeasurable depth. Yet in each the opposite aspect is contained, though in a more hidden way.25

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

14 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Ritual, symbol, and myth

Many of the phenomena of religion are ways of worship, symbols, and myths. Worship consists in large part of attempts to express reverence and perhaps to enter into communion with that which is worshiped or to request help with problems such as ill health, disharmony, or poverty. Around the world, rituals, sacraments, prayers, and spiritual practices are used to create a sacred atmosphere or state of consciousness necessary to convey the requests for help, to bring some human control over things that are not ordinarily control- lable (such as rainfall), to sanctify and explain the meaning of major life stages such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death, or to provide spiritual instruction.

When such actions are predictable and repeated rather than spontaneous, they are known as rituals. Group rituals may be conducted by priests or other ritual specialists or by the people themselves. There may be actions such as recitation of prayers, chants, scriptures or stories, singing, dancing, sharing of food, spiritual purifi cation by water, lighting of candles or oil lamps, and offer- ings of fl owers, fragrances, and food to the divine. Professor Antony Fernando of Sri Lanka explains that when food offerings are made to the deities:

Even the most illiterate person knows that in actual fact no god really picks up those offerings or is actually in need of them. What people offer is what they own. Whatever is owned becomes so close to the heart of the owner as to become an almost integral part of his or her life. Therefore, when people offer something, it is, as it were, themselves they offer. … Sacrifi ces and offerings are a dramatic way of proclaiming that they are not the ultimate possessors of their life and also of articulating their determination to live duty-oriented lives and not desire-oriented lives.26

Music, chants, and other kinds of sound play very siginifi cant roles in religious rituals, whether it is the noisy bursting of fi recrackers to scare away unwanted spirits at Chinese graves or choral singing of Kyrie Eleison (Lord

Places of worship are often designed as visual symbols of religious ideals. The Baha’i Temple in New Delhi was crafted in the shape of a lotus, symbol of beauty and purity rising divinely above stagnant water, and its nine-sided structure symbolizes the unity of all world religions.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 15

have mercy) in a sublime composition by the eighteenth-century composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Ethnomusicologist Guy Beck identifi es many pur- poses for which sacred sounds may be used in religions: to ask for favors or blessings, to ask forgiveness for sins, to praise and thank the Creator, to chase away demons, to invoke the presence and blessings of deities, to make prayer- ful requests, to develop a mood of inner quietude or repentance, to purify the worshiper, to paint pictures of a future state of being, to create communion between the human and divine worlds, to teach doctrines, to create states of ecstasy and bliss, to empty and then fulfi ll, to invigorate, and to express jubilation.27 The effects of sounds on mind and heart are so touching that sacred texts or messages are often chanted or sung rather than simply read or recited. Speaking from a theistic point of view, nineteenth-century musi- cologist Edmund Gurney refl ected:

The link between sound and the supernatural is profound and widespread. ... If we are believers, then we can believe that the spirit is moving us in our ritual music. Ritual sound makes the transcendent immanent. It is at the same time ours, our own sounds pressing in around us and running through us like a vital current of belief, molding us into a living interior that is proof against the unbelieving emptiness that lies around.28

What religions attempt to approach may be considered beyond human utterance. Believers build statues and buildings through which to worship the divine, but these forms are not the divine itself. Because people are addressing the invisible, it can be suggested only through metaphor. Deepest conscious- ness cannot speak the language of everyday life; what it knows can be sug- gested only in symbols—images borrowed from the material world that are similar to ineffable spiritual experiences. For example, attempts to allude to spiritual merging with Unseen Reality may borrow the language of human love. The great thirteenth-century Hindu saint Akka Mahadevi sang of her longing for union with the Beloved by using powerful symbolic language of self-surrender:

Like a silkworm weaving her house with love From her marrow and dying in her body’s threads Winding tight, round and round, I burn Desiring what the heart desires.29

Our religious ceremonies are but the shadows of that great universal worship celebrated in the heavens by the legions of heavenly beings on all planes, and our prayers drill a channel across this mist separating our earthbound plane from the celestial ones through which a communication may be established with the powers that be.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan30

Tracing symbols throughout the world, researchers fi nd many similari- ties in their use in different cultures. Unseen Reality is often symbolized as a Father or Mother, because it is thought to be the source of life, sustenance, and protection. It is frequently associated with heights, with its invisible power perceived as coming from a “place” that is spiritually “higher” than the material world. The sky thus becomes heaven, the abode of the god or gods and perhaps also the pleasant realm to which good people go when they die.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

16 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

A vertical symbol—such as a tree, a pillar, or a mountain—is understood as the center of the world in many cultures, for it gives physical imagery to a connec- tion between earth and the unseen “heavenly” plane. The area beneath the surface of the earth is often perceived as an “underworld,” a rather dangerous place where life goes on in a different way than on the surface.

Some theorists assert that in some cases these common symbols are not just logical associations with the natural world. Most notably, the psychologist Carl Jung (1875–1961) proposed that humanity as a whole has a collective unconscious, a global psychic inheritance of archetypal symbols from which geographically separate cultures have drawn. These archetypes include such symbolic characters as the wise old man, the great mother, the original man and woman, the hero, the shadow, and the trickster.

Extended metaphors may be understood as allegories—narratives that use concrete symbols to convey abstract ideas. The biblical book attributed to the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, for instance, is full of such allegorical passages. In one he says that God’s spirit led him to a valley full of dry bones. As he watched and spoke as God told him, the bones developed fl esh and muscles, became joined together into bodies, and rose to their feet. The voice of God in the scripture explains the allegorical meaning: the bones represent the

Read the Document Mandalas: Deity Unfolding in the World on myreligionlab

This symbolic representation of a World Tree comes from 18th-century Iran. It is conceived as a tree in Paradise, about which the Prophet Muhammad reportedly said, “God planted it with His own hand and breathed His spirit into it.”

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 17

people of Israel, who have been abandoned by their self-serving leaders and become scattered and preyed upon by wild beasts, like the sheep of uncaring shepherds. God promises to dismiss the shepherds, raise the fallen people and restore them to the land of Israel, where they will live peacefully under God’s protection (Ezekiel 34–37). Such allegories may assume great signifi cance in a people’s self-understanding, as in the Lakota myth of the eagle (see Box).

Symbols are also woven together into myths—the symbolic stories that communities use to explain the universe and their place within it. Like many cultures, Polynesians tell a myth of the world’s creation in which the world was initially covered with water and shrouded in darkness. When the Supreme Being, Io, wanted to rise from rest, he uttered words that immedi- ately brought light into the darkness. Then at his word the waters and the heavens were separated, the land was shaped, and all beings were created.

TEACHING STORY

Descendants of the Eagle

A long time ago, a really long time when the world was still freshly made, Unktehi the water monster fought the people and caused a great fl ood. Perhaps the Great Spirit was angry with us for some reason. Maybe he let Unktehi win out because he wanted to make a better kind of human being. The waters got higher and higher. Finally everything was fl ooded except the hill next to the place where the sacred red pipestone quarry lies today. The people climbed up there to save themselves, but it was no use. The water swept over that hill. Waves tumbled the rocks and pinnacles, smashing them down on the people. Everyone was killed, and all the blood jelled, making one big pool. The blood turned to pipestone and created the pipestone quarry, the grave of those ancient ones. That’s why the pipe, made of that red rock, is so sacred to us. Its red bowl is the fl esh and blood of our ancestors, its stem is the backbone of those people long dead, the smoke rising from it is their breath. I tell you, that pipe comes alive when used in a ceremony; you can feel the power fl owing from it. Unktehi, the big water monster, was also turned to stone. Maybe Tunkashila, the Grandfather Spirit, punished her for making the fl ood. Her bones are in the Badlands now. Her back forms a long, high ridge, and you can see her vertebrae sticking out in a great row of red and yellow rocks. I have seen them. It scared me when I was on that ridge, for I felt Unktehi. She was moving beneath me, wanting to topple me. When all the people were killed so many generations ago, one girl survived, a beautiful girl.

It happened this way: When the water swept over the hill where they tried to seek refuge, a big spotted eagle, Wanblee Galeshka, swept down and let her grab hold of his feet. With her hanging on, he fl ew to the top of a tall tree which stood on the highest stone pinnacles in the Black Hills. That was the eagle’s home. It became the only spot not covered with water. If the people had gotten up there, they would have survived, but it was a needle-like rock. Wanblee kept that beautiful girl with him and made her his wife. There was a closer connection then between people and animals, so he could do it. The eagle’s wife became pregnant and bore him twins, a boy and a girl. She was happy, and said, “Now we will have people again. Washtay, it is good.” The children were born right there, on top of that cliff. When the waters fi nally subsided, Wanblee helped the children and their mother down from his rock and put them on the earth, telling them: “Be a nation, become a great Nation— the Lakota Oyate.” The boy and girl grew up. He was the only man on earth, she was the only woman of child-bearing age. They married; they had children. A nation was born. So we are descended from the eagle. We are an eagle nation. That is good, something to be proud of, because the eagle is the wisest of birds. He is the Great Spirit’s messenger; he is a great warrior. That is why we always wore the eagle plume and still wear it.

As told by Lame Deer to Richard Erdoes31

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

18 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Myths may purport to explain how things came to be as they are, perhaps incorporating elements of historical truth, and in any case are treated as sacred history.

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987), who carried out extensive analysis of myths around the world, found that myths have four primary functions: mystical (evoking our awe, love, wonder, gratitude); cosmological (presenting expla- nations of the universe based on the existence and actions of spiritual powers or beings); sociological (adapting people to orderly social life, teaching ethical codes); and psychological (opening doors to inner exploration, development of one’s full potential, and adjustment to life cycle changes). Understood in these senses, myths are not falsehoods or the works of primitive imagina- tions; they can be deeply meaningful and transformational, forming a sacred belief structure that supports the laws and institutions of the religion and the ways of the community, as well as explaining the people’s place within the cosmos. Campbell paid particular attention to myths of the hero’s journey, in which the main character is separated from the group, undergoes hardships and initiation, and returns bearing truth to the people. Such stories, he felt, prepare and inspire the listener for the diffi cult inward journey that leads to spiritual transformation:

It is the business of mythology to reveal the specifi c dangers and techniques of the dark interior way from tragedy to comedy. Hence the incidents are fantastic and “unreal”: they represent psychological, not physical, triumphs. The passage of the mythological hero may be overground, [but] fundamentally it is inward—into depths where obscure resistances are overcome, and long lost, forgotten powers are revivifi ed, to be made available for the transfi guration of the world.32

Absolutist and liberal responses to modernity

Traditional religious understandings are under increasing pressure from the rapidly growing phenomenon of globalization. Complex in its dynamics and manifestations, globalization has been defi ned by Global Studies Professor Manfred Steger as “the expansion and intensifi cation of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world-space.”33 Local cultures and com- munity ties have rapidly given way to hybrid homogenized patterns that have evolved in countries such as the United States. “McDonaldization” of the world, fueled by ever faster and more accessible means of communication and transportation, transnational corporations, free trade, urbanization, and unrestrained capitalism, has made deep inroads into traditional local cultural ways. As a result, there is increasing tension between those who want to pre- serve their traditional ways and values and those who open doors to change.

Within each faith people may thus have different ways of interpreting their traditions. The orthodox stand by an historical form of their religion, strictly following its established practices, laws, and creeds. Those who resist contemporary infl uences and affi rm what they perceive as the historical core of their religion could be called absolutists. In our times, many people feel that their identity as individuals or as members of an established group is threatened by the sweeping changes brought by modern global industrial culture. The breakup of family relationships, loss of geographic rootedness, decay of clear behavioral codes, and loss of local control may be very unset-

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 19

tling. To fi nd stable footing, to attempt to preserve their distinctive identity as a people in the face of modernity and secularization, some people may try to stand on selected religious doctrines or practices from the past. Religious leaders may encourage this trend toward rigidity by declaring themselves absolute authorities or by telling the people that their scriptures are literally and exclusively true. They may encourage antipathy or even violence against people of other religious traditions.

The term fundamentalism is often applied to this selective insistence on parts of a religious tradition and to highly negative views of people of other religions. This use of the term is misleading, for no religion is based on hatred of other people and because those who are labeled “fundamentalists” may not be engaged in a return to the true basics of their religion. A Muslim “funda- mentalist” who insists on the veiling of women, for instance, does not draw this doctrine from the foundation of Islam, the Holy Qur’an, but rather from historical cultural practice in some Muslim countries. A Sikh “fundamentalist” who concentrates on externals, such as wearing a turban, sword, and steel bracelet, overlooks the central insistence of the Sikh Gurus on the inner rather than outer practice of religion.

A further problem with the use of the term “fundamentalism” is that it has a specifi cally Protestant Christian connotation. The Christian fundamentalist movement originated in the late nineteenth century as a reaction to liberal trends, such as historical-critical study of the Bible, which will be explained below. Other labels may, therefore, be more cross-culturally appropriate, such as “absolutist,” “extremist,” or “reactionary,” depending on the particular situation.

Those who are called religious liberals take a more fl exible approach to religious tradition. They may see scriptures as products of a specifi c culture and time rather than the eternal voice of truth, and may interpret passages metaphorically rather than literally. If activists, they may advocate reforms in the ways their religion is offi cially understood and practiced.

While absolutists tend to take their scriptures and received religious tradi- tions as literally true, liberals have for several centuries been engaged in a

Angels Weep

Wherever there is slaughter of innocent men, women, and children for the mere reason that they belong to another race, color, or nationality, or were born into a faith which the majority of them could never quite comprehend and hardly ever practice in its true spirit; wherever the fair name of religion is used as a veneer to hide overweening political ambition and bottomless greed, wherever the glory of Allah is sought to be proclaimed through the barrel of a gun; wherever piety becomes synonymous with rapacity, and morality cowers under the blight of expediency

and compromise, wherever it be—in Yugoslavia or Algeria, in Liberia, Chad, or the beautiful land of the Sudan, in Los Angeles or Abuija, in Kashmir or Conakry, in Colombo or Cotabato—there God is banished and Satan is triumphant, there the angels weep and the soul of man cringes; there in the name of God humans are dehumanized; and there the grace and beauty of life lie ravished and undone.

Dr. Syed Z. Abedin, Director of the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs,

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia34

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

20 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

different approach to understanding their own religions and those of others: historical-critical studies. These are academic attempts to reconstruct the his- torical life stories of prophets and their cultures as opposed to legends about them, and to subject their scriptures to objective analysis. Such academic study of religion neither accepts nor rejects the particular truth-claims of any religion.

Non-faith-based methods of exegesis (critical explanation or interpreta- tion of texts) reveal that “sacred” scriptures may include polemics against opponents of the religion, myths, cultural infl uences, ethical instruction, later interpolations, mistakes by copyists, literary devices, factual history, and genuine spiritual inspiration. This process began with historical-critical study of the Bible at the end of the eighteenth century and has expanded to include scriptures of other traditions, such as the Holy Qur’an of Islam, the Dao de jing of Daoism, and Buddhist and Hindu texts.

One area of research is to try to determine the original or most reliable form of a particular text. Another focus is ferreting out the historical aspects of the text, with help from external sources such as archaeological fi ndings, to determine the historical setting in which it was probably composed, its actual author or authors, and possible sources of its material, such as oral or written traditions. Such research may conclude that material about a certain period may have been written later and include perspectives from that later period, or that a text with one person’s name as author may actually be a collection of writings by different people. A third area of research asks, “What was the intended audience?” A fourth examines the language and meanings of the words. A fi fth looks at whether a scripture or passage follows a particular lit- erary form, such as poetry, legal code, miracle story, allegory, parable, hymn, narrative, or sayings. A sixth focuses on the redaction, or editing and organ- izing, of the scripture and the development of an authorized canon designed to speak not only to the local community but also to a wider audience. Yet another approach is to look at the scripture in terms of its universal and con- temporary relevance, rather than its historicity.

Although such research attempts to be objective, it is not necessarily undertaken with sceptical intentions. To the contrary, these forms of research are taught in many seminaries as ways of reconciling faith with reason. Nevertheless, such analyses may be seen as offensive and/or false by orthodox believers. In any case, they are not perfect, for there are gaps in the available data and they can be interpreted in various ways. Scriptures also serve differ- ent purposes in different traditions, and these differences must be understood.

The encounter between science and religion

Like religion, science is also engaged in searching for universal principles that explain the facts of nature. The two approaches have infl uenced each other since ancient times, when they were not seen as separate endeavors. In both East and West, there were continual attempts to understand reality as a whole.

In ancient Greece, source of many “Western” ideas, a group of thinkers who are sometimes called “nature philosophers” tried to understand the world through their own perceptions of it. By contrast, Plato (c.427–347 BCE) distrusted the testimony of the human senses. He thus made a series of distinctions: between what is perceived by the senses and what is accessible

Listen to the Podcast Scholar Says Religion and Science Can Co-exist on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 21

through reason, between body and soul, appearance and reality, objects and ideas. In Plato’s thought, the soul was superior to the body, and the activity of reason preferable to the distraction of the senses. This value judgment domi- nated Western thought through the Middle Ages, with its underlying belief that all of nature had been created by God for the sake of humanity.

In the seventeenth century, knowledge of nature became more secularized (that is, divorced from the sacred) as scientists developed models of the uni- verse as a giant machine. Its ways could be discovered by human reason, by studying its component parts and mathematically quantifying its character- istics. However, even in discovering such features, many scientists regarded them as the work of a divine Creator or Ruler. Isaac Newton (1642–1727), whose gravitational theory shaped modern physics, speculated that space is eternal because it is the emanation of “eternal and immutable being.” Drawing on biblical quotations, Newton argued that God exists everywhere, containing, discerning, and ruling all things.

During the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, rational ways of knowing were increasingly respected, with a concurrent growing scepticism toward claims of knowledge derived from such sources as divine revelation or illumi- nated inner wisdom. The sciences were viewed as progressive; some thinkers attacked institutionalized religions and dogma as superstitions. According to scientifi c materialism, which developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the supernatural is imaginary; only the material world is real.

The old unitary concepts of science and religion received another serious challenge in 1859, when the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) pub- lished On the Origin of Species, a work that propounded the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin demonstrated that certain genetic mutations give an organism a competitive advantage over others of its species. As evolution- ary biology has continued to develop since Darwin through genetic research,

Mapping of human DNA reveals that its six-and-a- half-foot- (two-meter-) long chain, carrying trillions of times more data than a computer chip, is super- dense, folding without tangles into the nucleus of a cell which is only one-fi fth the width of a human hair.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

22 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

it shows that those carrying advantageous genes statistically produce more offspring than others, so the percentage of the new gene gradually increases in the gene pool. Evolutionary studies are revealing more and more evidence of what appear to be gradual changes in organisms, as recorded in fossil records, footprints, and genetic records encoded in DNA. According to evolu- tionary biology theory, over great lengths of time such gradual changes have brought the development of all forms of life. The theory of natural selection directly contradicted a literal understanding of the biblical Book of Genesis, in which God is said to have created all life in only six days. By the end of the nineteenth century, all such beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition were being questioned.

However, as science has progressed during the twentieth and twenty- fi rst centuries, it has in some senses moved back toward a more nuanced understanding of religious belief. Science has always questioned its own assumptions and theories, and scientists have given up trying to fi nd absolute certainties. From contemporary scientifi c research, it is clear that the cosmos is mind-boggling in its complexity and that what we perceive with our fi ve senses is not ultimately real. For instance, the inertness and solidity of mat- ter are only illusions. Each atom consists mostly of empty space with tiny particles whirling around in it. These subatomic particles—such as neutrons, protons, and electrons—cannot even be described as “things.” Theories of quantum mechanics, in trying to account for the tiniest particles of matter, uncovered the Uncertainty Principle: that the position and velocity of a sub- atomic particle cannot be simultaneously determined. These particles behave like energy as well as like matter, like waves as well as like particles. Their behaviors can best be described in terms of a dynamic, interdependent system which includes the observer. As physicist David Bohm (1917–1994) put it, “Everything interpenetrates everything.”35

Our own bodies appear relatively solid, but they are in a constant state of fl ux and interchange with the environment. Our eyes, ears, noses, tongues, and skin do not reveal absolute truths. Rather, our sensory organs may oper- ate as fi lters, selecting from a multidimensional universe only those charac- teristics that we need to perceive in order to survive. Imagine how diffi cult it would be simply to walk across a street if we could see all the electromagnetic energy in the atmosphere, such as X-rays, radio waves, gamma rays, and infrared and ultraviolet light, rather than only the small band of colors we see as the visible spectrum. Though the sky of a starry night appears vast to the naked eye, the giant Hubble telescope placed in space has revealed an incom- prehensibly immense cosmos whose limits have not been found. It contains matter-gobbling black holes, vast starmaking clusters, intergalactic collisions, and cosmic events that happened billions of years ago, so far away that their light is only now being captured by the most powerful instruments we have for examining what lies far beyond our small place in this galaxy. We know that more lies beyond what we have yet been able to measure. And even our ability to conceive of what we cannot sense may perhaps be limited by the way the human brain is organized.

As science continues to question its own assumptions, various new hypoth- eses are being suggested about the nature of the universe. “Superstring theo- ry” proposes that the universe may not be made of particles at all, but rather of tiny vibrating strings and loops of strings. According to superstring theory, whereas we think we are living in four dimensions of space and time, there may be at least ten dimensions, with the unperceived dimensions “curled up”

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 23

or “compactifi ed” within the four dimensions that we can perceive. According to another current theory, the cosmos is like a soccer ball, a fi nite closed system with many facets.

New branches of science are fi nding that the universe is not always pre- dictable, nor does it always operate according to human notions of cause and effect. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann says that we are “a small speck of creation believing it is capable of comprehending the whole.”36 And whereas scientifi c models of the universe were until recently based on the assumption of stability and equilibrium, physicist Ilya Prigogine observes that “today we see instability, fl uctuations, irreversibility at every level.”37

Physicist Hans-Peter Dürr, winner of the Right Livelihood Award (often described as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), describes the dilemma that these discoveries pose to human understanding:

We found out that matter is not existent. At the beginning, there is only something which changes. How can something which is in-between create something which can be grasped? ... We are part of the same organism which we cannot talk about. If I explain it, try to catch it with language, I destroy it. The Creation and the Creator cannot be seen as separate. There is only oneness.38

The Hubble space telescope reveals an unimaginably vast cosmos, with billions of galaxies in continual fl ux. The Eagle nebula shown here is giving birth to new stars in “pillars of creation” which are six trillion miles (ten trillion kilometers) high.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

24 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

The most beautiful and profound emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness. … A human being is part of the whole. … He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. … Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures, and the whole [of] nature in its beauty.

Albert Einstein39

In the work of physicists such as David Bohm, physics approaches meta- physics—philosophy based on theories of subtle realities that transcend the physical world. Bohm described the dimensions we see and think of as “real” as the explicate order. Behind it lies the implicate order, in which separateness resolves into unbroken wholeness. Beyond may lie other subtle dimensions, all merging into an infi nite ground that unfolds itself as light. This scientifi c theory is very similar to descriptions by mystics from all cultures about their intuitive experiences of the cosmos. They speak of realities beyond nor- mal human perceptions of space and time. The Hindu term “Brahma,” for instance, means “vast”—a vastness perceived by sages as infi nite dimensions of a Supreme Consciousness that started without any material and then Itself became the Creation. In the realization of Guru Nanak, fi rst of the Sikh Gurus, God is “Akal Murat”—Reality that transcends time.

Science is moving beyond its earlier mechanical models toward more dynamic biological models. For instance, James Lovelock has proposed the Gaia Theory of the earth as a complex, self-regulating organism of sorts, but he does not see it as the work of any Grand Planner. He explains:

Gaia theory sees the earth as a complete system made up of all the living things—all of them, from bacteria all the way up to whales, from tiny algae living in the ocean all the way up to giant redwood trees, and all of the great ecosystems of the forests and so on. All of that life part is not alone but tightly integrated with the atmosphere, the ocean, and the surface rocks. The whole of that constitutes a single system that regulates itself, keeps the climate constant and comfortable for life, keeps the chemical composition of the atmosphere so that it’s always breathable. [The earth] is not alive like an animal. What I am implying is alive in the sense of being able to regulate itself. It’s a system that evolved automatically, without any purpose, foresight, or anything. It just happened and has been in existence now for about three and a half to four billion years. A very tough system… .40

In the United States, the conservative Christian community has objected to mechanistic scientifi c theories of biological evolution, preferring Creationism, the concept of intentional divine creation of all life forms. Intelligent design theory has been cited to support the religious concept of Creationism. According to intelligent design theorists, scientifi c discoveries of the complexi- ties and perfections of life can be said to prove the existence of an Intelligent Designer. For instance, if the weak force in the nucleus of an atom were a

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

When Science Approaches Religion

Theoretical physicist Paul Davies (b. 1946) has won

the Templeton Prize, a prestigious international

award for contribution to thinking about religion.

He suggests that science approaches religion when it

asks fundamental questions:

If you are a biologist and you get stuck, you might go to a chemist to help you out. If a chemist gets stuck, you might get a physicist. If you’re a physicist and you get stuck, there’s nowhere to go except theology, because physics is the most basic science. It’s at the base of the explanatory pyramid upon which everything else is built. It deals with the fundamental laws of nature. And that inevitably prompts us to ask questions like, “Why those laws? Where have they come from? Why are they mathematical? What does it mean? Could they be different?” Clearly these are questions on the borderline between science and philosophy, or science and theology. The early scientists perceived this natural order and its hidden mathematical content, and they thought it derived from a creator-being. What happened in the centuries that followed was that science accepted the existence of a real order in nature. You can’t be a scientist if you don’t believe that there is some sort of order that is at least in part comprehensible to us. So you have to make two enormous assumptions—which don’t have to be right. But to be a scientist, you’ve got to believe they’re true. First, that there is a rational order in nature. Second, that we can come to understand nature, at least in part. What an extraordinary thing this is to believe in! There is a rational, comprehensible order in nature. Science asserts that the world isn’t arbitrary or absurd. If I use the word “God,” it is not in the sense of a super-being who has existed for all eternity and, like a cosmic magician, brings the universe into being at some moment in time on a whimsical basis. When

I refer to “God,” it is in the sense of the rational ground in which the whole scientifi c enterprise is rooted. The God I’m referring to is not really a person or a being in the usual sense. In particular, it is something that is outside of time. That is a very signifi cant issue, and one on which there can be a very fruitful exchange, in my opinion, between physics and philosophy. Almost all of my physics colleagues, and scientists from other disciplines, even if they would cast themselves as militant atheists, are deeply inspired by the wonder, the beauty, the ingenuity of nature, and the underlying, law-like mathematical order. It could be that there are some things that are simply going to be forever beyond scientifi c enquiry— not because we’re lacking the money or the expertise or something of that sort, but because there are inherent limits to how far rational enquiry can take us. If science leaves us with mystery, is there a way that we can come to know about the world, about existence, not through scientifi c enquiry but through some other method? I’m open-minded as to whether that is the case. I’m talking here about revelatory or mystical experiences, where somehow the answer is grasped—not through rational enquiry, nor through experimentation, but by “knowing” in some internal sense. Nothing I have said deals with the sort of issues we struggle with in daily life, which are ethical and moral issues. The weakness of restricting to a God who’s just some sort of abstract, mathematical, rational ground for the world is that it doesn’t provide us with any sort of moral guidance. Most people turn to religion not because they want to understand how the universe is put together, but because they want to understand how their own lives are put together, and what they should do next. You don’t go to a physicist to ask about right and wrong.41

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 25

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

26 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

small fraction weaker, there would be no hydrogen in the universe—and thus no water. Biologists fi nd that the natural world is an intricate harmony of beautifully elaborated, interrelated parts. Even to produce the miniature propeller that allows a tiny bacterium to swim, some forty different proteins are required.

The intelligent design movement concludes that there must be a Creator. However, science is a method of proposing testable hypotheses and testing them, whereas the intelligent design hypothesis is not testable. In 2005, the judge in a landmark case in Dover, Pennsylvania, ruled that intelligent design could not be recommended to ninth-grade biology students because intelligent design does not qualify as science—unless the defi nition of sci- ence is changed to include supernatural explanations—and because the First Amendment of the Constitution prevents government offi cials from imposing any particular religion or religious belief.

In the current dialogue between science and religion, four general posi- tions have emerged. One is a confl ict model, which is most apparent in issues such as creation, with some scientists holding onto faith in scientifi c method and some religionists holding onto faith in a Creator God whose existence cannot be proved by scientifi c method. A second position is that science and religion deal with separate realms. That is, religions deal with matters such as morality, hope, answers to philosophical questions (“Why are we here?”), and ideas about life after death, whereas science deals with quantifi able physi- cal reality. In this position, a person can live with “two truths,” and neither side is required to venture into the other’s domain. A third position is that of dialogue, in which scientists and religious believers can fi nd common ground in interpreting religious propositions as metaphors and bases for the moral use of scientifi c research. Claims to absolute truth are softened on each side. A fourth position is that of integration, in which science and religion overlap. One example is illustrated by the boxed excerpt from physicist Paul Davies; another is what is sometimes called “creation theology,” referring to scientifi c enquiries by people who believe in a creative deity or deities. Environmentalist Ellen Bernstein explains this exploration from a Jewish perspective:

Creation theology refers to any kind of refl ection on God and the world as a whole, or the elements of the world. It is interested in the nature of nature, and the nature of humanity, and the interplay of the two. It understands God as the continual, creative Presence in the world. … Jews who accept the logic of evolution theory should be relieved to learn that embracing a theology of creation in no way requires a suspension of rational thought or scientifi c integrity.42

At the cutting edge of research, scientists themselves fi nd they have no ulti- mate answers that can be expressed in scientifi c terms.

Women in religions

Another long-standing issue in the sphere of religion is the exclusion of women in male-dominated systems. Most institutionalized religions are patri- archal, meaning that men lead like father fi gures. Women are often relegated to the fringes of religious organizations, given only supporting roles, thus refl ecting existing social distinctions between men and women. In some cases, women are even considered incapable of spiritual realization or dangerous to men’s spiritual lives. Founders of religion have in many cases attempted to

Read the Document The Spiritual Idea of the “Feminine” on myreligionlab IS

B N

1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 27

temper cultural restraints on women. Jesus, for example, apparently included women among his close disciples, and the Prophet Muhammad gave much more respect to women than had been customary in the surrounding culture. However, the institutions that developed after the prophets often reverted to exclusion and oppression of women, sometimes giving a religious stamp of approval to gender imbalances.

Although women are still barred from equal spiritual footing with men in many religions, this situation is now being widely challenged. The contempo- rary feminist movement includes strong efforts to make women’s voices heard in the sphere of religion. Women are trying to discover their own identity, rather than having their identities defi ned by others, and to develop full, pur- poseful lives for themselves and their families. Scholars are bringing to light the histories of many women who have been religious leaders. Feminists are challenging patriarchal religious institutions that have excluded women from active participation. They are also challenging gender-exclusive language in holy texts and authoritarian masculine images of the divine. Their protests also go beyond gender issues to question the narrow and confi ning ways in which religious inspiration has been institutionalized. Many Buddhist centers in the West and some in Asia are run by women, and female scholars are hav- ing a major impact on the ways that Buddhist teachings are being understood. At prestigious Christian seminaries in the United States, women preparing for the ministry now outnumber men and are radically transforming views of religion and religious practice. Many women are deeply concerned about social ills of our times—violence, poverty, ecological disaster—and are insist- ing that religions be actively engaged in insuring human survival, and that they be life-affi rming rather than punitive in approach.

Even in traditional roles, women are redefi ning themselves as important spiritual actors. Buddhist practitioner Jacqueline Kramer observes:

Even when denied access to public leadership roles in religions, women have been spiritually infl uential as mothers, nurses, Sunday school teachers, and the like.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

28 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

The life occupation of mothering and homemaking has been both glorifi ed and demeaned, but seldom has it been seen as the valid spiritual path it can be. Yet, the practices the mothers engage in, day in and day out—selfl ess service, generosity, letting go, developing a deep love for all beings, patience, faith, and mindfulness—are the way of practice for monks and nuns of all the world’s wisdom traditions.43

Negative aspects of organized religions

Tragically, religions have often split rather than unifi ed humanity, have oppressed rather than freed, have terrifi ed rather than inspired. Institutionalization of religion is part of the problem. As institutionalized religions spread the teachings of their founders, there is the danger that more energy will go into preserving the outer form of the tradition than into maintaining its inner spirit. Max Weber (1864–1920), an infl uential early twentieth-century scholar of the sociology of religion, referred to this process as the “routinization of charisma.” Charisma is the rare quality of personal magnetism often ascribed to founders of religion. When the founder dies, the center of the movement may shift to those who turn the original inspirations into routine rituals, dogma, and organizational structures.

Since the human needs that religions answer are so strong, those who hold religious power are in a position to dominate and control their followers. In fact, in many religions leaders are given this authority to guide people’s spiritual lives, for their perceived wisdom and special access to the sacred are valued. Because religions involve the unseen, the mysterious, these leaders’ teachings are not verifi able by everyday physical experience. They must more often be accepted on faith and it is possible to surrender to leaders who are misguided or unethical. Religious leaders, like secular leaders, may not be honest with themselves and others about their inner motives. They may mis- take their own thoughts and desires for divine guidance.

Another potential problem is exaggeration of guilt. Religions try to help us make ethical choices in our lives, to develop a moral conscience. But in people who already have perfectionist or paranoid tendencies, the fear of sinning and being punished can be exaggerated to the point of neurosis or even psychosis by blaming, punishment-oriented religious teachings. If people try to leave their religion for the sake of their mental health, they may be haunted with guilt that they have done a terribly wrong thing. Religions thus have the potential for wreaking psychological havoc on their followers.

Another potentially negative use of religion is escapism. Because some religions, particularly those that developed in Asia, offer a state of blissful contemplation as the reward for spiritual practice, the faithful may use reli- gion to escape from their everyday problems. Psychologist John Welwood observes that Westerners sometimes embrace Eastern religions with the unconscious motive of avoiding their unsatisfactory lives. He calls this attempt “spiritual bypassing.”

Because religions may have such a strong hold on their followers—by their fears, their desires, their deep beliefs—they are potential centers for political power. When church and state are one, the belief that the dominant national religion is the only true religion may be used to oppress those of other beliefs within the country. Religion may also be used as a rallying point for wars against other nations, casting the desire for control as a holy motive.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 29

Throughout history, huge numbers of people have been killed in the name of eradicating “false” religions and replacing them with the “true” religion. Rather than uniting us all in bonds of love, harmony, and mutual respect, this approach has often divided us with barriers of hatred and intolerance.

In our times, dangerous politicized polarizations between religions are increasing in some areas, albeit cooling off in others. Some of the most wor- risome confl icts are pitting Christians and Jews against Muslims to such an extent that some have predicted a catastrophic “clash of civilizations.” No reli- gion has ever sanctioned violence against innocent people, but such political clashes have given a holy aura to doing just that, posing a grave threat to life and peace. Sadism, terrorism, wars over land and resources, political oppres- sion, and environmental destruction can all be given a thin veneer of religious sanctifi cation, thus obscuring their evil aspects.

His Highness the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Isma’ili Shia Muslims, main- tains that the real problem today is a “clash of ignorance.”44 This is not the time to think of the world in terms of superfi cial, rigid distinctions between “us” and “them.” It is the time when we must try to understand each other’s beliefs and feelings clearly, carefully, and compassionately, and bring truly religious responses into play. To take such a journey does not mean forsak- ing our own religious beliefs or our scepticism. But the journey is likely to broaden our perspective and thus bring us closer to understanding other members of our human family.

Lenses for studying religions

Scholars of different disciplines have their own lens through which they attempt to describe and explain religions. In this book we will look through various lenses, including history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, theol- ogy, politics, economics, feminist studies, and phenomenology—a special fi eld devoted specifi cally to the study of religions. Phenomenology involves an appreciative investigation of religious phenomena from the perspective of the practitioners and believers—an “insider’s” rather than an “outsider’s” point of view. This includes “thick description,” a term used by the cultural anthropol- ogist Clifford Geertz (1926–2006)—not only reporting outward behaviors but also attempting to explain their meaning for members of particular cultural systems. This approach follows real people into the depths of their search for meaning, order, and inner peace in a world that may otherwise seem chaotic and sometimes violent.

Ultimately, such exploration may have an impact on our own inner land- scape. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), philosopher of hermenuetics, uses the term “intersubjectivity” to refer to this possibility. Hermeneutics is the study of the theory and practice of interpretation. It covers not only exegesis of written texts but also interpretation of all other forms of communication— written, oral, artistic, geopolitical, sociological, and so forth—and it delves into past conditions such as prior understandings and suppositions. Intersubjective hermeneutics is the effort to fully understand, internalize, and perhaps be transformed by what we learn. As Dr. Rita Sherma, editor of the Journal of Dharma Studies, explains:

The Hermeneutics of Intersubjectivity assumes that the “Other” is not just an object of study, but also a subject from whom I can learn. ... According to

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

30 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Gadamer’s vision, intersubjective dialogue provides a means for the extension of one’s own possibilities for growth and understanding. ... We grow conceptually when we take the Other’s self-understanding seriously and fi nd the lacuna in our own vision fi lled by new insights gleaned. This conceptual growth does not include the uncritical legitimation of every view held, and every practice engaged in, by the Other. The keyword here is understanding, not legitimation. Clearly, the Other may be beholden to highly problematic worldviews and lifestyles. ... [But] no actual comprehension of the impact of the ideas and practices of the Other—whether positive or negative—is possible without understanding how these things are actually experienced by the Other.45

Therefore, in addition to exploring various scholarly perspectives, we will try to listen carefully to individuals of all faiths as they tell their own stories.

Key terms absolutist Believing in one’s received traditions as completely and exclusively true. agnosticism Belief that if there is anything beyond this life it is impossible for

humans to know it. allegory Narrative using symbols to convey abstract ideas. atheism Belief that there is no deity. awakening Full awareness of invisible Reality. charisma Magnetic attraction, a quality often ascribed to spiritual leaders. comparative religion A discipline that attempts to compare and understand patterns

found in different religious traditions. Creationism Belief that all life was created by God. dogma Doctrines proclaimed as absolutely true by religious institutions. enlightenment Wisdom that is thought to come from direct experience of Ultimate

Reality. exclusivism Belief that one’s own tradition is the only true religion and that others

are invalid. fundamentalism Insistence on what is perceived as the historical form of one’s religion. gnosis Intuitive knowledge of spiritual realities. immanent Present in the visible world. incarnation Physical embodiment of the divine. intelligent design Theory that scientifi c discoveries prove the existence of an all-

encompassing Designer, since they reveal complexities that seem to be beyond chance or evolutionary process.

liberal Taking a fl exible, nondogmatic approach. metaphysics Philosophy based on theories of subtle realities that transcend the

physical world. monotheism Belief that there is only one deity. mysticism The intuitive perception of spiritual truths beyond the limits of reason. myth A symbolic story expressing ideas about reality or spiritual history. orthodox Strictly standing by received traditions. phenomenology Study of religious practices to comprehend their meaning for their

practitioners. polytheism Belief that there are many deities. profane Worldly, secular, as opposed to sacred. realization Personal awareness of the existence of Unseen Reality. redaction Editing and organization of a religion’s scriptures. religion A particular response to dimensions of life considered sacred, as shaped by

institutionalized traditions.

Study and Review on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 31

ritual Repeated, patterned religious act. sacred The realm of the extraordinary, beyond everyday perceptions, the

supernatural, holy. scientifi c materialism Belief that only the material world exists and that the

supernatural is only imagined by humans. secularism Personal disregard of religion; government policy of not favoring one

religion. spirituality Any personal response to dimensions of life that are considered sacred. symbol Visible representation of an invisible reality or concept. theism Belief in a deity or deities. transcendent Spiritual reality that exists apart from the material universe. universalism Acceptance that truth may be found in all religions.

Review questions 1. In what ways has the term “religion” been defi ned? 2. What are some of the different perspectives available for understanding religion? 3. Describe absolutist and liberal interpretations of religious traditions, how they

relate to globalization and modernity, and how each might react to historical- critical studies of religious texts.

4. What are the major positions that have emerged in the dialogue between science and religion?

Discussion questions 1. To what extent do you fi nd materialistic arguments rejecting the reality posited

by religion and spirituality useful in understanding religion? 2. What relationship does spirituality have to institutional religion? 3. In what ways is the patriarchal nature of institutionalized religions changing? 4. What factors do you believe contribute to the negative aspects of organized

religions? 5. Discuss possible benefi ts and disadvantages to using different lenses for the study

of religion.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

32 RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

MyReligionLab Connections

Watch. Listen. View. Explore. Read. MyReligionLab is designed just for you. Each chapter features a customized study plan to help you learn and review key

concepts and terms. Dynamic visual activities, videos, and readings found in the

multimedia library will enhance your learning experience.

Listen on myreligionlab

Scholar Says Religion and Science Can Co-exist

Explore on myreligionlab. In MySearchLab, enter the Religion database to fi nd relevant and recent scholarly and popular press publications. For this chapter, enter the following keywords: comparative religion, exclusivism, religion, secularism, universalism

Read on myreligionlab

Methodologies for Studying Religion

Religion as the Opium of the People

The Future of an Illusion

The Sacred and the Profane

The God Delusion

Mandalas: Deity Unfolding in the World

The Spiritual Idea of the “Feminine”

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 33

Here and there around the globe, pockets of people still follow local sacred ways handed down from their remote ancestors and adapted to contemporary circumstances. These are the traditional indigenous peoples—descendants of the original inhabitants of lands now controlled by larger political systems in which they may have little infl uence. Their distribution around the world, suggested in the map overleaf, reveals a fascinating picture with many indigenous groups surviving in the midst of industrialized societies, but with globalization processes altering what is left of their traditional lifeways.

Indigenous peoples comprise at least four percent of the world’s population. Some who follow the ancient spiritual traditions still live close to the earth in nonindustrial, small-scale cultures; many do not. But despite the disruption of their traditional lifestyles, many indigenous peoples maintain a sacred way of life that is distinctively different from all other religions. These enduring ways, which indigenous peoples may refer to as their “original instructions” on how to live, were almost lost under the onslaught of genocidal colonization, conversion pressures from global religions, mechanistic materialism, and the destruction of their natural environments by the global economy of limitless consumption.

To what extent can [indigenous groups] reinstitute traditional religious values in a world gone mad with development, electronics, almost instantaneous transportation facilities, and intellectually grounded in a rejection of spiritual and mysterious events?

Vine Deloria, Jr.1

Much of the ancient visionary wisdom has disappeared. To seek paying jobs and modern comforts such as electricity, many people have shifted from their natural environments into urban settings. There are few traditionally trained elders left and few young people willing to undergo the lengthy and rigorous training necessary for spiritual leadership in these sacred ways. Nevertheless, in our time there is a renewal of interest in these traditions, fanning hope that what they offer will not be lost. While globalization has on the one hand tended to absorb and dilute indigenous sacred ways, it has also helped to spread them internationally.

Watch the Video Defi ning Indigenous Peoples on myreligionlab

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

C H A P T E R 2

“Everything is alive”

• Understanding indigenous sacred ways 34

• Cultural diversity 36

• The circle of right relationships 39

• Spiritual specialists 48

• Group observances 55

• Globalization 60

• Development issues 64

KEY TOPICSListen to the Chapter Audio on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

34 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

Understanding indigenous sacred ways

Outsiders have known or understood little of the indigenous sacred ways, many of which have long been practiced only in secret. In Mesoamerica, the ancient teachings have remained hidden for 500 years since the coming of the conquistadores, passed down within families as a secret oral tradition. The Buryats living near Lake Baikal in Russia were thought to have been converted to Buddhism and Christianity centuries ago; however, almost the entire population of the area gathered for indigenous ceremonies on Olkhon Island in 1992 and 1993.

In parts of aboriginal Australia, the indigenous teachings have been under- ground for 200 years since white colonialists and Christian missionaries appeared. As aborigine Lorraine Mafi Williams explains:

We have stacked away our religious, spiritual, cultural beliefs. When the missionaries came, we were told by our old people to be respectful, listen and be obedient, go to church, go to Sunday school, but do not adopt the Christian doctrine because it takes away our cultural, spiritual beliefs. So we’ve always stayed within God’s laws in what we know.2

Not uncommonly, the newer global traditions have been blended with the older ways. For instance, Buddhism as it spread often adopted existing customs, such as the recognition of local deities. Now many indigenous people practice one of the global religions while still retaining many of their tradi- tional ways.

Until recently, those who attempted to ferret out the native sacred ways had little basis for understanding them. Many were anthropologists who approached spiritual behaviors from the nonspiritual perspective of Western

The approximate distribution of indigenous groups mentioned in this chapter.

Inuit (Eskimo)

Lakota (Sioux)

Hopi

Kog i

Navajo Papag o

Huichol

Zuni

Cheyenne Onondaga

Mohegan

Da ga

ra Da

ho m

Ib o

Tsalagi (Che rokee)

Akan Yoruba

Bakongo

Ache wa

Vaduma

Kung

Efe Kikuyu

Kalmyk

Indian tribals

Orang Asli

Khasi

Buryat

Yakut

Ainu

Aust ralian aborigines

Saami (Lapp)

Toltec

Maya

Haida

N ez

P e r

Yup´ik

Koyu kon

Dene Tha

Yurok

Apache

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

Maori

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 35

science or else the Christian understanding of religion as a means of salvation from sinful earthly existence—a belief not found among most indigenous peoples. There is a great difference beween the conceptual frameworks of African traditional religions and the thinking of Western scholars. Knowing that researchers from other cultures did not grasp the truth of their beliefs, native peoples have at times given them information that was incorrect in order to protect the sanctity of their practices from the uninitiated.

Academic study of traditional ways is now becoming more sympathetic and self-critical, however, as is apparent in this statement by Gerhardus Cornelius Oosthuizen, a European researching African traditional religions:

[The] Western worldview is closed, essentially complete and unchangeable, basically substantive and fundamentally non-mysterious; i.e. it is like a rigid programmed machine. … This closed worldview is foreign to Africa, which is still deeply religious. … This world is not closed, and not merely basically substantive, but it has great depth, it is unlimited in its qualitative varieties and is truly mysterious; this world is restless, a living and growing organism.3

Indigenous spirituality is a lifeway, a particular approach to all of life. It is not a separate experience, like meditating in the morning or going to church on Sunday. Many indigenous languages have no word for “religion.” Rather, spirituality ideally pervades all moments. There is no sharp dichotomy between sacred and secular domains. As an elder of the Huichol in Mexico puts it:

Everything we do in life is for the glory of God. We praise him in the well- swept fl oor, the well-weeded fi eld, the polished machete, the brilliant colors of the picture and embroidery. In these ways we prepare for a long life and pray for a good one.4

Uluru (Ayers Rock), a unique mass rising from the plains of central Australia, has long been considered sacred by the aboriginal groups of the area, and in its caves are many ancient paintings.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

36 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

In most native cultures, spiritual lifeways are shared orally. There are no scriptures of the sort that other religions are built around (although some written texts, such as the Mayan codices, were destroyed by conquering groups). Instead, the people create and pass on songs, proverbs, myths, riddles, short sayings, legends, art, music, and the like. This helps to keep the indigenous sacred ways dynamic and fl exible rather than fossilized. It also keeps the sacred experience fresh in the present. Oral narratives may also contain clues to the historical experiences of individuals or groups, but these are often carried from generation to generation in symbolic language. The symbols, metaphors, and humor are not easily understood by outsiders but are central to a people’s understanding of how life works. To the Maori of New Zealand, life is a continual dynamic process of becom- ing in which all things arise from a burst of cosmic energy. According to their creation story, all beings emerged from a spatially confi ned liminal state of darkness in which the Sky Father and Earth Mother were locked in eternal embrace, continually conceiving but crowding their offspring until their children broke that embrace. Their separation created a great burst of light, like wind sweeping through the cosmos. That tremendously freeing, rejuvenating power is still present and can be called upon through rituals in which all beings—plants, trees, fi sh, birds, animals, people—are intimately and primordially related.

The lifeways of many small-scale cultures are tied to the land on which they live and their entire way of life. They are most meaningful within this context. Many traditional cultures have been dispersed or dismembered, as in the forced emigration of slaves from Africa to the Americas. Despite this, the dynamism of traditional religions has made it possible for African spiritual ways to transcend space, with webs of relationships still maintained between the ancestors, spirits, and people in the diaspora, though they may be prac- ticed secretly and are little understood by outsiders.

Despite the hindrances to understanding of indigenous forms of spiritual- ity, the doors to understanding are opening somewhat in our times. Firstly, the traditional elders are very concerned about the growing potential for planetary disaster. Some are beginning to share their basic values, if not their esoteric practices, in hopes of preventing industrial societies from destroying the earth.

Cultural diversity

In this chapter we are considering the faithways of indigenous peoples as a whole. However, behind these generalizations lie many differences in social contexts, as well as in religious beliefs and practices. Some contemporary scholars even question whether “indigenous” is a legitimate category in the study of religions, for they see it as a catchall “other” category consisting of varied sacred ways that do not fi t within any of the other major global cat- egories of organized religions.

To be sure, there are hundreds of different indigenous traditions in North America alone, and at least fi fty-three different ethnolinguistic groups in the Andean rainforests. And Australian aboriginal lifeways, which are some of the world’s oldest surviving cultures, traditionally included over 500 dif- ferent clan groups, with differing beliefs, living patterns, and languages.

Indigenous traditions have evolved within materially as well as religiously

Read the Document The Theft of Light on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 37

diverse cultures. Some are descendants of civilizations with advanced urban technologies that supported concentrated populations. When the Spanish conqueror Cortés took over Tenochtitlán (which now lies beneath Mexico City) in 1519, he found it a beautiful clean city with elaborate architecture, indoor plumbing, an accurate calendar, and advanced systems of mathematics and astronomy. Former African kingdoms were highly culturally advanced with elaborate arts, such as intricate bronze and copper casting, ivory carv- ing, goldworking, and ceramics. In recent times, some Native American tribes have become quite materially successful via economic enterprises, such as gambling complexes.

Among Africa’s innumerable ethnic and social groupings, there are some indigenous groups comprising millions of people, such as the Yoruba. At the other extreme are those few small-scale cultures that still maintain a survival strategy of hunting and gathering. For example, some Australian aborigines continue to live as mobile foragers, though restricted to government-owned stations. A nomadic survival strategy necessitates simplicity in material goods; whatever can be gathered or built rather easily at the next camp need not be dragged along. But material simplicity is not a sign of spiritual poverty. The Australian aborigines have complex cosmogonies, or models of the origins of the universe and their purpose within it, as well as a working knowledge of their own bioregion.

Some traditional peoples live in their ancestral enclaves, though not untouched by the outer world. The Hopi people have continuously occupied a high plateau area of the southwestern United States for between 800 and 1,000 years; their sacred ritual calendar is tied to the yearly farming cycle. Tribal peoples have lived deep in the forests and hills of India for thousands of years, utilizing trees and plants for their food and medicines, although since the twentieth century their ancestral lands have been taken over for “devel- opment” projects and encroached upon by more politically and economically powerful groups, rendering many of the seventy-fi ve million Indian tribes- people landless laborers.

The indigenous community of Acoma Pueblo—built on a high plateau in New Mexico—may live in the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

38 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

Other indigenous peoples visit their sacred sites and ancestral shrines but live in more urban settings because of job opportunities. The people who par- ticipate in ceremonies in the Mexican countryside include subway personnel, journalists, and artists of native blood who live in Mexico City.

In addition to variations in lifestyles, indigenous traditions vary in their adaptations to dominant religions. Often native practices have become interwoven with those of global religions, such as Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. In Southeast Asia, household Buddhist shrines are almost iden- tical to the spirit houses in which the people still make offerings to honor the local spirits. In Africa, the spread of Islam and Christianity saw the intro- duction of new religious ideas and practices into indigenous sacred ways. The encounter transformed indigenous religious thought and practice but did not supplant it; indigenous religions preserved some of their beliefs and ritual practices but also adjusted to the new sociocultural milieu. The Dahomey tradition from West Africa was carried to Haiti by African slaves and called Vodou, from vodu, one of the names for the chief nonhuman spirits. Forced by European colonialists to adopt Christianity, worshippers of Vodou secretly fused their old gods with their images of Catholic saints. More recently, emigrants from Haiti have formed diaspora communities of Vodou worshipers in cities such as New York, New Orleans, Miami, and Montreal, where Vodou specialists are often called upon to heal sickness and use magic to bring desired changes.

Listen to the Podcast Living Vodou on myreligionlab

Australian aborigines understand their environment as concentric fi elds of subtle energies. (Nym Bunduk, 1907–1974, Snakes and Emu.)

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 39

Despite their different histories and economic patterns, and their geograph- ical separation, indigenous sacred ways have some characteristics in common. Perhaps from ancient contact across land-bridges that no longer exist, there are similarities between the languages of the Tsalagi in the Americas, Tibetans, and the aboriginal Ainu of Japan. Similarities found among the myths of geo- graphically separate peoples can be accounted for by global diffusion through trade, travel, communications, and other kinds of contact, and by parallel ori- gin because of basic similarities in human experience, such as birth and death, pleasure and pain, and wonderment about the cosmos and our place in it.

Certain symbols and metaphors are repeated in the inspirational art and stories of many traditional cultures around the world, but the people’s rela- tionships to, and the concepts surrounding, these symbols are not inevitably the same. Nevertheless, the following sections look at some recurring themes in the spiritual ways of diverse indigenous cultures.

The circle of right relationships

For many indigenous peoples, everything in the cosmos is intimately inter- related. These interrelationships originate in the way everything was created. To Australian aborigines, before time began there was land, but it was fl at and devoid of any features. Powerful ancestral beings came forth from beneath the surface and began moving around, shaping the land as they moved across it. In this Dreamtime, the ancestral fi gures also created groups of humans to take care of the places that had been created. The people thus feel that they belong to their native place in an eternal sacred relationship.

A symbol of unity among the parts of this sacred reality is a circle. This is not used by all indigenous people; the Navajo, for instance, regard a complet- ed circle as stifl ing and restrictive. However, many other indigenous peoples hold the circle sacred because it is infi nite—it has no beginning, no end. Time is circular rather than linear, for it keeps coming back to the same place. Life

Among the gentle Efe pygmies of the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), children learn to value the circle by playing the “circle game.” With feet making a circle, each child names a circular object and then an expression of roundness (the family circle, togetherness, “a complete rainbow”).

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

40 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

Deity may be conceived as either male or female in indigenous religions. In Navajo belief, divinity is personifi ed as both Father Sky and Mother Earth. In this traditional sand- painting, Father Sky is on the left, with constellations and the Milky Way forming his “body.” Mother Earth is on the right, with her body bearing the four sacred plants: squash, beans, tobacco, and corn.

revolves around the generational cycles of birth, youth, maturity, and physical death, the return of the seasons, the cyclical movements of the moon, sun, stars, and planets. Rituals such as rites of passage may be performed to help keep these cycles in balance.

To maintain the natural balance of the circles of existence, most indigenous peoples have traditionally been taught that they must develop right relation- ships with everything that is. Their relatives include the unseen world of spirits, the land and weather, the people and creatures, and the power within.

Relationships with spirit

The cosmos is thought to contain and be affected by numerous divinities, spirits, and also ancestors. Many indigenous traditions worship a Supreme Being who they believe created the cosmos. This being is known by the Lakota as “Great Mysterious” or “Great Spirit.” African names for the being are attributes, such as “All-powerful,” “Creator,” “the one who is met every- where,” “the one who exists by himself,” or “the one who began the forest.” The Supreme Being is often referred to by male pronouns, but in some groups the Supreme Being is a female. Some tribes of the southwestern United States call her “Changing Woman”—sometimes young, sometimes old, the mother of the earth, associated with women’s reproductive cycles and the mystery of birth, the creatrix. Many traditional languages make no distinction between male and female pronouns, and some see the divine as androgynous, a force arising from the interaction of male and female aspects of the universe. In African traditional religions, the Supreme Being—whether singular or plural—may have humanlike qualities, but no gender. This great Source is

so awesome that no images are used to represent it.

Awareness of one’s relationship to the Great Power is thought to be essential, but the power itself remains unseen and mys- terious. An Inuit spiritual adept described his people’s experience of:

a power that we call Sila, which is not to be explained in simple words. A great spirit, supporting the world and the weather and all life on earth, a spirit so mighty that [what it says] to mankind is not through common words, but by storm and snow and rain and the fury of the sea; all the forces of nature that men fear. But Sila has also another way of [communicating]; by sunlight and calm of the sea, and little children innocently at play, themselves understanding nothing. … When all is well, Sila sends no message to mankind, but withdraws into endless nothingness, apart.5

To traditional Buryats of Russia, the chief power in the world is the eternally blue sky, Tengry. African myths suggest that the High God was originally so close

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 41

to humans that they became disrespectful. The All-powerful was like the sky, they say, which was once so close that children wiped their dirty hands on it, and women (blamed by men for the withdrawal) broke off pieces for soup and bumped it with their sticks when pounding grain. Although southern and central Africans believe in a high being who presides over the universe, including less powerful spirits, they consider this being either too distant, too powerful, or too dangerous to worship or call on for help.

It cannot therefore be said that indigenous concepts of, and attitudes toward, a Supreme Being are necessarily the same as that which Western monotheistic religions refer to as God or Allah. In African traditional religions, much more emphasis tends to be placed on the transcendent dimensions of everyday life and doing what is spiritually necessary to keep life going normally. Many unseen powers are perceived to be at work in the material world. In various traditions, some of these are perceived without form, as mysterious presences, who may be benevolent or malevolent. Others are perceived as having more defi nite, albeit invisible, forms and personalities. These may include deities with human-like personalities, the nature spirits of special local places, such as venerable trees and mountains, animal spirit helpers, personifi ed elemental forces, ancestors who still take an interest in their living relatives, or the nagas, known to the traditional peoples of Nepal as invisible serpentine spirits who control the circulation of water in the world and also within our bodies.

Ancestors may be extremely important. Traditional Africans understand that the person is not an individual, but a composite of many souls—the spirits of one’s parents and ancestors—resonating to their feelings. Rev. William Kingsley Opoku, International Coordinator of the African Council for Spiritual Churches, says:

Our ancestors are our saints. Christian missionaries who came here wanted us to pray to their saints, their dead people. But what about our saints? … If you are grateful to your ancestors, then you have blessings from your grandmother, your grandfather, who brought you forth.6

Continued communication with the “living dead” (ancestors who have died within living memory) is extremely important to some traditional Africans. In libation rituals, food and drink are offered to the ancestors, acknowledging that they are still in a sense living and engaged with the people’s lives. Failure to keep in touch with the ancestors is a dangerous oversight, which may bring misfortunes to the family.

The Dagara of Burkina Faso in West Africa are familiar with the kontombili, who look like humans but are only about one foot (thirty centimeters) tall, because of the humble way they express their spiritual power. Other West African groups, descendants of ancient hierarchical civilizations, recognize a great pantheon of deities, the orisa or vodu, each the object of special cult worship. The orisa are embodiments of the dynamic forces in life, such as Oya, powerful goddess of change, experienced in winds; Osun, orisa of fresh waters, associated with sweetness, healing, love, fertility, and prosperity; Olokun, ruler of the mysterious depths of consciousness; Shango, a former king who is now honored as the stormy god of electricity and genius; Ifa, god of wisdom; and Obatala, the source of creativity, warmth, and enlight- enment. At the beginning of time, in Yoruba cosmology, there was only one godhead, described by psychologist Clyde Ford as “a beingless being, a dimensionless point, an infi nite container of everything, including itself.”7

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

42 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

YORUBA TEACHING STORY

Osun and the Power of Woman

Olodumare, the Supreme Creator, who is both female and male, wanted to prepare the earth for human habitation. To organize things, Olodumare sent the seventeen major deities. Osun was the only woman; all the rest were men. Each of the deities was given specifi c abilities and specifi c assignments. But when the male deities held their planning meetings, they did not invite Osun. “She is a woman,” they said. However, Olodumare had given great powers to Osun. Her womb is the matrix of all life in the universe. In her lie tremendous power, unlimited potential, infi nities of existence. She wears a perfectly carved, beaded crown, and with her beaded comb she parts the pathway of both human and divine life. She is the leader of the aje, the powerful beings and forces in the world.

When the male deities ignored Osun, she made their plans fail. The male deities returned to Olodumare for help. After listening, Olodumare asked, “What about Osun?” “She is only a woman,” they replied, “so we left her out.” Olodumare spoke in strong words, “You must go back to her, beg her for forgiveness, make a sacrifi ce to her, and give her whatever she asks.” The male deities did as they were told, and Osun forgave them. What did she ask for in return? The secret initiation that the men used to keep women in the background. She wanted it for herself and for all women who are as powerful as she is. The men agreed and initiated her into the secret knowledge. From that time onward, their plans were successful.8

According to the mythology, this being was smashed by a boulder pushed down by a rebellious slave, and broke into hundreds of fragments, each of which became an orisa. According to some analysts, orisa can also be seen as archetypes of traits existing within the human psyche. Their ultimate purpose—and that of those who pay attention to them as inner forces—is to return to that presumed original state of wholeness.

The spirits are thought to be available to those who seek them as helpers, as intermediaries between the people and the power, and as teachers. A right relationship with these spirit beings can be a sacred partnership. Seekers respect and learn from them; they also purify themselves in order to engage their services for the good of the people. As we will later see, those who are considered most able to call on the spirits for help are the shamans who have dedicated their lives to this service.

Teachings about the spirits also help the people to understand how they should live together in society. Professor Deidre Badejo observes that in Yoruba tradition there is an ideal of balance between the creativity of women who give and sustain life, and the power of men who protect life. Under various internal and external pressures, this balance has swung toward male dominance, but the stories of feminine power (see Box) and the necessity for men to recognize it remain in the culture, teaching an ideal symmetry between female and male roles. In many indigenous cultures, women appear as powerful beings in myths and they are thought to have great ritual power.

Kinship with all creation

In addition to the unseen powers, all aspects of the tangible world are believed to be imbued with spirit. Josiah Young III explains that in African traditional religion, both the visible and invisible realms are fi lled with spiritual forces:

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 43

The visible is the natural and cultural environment, of which humans, always in the process of transformation, are at the center. The invisible connotes the numinous fi eld of ancestors, spirits, divinities, and the Supreme Being, all of whom, in varying degrees, permeate the visible. Visible things, however, are not always what they seem. Pools, rocks, fl ora, and fauna may dissimulate invisible forces of which only the initiated are conscious.9

Within the spiritually charged visible world, all things may be understood as spiritually interconnected. Everything is therefore experienced as family. In African traditional lifeways, “we” may be more important than “I,” and this “we” often refers to a large extended family and ancestral village, even for people who have moved to the cities. In indigenous cultures, the community is paramount, and it may extend beyond the living humans in the area. Many traditional peoples know the earth as their mother. The land one lives on is part of her body, loved, respected, and well known. Oren Lyons, an elder of the Onondaga Nation Wolf Clan, speaks of this intimate relationship:

[The indigenous people’s] knowledge is profound and comes from living in one place for untold generations. It comes from watching the sun rise in the east and set in the west from the same place over great sections of time. We are as familiar with the lands, rivers and great seas that surround us as we are with the faces of our mothers. Indeed we call the earth Etenoha, our mother, from whence all life springs. … We do not perceive our habitat as wild but as a place of great security and peace, full of life.10

Some striking feature of the natural environment of an area—such as a great mountain or canyon—may be perceived as the center from which the whole world was created. Such myths heighten the perceived sacredness of the land. Western Tibet’s Mount Kailas, high in the Himalayas, is seen by the indigenous people of that area as the center of the earth, a sacred space where

An indigenous earthwork in Ohio represents a snake and an egg, symbols of fertility and transformation. The spiral in the snake’s tail may be an appreciative symbol of the life force and wisdom inherent in the earth.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

44 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

the earthly and the supernatural meet. Spiritual specialists therefore climb the mountain seeking visions.

The Western Apache remember vivid symbolic narratives about the exploits of people in specifi c places in their environment and contemplate them to make their minds smooth, steady, and resilient. Dudley Patterson’s grandmother taught him:

Wisdom sits in places. It’s like water that never dries up. You need to drink water to stay alive, don’t you? Well, you also need to drink from places. You must remember everything about them. You must learn their names. You must remember what happened at them long ago. You must think about it and keep on thinking about it. Then your mind will become smoother and smoother. Then you will see danger before it happens. You will walk a long way and live a long time. You will be wise. People will respect you.11

Because of the intimate relationship indigenous peoples have with their particular environments, forced removal from that environment can be dev- astating. Pushed onto the most marginal lands by colonizers, nation-states, or multinational companies who regard land as a valuable commercial resource rather than a sacred place, indigenous peoples may feel they have lost their own identity. New Zealand traditional elders, who were systematically forced off their ancestral homeland from the nineteenth century onward, explain:

It is important to know where we come from, to know where we belong. To identify who I am I identify my mountain, my river, my lands, our tribal and subtribal community. Knowing these things helps to bring about and to keep together the healing, the wellbeing of our people. We have suffered the loss of our lands, our connection to the land. We belong to the mountains, to the sea, to the forest. With the loss of the land, there has been a tremendous alienation from who we are. As a people we are currently in a renaissance, in a reclamation of our cultural identity, our land works, our traditional practices, our healing methods, because without these things we become a lost people, we become invisible, we become submerged into the dominant culture.12

In contrast to the industrial world’s attempts to own and dominate the earth, native peoples consider themselves caretakers of their mother, the earth. They are now raising their voices against the destruction of the environment, warn- ing of the potential for global disaster. Nepali shamans who have undertaken the diffi cult pilgrimage to Lake Mansarovar at the base of revered Mount Kailas report that the lake level is low and the spirits are unhappy. Their prophecies indicate diffi cult times ahead unless we humans take better care of our planetary home. Some indigenous visionaries say they hear the earth crying. Contemporary Australian aboriginal elder Bill Neidjie speaks of feeling the earth’s pain:

I feel it with my body, with my blood. Feeling all these trees, all this country … If you feel sore … headache, sore body that mean somebody killing tree or grass. You feel because your body in that tree or earth. … You might feel it for two or three years.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 45

You get weak … little bit, little bit … because tree going bit by bit … dying.13

The earth abounds with living presences, in traditional worldviews. Rocks, bodies of water, and mountains—considered inanimate by other peoples—are personifi ed as living beings. Before one can successfully climb a mountain, one must ask its permission. Visionaries can see the spirits of a body of water, and many traditional cultures have recognized certain groves of trees as places where spirits live, and where spiritual special- ists can communicate with them. As a Pit River Indian explained, “Everything is alive. That’s what we Indians believe.”14

All creatures may be perceived as kin, endowed with consciousness and the power of the Great Spirit. Many native peoples have been raised with an “ecological” perspective: they know that all things depend on each other. They are taught that they have a reciprocal, rather than domi- nating, relationship with all beings. Hawaiian kahuna (shaman–priest) Kahu Kawai’i explains:

How you might feel toward a human being that you love is how you might feel toward a dry leaf on the ground and how you might feel toward the rain in the forest and the wind. There is such intimacy that goes on that everything speaks to you and everything responds to how you are in being— almost like a mirror refl ecting your feelings.15

Trees, animals, insects, and plants are all to be approached with caution and consideration. If one must cut down a tree or kill an animal, one must fi rst explain one’s intentions and ask forgiveness. Those who harm nature may themselves be harmed in return. Tribal peoples of Madhya Pradesh in central India will avoid killing a snake, for they feel that its partner would come after them to seek revenge. When a Buryat cuts a tree to build a house, he must fi rst offer milk, butter, rice, and alcohol to the spirits of the forest and ask their forgiveness. In 1994, a half-French, half-Buryat businessman returned to Buryatia and started to build a guesthouse in a picturesque place that had long been considered sacred to the god Huushan-baabay. When the businessman began cutting trees, he was warned by the traditional people that he would not be successful. Nonetheless, he proceeded and fi nished the guesthouse. Three months later, it burned down.

Respect is always due to all creatures, in the indigenous worldview. The Yup’ik of southwestern Alaska know animals as thinking, feeling fellow beings. In fact, they may be even more sensitive and aware than humans. No one should handle the geese’s eggs or goslings, lest the human smell should frighten the adults and they abandon the babies, to be eaten by predators. In Yup’ik belief, if humans treat animal populations carefully as guests, they will come back in plentiful numbers the following year to intentionally offer themselves to the Yup’ik hunters.

Many traditional peoples learn a sense of reverence for, and kinship with, the natural world, as suggested in this image from Botswana created by Elisabeth Sunday.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

46 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

In the challenging environment of the Koyukon people of northern Canada, all interactions between humans and animals are conducted carefully according to a respectful moral code so that the animals will allow themselves to be caught. The animal spirits are very easily offended, not by animals being killed but by disrespect shown to the animals or their remains. Killing must be done prayerfully and in a way that does not cause suffering to the animal; wounded animals must be found and put out of their misery. If dis - pleased, the spirits can bring bad luck in the hunt for that species or perhaps illness or even death for the hunters. But if humans maintain good relation- ships with the animals, they will give themselves freely to the hunters and keep coming back year after year. It is the natural world that is dominant, not humans.

There are many stories of indigenous peoples’ relationships with nonhu- man creatures. Certain trees tell the healing specialists which herbs to use in curing the people. Australian aboriginal women are adept at forming hunting partnerships with dogs. Birds are thought to bring messages from the spirit world. A crow, a wild yak, and a pack of silver wolves revealed the sacred path to Mount Kailas in Tibet, revered as the center of the outer world and also of our inner world, the doorway through which other realms can most easily be reached. A Hopi elder said he spent three days and nights praying with a rattlesnake. “Of course he was nervous at fi rst, but when I sang to him he recognized the warmth of my body and calmed down. We made good prayer together.”16

Relationships with power

Another common theme in indigenous lifeways is developing an appropriate relationship with spiritual energy.

All animals have power, because the Great Spirit dwells in all of them, even a tiny ant, a butterfl y, a tree, a fl ower, a rock. The modern, white man’s way keeps that power from us, dilutes it. To come to nature, feel its power, let it help you, one needs time and patience for that. … You have so little time for contemplation. … It lessens a person’s life, all that grind, that hurrying and scurrying about.

Lame Deer, Lakota nation17

In certain places and beings, the power of spirit is believed to be highly con- centrated. It is referred to as mana by the people of the Pacifi c islands. This is the vital force that makes it possible to act with unusual strength, insight, and effectiveness.

Tlakaelel, a contemporary spiritual leader of the descendants of the Toltecs of Mexico, describes how a person might experience this power when looking into an obsidian mirror traditionally made to concentrate power:

When you reach the point that you can concentrate with all your will, inside there, you reach a point where you feel ecstasy. It’s a very beautiful thing, and everything is light. Everything is vibrating with very small signals, like waves of music, very smooth. Everything shines with a blue light. And you feel a sweetness. Everything is covered with the sweetness, and there is peace. It’s a sensation like an orgasm, but it can last a long time.18

Read the Document The Essence of Cosmic Man on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 47

Sacred sites may be recognized by the power that believers feel there. Some sacred sites have been used again and again by successive religions, either to capitalize on the energy or to co-opt the preceding religion. Chartres Cathedral in France, for instance, was built on an ancient ritual site. In New Zealand, the traditional Maori people know of the revivifying power of run- ning water, such as waterfalls (now understood by scientists as places of negative ionization, which do indeed have an energizing effect). The Maori elders have told the public of the healing power of a certain waterfall on North Island; the area is now dedicated to anyone who needs healing.

Because power can be built up through sacred practices, the ritual objects of spiritually developed persons may have concentrated power. Special stones and animal artifacts may also carry power. A person might be strengthened by the spiritual energy of the bear or the wolf by wearing sacred clothing made from its fur. Power can also come to one through visions, or by being given a sacred pipe or the privilege of collecting objects into a personal sacred bundle.

In some cultures women are thought to have a certain natural power; men have to work harder for it. Women’s power is considered mysterious, dan- gerous, uncontrolled. It is said to be strongest during menstruation. Women are secluded during their menstrual periods in many cultures, not neces- sarily because they are considered polluting. Among the Yurok of northern California, houses have a separate back room for women who are menstru- ating so that they can concentrate on their inner selves, becoming inwardly stronger and purifi ed by the fl ow of blood. In certain rituals in which both men and women participate, women’s menstrual blood is often thought to diminish or weaken the ritual or the men’s spiritual power. In most Native American nations that have sweat lodge ceremonies for ritual purifi cation, menstruating women are not allowed to enter the lodge. A few cultures, such as the Ainu of Japan, have prized menstrual blood as a potent offering returned to the earth.

At a remote shrine used by indigenous people in New Mexico, a ring of stones protects the sacred area where sun-bleached antlers and offerings have been placed around two stones naturally shaped like mountain lions.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

48 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

Gaining power is both desirable and dangerous. If misused for personal ends, it becomes destructive and may turn against the person. To channel spiritual power properly, native peoples are taught that they must live within certain strict limits. Those who seek power or receive it unbidden are sup- posed to continually purify themselves of any selfi sh motives and dedicate their actions to the good of the whole.

Spiritual specialists

In a few remaining hunting and gathering tribes, religion is a relatively pri- vate matter. Each individual has direct access to the unseen. Although spirit is invisible, it is considered a part of the natural world. Anyone can interact with it spontaneously, without complex ceremony and without anyone else’s aid.

More commonly, however, the world of spirit is thought to be dangerous. Although everyone is expected to observe certain personal ways of worship, such as offering prayers before taking plant or animal life, many ways of inter- acting with spirit are thought to be best left to those who are specially trained for the roles. These specialists are gradually initiated into the secret knowledge that allows them to act as intermediaries between the seen and the unseen.

Storytellers and other sacred roles

Specialists’ roles vary from one group to another, and the same person may play several of these roles. One common role is that of storyteller. Because the traditions are oral rather than written, these people must memorize long and complex stories and songs so that the group’s sacred traditions can be remembered and taught, generation after generation. The orally transmitted epics of the indigenous Ainu of Japan are up to 10,000 “lines” long. Chants of the Yoruba orisa comprise 256 “volumes” of 800 long verses each.

These Yoruban chants about the orisa include an explanation of the genesis of the earth, with its center in what is now the Nigerian city of Ife. When time began, where the earth now exists there was only a vast watery area, with a dim and misty atmosphere, the domain of Olokun. The other orisa lived in an upper world of light until Obatala decided to go down to see if some solid land could be created so that the orisa could inhabit the earth. He had a sacred chain of gold made for his descent, and carried a shell of sand, a white hen, a palm nut, and a black cat. He climbed down to the watery world by means of the chain, but it was too short. Thus he poured the sand downward and then released the hen, who by scratching in the sand created the contours of the earth. Obatala settled on the land and planted his palm nut, which fl our- ished and sent its seed far and wide, developing the plant life of the earth. At fi rst he was alone, with only the black cat as his companion, but as the story continues, many things happen, accounting for the features of the earth and its inhabitants as we know them today. The golden chain is a common mythological symbol of a World Axis connecting heaven and earth; the palm tree also commonly appears in myths of the World Tree, giver and protector of the fi rst forms of life on earth.

Such stories are important clues to understanding the universe and one’s place in it. What is held only in memory cannot be physically destroyed, but if a tribe is small and all its storytellers die the knowledge is lost. This happened on a large scale during contacts with colonial powers, as indigenous people

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 49

were killed by war and imported diseases. Professor Wande Abimbola, who is trying to preserve the oral tradition of the Yoruba, has made thousands of tapes of the chants, but there are few people who can understand and inter- pret their meaning. Loss of traditional languages is not only a loss of cultural identity; it is a loss of symbolic layers of meaning embedded in languages.

There are also contemporary bards who carry the energy of ancient tra- ditions into new forms. In Africa, poets are considered “technicians of the sacred,” conversing with a dangerous world of spirits. Players of the “talking drums” are highly valued as communicators with the spirits, ancestors, and Supreme Being. As the Akan of Ghana say:

The thumb, fi nger with mouth, wake up and speak! The thumb armed with sticks for drumming Is more loquacious and more eloquent Than a human being sleeping; Wake up and come!19

Drumming creates a rhythmic environment in which the people can draw close to the unseen powers. By counterposing basic and complex cross- rhythmic patterns with a “return beat,” Yoruba drummers create a tension that draws listeners into the unfi lled spaces between the beats.

“Tricksters” such as foxes often appear in the stories of indigenous tradi- tions. They are paradoxical, transformative beings. Similarly, sacred clowns may endure the shame of behaving as fools during public rituals in order to teach the people through humor. Often they poke fun at the most sacred of rituals, keeping the people from taking themselves too seriously. A sacred

Read the Document The Talking Drum on myreligionlab

A storyteller of the Kung people of Botswana entertains an audience while passing on the oral teachings of the distant past.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

50 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

fool, called heyoka by the Lakota, must be both innocent and very wise about human nature, and must have a visionary relationship with spirit as well.

Life is holiness and everyday humdrum, sadness and laughter, the mind and the belly all mixed together. The Great Spirit doesn’t want us to sort them out neatly.

Leonard Crow Dog, Lakota medicine man20

Another coveted role is that of being a member of a secret society in which one can participate by initiation or invitation only, whether to enhance one’s prestige or to draw closer to the spirit world. When serving in ceremonial capacities, members often wear special costumes to hide their human identi- ties and help them take on the personas of spirits they are representing. In African religions, members of secret societies periodically appear as imper- sonators of animal spirits or of dead ancestors, demonstrating that the dead are still watching the living, warning transgressors and protecting the village. The all-male Oro secret society in some Yoruba tribes uses this authority to enforce male domination, fearsomely “roaring” by swinging a piece of wood on a cord.

Women also have their secret societies, whose activities are yet little known by outsiders. Among aboriginal peoples of Australia, the men’s and women’s groups initiate members into separate but interrelated roles for males and females. For instance, when boys are separated from the tribe for circumcision by the men’s secret society, the women’s secret society has its own separation rituals and may stage mock ritual fi ghts with the men’s society. But men’s and women’s rituals ultimately refer to the eternal Dreaming, in which there is no male/female differentiation.

Sacred dancers likewise make the unseen powers visible. Body movements are a language in themselves expressing the nature of the cosmos, a language that is understood through the stories and experiences of the community. Such actions keep the world of the ancestors alive for succeeding generations.

In some socially stratifi ed societies there are also priests and priestesses. These are specially trained and dedicated people who carry out the rituals that ensure proper functioning of the natural world, and perhaps also com- municate with particular spirits or deities. Though West African priests or priestesses may have part-time earthly occupations, they are expected to stay in a state of ritual purity and spend much of their time in communication with the spirit being, paying homage and asking for guidance.

Indigenous groups may be led by people who combine spiritual and social duties. The Cheyenne Nation of the North American plains is believed to have been established by its visionary hero, Sweet Medicine, in the 1700s. One of its salient features is a council of forty-four men chosen from various groups in the Cheyenne family to be peace chiefs. When they join the coun- cil, the peace chiefs are to make a complete break with their past, in which they might have been warriors, and give up violence as a means of settling disputes. Instead, they have been instructed by Sweet Medicine that, if there are any fi ghts, “You are to do nothing but take your pipe and smoke.”21 The chiefs meet to arbitrate disputes by smoking the peace pipe together; the goal is to smoke the pipe with their enemies. The chiefs’ homes also become places of refuge, for they are to help the people however they can. At a community meal, they are the last to be fed.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 51

Mystical intermediaries

There is another distinctive type of spiritual specialist found among many indigenous peoples. They are called by many names, but the Siberian and Saami word “shaman” is used by scholars as a generic term for those who offer themselves as mystical intermediaries between the physical and the non- physical world for specifi c purposes, such as healing. Archaeological research has confi rmed that shamanic methods are extremely ancient—at least 20,000 to 30,000 years old. Shamanic ways are remarkably similar around the globe.

These mystical intermediaries may be helpers to society, using their skills to benefi t others. They are not to be confused with sorcerers, who practice black magic to harm others or promote their own selfi sh ends, interfering with the cosmic order. Spiritual power is neutral; its use depends on the practitioner. What Native Americans call “medicine power” does not originate in the medicine person. Black Elk explained:

Of course it was not I who cured. It was the power from the outer world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like a hole through whichthe power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through.22

There are many kinds of medicine. One is the ability to heal physical, psychological, and spiritual problems. Techniques used include physical approaches to illness, such as therapeutic herbs, sweat-bathing, massage, cauterization, and sucking out toxins. But the treatments are given to the whole person—body, mind, and spirit, with emphasis on healing relationships within the group—so there may also be divination, prayer, chanting, and cer- emonies in which group power is built up and spirit helpers are called in. If an intrusion of harmful power, such as the angry energy of another person, seems to be causing the problem, the medicine person may attempt to suck it out with the aid of spirit helpers and then dry-vomit the invisible intrusion into a receptacle.

Read the Document The Great Vision on myreligionlab

Shamaness Maria Amanchina of Siberia outside the hut she uses for healing. Maria repeatedly became seriously ill until she accepted her spiritual powers and began serving people as a healer.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

52 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

These healing methods are now beginning to earn respect from the scientifi c medical establishment. Organizations of registered shamans practice in recognized clinics in Russia, Korea, and China. In the United States, medicine people are permitted to attend indigenous patients in some hospitals, and the National Institute of Mental Health has paid Navajo medicine men to teach young Indians the ceremonies that have often been more effective than Western psychiatry in curing the mental health problems of Navajos.

In addition to healing, certain mystical intermediaries are thought to have gifts such as being able to talk with plants and animals, control the weather, see and commu- nicate with the spirit world, and prophesy. A gift highly developed in Africa is that of divination, using techniques such as reading patterns supposed to be revealed by a casting of cowrie shells. According to Mado Somé of the Dagara, “Divination is a way of accessing information that is happening now, but not right where you live. … The cowrie shells work like an intermediary between us and the other world.”23 Since everything is interrelated, divina- tion is a system for fi nding the point at which harmony has been disrupted and how the break can be healed.

The role of shaman may be hereditary or it may be recognized as a special gift. Either way, training is rigorous. In order to work in a mystical state of ecstasy, moving between ordinary and nonordinary realities, shamans must experience physical death and rebirth. Uvavnuk, an Inuit shaman, was spir- itually initiated when she was struck by a lightning ball. After she revived, she had great power, which she dedicated to serving her people.

Other potential mystical intermediaries undergo rituals of purifi cation, isolation, and bodily torment until they make contact with the spirit world. Igjugarjuk from northern Hudson Bay chose to suffer from cold, starvation, and thirst for a month in a tiny snow hut in order to draw the attention of Pinga, a helping female spirit:

My novitiate took place in the middle of the coldest winter, and I, who never got anything to warm me, and must not move, was very cold, and it was so tiring having to sit without daring to lie down, that sometimes it was as if I died a little. Only towards the end of the thirty days did a helping spirit come to me, a lovely and beautiful helping spirit, whom I had never thought of; it was a white woman; she came to me whilst I had collapsed, exhausted, and was sleeping. But still I saw her lifelike, hovering over me, and from that day I could not close my eyes or dream without seeing her. … She came to me from Pinga and was a sign that Pinga had now noticed me and would give me powers that would make me a shaman.24

For many mystical intermediaries, initiation into the role is not a matter of their own choice. The spirit enters whom it will. Tsering, an aged Nepali dhami (shaman), relates:

We never wanted to become dhamis. In fact, we tried hard to get the gods to leave us. We pleaded, performed worship ceremonies, even carried manure around with us to offend them, but nothing seemed to work. When calamities

Traditional diviners in Mali rake sand and leave it overnight. The tracks of animals that run over it are interpreted the next day for information the client seeks.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 53

began to hit my family—when my brother died falling off the roof and our best horse drowned in the river—I realized I had no choice and had to make the initiatory journey to Kailas.25

Once there, the new dhamis had to plunge naked with unbound hair into the freezing Lake Mansarovar in order to commune with the spirits. Then, when they returned to their village, the deities who had possessed them insisted that they prove their spiritual connection by terrible feats, such as drinking boiling oil. Thereafter, those dhamis were respected as authorities.

In addition to becoming familiar with death, a potential mystical interme- diary must undergo lengthy training in spiritual techniques, the names and roles of the spirits, and secrets and myths of the tribe. Novices are taught both by older shamans and reportedly by the spirits themselves. If the spirits do not accept and teach the shaman, he or she is unable to carry the role.

The helping spirits that contact would-be mystical intermediaries during the death-and-rebirth crisis become essential partners in their sacred work. Often it is a spirit animal who becomes the shaman’s guardian spirit, giving him or her special powers. The shaman may even take on the persona of the animal while working. Many tribes feel that healing specialists need the pow- ers of the bear; Lapp shamans metamorphosed into wolves, reindeer, bears, or fi sh.

Mystical intermediaries may have the ability to enter parallel, spiritual realities at will in order to bring back knowledge, power, or help for those who require it. An altered state of consciousness is needed. Techniques for entering this state are the same around the world: drumming, rattling, singing, danc- ing, and in some cases hallucinogenic drugs. The effect of these infl uences is to open what the Huichol shamans of Mexico call the narieka—the doorway of the heart, the channel for divine power, the point where human and spirit worlds meet. It is often experienced and represented artistically as a pattern of concentric circles.

The “journey” then experienced by mystical intermediar- ies is typically into the Upperworld or the Lowerworld. To enter the latter, they descend mentally through an actual hole in the ground, such as a spring, hollow tree, cave, ani- mal burrow, or special ceremonial hole regarded as a navel of the earth. These entrances typically lead into tunnels that, if followed, open into bright landscapes. Reports of such experiences include not only what the journeyer saw but also realistic physical sensations, such as how the walls of the tunnel felt during the descent.

The shaman enters into the Lowerworld landscape, encounters beings there, and may bring something back if it is needed by the client. This may be a lost guardian spirit or a lost soul, brought back to revive a person in a coma. The mystical intermediary may be temporarily possessed by the spirit of departed relatives so that an affl icted patient may fi nally clear up unresolved tensions with them that are seen as causing illness. Often a river must be crossed as the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. A kindly old man or woman may appear to assist this passage through the Lowerworld. In cultures that

A shaman in Senegal invokes the power of a spirit and then, as its vehicle, sprays energized water onto a girl who needs healing.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

54 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

LIVING INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

An Interview with Nadezhda Ananyevna Stepanova

One of the remaining traditional shamans of Buryatia, Nadezhda Ananyevna Stepanova comes from a family of very powerful shamans. Her mother tried to prevent her from becoming a shaman.

Buddhist lamas had spread the impression that shamans were to be avoided, saying that they were ignorant, primitive servants of dark, lower spirits. The reputation of shamans has also been recently damaged by pseudo-shamans—some of whom have certain extrasensory powers and others of whom are simply cheats. But when a shaman receives a true spiritual call, to deny that pull is dangerous. Nadezhda explains:

As a child I knew when I would fall ill, and I could repeat by heart anything the teacher said or anything I read in a book, but I thought that was normal. When I was twenty-six, I was told I would be a shaman, a great shaman. When I told Mother, she said, “No, you won’t.” She took a bottle, went to her native town, and then came back. “Everything will be taken away; you won’t become a shaman,” she said. I didn’t understand. The year I was said to become a shaman, I became seriously ill, and Mother was paralyzed. Usually paralyzed people have high blood pressure, but hers was normal. The doctors were surprised, but I understood then: We were both badly ill because she went against the gods. Nobody could heal me. Then one seer said, “You must cure.” I replied, “I don’t know anything about curing.” But a voice inside me said, “If you don’t become a shaman, you will die. You will be overrun by a lorry with a blue number.” I began to collect materials about medicine, about old rites. Then I could do a lot, for all we need is seeing and feeling. I was initiated by the men shamans of all the families, each praying to his god in a defi nite direction, for every god has his direction. I sat in the middle. Every shaman asked his gods to help me, to protect me, to give me power. The ritual was in early March. It was very frosty and windy, and I was only lightly dressed, but I wasn’t cold at all. The wind didn’t touch me. I sat motionless for about four hours, but I was not cold. I began to cure. It is very diffi cult. You go through pain, through the tears of children and adults. I am able to see whether I will be able to cure

a specifi c person. The main thing to me is to help a person if I can. I pray to my gods, ask them for mercy, I ask them to pay attention, to help. I feel the pain of those who come to me, and I want to relieve it. I have yodo—bark from a fi r tree scratched by a bear; its smoke purifi es. I perform rituals of bringing back the soul; often they work. My ancestors are very close to me; I see them as well as I see you. Last year in the island Olkhon in Lake Baikal, there was a great gathering of shamans from Tchita, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Yakutiya, and Buryatia to pray to the great spirits of Baikal about the well-being and prosperity of the Buryat land. For a long time these spirits were not turned to. They were forgotten by the people, and they fell asleep. They could not take an active part in the life of people; they could not help them any more. Teylagan, the prayer of the shamans for the whole Buryatia, was to awaken the great spirits. It was a clear, clear sunny day, without a cloud. When the prayer began, it started to rain. It was a very good sign. There had been a long drought before. The Olkhon shamans had tried to call rain, but they couldn’t. But when everyone gathered and three sheep were sacrifi ced, then they could, and the shamans of that district were grateful. We had always prayed to thirteen northern nainkhats, the great spirits of this area. But when the Buddhists came, persecution began, and people prayed secretly, only for their families. They could not pray for the whole Buryat nation, and they did not. They forgot. Shamans were killed. Then the atheistic Soviet regime tried to make us forget the faith, and we forgot. The most terrible thing about them was that they wanted to make people forget everything, to live by the moment and forget their roots. And what is man without roots? Nothing. It is a loss of everything. That is why now nobody has compassion for anybody. Now we are reaping the fruit: robbery, drinking, drugs. This is our disaster. That is why we must pray to our own gods. When we had the teylagan, on the fi rst day three blue pillars rose from earth to the sky—it was a prayer to Ehon-Bahve, the head spirit of Baikal, and to all three gods. The second day we prayed to the bird-god, and there were very many birds fl ying and a rainbow in the sky.”26

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 55

have subdued the indigenous ways, this mystical process is retained only in myths, such as the Greek story of Orpheus in the underworld. But in existing shamanic cultures, the rituals used by shamans are still sought after, for they may effectively heal people’s problems.

Group observances

Indigenous ways are community-centered. Through group rituals, traditional people not only honor the sacred but also affi rm their bonds with each other and all of creation. Humans can help to maintain the harmony of the universe by their ritual observances.

In order to maintain the natural balance and to ensure success in the hunt or harvest, ceremonies must be performed with exactitude. For instance, there is a specifi c time for the telling of specifi c stories. Chona, a Tohono O’odham (Papago) medicine woman, told anthropologist Ruth Underhill:

I should not have told you this [the origin of Coyote, who helped to put the world in order, with a few mistakes]. These things about the Beginning are holy. They should not be told in the hot time when the snakes are out. The snakes guard our secrets. If we tell what is forbidden, they bite.27

Rituals often take people out of everyday consciousness and into awareness of the presence of the sacred. In such altered states, participants may expe- rience a heightened group consciousness that powerfully binds individuals together as a community.

Each group has its own ways of ritual dedication to the spirits of life, but they tend to follow certain patterns everywhere. Some honor major points in the human life cycle, such as birth, naming, puberty, marriage, and death. These rites of passage assist people in the transition from one state to another and help them become aware of their meaningful contribution to life. When a Hopi baby is twenty days old, it is presented at dawn to the rays of Father Sun for the fi rst time and offi cially given a name. Its face is ritually cleansed with sacred cornmeal, a ceremony that will be repeated at death for the journey to the Lowerworld.

Girls commonly go through a special ceremony marking their fi rst men- struation, which signals the end of childhood and preparation for becoming wives and mothers. For both boys and girls, the rituals of reaching puberty typically involve separation from the community, then a transition phase in which they are secluded with no clear identity and prepared for adulthood, and fi nally a third phase in which they are reincorporated into the community with a new adult identity. Madonna Swan of the Lakota reports that she was secluded in part of her grandmother’s cabin for her fi rst moon ceremony, and that each day her grandmother would coach her in domestic skills and ethi- cal principles. Her grandmother and mother daily bathed her in water with purifying sage and green cedar, and prayed for her in this fashion:

Grandfathers above and in the four directions, make Madonna a good woman. Help her to treat guests with hospitality. Grandfathers, help her to be a good worker. Grandfathers, and Maka Ina (Mother Earth), help Madonna to be a good mother. I pray that the food she cooks in her life will be good for those that eat it. Grandfathers, help her to be a good wife and live with the same man all her life. Grandfathers, bless her with healthy children.28

Read the Document Kenya: Maasai Initiation and Wedding on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

The Sun Dance Way of Self-Sacrifi ce

Sacrifi cing oneself for the sake of the whole is highly valued in most indigenous traditions. Through purifi cation ceremonies, the people attempt to break through their small selves in order to serve as clear vehicles for the energy of the Great Spirit. In the Americas a powerful ceremony for these purposes is the sun dance. Among the Oglala Lakota, participants may dance for four days without food or water, looking at the sun and praying for blessings for the people. They say the ceremony as they practice it was fi rst given to them through a vision received by a man named Kablaya. In diverse forms, sun dances are now performed at many sites each spring and summer, most of them on the midwestern and northern plains of North America. In theory, only those who have had visions that they should perform the dance should do so. Some come in penance, for purifi cation; others offer themselves as vehicles to request blessings for all

people or for specifi c people who need help. It is not considered proper to dance for one’s own needs. Dancers make a commitment to do the dance for a certain number of times. Some sun dances include women dancers; some who dance are children. Non- indigenous people are generally barred from dancing. The power of the sun dance requires that everything be handled in a sacred way. Dancers must do vision quests and purify themselves in sweat lodges before the ceremony begins. In spite of thirst and exhaustion, those in some sun dances continue to participate in sweat lodges each day of the dance. A tree is chosen to be placed at the center of the circle (among the Lakota, it is always a cottonwood, which when cut crosswise reveals a multipointed star pattern representing the sun). The tree’s sacrifi ce is attended with ritual prayers. Participants may string prayer fl ags onto its branches before it is hoisted in the center of the dancing circle.

Sacred tree at the center of an area prepared for a Mexican version of the sun dance: Tonal Mitotianilitzli. Cloth strips tied to the tree carry prayers for the people.

56 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

During the dance itself, the participants are guided through patterns with symbolic meanings. The choreography varies from one group to another. The Sioux sun dancers do not move around the circle except to shift slightly during the day so that they are always facing the sun. In Mexico the patterns continually honor the powers of the four directions by facing each one in turn. As they dance, the dancers blow whistles traditionally made from the wing bones of the spotted eagle, but now often whittled from hollow sticks. When giving instructions for the dance, Kablaya reportedly explained, “When you blow the whistle always remember that it is the voice of the Spotted Eagle; our Grandfather, Wakan Tanka, always hears this, for you see it is really His own voice.”29

At a recent sun dance held in Mexico, one participant* reports:

When the energy of the Dancers was probably at their lowest and most exhausted, nearing the end of a very long and hot and sunny day, an eagle fl ew overhead and kept circling the Dance for maybe fi ve minutes, fl ying back and forth, and again and again to the sound of the Dancers’ whistles and the Huehuetl drum. It brought tears to the eyes of many. The Dancers just kept whistling and saluting and greeting the huge and graceful bird. I have often seen an eagle fl y over our circle during the Dance for a minute, but never have we seen one just keep circling and returning so long. It was truly breathtaking, like a message from the Creator that all was well, and our prayers were heard.

A group of people support the dancers by singing special sacred songs and beating a large drum. If their energy fl ags, so does that of the dancers. A woman sun dancer says that after a while, “The drum is no longer outside of you. It is as if in you and you don’t even know that you’re dancing.” The dancers also support each other in ways such as using the feathers they carry to fan those whose energy seems low. There may also be communal vision ceremonies. Each dancer is the carrier of a sacred pipe. Between rounds, the pipes may be shared with group onlookers who are led into the circle and who pass them around among the dancers to strengthen them with the power of the smoke.

Nondancers may also be led into the circle for a special healing round on the third or fourth day. By that time, the dancers have been so purifi ed and empowered that they can all act as healers, using their eagle feathers as instruments to convey the divine power. The suffering that each dancer willingly undergoes is heightened during piercing. For those whose visions suggest it—and whose tribes use piercing, for some do not—at some point during the dance incisions are made in the skin of their chest, back, or arms and sharpened sticks are inserted. There are then various ways of tearing through the skin. One reserved for chiefs is to drag buffalo skulls from ropes attached to the piercing sticks, symbolizing their carrying of the burdens of the people. More often, ropes are thrown over the trees and attached to the piercing sticks. Each person who pierces is then pulled upward, “fl ying” by fl apping eagle wings, until the sticks break through the skin. It is thought that the more a person asks to do when making the sacrifi ce the more diffi cult it will be to break free. One Lakota dancer was instructed in a vision that he should be hung from the tree for a whole night. They had to pierce him in many places in order to distribute his weight, and then pull him down in the morning. Why must the dance involve so much suffering? A Lakota sun dancer explains, “Nobody knows why, but suffering makes our prayers more sincere. The sun dance tests your sincerity, pushes your spirit beyond its limits.” And as the dance goes on, many of the dancers transcend their physical agony and experience an increasing sense of euphoria. A Mexican dancer explains:

It’s not pain. It’s ecstasy. We get the energy from the sun and from the contact with Mother Earth. You also feel the energy of the eagles [who often fl y overhead], all the animals, all the plants that surround you, all the vegetation. That energy comes to sustain you for the lack of food and water. Also when you smoke the pipe it serves as food or energy; the smoke feeds you energy so that you can continue. And every so often we put our palms to the sun to receive the energy from the sun. You can feel it in your whole body, a complete bath of energy.

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 57

*Names of individual dancers interviewed are not given here, to preserve their privacy and the sacredness of the dance.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

58 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

There are also collective rituals to support the group’s survival strategies. In farming communities these include ways of asking for rain, of insuring the growth of crops, and of giving thanks for the harvest. In the Great Drought of 1988, Sioux holy man Leonard Crow Dog was asked by three nonindigenous Midwestern communities to perform rainmaking ceremonies for them, thus honoring the power of the traditional medicine ways.

Ritual dramas about the beginnings and sacred history of the people engage performers and spectators on an emotional level through the use of special costumes, body paint, music, masks, and perhaps sacred locations. These dra- mas provide a sense of orderly interface among humans, the land, and the spiritual world. They also dramatize mysticism, drawing the people toward direct contact with the spirit world. Those who have sacred visions and dreams are supposed to share them with others, often through dramatization.

According to legend, the Plains Indians were given the sacred pipe by White Buffalo Calf Woman as a tool for communicating with the myster- ies and understanding the ways of life. The bowl of the pipe represents the female aspect of the Great Spirit, the stem the male aspect. When they are ritually joined, the power of the spirit is thought to be present as the pipe is passed around the circle for collective communion with each other and with the divine.

Groups also gather for ritual purifi cation and spiritual renewal of indi- viduals. Indigenous peoples of the Americas “smudge” sites and possessions, cleansing them with smoke from special herbs, such as sage and sweetgrass. Many groups make an igloo-shaped “sweat lodge” into which hot stones are carried. People huddle together in the dark around the stone pit. When water is poured on the stones, intensely hot steam sears bodies and lungs. Everyone prays earnestly. Leonard Crow Dog says of the inipi (sweat lodge):

The inipi is probably our oldest ceremony because it is built around the simplest, basic, life-giving things: the fi re that comes from the sun, warmth without which there can be no life; inyan wakan, or tunka, the rock that was there when the earth began, that will still be there at the end of time; the earth, the mother womb; the water that all creatures need; our green brother, the sage; and encircled by all these, man, basic man, naked as he was born, feeling the weight, the spirit of endless generations before him, feeling himself part of the earth, nature’s child, not her master.30

Pilgrimages to sacred sites are often communal. Buryats gather on top of Erde, the mountain where the spirit of the earth lives, and all join hands to encircle it; a great energy is said to appear in the huge circle. The Huichol Indians of the mountains of western Mexico make a yearly journey to a desert they call Wirikuta, the Sacred Land of the Sun. They feel that creation began in this place. And like their ancestors, they gather their yearly supply of peyote cactus at this sacred site. Peyote has the power to alter consciousness: it is a spirit who helps them to communicate with the spirit world.

When indigenous groups are broken up by external forces, they lose the cohesive power of these group rituals. Africans taken to the New World as slaves lost not only their own indi- vidual identity but also their membership in tight-knit groups.

To the Efe pygmies of the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Great Spirit is embodied in the forest itself, a benevolent presence that is Mother and Father. Men perform a dance of gratitude to the forest for the animal food it provides.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 59

In an attempt to re-establish a communal sense of shared spiritual traditions among African Americans, Professor Maulana Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa, a contemporary celebration based on indigenous African “fi rst fruits” harvest festivals. Using symbolic objects to help create a special atmosphere (such as candles, corn, fruits and vegetables, and a “unity cup,” all called by their Swahili names), families and groups of families meet from December 26 to January 1 to explore their growth over the past year. They look at their own experiences of the “seven principles”—unity, self-determination, collective work, family centeredness, purpose, creativity with limited resources, and confi - dence—and reward each other for progress by giving gifts.

Individual observances

In indigenous sacred ways, it is considered important for each person to expe- rience a personal connection with the spirits. The people acknowledge and work with the spirits in many everyday ways. For instance, when searching for herbs, a person is not to take the fi rst plant found; an offering is made to it, with the prayer that its relatives will understand one’s needs. Guardian spirits and visions may be sought by all the people, not just mystical specialists. The shaman may have more spirit helpers and more power, but visionary experi- ences and opportunities for worship are available to all. Indigenous traditions have therefore been called “democratized shamanism.”

Temples to the spirits may exist, but one can also worship them anywhere. Wande Abimbola observes:

Big temples aren’t necessary to worship the orisa, even though there are temples for most orisa in Africa. If you are a devotee of Ifa, you can carry the objects of Ifa in your pocket. If you want to make an offering to Ogun, put any piece of iron on the fl oor and make an offering to it.31

To open themselves for contact with the spirit world, individuals in many indigenous cultures undergo a vision quest. After ritual purifi cation, they are sent alone to a sacred spot to cry to the spirits to help them in their journey.

Prepuberty or the onset of puberty is commonly thought to be the best time for vision quests, for children are closest to the spirit world. Among the Dene Tha, children are informally encouraged to go out to the bush before the age of puberty and spend time alone, seeking a spirit helper:

When you are young, you go alone in the bush and you stay there and an animal comes to you. He talks to you just like we do now [sitting next to each other], and he tells you about him and with his power he gives you his power to heal other people. With it you heal people. If it tells you all how he is from beginning to end, you help someone, you cure him. If he does not tell everything, and you do not know all about him, then, when you help someone, you cure him, but you get the sickness.32

In West Africa, the gods and the spirits of the dead appear to the living in masquerades. The mysteries of spirit are made semivisible by costumed initiates.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

60 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

Adults may also make vision quests before undertaking a sacred mission, such as the sun dance. Indigenous Mexican leader Tlakaelel describes the vision quest as he observes it:

You stay on a mountain, desert, or in a cave, isolated, naked, with only your sacred things, the things that you have gained, in the years of preparation— your eagle feathers, your pipe, your copal [tree bark used as incense]. You are left alone four days and four nights without food and water. During this time when you are looking for your vision, many things happen. You see things move. You see animals that come close to you. Sometimes you might see someone that you care about a lot, and they’re bringing water. You feel like you’re dying of thirst, but there are limits around you, protection with hundreds of tobacco ties. You do not leave this circle, and this vision will disappear when they come to offer the water or sometimes they will just drop it on the ground. Or someone comes and helps you with their strength and gives you messages.33

One is not supposed to ask for a vision for selfi sh personal reasons. The point of this individual ordeal, which is designed to be physically and emo- tionally stressful, is to ask how one can help the people and the planet.

Globalization

Local spiritual traditions have suffered immensely from the onslaught of glo- balization processes. People are seeing the land they are supposed to be care- takers of taken over by others who have destroyed the natural environment; they are losing their grounding in local communities and lifeways, losing their languages, being devalued and suppressed by global religions, and becoming embroiled in nonlocal economic systems.

This altar in the home of a Mexican healer illustrates the blending of indigenous ways with those of later religions. The serpent, masks, vegetables, eggs, and “bird’s nest” derive from indigenous sacred ways, but are juxtaposed with Christian symbols.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 61

Sadly, traditional spiritual wisdom has been largely obliterated in many parts of the world by those who wanted to take the people’s lands or save their souls with some other path to the divine. Under the slogan “Kill the Indian and save the man,” the American founder of the boarding-school sys- tem for native children took them away from their families at a young age and transformed their cultural identity, presenting the native ways as inferior and distancing the children from normal participation in the traditional sacred life. They were exposed to the “modern” worldview, which does not believe in miracles, supernatural healings, or divine intervention—thus contradicting thousands of years of received wisdom in their own tradition.

A similar policy of attempted acculturation was conducted between the 1880s and 1960s with Australian aboriginal children. Taken away from their parents by force, the “stolen generation” were often abused or used as slaves. Five children of Eliza Saunders were taken away by social workers while she and her husband were looking for employment. She recalls, “You walk miles and miles and fi nd they’re not there. It’s like your child has been killed.” One of her children, the Green Party politician Charmaine Clarke, managed to run away from foster care after eleven years and rejoin her mother, but she says of her missing family history, “When myself and my brothers and sisters go home, we fi ve have to sit there quite mute and just listen, observe. Because we were never there.”34 In 1998, Australian citizens tried to apologize for this “attempted genocide,” with some 300,000 signatures in Sorry Books and hundreds of emotional multiracial ceremonies in churches, schools, and cities across Australia.

In Africa, despite globalized social contexts, traditional religion is still strong among some groups, such as the Yoruba, whose priest-diviners are still respected, and to whom the orisa reportedly contacted in trance still reveal the nearness and importance of the invisible forces. However, in contempo- rary urban African areas, the traditional interest in the fl ow of the past into the present, with value placed on the inten- sity of present experience, has been rapidly replaced by a Westernized view of time in which one is perpetually anxious about the future. This shift has led to severe psychological disorientation and social and political instability. Those whose spiritual cultures have been merged with world religions such as Islam, Buddhism, or Christianity are now examining the relationship of their earlier tradition to the intercultural mis- sionary traditions. African scholars have noted, for instance, that to put God in the forefront, as Christians do, does vio- lence to the greater social importance of ancestor spirits in African traditional religions.

However, indigenous groups have not just suffered passively and become extinct. They are negotiating with modernity and globalization in various ways. In some cases, contact with the rest of the world has been turned to advantage without loss of the traditional culture. The Dene Tha of northwestern Alberta, Canada, now live in houses built by the govern- ment and ride snowmobiles instead of their traditional dog sleds, but as hunters they still seek spiritual aid from “animal helpers” and fi nd important meaning and guidance in their visionary experiences. In a Maasai village near Nairobi in Kenya, elders came together and started a small museum.

Many Maasai men have resisted globalization in terms of clothing and pastoral lifestyle, but nevertheless live in the modern world, complete with cell phones.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

The Orang Asli of Malaysia: Traditions Being Lost

In peninsular Malaysia, about 147,412 indigenous people known as the Orang Asli (original peoples) still maintain some of their traditional ways. Among them are a subgroup known as the Jakun, inhabitants of what was once an extensive peat swamp forest. Traditionally the Jakun lived by hunting and gathering, as well as cultivating small plots temporarily before moving on after harvesting the crops. They lived simply, with great respect for the forest, the forest animals, and the invisible spirits around them. Now, however, much of the peat swamp forest has been logged, drained, and converted into oil palm or rubber plantations. Destruction of the sponge-like peat swamp forest has brought increased fl ooding to the Jakuns’ traditional home along the Bebar River, so severe that the Department of Orang Asli Affairs shifted them to a permanent settlement on higher ground in Kampung Simpai. Their children have been sent to distant boarding schools along with Malay children; there they are exposed to popular culture, and have become very fond of televisions, cell phones, and Western clothing. The Orang Asli remain one of the poorest sectors within Muslim-majority Malaysia. In the past, the lives of the Jakun were governed by a series of taboos. For example, they were not to chop down unfamiliar trees or joke or shout in the forest, lest the spirit of a tree might possess or curse them. No animals thought to have the quality of badi (sacred spirits or spirits of the dead) should be killed or harmed, lest those spirits might retaliate in a manner resembling the way in which the animal was harmed. Through these and other such taboos, the people were traditionally taught to live carefully, always mindful of the spirits around them. Thus they behaved respectfully everywhere, whether in the forest, in the river, or at home. Abu Bin Le, a fi fty-three-year-old man who is now helping in the Heritage Garden Project sponsored by the European Commission and the United Nations Development Program to document and conserve indigenous medicinal plants and promote sustainable use of the forest, decries the loss of reverence among the younger generations:

Kids these days do not believe because [the dire results of breaking taboos] have not happened during their lifetime. The forests surrounding our village are gone, so there are no spirits left. Maybe just a few, but not as many as in the old days. Back then, we had forests, vast tracts of forests. Many spirits dwelled in the forests. Now that the forests are gone, it is unlikely that it would happen. When there were many spirits, we could not break taboos.

Seventeen-year-old Habib feels little connection to the spirits of the forests. He says:

It is not instilled in us. Besides, there isn’t much of a forest left anyway, just acres of oil palm plantation. I remember when the forests still surrounded our houses when I was young.

Despite the loss of many traditional taboos, certain precautions are still followed, such as one prescribing that children are not to be scolded or teased to the point where they cry uncontrollably. Children are treated gently because many of the younger generations remember or heard of a dangerous storm which followed the breaking of the taboo about teasing children. Twenty-four-year-old Ann, great-granddaughter of the late village bomoh (shaman), was there when the storm happened:

Piran, who was then a little boy, was playing with a frog, but then his uncle took the frog away from him. He started crying and was inconsolable. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there was thunder. The sky became dark and it started to pour. Piran’s mother quickly grabbed Piran and ran towards her house, but it was as if the lightning was trailing them from behind. They ran into a local shaman’s house who quickly performed jampi [communication with the spirits]. At once, the rain stopped and the sky became clear and sunny again.

Sanisah Dep, thirty-eight-year-old granddaughter of the late village bomoh, was also there:

I was horrifi ed by what I saw. It was like a storm, but it was different from the usual storms we have here. As she ran, it was as if a group of dark clouds was hovering over her, chasing her. The uncle was teasing the child, so it happened. Now whatever the children want, we try to give or we pacify the child immediately.

62 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

In older times, there were bomohs who knew how to heal people, how to communicate with the spirits, and how to conduct the necessary rituals. But few of these elders are left. Sanisah lived next door to her grandfather, the village bomoh, and is certain that his death in 1997 was a result of his being unable to perform the obligatory ceremony to please the spirits:

Grandfather was an old man, in his eighties. Even so, he was still very strong, and was as fi t as a fi ddle. He was the village head and shaman, and many people respected him and sought his advice and help. Then early in 1997 the forest surrounding our houses was cleared to make way for Phase 2 of the community oil palm plantation. He was very upset with the village committee for clearing the forest behind his house, as he had asked them to spare a small portion of the forest, for this was where he did the bela kampung ritual for the wellbeing of his family and the village. He warned them that if they cleared the area where he conducted the bela kampung, the spirits would be angry and there could be repercussions later on. No one listened to him and the forest was cleared and the oil palm planted.

About two to three months after that, Grandfather was still hale and hearty and called all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to a small feast in his house. All of a sudden, Grandfather gave a loud cry; he said that his head was very painful. I ran to get help. When I returned, I saw him sprawled on the fl oor of his house, his face tilted sideways, stiff. Unable to talk, he gestured to us to fi nd his shaman tools so that he could perform jampi. We did not know where he kept them, as he never told us. Unable to help him, we rushed him to the hospital, about 40 kilometers away, but he died upon reaching it. The doctors told us that his kidneys were damaged. I am not convinced, as Grandfather was very healthy. This happened all of a sudden, shortly after failing to perform the bela kampung when the time was due.

Now there is no bomoh left in Kampung Simpai. There is still a bomoh in a nearby village, however, and his help was called for in November 2006 when a twelve-year-old Jakun girl contracted dengue hemorrhagic fever. The doctors at the nearest hospital said there was little chance of her recovery. To save her, her family took her to the bomoh. The girl recovered. She observed all traditional taboos until a special putus ubat ceremony was held for the whole extended family, to complete the healing and thank the spirits. Its climax was bathing of the girl and her father with coconut water mixed with water over which the bomoh had done jampi. In the photo shown here, the girl’s maternal aunt is holding a pelepas made from coconut leaves, representing the suffering and disease that needed to be purged from the patient’s body. The patient tore it into two, marking the end of her illness. Though earlier generations lived with little chance for work, with even rice a luxury, some of the old people are nostalgic about the past. Abu says:

We Orang Asli open up small portions of the forest for our swidden plots, say ten acres. But now the plantations have opened up thousands of acres of forest. It’s so vast that one cannot see anything but oil palm. I remember hearing birds chirping and monkeys making funny noises. Our community was not only a community of people, but also of animals. We do miss the sounds of the animals in the morning. All we hear now is the rumbling of the lorries carrying the oil palm fruit.35

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 63

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

64 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

In a traditional hut, they collected various Maasai artifacts—such as spears, swords, iron ore, shields, knives, hides and skins, gourds, and beadwork—in a bid to preserve their culture and traditions and, at the same time, use the museum as a tourist attraction to create income for community development. African-derived religions are increasingly appropriating new communication technologies to transmit their ideologies outside Africa, as in Internet websites such as OrishaNet.org.

Indigenous sensitivities are also playing a role in environmental preserva- tion. In Kenya, local indigenous communities, when faced with the threat of destruction of their sacred forest of Ruiga, managed to protect the land from illegal logging an human encroachment by having it designated a natural monument under the Antiquities and Monuments Act. One of the world’s best-preserved indigenous forests, Ruiga has traditionally been protected by the local people through myths and taboos. For instance, cutting trees within the forest was forbidden because it was thought that if a tree were cut, it would bleed and cry, and also bring a curse on the family of the per- son who cut it. Children were taught that there was a deep but invisible lake in the heart of the forest; any trespassers wold probably drown in it. Now a community-based organization is charged with protecting, conserving, and preserving the sacred forest, and also with guiding visitors from around the world who come to see it.

On the other hand, there may be strong resistance to selling sacred knowl- edge to outsiders. While indigenous traveling teachers are swamped with eager students from other cultures who are fascinated with shamanism, elders of the Lakota tribes have urged all indigenous nations to use every means possible to prevent the exploitation of their spiritual traditions by “‘the New Age movement,’ ‘the men’s movement,’ ‘neo-paganism cults,’ ‘shamanism’ workshops—a scandalous assortment of pseudo-Indian charlatans, ‘wan- nabes,’ commercial profi teers, cultists and ‘New Age shamans.’”36

Even outsiders who value the sacred teachings may disrupt or alter the indigenous practices. Osage theologian George Tinker describes what often happens in North America:

The fi rst Indian casualty today in any such New Age spiritual-cultural encounter is most often the strong deep-structure cultural value of community and group cohesion that is important to virtually every indigenous people. ... Well-meaning New Agers drive in from New York and Chicago or fl y in from Austria and Denmark to participate in annual ceremonies originally intended to secure the well-being of the local, spatially confi gured community. These visitors see little or nothing at all of the reservation community, pay little attention to the poverty and suffering of the people there and fi nally leave having achieved only a personal, individual spiritual high.37

Development issues

In collision or collusion with larger societies, indigenous peoples have often been victims of disastrous development projects. In the United States, reser- vations on which thousands of Navajos and Hopis were living were found to be sitting on the largest coal deposit in the country—the 4,000-square-mile “Black Mesa.” In 1966, the Navajo and Hopi tribal councils signed agreements allowing Black Mesa to be strip-mined by utility companies to provide elec-

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 65

tricity for southwestern cities, and, presumably, economic development for the tribes. Since then the sacred land has been devastated, ancient archaeo- logical sites have been destroyed, thousands of Navajos have been displaced, and aquifers are drying up as 1.3 billion gallons of pure water per year have been used to pump the coal slurry to a power plant hundreds of miles away. It is now thought that the government-established tribal councils—themselves not considered genuine representatives of the tribal peoples—were being advised by an attorney who was secretly employed by the coal company. The Black Mesa Trust is pressing for legal action that would impose limits on future damage to the area and curb tactics being used to pressurize the indigenous people. Cherokee attorney Jace Weaver points out that there are diffi culties in protecting the rights of indigenous people on religious grounds because the legal defi nition of “religion” is limited. He writes, “Lacking a con- cept of the holy, our legal system fi nally is incapable of comprehending Native religious freedom and land claims.”39

In Zimbabwe, thousands of traditional self-suffi cient Vaduma people were displaced when their ancestral lands were fl ooded to create a huge artifi cial lake for irrigating an area hundreds of miles away. Jameson Kurasha of the University of Zimbabwe describes the effects on the Vaduma:

When the “idea” of development was imposed on them, families were separated by a massive stretch of water. Now the Murinye Mugabe families are alienated from each other. They are now peoples without a tangible past to guide and unite them because their past [i.e. ancestors] are either buried or washed away by the lake. They are basically a people without a home to point to. The separation has left a cultural damage that will never be restored.40

In Malaysia, the indigenous Orang Asli people and anthropologists, sociolo- gists, and development workers who are familiar with their situation feel that the Malaysian government is intentionally but discreetly forcing the people from their traditional homelands so that it can appropriate the timber-rich land. So long as the Orang Asli live in the forests, especially if they were granted land rights to their ancestral lands, the individual state governments cannot get access to the timber revenues. Critics think this is why the govern- ment is making efforts to “integrate” the Orang Asli into Malay culture in the name of “development,” including relocation, education, and Islamization, in order to detach them from their spiritual affi nity to their land.

Exploitation by multinational companies of the natural resources on land occupied by indigenous groups has sometimes been cloaked in talk of helping the local economy, but often the results have been devastating for indigenous peoples, spiritually as well as economically. In Nigeria, oil production accounts for eighty-seven percent of the government’s foreign revenue. Multinational companies’ activities to extract the oil have involved burning the waste gases, leaking oil pipelines, dumping waste products, and oil slicks for decades, causing extensive destruction of animal and plant life, soil damage, air and water pollution, and health problems among the indigenous peoples. The efforts of one severely affected group, the Ogoni, to protest this situation were met with harassment, and ultimately the leaders were killed by the government. The Ogoni have continued their opposition nevertheless. Not only have their traditional lifeways been disrupted with the destruction of their environment, but also, more signifi cantly from their point of view, they feel they must try to protect their ancestors’ graves on their homesteads, plus their sacred groves and natural holy places. They feel their ancestors will not

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

66 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE

Damaris Parsitau

Having come from the Maasai tribe in Kenya and now being a professor at the University of Egerton, Damaris Parsitau is looked up to as a mentor for Maasai girls and women. When she makes scholarly presentations at

international academic conferences (she is shown here at a conference in Oxford, England), she helps to dispel stereotypes of Maasai as being primitive because these tall, proud people have traditionally lived as nomadic pastoralists and only recently were persuaded to abandon their traditions of training young men as warriors. Many still refuse to wear Western clothing. Damaris explains that her life straddles both worlds:

I am not living a traditional Maasai lifestyle, although I feel like I am a true Maasai woman. My grandparents practiced Maasai culture and tradition. To date, some of my relatives still practice traditional culture. Having said this, it is important to note that I am a child of both worlds. I was brought up by my parents who practiced some aspects of Maasai traditional culture and a bit of modernity. My mother was a Presbyterian and I was baptized in this church at the age of twelve. My father was more of a traditional man who embraced modernization. He sent his children to school, built a modern house for his family, but also kept a large herd of cattle, sheep, and goats and owned huge tracts of land where his livestock grazed. Yet despite being a university professor, and one who has embraced modernity, I am still a Maasai girl deep down. What does being a Maasai mean to me? I am proud of my Maasai culture and tradition. It is my heritage, my identity, and who I am. It has given me my roots, a sense of belonging and community, and I take great pride in my cultural and traditional heritage. I speak my mother tongue (Maa) and love Maasai food—milk, meat (although I love my vegetables as well)—and mode of dress. Occasionally I don my Maasai attire during functions like weddings, graduation ceremonies, fundraising activities, and other community-based events.

I have raised my children as Maasai and I try to pass on to them some of our best cultural aspects as a minority group—a sense of community, respect for others, kindness, and compassion. For example, being mean and unkind to others is frowned upon, and people are encouraged to eat together and share what they have with others. Children are taught to respect each other, elders, seniors, women, and the weak. My parents opened their home to many needy people and my father was engaged in community work, while my mother worked with women. I have passed these values to my children, and we do what we can to help others. I have taught them to respect people irrespective of whether they are poor or rich, good-looking or not. I abhor prejudice of all kinds and am not willing to judge others on account of race, ethnicity, class, color, etc. Stories of tradition are taught and followed in our family. Once a year we all meet so that our children can know and connect with each other and learn from each other. However, as an educated Maasai woman, I come across many stereotypes. Many people fi nd it hard to believe that I am Maasai and many wonder how a woman from such a “primitive” tribe is so well-schooled and intelligent, well-traveled, and teaches at university. The Maasai are regarded as unschooled, backward, and primitive because they resist modernization and Westernization. But I am amazed at how smart and knowledgeable indigenous people are and how they connect powerfully with nature and their spirituality. For example, the Maasai are well known all over Kenya for their knowledge of indigenous medicines for treating both humans and animals. My Maasai culture and background enables me to respect and even embrace other people’s cultures, traditions, and spiritualities. I practice yoga and meditation for relaxation—not very Maasai-like. Yet I don’t see much confl ict between being a Maasai woman and a modern woman at the same time.38

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 67

forgive them if they do not stand up to the oil business’s desecration of their graves and sacred sites.

Modern development schemes—as well as outright plunder of natural resources for profi t—are being called into question by land-based traditional peoples around the world, and attempts have begun to re-establish the valid- ity of the ancient wisdom. In India, offi cials in the Ministry of Environment and Forests are acknowledging that the remaining sacred groves of the indigenous peoples are treasure houses of biodiversity and should not be destroyed. In such areas, it is often the shamans who teach the tribal people the importance of protecting the trees and vegetation.

Some indigenous peoples feel that their traditional sacred ways are not only valid, but actually essential for the future of the world. They see these understandings as antidotes to mechanistic, dehumanizing, environmentally destructive ways of life. Rather than regarding their ancient way as inferior, intact groups such as the Kogi of the high Colombian rainforest feel they are the elder brothers of all humanity, responsible for keeping the balance of the universe and re-educating their younger brothers who have become distracted by desire for material gain.

Differences of opinion and lifestyle between native people who live tradi- tionally and those who have embraced industrial materialistic culture have led to rifts within the communities. There are people for and against selling mineral rights to community land for economic gain. Some indigenous people also question the ethics of developing gambling casinos as a base for eco- nomic self-suffi ciency. But gaming has interesting precedents in many world religions and was traditionally part of sacred rites in many indigenous cul- tures. Ceremonial throwing of dice has been symbolically associated with the cycles of death and rebirth, and the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. The chance turn of the dice or wheel of fortune often appears in myths as a metaphor for balance in the continual shifts between happiness and sorrow. Gaming rituals were used by some tribes to help the movement of the seasons and the shifts between night and day, to infl uence the weather, to assist in hunting, and to restore health. Addictive gambling is a different matter, for it can be disastrous for individuals and their families.

In traditionally matriarchal societies, some women’s groups are trying to save traditional social structures. The Igbo-speaking peoples (also known as Ibo)—numbering more than thirty million in Nigeria and the diaspora—have a basically matriarchal social structure and theology. Theirs has traditionally been an economy of cooperation and exchange, with the land associated with dead ancestors and therefore never to be sold. With particular reference to the Igbo, Adi Amadiume, Professor of African Studies at Dartmouth College, proposes a theory of matriarchal versus patriarchal economics:

It is the relational matriarchal model that contains the ideal economic theory of African traditional religions; this is a theory of community, exchange, reciprocity, and sharing. This relational matriarchal theory is based on the ideology of Umunne, those who share the spirit of common motherhood, who eat out of one pot, and are bound by the prohibition of Ibenne, a taboo of same blood where love and not self-interest rules. ... Social values of exchange are better expressed in matriarchy than in linear patriarchy because patriarchy promotes competition rather than exchange.41

Women played a major role in trying to resist colonial invasion. Igbo and neighboring Ibibio matriarchs led the Women’s War of 1929 against the

Read the Document Seeing with a Native Eye on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

68 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

destructive effects of a cash-crop economy, taxation, and capitalist market forces, as well as the religious and social marginalization of women. Today, Igbo women are fi ghting against patriarchal state and international structures, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to resist what they regard as culture-fragmenting competitive economic policies.

Personal visions and ancient prophecies about the dangers of a lifestyle that ignores the earth and the spiritual dimensions of life are leading native elders around the world to gather internationally and raise their voices together. They assert indigenous spiritual insights and observations about the state of the planet, political matters, and contemporary lifestyle issues.

Indigenous elders who are now speaking out seek converts not to their path but to a respect for all of life, which they feel is essential for the harmony of the planet. A respected elder of the Hopi nation, the late Thomas Banyacya, made a stirring appeal to the United Nations in 1992, in which he explained Hopi prophecies about our times. According to the prophecies, the creator made a perfectly balanced world but when humans turned away from spir- itual principles for selfi sh reasons, the world was destroyed by earthquakes. The few survivors developed the second world, but repeated their mistakes, and the world was destroyed by the Ice Age. The few people who survived spoke one language and developed high technologies but when they turned away from natural laws and spiritual principles, the third world was destroyed by a great fl ood which is remembered in the ancient stories of many peoples. Now we are living in the fourth world. According to Hopi time lines, we are in the fi nal stages of decay. Showing a rock drawing of part of the Hopi prophecy, Thomas Banyacya explained:

There are two paths. The fi rst with high technology but separate from natural and spiritual law leads to these jagged lines representing chaos. The lower path is one that remains in harmony with natural law. Here we see a line that represents a choice like a bridge joining the paths. If we turn to spiritual

Read the Document Hopi Message to the United Nations General Assembly on myreligionlab

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers has been created as a project of the Center for Sacred Studies. The grandmothers form a global alliance for prayer, education, and healing of the earth for the sake of the next seven generations. From left to right, they are Clara Shinobu Iura and Maria Alice Campos Freire (Amazonian rainforest, Brazil), Margaret Behan (Arapaho/Cheyenne, Montana, USA), Rita Pitka Blumenstein (Yup’ik, Alaskan tundra, USA), Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance (Oglala Lakota, Black Hills, South Dakota, USA), Bernadette Rebienot (Omyene, Gabon, Africa), Mona Polacca (Havasupai/ Hopi/Tewa, Arizona, USA), Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Takelma Siletz, Grants Pass, Oregon, USA), Julieta Casimiro (Mazatec, Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico), Flordemayo (Mayan, highlands of Central America/New Mexico), Aama Bombo/Buddhi Maya Lama (Tamang, Nepal), and Tsering Dolma Gyaltong (Tibetan).

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS 69

harmony and live from our hearts we can experience a paradise in this world. If we continue only on this upper path, we will come to destruction.42

Many people have said that indigenous peoples are myths of the past, ruins that have died. But the indigenous community is not a vestige of the past, nor is it a myth. It is full of vitality and has a course and a future. It has much wisdom and richness to contribute. They have not killed us and they will not kill us now. We are stepping forth to say, “No, we are here. We live.”

Rigoberta Menchú of the K’iché Maya43

Key terms cosmogony A model of the origins of the universe. Dreamtime (Dreaming) The timeless time of Creation, according to Australian

aboriginal belief. indigenous Native to an area. lifeway An entire approach to living in which sacred and secular are not separate. medicine person An indigenous healer. orisa Yoruba term for a deity. shaman A man or woman who has undergone spiritual ordeals and can

communicate with the spirit world to help the people. vision quest A solitary ordeal undertaken to seek spiritual guidance about one’s

mission in life.

Review questions 1. Why are some indigenous ways practiced secretly? What challenges have scholars

faced in understanding and accurately representing indigenous sacred ways? 2. What do indigenous sacred ways in different parts of the world have in common? 3. How do indigenous sacred ways have an ecological perspective? 4. What types of spiritual specialists are there in indigenous sacred ways? 5. What effects do the rituals of indigenous sacred ways seem to have? For example,

storytelling, drumming, initiations, healing, self-sacrifi ce, and vision quests. 6. What are some of the effects of the clashes between indigenous and industrial

societies?

Discussion questions 1. In what ways do indigenous approaches to the sacred differ from those of other

religions with which you are familiar? 2. What do you see as the benefi ts and disadvantages of nonindigenous people

attempting to adopt indigenous religious practices? 3. Can indigenous sacred ways be reconciled with modern industrial and

commercial pressures? Why, or why not? 4. In what ways may the processes of globalization affect indigenous sacred ways? 5. How have development projects affected indigenous peoples, and how have

they responded?

Study and Review on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

70 INDIGENOUS SACRED WAYS

MyReligionLab Connections

Watch. Listen. View. Explore. Read. MyReligionLab is designed just for you. Each chapter features a customized study plan to help you learn and review key

concepts and terms. Dynamic visual activities, videos, and readings found in the

multimedia library will enhance your learning experience.

Watch on myreligionlab

Defi ning Indigenous Peoples

Listen on myreligionlab

Living Vodou

Read on myreligionlab

The Theft of Light

The Essence of Cosmic Man

The Talking Drum

The Great Vision

Kenya: Maasai Initiation and Wedding

Seeing with a Native Eye

Hopi Message to the United Nations General Assembly

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 71

In the Indian subcontinent there has developed a complex variety of reli- gious paths. Some of these are relatively unifi ed religious systems, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Most of the other Indian religious ways have been categorized together as if they were a single tradition named “Hinduism.” This term is derived from a name applied by foreigners to the people living in the region of the Indus River, and was introduced in the nineteenth century under colonial British rule as a category for census-taking.

This labeling and interpretation of Indian religious traditions by non- Indians is currently a hotly debated issue. Some Indians now assert that Western analysis of Hinduism has been carried on by outsiders who were biased against Indian culture, or who presumed that all religions can be studied according to Western religious categories. Even the Hindi word “dharma,” often translated into English simply as “religion,” refers to a broad complex of meanings, encompassing duty, natural law, social welfare, ethics, health, wealth, power, fulfi llment of desires, and transcendental realization. Furthermore, Hinduism is not easily separated fully from other dharmic traditions that have arisen in India, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, for there has been exten- sive cross-pollination among them.

The spiritual expressions of Hinduism range from extreme asceticism to extreme sensuality, from the heights of personal devotion to a deity to the heights of abstract philosophy, from metaphysical proclamations of the one- ness behind the material world to worship of images representing a multipli- city of deities. According to tradition, there are actually 330 million deities in India. The feeling is that the divine has countless faces.

The extreme variations within Hinduism are refl ections of its great age. Few of the myriad religious paths that have arisen over the millennia have been lost. They continue to co-exist in present-day India. Some scholars of religion argue that these ways are so varied that there is no central tradition that can be called Hinduism proper.

In villages, where the majority of Indians live, worship of deities is quite diverse and does not necessarily follow the more reifi ed and philosophical Brahmanic tradition that is typically referred to as “Hinduism.” Since it is not possible here to trace all these diffuse, widely scattered strands in their complex historical development, we will instead explore the main facets of the Brahmanic tradition thematically: its philosophical and metaphysical ele- ments, then its devotional and ritual aspects, and, fi nally, its features as a way of life. These are not in fact totally separate categories, but we will separate

HINDUISM

C H A P T E R 3

“With mind absorbed and heart melted in love”

• Philosophical and metaphysical origins 72

• Major philosophical systems 77

• Religious foundations and theistic paths 83

• The Hindu way of life 95

• Hinduism in the modern world 111

KEY TOPICS

Listen to the Chapter Audio on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

72 HINDUISM

them somewhat for clarity. Afterward, we will look at global and political aspects of the contemporary practice of Hinduism.

Philosophical and metaphysical origins

The Brahmanic tradition can be traced back to the Vedic age, thousands of years ago. The metaphysical beliefs in the Vedas were elaborated into vari- ous schools of thought by philosophers and sages. These beliefs were brought forth experientially by various methods of spiritual discipline.

Truth is one; sages call it by various names. Rig Veda

The Indus Valley civilization

Many of the threads of Hinduism may have existed in the religions practiced by the early Dravidian peoples of India. There were also advanced urban centers in the Indus Valley from about 2500 BCE, or even earlier, until 1500 BCE. Major fortifi ed cities with elaborate plumbing and irrigation systems and paved, right-angled streets have been found by archaeologists at Harappa, Mohenjo- Daro, Dholavira, and other sites; the culture they represent is labeled the Indus Valley civilization.

According to theories advanced by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European scholars, the highly organized cultures of the Indus Valley and other parts of the subcontinent were overrun by lighter-skinned nomadic invaders from some homeland to the north, whose peoples also spread westward and developed European civilizations. The theory argued that the Vedas, the reli- gious texts often referred to as the foundations of Hinduism, were the product of the invaders and not of indigenous Indians, or perhaps a combination of both cultures.

The theory of an invasion of, and religious infl uence on, the Indus Valley civilization by “Aryans” from the north was based largely on linguistic similari- ties between classical European languages such as Latin and Greek to Sanskrit, the ancient language in which the Vedas were composed. Similarities were also noted between Vedic religious traditions and those of the ancient Iranian Zoroastrian faith. However, the word “Aryan” is used in the Vedas to mean a noble person who speaks Sanskrit and practices the Vedic rituals. It is not a racial category. Nevertheless, the idea of an invasion of the Indus Valley by “Aryans” persisted until recent times, when it has become the subject of intense research by scholars of historical linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, and textual analysis. There is as yet no confi rmed evidence of what actually happened, and the “Aryan Invasion Theory” is strongly contested by many scholars who feel there is no proof to support it.

The relationship of the Vedas to the Indus Valley sites is also unclear. The early Vedas seem to have been written by agropastoral people, whereas the Indus Valley civilization was primarily urban centered. Despite claims by some Indian historians that the Vedas may be of great antiquity, Western Indologists generally continue to think that the early Vedas were compiled when the Indus Valley civilization was in decline, approximately 1500 BCE.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 73

The Indus script has not yet been deciphered, so there is no way of knowing if it is related to the Sanskrit of the Vedas.

There are, however, some similarities between artifacts of the Indus Valley civilization and religious practices associated with Hinduism. Narrative scenes and fi gures on seals and pottery include representations of trees with what appear to be deity fi gures, suggesting that worship may have taken place in natural settings under trees considered sacred—such as the peepul tree, which even in contemporary India is thought to be so sacred that it should not be cut down, even when its great trunk threatens walls and buildings. There are male fi gures apparently seated in meditation, some of them with horns, which have been interpreted as evidence of ancient practice of yogic postures or worship of the deity Shiva. There are also many decorated female fi gurines, which may indicate worship of a goddess. Researchers fi nd evidence of many levels of religious practice, from local cults to what may have been established state religions of the elite.

Delhi

Amarnath cave

Agra Mathura

Harappa

Mohenjo-Daro Haridwar

Dholavira

Mumbai (Bombay)

Allahabad Ayodhya

Mysore

Kolkata (Calcutta)

I N D I A N O C E A N

BAY OF BENGAL

Ind us

Jum na

(Yamuna) Ganges (Ganga)

Narmada

I N D I A

AFGHANISTAN

T I B E T

C H I N A

N E P A L

BHUTAN

SIKKIM

WEST BENGAL

M Y A N M A R ( B U R M A )

BANGLADESH

PAKISTAN

SRI LANKA

PUNJAB

TAMIL NADU

JAMMU AND

KASHMIR

GUJARAT

provincial borders

international boundaries

The Indian subcontinent includes areas that are now politically separate from India. The Indus Valley, for instance, lies in what is now the Muslim state of Pakistan. Another Muslim state was carved out of the eastern portion of India in 1947, and became the independent state of Bangladesh in 1971.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

74 HINDUISM

TIMELINE

Hinduism

BCE c.8000–6000 According to Indian tradition, Vedas heard by rishis, carried orally

c.3102 According to Indian tradition, beginning of Kali Yuga; Vishnu incarnates as Vyasa, who writes down the Vedas

c.2500–1500 Indus Valley civilization

c.1500 Early Vedas fi rst composed

c.900–700 Brahmanas written down

c.600–100 Upanishads compiled

c.400 BCE–200 CE Ramayana (present form)

c.400 BCE–400 CE Mahabharata (present form)

by 200 Patanjali systematizes Yoga sutras [Indian tradition: yoga practices are ancient, indigenous]

CE 100–300 Code of Manu compiled

c.300 Tantras written down [Indian tradition: Tantras are as old as the Upanishads]

500–1500 Puranas recorded

c.600–1800 Bhakti movement fl ourishes

711 Muslim invasions begin

by c.788–829 Shankara reorganizes Vedanta

c.800–900 Bhagavata Purana written down

1556–1707 Mogul Empire

1828 Brahmo Samaj revitalization

1836–1886 Life of Ramakrishna

1857–1947 British rule of India

1869–1948 Life of Mahatma Gandhi

1875 Arya Samaj reform

1947 Independence; partition of India and Pakistan

1948 Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

1992 Demolition of Babri Mosque

2002 Violence erupts again over attempts to build Ram Temple at Ayodhya

2011 Anna Hazare fasts to force anti-corruption bill IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 75

The Vedas

Although their origins and antiquity are still unknown, the Vedas themselves can be examined. They are a revered collection of ancient sacred hymns. These sacred teachings seem to have been written down by the middle of the fi rst millennium BCE, though we know that they are much older than their earliest written forms. After being revealed to sages, they were transmitted orally from teacher to student and may then have been written down over a period of 800 or 900 years. According to orthodox Hindus, the Vedas are not the work of any humans. They are considered shruti texts—those which have been revealed, rather than written by mortals. They are the breath of the eternal, as “heard” by the ancient sages, or rishis, and later compiled by Vyasa. The name “Vyasa” means “Collector.” He was traditionally considered to be one person, but some scholars think it likely that many people were acting as compilers.

The Vedas are thought to transcend human time and are thus as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. The Gayatrimantra, a verse in a Vedic hymn, is still chanted daily by the devout as the most sacred of prayers:

Aum [the primordial creative sound], Bhu Bhuvah Svah [the three worlds: earth, atmosphere, and heaven], Tat Savitur Varenyum, Bhargo Devasya Dheemahe [adoration of the glory, splendor, and grace that

radiate from the Divine Light that illuminates the three worlds], Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat [a prayer for liberation through awakening of the

light of the universal intelligence].1

The oldest of the known Vedic scriptures—and among the oldest of the world’s existing scriptures—is the Rig Veda. This praises and implores the blessings of the devas—the controlling forces in the cosmos, deities who con- secrate every part of life. The major devas included Indra (god of thunder and

The Vedas include hymns praising the cow, which is still beloved and treated as sacred by Hindus: “The cow is our Mother, for she gives us her milk.” Bali has its unique ways of carrying on the belief, including this veneration of the cow in a cremation ceremony.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

76 HINDUISM

bringer of welcome rains), Agni (god of fi re), Soma (associated with a sacred drink), and Ushas (goddess of dawn). The devas included both opaque earth gods and transparent deities of the sky and celestial realms. But behind all the myriad aspects of divinity, the sages perceived one unseen reality. This real- ity, beyond human understanding, ceaselessly creates and sustains everything that exists, encompassing all time, space, and causation.

The Rig Veda is the fi rst of four collections of which the Vedas are com- prised. The other three also contain hymns and sacred sounds to be recited while making offerings to the deities by means of a sacrifi cial fi re. These sounds are thought to carry great power, for they are based on the sound vibrations by which the cosmos was created and sustained.

Other ancient shruti texts include the Brahmanas (directions about per- formances of the ritual sacrifi ces to the deities), Aranyakas (“forest treatises” by sages who went to the forests to meditate as recluses), and Upanishads (teachings from highly realized spiritual masters). The principal Upanishads are thought to have developed last, around 600 to 100 BCE. They represent the mystical insights of rishis who sought ultimate reality through their meditations in the forest. Many people consider these philosophical and meta- physical refl ections the cream of Indian thought, among the highest spiritual literature ever written. They were not taught to the masses but rather were reserved for advanced seekers of spiritual truth. Emphasis is placed not on outward ritual performances, as in the earlier texts, but on inner experience as the path to realization and immortality.

The rishis, through the discovery of meditative practices leading to higher states of consciousness, experienced the presence of an infi nite reality beyond conventional awareness, as experienced through the fi ve senses. As Rajiv Malhotra, author of Being Different, which attempts to explain the difference

Read the Document Realize the Brahman on myreligionlab

Vedic worship with fi re is still signifi cant in contemporary rituals. Fire ceremonies may be conducted by Hindu pandits to invoke the blessings of the Unseen.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 77

between the perspective of dharmic traditions and Western monotheistic traditions, explains, “All dharmic schools begin by assuming that ultimately the cosmos is a unifi ed whole in which absolute reality and the relative manifestions are profoundly connected.”2 The rishis called this unseen but all-pervading reality Brahman, the Unknowable: “Him the eye does not see, nor the tongue express, nor the mind grasp.”3

The joyous discovery of the rishis was that they could fi nd Brahman as the subtle self or soul (atman) within themselves. One of the rishis explained this relationship thus:

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.

Chandogya Upanishad 4

When one discovers the inner self, atman, and thus also its source, Brahman, the self merges into its transcendent source, and one experiences unspeakable peace and bliss.

The Upanishads express several doctrines central to all forms of Hinduism. One is reincarnation. In answer to the universal question, “What happens after we die?” 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. Birth as a human being is a precious and rare opportunity for the soul to advance toward its ultimate goal of liberation from rebirth and merging with the Absolute Reality.

An important related concept is that of karma. It means action, and also the consequences of action. Every act we make, and even every thought and every desire we have, shapes our future experiences. Our life is what we have made it. And we ourselves are shaped by what we have done: “As a man acts, so does he become. … 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.

The ultimate goal, however, is not creation of good lives by good deeds, but a clean escape from the karma-run wheel of birth, death, and rebirth, or samsara. To escape from samsara is to achieve moksha, or liberation from the limitations of space, time, and matter through realization of the immor- tal Absolute. Many lifetimes of upward-striving incarnations are required to reach this transcendence of earthly miseries. This desire for liberation from earthly existence is one of the underpinnings of classical Hinduism, and of Buddhism as well.

Major philosophical systems

In addition to the Vedas, elaborate philosophical systems were developed long ago in India. Those associated with Brahmanic Hindu tradition all have certain features in common:

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

78 HINDUISM

1 All have deep roots in the Vedas and other scriptures but also in direct personal experiences of the truth through meditation;

2 All hold ethics to be central to orderly social life. They attribute suffering to the law of karma, thereby suggesting incentives to more ethical behavior;

3 All hold that the ultimate cause of suffering is people’s ignorance of the Self, which is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, perfect, and eternal.

Two other major philosophical systems born in India—Jainism and Buddhism—do not acknowledge the authority of the Vedas but neverthe- less draw on many of the same currents as Hinduism. Prominent among the philosophical systems that are related to the Vedas are Samkhya, Advaita Vedanta, and yoga.

Samkhya

The Samkhya system, though undatable, is thought to be the oldest in India. Its founder is said to be the semi-mythical sage Kapila. Its principles appear in Jainism and Buddhism from the sixth century BCE, so the system probably preceded them and may be of pre-Vedic origin.

Samkhya philosophy holds that there are two states of reality. One is the Purusha, the Self, which is eternally wise, pure, and free, beyond change, beyond cause. The other is Prakriti, the cause of the material universe. All our suffering stems from our false confusion of Prakriti with Purusha, the eternal Self, pure Consciousness. A dualistic understanding of life is essential, accord- ing to this system, if we are to distinguish the ultimate transcendent reality of Purusha from the temporal appearances of Prakriti, which bring us happiness but also misery and delusion.

The highly analytical Samkhya system holds that Prakriti consists of three essential qualities. They are sattva (fi ne, illuminated, balanced), rajas (active, passionate), and tamas (heavy, inert, coarse). Interaction and tension between the equilibrium of sattva, the activity of rajas, and the resistance to action of tamas govern the development of the world.

Advaita Vedanta

Whereas Samkhya is a dualistic system, Advaita (nondualist) Vedanta is generally monistic, positing a single reality. It is based on the Upanishads: its founder is said to be Vyasa, systematizer of the Vedas. The eminent phi- losopher Shankara reorganized the teachings many centuries later, probably between the eighth and ninth centuries CE.

Whereas one view of the Upanishads is that the human self (atman) is an emanation of Brahman, Shankara insisted that the atman and Brahman are actually one. According to Shankara, our material life is an illusion. It is like a momentary wave arising from the ocean, which is the only reality. Ignorance consists in thinking that the waves are different from the ocean. The absolute spirit, Brahman, is the essence of everything, and it has no beginning and no end. It is the eternal ocean of bliss within which forms are born and die, giv- ing the false appearance of being real.

That which makes us think the physical universe has its own reality is maya, the power by which the Absolute veils itself. Maya is the illusion that the world as we perceive it is real. Shankara uses the metaphor of a coil

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 79

of rope that, at dusk, is mistaken for a snake. The physical world, like the rope, does actually exist but we superimpose our memories and subjective thoughts upon it. Moreover, he says, only that which never changes is truly real. Everything else is changing, impermanent. In ignorance we think that we exist as individuals, superimposing the notion of a separate ego-self on the underlying absolute reality of pure being, pure consciousness, pure bliss. It is a mistake to identify with the body or the mind, which exist but have no unchanging reality. When a person reaches transcendent consciousness, the oneness of reality is experienced.

Yoga

From ancient times, people of the Indian subcontinent have practiced spiritual disciplines designed to clear the mind and support a state of serene, detached awareness. The practices for developing this desired state of balance, purity, wisdom, and peacefulness of mind are known collectively as yoga. It means “yoke” or “union”—referring to union with the true Self, the goal described in the Upanishads.

The sages distinguished four basic types of people and developed yogic practices that are particularly suitable for each type, in order that each can attain the desired union with the Self. For meditative people, there is raja yoga, the path of mental concentration. For rational people, there is jnana yoga, the path of rational inquiry. For naturally active people, there is karma yoga, the path of right action. For emotional people, there is bhakti yoga, the path of devotion.

Raja yoga Some believe that the sadhanas, or practices of raja yoga, were known as long ago as the Neolithic Age and were practiced in the Indus Valley culture. By 200 BCE, a yogi named Patanjali (or perhaps a series of people taking the same name) had described a system for attaining the highest con- sciousness through raja yoga—the path of mental concentration. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a book of 196 terse sayings called sutras. These include such observations as:

“From contentment comes the attainment of the highest happiness.” “From penance comes destruction of impurities, thence the perfection of the

body and the senses.” “From study comes communion with the desired deity.” “From the profound meditation upon Isvara [God] comes success in spiritual

absorption.”6

Yogis say that it is easier to calm a wild tiger than it is to quiet the mind, which is like a drunken monkey that has been bitten by a scorpion. The prob- lem is that the mind is our vehicle for knowing the Self. If the mirror of the mind is disturbed, it refl ects the disturbance rather than the pure light within. The goal of yogic practices is to make the mind absolutely calm and clear.

Patanjali distinguishes eight “limbs” of the yogic path: moral codes (absten- tions and observances), physical conditioning, breath control, sense control, concentration, meditation, and the state of peaceful spiritual absorption (samadhi).

The moral and ethical principles that form the fi rst limb of yogic practice are truth, nonviolence, non-stealing, continence, noncovetousness, cleanli- ness, contentment, burning zeal, self-study, and devotion to God. The second

In kundalini yoga, the body is thought to exist within a fi eld of energy, which is most concentrated at the major chakras— subtle centers along the vertical axis of the body.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

80 HINDUISM

limb consists of asanas—physical postures used to cleanse the body and develop the mind’s ability to concentrate. Regulated breathing exercises are also used to calm the nerves and increase the body’s supply of prana, or invis- ible life energy. Breath is thought to be the key to control- ling the fl ow of this energy within the subtle energy fi eld surrounding and permeating the physical body. Its major pathway is through a series of chakras, or subtle energy centers, along the spine. The ideal is to raise the energy from the lowest, least subtle chakra at the base of the spine to the top of the head and open the highest, most subtle chakra there, leading to the bliss of union with the Sublime. This evolved state is depicted as a thousand- petaled lotus, effulgent with light.

In addition to these practices using the body and breath, Indian thought has long embraced the idea that repetition of certain sounds has sacred effects. It is said that some ancient yogic adepts could discern subtle sounds and that mantras (sacred formulas) express an aspect of the divine in the form of sound vibration. The sound of the mantras was believed to evoke the reality they named. The lan- guage used for these verbal formulas since ancient times was Sanskrit. It was considered a re-creation of the actual sound-forms of objects, actions, and qualities, as heard by ancient sages in deep meditation.

Chanting sacred syllables is thought to still the mind and attune the devo- tee to the Divine Ground of Existence. Indians liken the mind to the trunk of an elephant, always straying restlessly here and there. If an elephant is given a small stick to hold in its trunk, it will hold it steadily, losing interest in other objects. In the same way, the mantra gives the restless mind something to hold, quieting it by focusing awareness in one place. If chanted with devoted con- centration, the mantra may also invoke the presence and blessings of the deity.

Many forms of music have also been developed in India to elevate a person’s attunement and may go on for hours if the musicians are spiritu - ally absorbed.

Another way of steadying and elevating the mind is concentration on some visual form—a candle fl ame, the picture of a saint or guru, the OM symbol, or yantras. A yantra is a linear image with complex cosmic symbolism. Large yantras are also created as designs of colorful seeds for ritual invocations of specifi c deities.

One-pointed concentration ideally leads to a state of meditation. In medi- tation, all worldly thoughts have dissipated. Instead of ordinary thinking, the clear light of awareness allows insights to arise spontaneously as fl ashes of illumination.

The ultimate goal of yogic meditation is samadhi: a super-conscious state of union with the Absolute. Swami Sivananda attempts to describe it:

Words and language are imperfect to describe this exalted state. … Mind, intellect and the senses cease functioning. … It is a state of eternal Bliss and eternal Wisdom. All dualities vanish in toto. … All visible merge in the invisible or the Unseen. The individual soul becomes that which he contemplates.7

Watch the Video Hinduism an Intro: OM on myreligionlab

Yogic adepts have developed extreme control of their bodies to amplify meditation efforts.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 81

Jnana yoga The path of rational inquiry—jnana yoga—employs the rational mind rather than trying to transcend it by concentration practices. In this path, ignorance is considered the root of all problems. Our basic ignorance is our idea of our selves as being separate from the Absolute. One method is continually to ask, “Who am I?” The seeker discovers that the one who asks the question is not the body, not the senses, not the pranic body, not the mind, but something eternal beyond all these. The guru Ramana Maharshi explains:

After negating all of the above-mentioned as “not this,” “not this,” that Awareness which alone remains—that I am. … The thought “Who am I?” will destroy all other thoughts, and, like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization.8

In the jnana path, the seeker must also develop spiritual virtues (calmness, restraint, renunciation, resignation, concentration, and faith) and have an intense longing for liberation. The ultimate wisdom is spiritual rather than intellectual knowledge of the self.

Karma yoga In contrast to these ascetic and contemplative practices, another way is that of helpful action in the world. Karma yoga is service rendered without any interest in its fruits and without any personal sense of giving. The yogi knows that the Absolute performs all actions, and all actions are gifts to the Absolute. This consciousness leads to liberation from the self in the very midst of work.

Bhakti yoga The fi nal type of spiritual path is the one embraced by most Hindus. It is the path of devotion to a personal deity, bhakti yoga. For the bhakta (devotee), the relationship is that of intense love. Bhakta Nam Dev described this deep love in sweet metaphors:

Thy Name is beautiful, Thy form is beautiful, and very beautiful is Thy love, Oh my Omnipresent Lord.

Read the Document Karma Yoga on myreligionlab

Classical Indian music is based on inner spiritual communion with the divine.

The OM symbol, representing the original sound of creation, is topped by the sun and the moon, harmonized opposites. To chant OM is to commune with this cosmic sound vibration.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

82 HINDUISM

As rain is dear to the earth, as the fragrance of fl owers is dear to the black bee, and as the mango is dear to the cuckoo, so is the Lord to my soul.

As the sun is dear to the sheldrake, and the lake of Man Sarowar to the swan, and as the husband is dear to the wife, so is God to my soul.

As milk is dear to the baby and as the torrent of rain to the mouth of the sparrow-hawk who drinks nothing but raindrops, and as water is dear to the fi sh, so is the Lord to my soul.9

Mirabai, a fi fteenth-century princess, was married to a ruler at a young age, but from her childhood she had been utterly devoted to the deity Krishna. Her poetry expresses her single-minded love for her beloved:

Everything perishes, sun, moon, earth, sky, water, wind, everything. Only the One Indestructible remains. Others get drunk on distilled wine, in love’s still I distil mine; day and night I’m drunk on it in my Lover’s love, ever sunk … I’ll not remain in my mother’s home, I’ll stay with Krishna alone; He’s my Husband and my Lover, and my mind is at his feet forever.10

When Mirabai continued to spend all her time in devotions to Krishna, an infuriated in-law tried to poison her. It is said that Mirabai drank the poison while laughingly dancing in ecstasy before Krishna; in Krishna’s presence the poison seemed like nectar to her and did her no harm. The Beloved One is said to respond and to be a real presence in the fully devoted bhakta’s life.

Read the Document Without Krishna I Cannot Sleep on myreligionlab

The love between Radha and Krishna is a model for bhaktas’ devotion to the Supreme Person.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 83

Traditional bhakti narratives are rich in earthly pleasures. The boy Krishna mischievously steals balls of butter from the neighbors and wan- ders garlanded with fl owers through the forest, happily playing his fl ute. Between episodes of carefree bravery in vanquishing demons that threaten the people, he playfully steals the hearts of the gopis, the cowherd girls. His favorite is the lovely Radha, but through his magical ways he multiplies himself so that each girl thinks he dances with her alone. Each is so much in love with Krishna that she feels she is one with him and desires only to serve him. Swami Vivekananda explains the spiritual meaning of the gopis’ divine love for Krishna, which is:

too holy to be attempted without giving up everything, too sacred to be understood until the soul has become perfectly pure. Even the Gita, the great philosophy itself, does not compare with that madness, for in the Gita the disciple is taught slowly how to walk towards the goal, but here is the madness of enjoyment, the drunkenness of love, where disciples and teachers and teachings and books … everything has been thrown away. What remains is the madness of love. It is forgetfulness of everything, and the lover sees nothing in the world except that Krishna, and Krishna alone.11

Eventually Krishna is called away on a heroic mission, never returning to the gopis. Their grief at his leaving and their intense longing for him serve as models for the bhakti path—the way of extreme devotion. In Hindu thought, the emotional longing of the lover for the beloved is one of the most powerful vehicles for concentration on the Supreme Lord.

In the bhakti path, even though the devotee may not transcend the ego in samadhi, the devotee’s whole being is surrendered to the deity in love. The nineteenth-century saint Ramakrishna explained why the bhakti way is more appropriate for most people:

As long as the I-sense lasts, so long are true knowledge and Liberation impossible. … [But] how very few can obtain this Union [Samadhi] and free themselves from this “I”? It is very rarely possible. Talk as much as you want, isolate yourself continuously, still this “I” will always return to you. Cut down the poplar tree today, and you will fi nd tomorrow it forms new shoots. When you ultimately fi nd that this “I” cannot be destroyed, let it remain as “I” the servant.12

Religious foundations and theistic paths

In ancient Vedic times, elaborate fi re sacrifi ce rituals were created, controlled by brahmins (priests). Specifi ed verbal formulas, sacred chants, and sacred actions were to be used by the priests to invoke the breath behind all of existence. This universal breath was later called Brahman, the Absolute, the Supreme Reality.

After a period when Brahmanic ritual and philosophy dominated, the bhakti approach came to prominence around 600 CE. It opened spiritual expression to both shudras (a caste of manual laborers and artisans) and women, and has been the primary path of the masses ever since. It may also have been the initial way of the people, as it is diffi cult to pray to the impersonal Absolute referred to in the Upanishads, for it is formless and is not totally distinct from oneself. More personal worship of a Divine Being can be inferred from the

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

84 HINDUISM

goddess and Shiva-like low reliefs found in the archaeological sites of ancient India. Worship of major deities probably persisted during the Vedic period and was later given written expression. Eventually bhakti—intense devotion to a personal manifestation of Brahman—became the heart of Hinduism as the majority of people now experience it.

Of all the deities worshiped by Hindus, there are three major groupings: Shaktas who worship a Mother Goddess, Shaivites who worship the god Shiva, and Vaishnavites who worship the god Vishnu. Each devotee has his or her own “chosen deity,” but will honor others as well.

Ultimately, some Hindus rest their faith in one genderless deity with three basic aspects: creating, preserving, and destroying, in continuing cosmic cycles.

Shaktas

An estimated fi fty million Hindus worship some form of the goddess. Some of these Shaktas follow a Vedic path; some are more independent of Vedic tradition. Worship of the feminine aspect of the divine probably dates back to the pre-Vedic ancient peoples of the Indian subcontinent. Her great power is called shakti.

The goddess is worshiped in many forms. At the village level, especially in southern India, local deities are most typically worshiped as goddesses. They may not be perceived as taking human-like forms; rather, their presence may be represented by round stones, trees, yantras, or small shrines without images. These local goddesses are intimately concerned with village affairs, unlike the more distant great goddesses of the upper class, access to whose temples was traditionally forbidden to those of low caste.

The great goddesses have been worshiped in the plural and also in the sin- gular, when one goddess is seen as representing the totality of deity—eternal creator, preserver, and destroyer. The general term “Devi” may be used to

Deity images are often worshipped by waving trays of oil lamps before them, as in this homage to the goddess Durga. Statues may also be reverently clothed and garlanded.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 85

refer generically to the goddess in all her forms, understood as the supreme Divine Mother, the totality of all the energy of the cosmos. Sri Swami Sivananda of the Divine Life Society explains that it is quite natural to regard the Divine as Mother:

To the child, in the mother is centered a whole world of tenderness, of love, of nourishment and of care. It is the ideal world from where one draws sustenance, where one runs for comfort, which one clings to for protection and nourishment; and there he gets comfort, protection and care. Therefore, the ideal of love, care and protection is in the conception of the mother.13

Devi is known by many names, and is thought to have many manifestations. Among them are benign, extremely powerful, and even fi erce forms. The goddess Durga is often represented as a beautiful woman with a gentle face but ten arms holding weapons with which she vanquishes the demons who threaten the dharma; she rides a lion. She is the blazing splendor of God incarnate, in benevolent female form.

Kali is the goddess in her fi erce form. She may be por- trayed dripping with blood, carrying a sword and a severed head, and wearing a girdle of severed hands and a necklace of skulls symbolizing her aspect as the destroyer of evil. What appears as destruction is actually a means of transformation. With her merciful sword she cuts away all personal impediments to realization of truth for those who sincerely desire to serve the Supreme. At the same time, she opens her arms to those who love her. Some of them worship her with blood offerings from animal sacrifi ces, but some shakti temples are now doing away with this prac- tice, at the behest of animal lovers.

Another popular great goddess is Lakshmi, who embodies wealth, generos- ity, good fortune, beauty, and charm. She is often depicted as a radiant woman sitting on a waterborne lotus fl ower. The lotus fl oats pristine on the water but has its roots in the mud, thus representing the refi ned spiritual energy that rises above worldly contamination. The goddess Saraswati is associated with knowledge, the arts, and music and also with the great river Saraswati which once fl owed parallel to the Indus River in the cradle of the Indus Valley civi- lization. The Saraswati River dried up long ago, probably contributing to the decline of that ancient civilization.

From ancient times, worship of the divine female has been associated with worship of nature, particularly great trees and rivers. The Ganges River is con- sidered an especially sacred female presence, and her waters, fl owing down from the Himalayas, are thought to be extraordinarily purifying. Pilgrims bathe in Mother Ganga’s waters, facing the sun at sunrise, and corpses or the cremated ashes of the dead are placed in the river so that their sins will be washed away.

Sacred texts called Tantras instruct worshipers how to honor the feminine divine according to practices that may have been in existence since before 2500 BCE. Ways of worship include concentration on yantras, meditation with the hands in mudras (positions that refl ect and invoke a particular spiritual reality), kundalini practices to raise spiritual energy up the spine, and use of mantras.

Lakshmi is often pictured standing gloriously upon a lotus fl ower, bestowing coins of prosperity and fl anked by elephants signifying her royal power.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

86 HINDUISM

One such text gives a thousand different “names” or attributes of the Divine Mother as mantras for recitation, such as these: “Sri mata (She who is the auspicious Mother), Sri maha rajni (She who is the Empress of the Universe) … Raga svarupa pasadhya (She who is holding the rope of love in Her hand) … Mada nasini (She who destroys pride), Niscinta (She who has no anxiety about anything), Nir ahankara (She who is without egoism) … Maha virya (She who is supreme in valor), Maha bala (She who is supreme in might), Maha buddhih (She who is supreme in intelligence).”14

In contrast to ascetic forms of Hinduism that denigrate the material world as a lower, impermanent form of reality, Tantra celebrates worldly as well as spiritual aspects of life. The body is appreciated as the vehicle for spiritual realization, and the whole earth is regarded as the sacred manifestation of the Goddess. In the most extreme “left-handed” forms, tantric rites intentionally subvert orthodox Hindu notions of purity and impurity through the use of fi ve things tradition- ally considered defi ling: meat, fi sh, parched grain, wine, and sexual intercourse in which the woman is worshiped as the goddess. Describing this path, which is only considered appro- priate for advanced initiates who have personally experienced the omnipresence of the divine, Professor Rita D. Sherma, Executive Director of the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Taksha University, writes:

The panca-tattva [ritual of the fi ve elements] ritual’s confl ation of the sacred and the profane would be highly offensive to the Hindu sensibility and run counter to all normative models of purity and impurity, sanctity and desecration in the Hindu consciousness. It seems that the element of shock inherent in the ritual becomes itself a highly potent catalyst capable of catapulting the mind out of its familiar dualistic thought patterns and into the realm of unity consciousness. By partaking of fi ve defi ling things in the setting of the meditative ritual, the aspirant affi rms their underlying purity and shatters the cognitive processes of the unenlightened mind that fractionalizes all life into myriad brittle distinctions. No difference remains between the clean and unclean, the sacred and the profane, purity and impurity. All phenomena take on the glow of divine power and presence.15

Shakti worship has also been incorporated into worship of the male gods. Each is thought to have a female consort, with whom he is often portrayed in close embrace signifying the eternal unity of male and female principles in the oneness of the divine. Here the female is often conceived as the life- animating force; the transcendent male aspect is inactive until joined with the productive female energy.

Feminist scholars are particularly interested in the signifi cance of reverence for Shakti. Many see this belief cluster as a positive valuation of the feminine that has the potential to empower women, even though the lives of many poor women in India are not free. Others see wider philosophical implications that have not yet been fully explored, in which the fullness of the feminine principle includes prakriti—the natural material world of the universe; shakti—the creative Power that pervades it; and maya—the ever-changing, differentiating, and self-veiling qualities of the omnipresent unity.

A Shaivite sadhu meditates in the Himalayas at the source of the holy Ganges River.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 87

Shaivites

Shiva is a personal, many-faceted manifestation of the attributeless supreme deity. In older systems he is one of the three major aspects of deity: Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver), and Shiva (Destroyer). Shaivites nevertheless worship him as the totality, with many aspects. As Swami Sivasiva Palani, Shaivite editor of Hinduism Today, explains: “Shiva is the unmanifest; he is creator, preserver, destroyer, personal Lord, friend, primal Soul,” and he is the “all-pervasive underlying energy, the more or less impersonal love and light that fl ows through all things.”16 Shiva is sometimes depicted dancing above the body of the demon he has killed, reconciling darkness and light, good and evil, creation and destruction, rest and activity in the eternal dance of life.

Shiva is also the god of yogis, for he symbolizes asceticism. He is often shown in austere meditation on Mount Kailas, clad only in a tiger skin, with a snake around his neck. The latter signifi es his conquest of the ego. In one prominent story, it is Shiva who swallows the poison that threatens the whole world with darkness, neutralizing the poison by the power of his meditation.

Shiva has various shaktis or feminine consorts. He is often shown with his devoted spouse Parvati. Through their union, cosmic energy fl ows freely, seeding and liberating the universe. Nevertheless, they are seen mystically as eternally chaste. Shiva and his shakti are also expressed as two aspects of a single being. Some sculptors portray Shiva as androgynous, with both masculine and feminine physical traits. Tantric belief incorporates an ideal

Shiva and Parvati’s embrace symbolizes the unity of masculine and feminine energies.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

88 HINDUISM

of balance of male and female qualities within a person, hopefully leading to enlightenment, bliss, and worldly success as well. This unity of male and female is often expressed abstractly, as a lingam within a yoni, a symbol of the female vulva.

The lingams used in worship of Shiva are naturally occurring or sculpted cylindrical forms honored since antiquity in India (and apparently in other cultures as well, as far away as Hawai’i). Those shaped by nature, such as stones polished by certain rivers, are most highly valued, with rare natural crystal lingams considered especially precious. Tens of thousands of devotees each year undergo dangerous pilgrimages to certain high mountain caves to venerate large lingams naturally formed of ice. While the lingam sometimes resembles an erect phallus, most Shiva-worshipers focus on its symbolic meaning, which is abstract and asexual. They see the lingam as a nearly amorphous, “formless” symbol for the unmanifest, transcendent nature of Shiva—that which is beyond time, space, cause, and form—whereas the yoni represents the manifest aspect.

Shaivism encompasses traditions that have developed outside Vedic-based Brahmanism. These include sects such as the Lingayats, who wear a stone lingam in remembrance of Shiva as the One Undivided Being. Their ancient ways of Shiva worship underwent a strong reform movement in the twelfth century, refusing caste divisions, brahminical authority, and consideration of menstruating women as polluted. They practice strict vegetarianism and regard men and women as equals.

Another branch is represented by the sixty-three great Shaivite saints of Tamil Nadu in southern India, who from the seventh century CE onward expressed great love for Shiva. They experienced him as the Luminous One, present everywhere in subtle form but apparent only to those who love him. For this realization, knowledge of the scriptures and ascetic practices are use- less. Only direct personal devotion will do. The Tamil saint Appar sang:

Shiva as Lord of the Dance, trampling the demon of evil and bearing both the fl ame of destruction and the drum of creation. One of his two free hands gestures “Fear not”; the other points to his upraised foot, denoting bliss.

Worship of a lingam honoring Shiva as the unmanifest creative force beyond time and space. Water constantly drips on the Shiva lingam to cool it.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 89

Why chant the Vedas, hear the shastras’ lore? … Release is theirs, and theirs alone, Whose heart from thinking of its Lord shall never depart.17

Shiva and Parvati’s son Ganesh, a deity with the head of an elephant, guards the threshold of space and time and is therefore invoked for his bless- ings at the beginning of any new venture. Ganesh was the subject of an extraordinary event that happened in temples in many parts of India, as well as in Hindu temples in other parts of the world. On 21 September 1995, statues devoted to Ganesh began drinking milk from spoons, cups, and even buckets offered by devotees. Scientists suggested explanations such as mass hysteria or capillary action in the stone, but the phenomenon lasted only one day.

Vaishnavites

Vishnu is beloved as the tender, merciful deity. In one myth, a sage was sent to determine who was the greatest of the gods by trying their tempers. The fi rst two, Brahma and Shiva, he insulted and was soundly abused in return. When he found Vishnu the god was sleeping. Knowing of Vishnu’s good- naturedness, the sage increased the insult by kicking him awake. Instead of reacting angrily, Vishnu tenderly massaged the sage’s foot, concerned that he might have hurt it. The sage exclaimed, “This god is the mightiest, since he overpowers all by goodness and generosity!”

Vishnu has been worshiped since Vedic times and came to be regarded as the Supreme as a person. In Vaishnavite iconography, the world is continu- ally being reborn on a lotus growing out of Vishnu’s navel. Vishnu is often associated with his consort, Lakshmi (whom Shaktas worship as a goddess in her own right). According to ideas appearing by the fourth century CE, Vishnu is considered to have appeared in many earthly incarnations, some of them animal forms. Many deities have been drawn into this complex, in which they are interpreted as incarnations of Vishnu. Most beloved of his purported incarnations have been Rama, subject of the Ramayana (see p. 90), and Krishna (see p. 92). However, many people still revere Krishna without reference to Vishnu.

Popular devotion to Krishna takes many forms. If Krishna is regarded as the transcendent Supreme Lord, the worshiper humbly lowers himself or herself. If Krishna is seen as master, the devotee is his servant. If Krishna is loved as a child, the devotee takes the role of loving parent. If Krishna is the divine friend, the devotee is his friend. And if Krishna is the beloved, the devotee is his lover. The latter relationship was popularized by the ecstatic sixteenth-century Bengali saint, scholar, and social reformer Shri Chaitanya, who adored Krishna as the fl ute-playing lover. Following Shri Chaitanya, the devotee makes himself (if a male) like a loving female in order to experience the bliss of Lord Krishna’s presence. It is this form of Hindu devotion that was carried to America in 1965, organized as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and then spread to other countries. Its followers are known as Hare Krishnas.

The epics and Puranas

Personal love for a deity fl owered in the spiritual literature that followed the Vedas. Two major classes of scriptures that arose after 500 BCE (according to Western scholarship) were the epics and the Puranas. These long heroic

The auspicious blessings of Ganesh are invoked for all occasions. Here his image has been painted on a wall before a marriage celebration.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

90 HINDUISM

narratives and poems popularized spiritual knowledge and devotion through national myths and legends. They were particularly useful in spreading Hindu teachings to the masses at times when Buddhism and Jainism—movements born in India but not recognizing the authority of the Vedas—were winning converts.

In contrast to the rather abstract depictions of the Divine Principle in the Upanishads, the epics and Puranas represent the Supreme as a person, or rather as various human-like deities. As T. M. P. Mahadevan explains:

The Hindu mind is averse to assigning an unalterable or rigidly fi xed form or name to the deity. Hence it is that in Hinduism we have innumerable god- forms and countless divine names. And, it is a truth that is recognized by all Hindus that obeisance offered to any of these forms and names reaches the one supreme God.18

Two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, present the Supreme usually as Vishnu, who intervenes on earth during critical periods in the cosmic cycles. In the inconceivable vastness of time as reckoned by Hindu thought, each world cycle lasts 4,320,000 years. Two thousand of these world cycles are the equivalent of one day and night in the life of Brahma, the Creator god. Each world cycle is divided into four ages, or yugas.

Dharma—moral order in the world—is natural in the fi rst age. The second age is like a cow standing on three legs; people must be taught their proper roles in society. During the darker third age, revealed values are no longer recognized, people lose their altruism and willingness for self-denial, and there are no more saints. The fi nal age, Kali Yuga, is as imbalanced as a cow trying to stand on one leg. The world is at its worst, with egotism, ignorance, recklessness, and war rampant. According to Hindu time reckoning, we are now living in a Kali Yuga period that began in 3102 BCE. Such an age is described thus:

When society reaches a stage where property confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond of union between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of enjoyment, and when outer trappings are confused with inner religion …19

Each of these lengthy cycles witnesses the same turns of events. The bal- ance inexorably shifts from the true dharma to dissolution and then back to the dharma as the gods are again victorious over the anti-gods. The Puranas list the many ways that Vishnu has incarnated in the world when dharma is decaying, to help restore virtue and defeat evil. For instance, Vishnu is said to have incarnated great avatars such as Krishna and Rama to help uplift human- ity. It is considered inevitable that Vishnu will continually return in answer to the pleas of suffering humans. It is equally inevitable that he will meet with resistance from “demonic forces,” which are also part of the cosmic cycles.

Ramayana The epics deal with the eternal play of good and evil, symbolized by battles involving the human incarnations of Vishnu. Along the way, they teach examples of the virtuous life—responsibilities to others as defi ned by one’s social roles. One is fi rst a daughter, son, sister, brother, wife, husband, mother, father, or friend in relationship to others, and only secondarily an individual.

The Ramayana, a long poetic narrative in the Sanskrit language thought to have been compiled between approximately 400 BCE and 200 CE, is attributed to the bard Valmiki. Probably based on old ballads, it is much beloved and

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 91

is acted out with great pageantry throughout India every year. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters, such as the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife, the ideal king. In the story, Vishnu incarnates as the virtuous prince Rama in order to kill Ravana, the ten-headed demon king of Sri Lanka. Rama is heir to his father’s throne, but the mother of his stepbrother compels the king to banish Rama into the forest for fourteen years. Rama, a model of morality, goes willingly, observing that a son’s duty is always to obey his parents implicitly, even when their commands seem wrong. He is accompanied into the ascetic life by his wife Sita, the model of wifely devotion in a patriarchal society, who refuses his offer that she should remain behind in comfort.

Eventually Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, who woos her unsuccessfully in his island kingdom and guards her with all manner of terrible demons. Although Rama is powerful, he and his half brother Lakshman need the help of the monkeys and bears in the battle to get Sita back. Hanuman the monkey becomes the hero of the story. He symbolizes the power of faith and devotion to overcome our human frailties. In his love for the Lord he can do anything. The bloody battle ends in single-handed combat between Ravana and Rama. Rama blesses a sacred arrow with Vedic mantras and sends it straight into Ravana’s heart. In what may be a later addition to the poem, when Rama and Sita are reunited he accuses her of infi delity, so to prove her innocence she undergoes an ordeal by fi re in which Agni protects her. Another version of the Ramayana, perhaps as elaborated by later ballad-singers, has Rama ordering Sita into the forest because his subjects are suspicious of what may have hap- pened while she was in Ravana’s captivity. She is abandoned near the ashram of Valmiki. There she takes shelter and gives birth to twin boys. Years later, Valmiki and the sons attend a great ritual conducted by King Rama, and the boys sing the Ramayana. There is an emotional reunion of the children with

In the northern Indian festival of Dussehra, giant effi gies of Ravana are set on fi re and burst with fi recrackers to celebrate his defeat by Rama.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

92 HINDUISM

their father. Thereupon Sita, a daughter of the earth, begs the earth to receive her if she has been faithful to Rama. With these words, she becomes a fi eld of radiance and disappears into the ground:

O Lord of my being, I realize you in me and me in you. Our relationship is eternal. Through this body assumed by me, my service to you and your progeny is complete now. I dissolve this body to its original state. Mother Earth, you gave form to me. I have made use of it as I ought to. In recognition of its purity may you kindly absorb it into your womb.20

Mahabharata The other famous Hindu epic is the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit poem of more than 100,000 verses. Perhaps partly historical, it may have been composed between 400 BCE and 400 CE. The plot concerns the strug- gle between the sons of a royal family for control of a kingdom near what is now Delhi. The story teaches the importance of sons, the duties of kingship, the benefi ts of ascetic practice and righteous action, and the qualities of the gods. In contrast to the idealized characters in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata shows all sides of human nature, including greed, lust, intrigue, and the desire for power. It is thought to be relevant for all times and all peoples. A serial dramatization of the Mahabharata has drawn huge television audiences in contemporary India. The Mahabharata teaches one primary ethic: that the happiness of others is essential to one’s own happiness. This consideration of others before oneself is a central dharmic virtue.

The eighteenth book of the Mahabharata, which may have originally been an independent mystical poem, is the Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Supreme Exalted One). Krishna, revered as a manifestation of the Supreme, appears as the charioteer of Arjuna, who is preparing to fi ght on the virtuous side of a battle that will pit brothers against brothers, thus occasioning a treatise about the confl ict that may arise between our earthly duties and our spiritual aspirations.

Read the Document I am the Beginning and the End on myreligionlab

Rama and Lakshman shoot arrows into the breast of the demon Ravana, with Hanuman and the monkeys in the background. (North India, c.19th century.)

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 93

TEACHING STORY

Hanuman, the Monkey Chief

Hanuman was of divine origin and legendary powers, but he was embodied as a monkey, serving as a chief in the monkey army. When Rama needed to fi nd his wife Sita after Ravana abducted her, he turned to the monkey king for help. The monkey king dispatched Hanuman to search to the south. When the monkeys reached the sea dividing India from Sri Lanka, they were dismayed because monkeys do not swim. A vulture brought word that Sita was indeed on the other side of the water, a captive of Ravana. What to do? An old monkey reminded Hanuman of the powers he had displayed as an infant and told him that he could easily jump to Lanka and back if only he remembered his power and his divine origin. Hanuman sat in meditation until he became strong and confi dent. Then he climbed a mountain, shook himself, and began to grow in size and strength. When at last he felt ready he set off with a roar, hurling himself through the sky with eyes blazing like forest fi res. When Hanuman landed in Lanka he shrunk himself to the size of a cat so that he could explore Ravana’s forts. After many dangerous adventures, he gave Sita the message that Rama was preparing to

do battle to win her back, and then he jumped back over the sea to the Indian mainland. During the subsequent battle of Lanka, Rama and his half brother Lakshman were mortally wounded. Nothing would save them except a certain herb that grew only in the Himalayas. In his devotion to Rama Hanuman fl ew to the mountains, again skirting danger all the way. But once he got there he could not tell precisely which herb to pick, so he uprooted the whole mountain and carried it back to Lanka. The herb would be effective only before the moon rose. From the air, Hanuman saw the moon about to clear the horizon so he swallowed the moon and reached Lanka in time to heal Rama and Lakshman. After the victory, Rama rewarded Hanuman with a bracelet of pearls and gold. Hanuman chewed it up and threw it away. When a bear asked why he had rejected the gift from God, Hanuman explained that it was useless to him since it did not have Rama’s name on it. The bear said, “Well, if you feel that way, why do you keep your body?” At that, Hanuman ripped open his chest, and there were Rama and Sita seated in his heart, and all his bones and muscles had “Ram, Ram, Ram” written all over them.

Before they plunge into battle, Krishna instructs Arjuna in the arts of self- transcendence and realization of the eternal. The instructions are still central to Hindu spiritual practice. Arjuna is enjoined to withdraw his attention from the impetuous demands of the senses, ignoring all feelings of attraction or aversion. This will give him a steady, peaceful mind. He is instructed to offer devotional service and to perform the prescribed Vedic sacrifi ces, but for the sake of discipline, duty, and example alone rather than reward—to “abandon all attachment to success or failure ... renouncing the fruits of action in the material world.”21

Actually, Lord Krishna says those who do everything for love of the Supreme transcend the notion of duty. Everything they do is offered to the Supreme, “without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy.”22

Thus they feel peace, freedom from earthly entanglements, and unassail- able happiness.

This yogic science of transcending the “lower self” by the “higher self” is so ancient that Krishna says it was originally given to the sun god and, through his agents, to humans. But in time it was lost, and Krishna is now renewing his instructions pertaining to “that very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme.”23 He has taken human form again and again to teach the true religion:

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

94 HINDUISM

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice … and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.24

Krishna says that everything springs from his Being:

There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread. … I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om

in Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. … All states of being—goodness, passion or ignorance—are manifested by My

energy. I am, in one sense, everything—but I am independent. I am not under the modes of this material nature.25

This supreme Godhead is not apparent to most mortals. The deity can be known only by those who love him, and for them it is easy, for they remem- ber him at all times: “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that … as an offering to Me.” Any small act of devotion offered in love becomes a way to him: “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a fl ower, fruit, or water, I will accept it.”26

The Puranas The Puranas are an ancient compendium of mythological narratives on the origins of the cosmos, life, deities, and humanity; stories of legendary or canonical heroes; and the actions of divine beings. Theology is often implicit in the puranic stories. The major Puranas are based on theologies of Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti expressed through complex narratives. They were probably compiled between 500 and 1500 CE. There are a total of eighteen Puranas—six about Vishnu, six about Brahma, and six about Shiva. These narratives popularize the more abstract philosophical teachings found in the Vedas and Upanishads by giving them concrete form. Of the Puranas,

Lord Krishna and Arjuna discuss profound philosophical questions in a battle chariot, as represented in this archway above the sacred Ganges River in Rishikesh.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 95

the most well known and loved is the Bhagavata Purana, which includes the life story of Krishna. Most Western Indologists think it was written about the ninth or tenth century CE, but according to Indian tradition it was one of the works written down at the beginning of Kali Yuga by Vyasa.

In the Bhagavata Purana, the supreme personality of Godhead is portrayed fi rst in its vast dimensions—the Being whose body animates the material universe:

His eyes are the generating centers of all kinds of forms, and they glitter and illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun and the heavenly planets. His ears hear from all sides and are receptacles for all the Vedas, and His sense of hearing is the generating center of the sky and of all kinds of sound.27

This material universe we know is only one of millions of material uni- verses. Each is like a bubble in the eternal spiritual sky, arising from the pores of the body of Vishnu, and these bubbles are created and destroyed as Vishnu breathes out and in. This cosmic conception is so vast that it is impossible for the mind to grasp it. It is much easier to comprehend and adore Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna. Whereas he was a wise teacher in the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna of the Bhagavata Purana is a much-loved child, raised by cowherds in an area called Vrindavan near Mathura on the Jumna River.

The Hindu way of life

Although there is no single founder, devotional tradition, or philosophy which can be said to defi ne Hinduism, everyday life is so imbued with spiritu- ally meaningful aspects that spirituality is never far from one’s mind. Those we will examine here include rituals, castes and social duties, life stages, home puja, homage to the guru, fasting, prayer, auspicious designs, reverence paid to trees and rivers, pilgrimages, and religious festivals.

Rituals

From the cradle to the cremation ground, the Hindu’s life is wrapped up in rituals. There are sixteen rites prescribed in the ancient scriptures to purify and sanctify the person in his or her journey through life, including rites at the time of conception, the braiding of the pregnant mother’s hair, birth, name-giving, beginning of solid foods, starting education, investing boys with a sacred thread, fi rst leaving the family house, starting studies of Vedas, mar- riage, and death. The goal is to continually elevate the person above his or her basically animal nature.

Public worship—puja—is usually performed by pujaris, or brahmin priests, who are trained in Vedic practices and in proper recitation of Sanskrit texts. They conduct worship ceremonies in which the sacred presence is made tangible through devotions employing all the senses. Shiva-lingams may be anointed with precious substances, such as ghee (clarifi ed butter), honey, or sandalwood paste, with offerings of rosewater and fl owers. In a temple, devotees may have the great blessing of receiving darshan (visual contact with the divine) through the eyes of the images. The cosmos is viewed as a vibrational fi eld, and therefore the chanting of mantras, blowing of a conch shell, and ringing of bells create vibrations thought to have positive effects. Incense and fl owers fi ll the area with uplifting fragrances. Prasad, food that

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

96 HINDUISM

has been sanctifi ed by being offered to the dei- ties and/or one’s guru, is passed around to be eaten by devotees, who experience it as sacred and spiritually charged.

In temples, the deity image is treated as if it were a living king or queen. Fine-haired whisks may be waved before it, purifying the area for its presence. Aesthetically pleasing meals are presented on the deity’s own dishes at appro- priate intervals; fruits must be perfect, without any blemishes. During visiting hours the deity holds court, giving audience to devotees. In the morning, the image is ritually bathed and dressed in sumptuous clothes for the day; at night, it may be put to rest in bedclothes. If it is hot, the deity takes a nap in the afternoon, so arrangements are made for its privacy. For festivals, the deity is carefully paraded through the streets. In Puri’s Ratha Yatra, huge crowds of ecstatic devotees pull and push three massive chariots bearing fl ower-bedecked deities after their yearly bath with perfumed water. Over a million worshipers seek darshan of the colossal statues as their chariots are pulled along the parade route. The largest of these teak chariots bears Lord Jagannath; it is 45 feet (13.7 meters) high, with sixteen wooden wheels. Its ponder- ous journey has entered English vocabulary, misspelled as “juggernaut.”

Loving service to the divine makes it real and present. The statue is not just a symbol of the deity; the deity may be expe- rienced through the statue, reciprocating the devotee’s attentions. According to Swami Sivasiva Palani:

It is thought that the subtle essences of these things given in devotion are actually absorbed by the divine, in an invisible and rather mystical process. It’s as though we are feeding our God in an inner kind of way. It’s thought that if this is done properly, with the right spirit, the right heartfulness, the right mantras, that we capture the attention of the personal Lord and that he actually communes with us through that process, and we with him. Of course, when I say “us” and “him” I connote a dualism that is meant to be transcended in this process.28

Ritual fi re ceremonies around a havan, or sacred fi re place, are also con- ducted by brahmin pandits, following ancient Vedic traditions. The Vedic principle of sacrifi ce was based on the idea that generous offerings to a deity will be rewarded. Fruits, fragrances, mixtures of herbs and grains, and ghee are placed in the fi re as offerings to the deities, invoked and praised by chants, with offerings conveyed by Agni, the god of fi re. According to Vedic science, fi re is a medium of purifi cation and transformation, and havan is expected to purify the environment and the participants. Such havans may be conducted in celebration of a particular deity, or at the behest of a patron for the sake of his health or good fortune.

Two of the huge chariots in the annual Ratha Yatra in Puri.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 97

LIVING HINDUISM

An Interview with Somjit Dasgupta

In Hinduism, many forms of dance, song, and instrumental music have evolved as means of spiritual expression. Somjit Dasgupta is a very accomplished Indian musician whose ragas softly played on the stringed sarod touch a deep place in the soul. His words refl ect

the importance attached to teacher–pupil lineages in Hindu classical music tradition, and also the reverence that Hindus may feel for their guru:

My Guru was Radhikamohan Maitreya, whose main instrument was the sarod. For music, there has been no distinction between Hindu or Muslim tradition. When the Muslim rulers came here, they preached from the ashrams. Some of the old Hindu musicians were converted and joined the Muslim courts. And some of the Persian musicians who accompanied the sultans learned Indian classical music. By and by, some court instruments were born. But the old instruments were still there, and some of the essence of meditation was carried to the courts. In our old Sanskrit texts, it is written, “There is no education, no learning beyond music.” In the Indian tradition, it is sangeet—collective worship and singing. Meditation was there in other parts of the world also, but it was very special in this part of the world. Meditation means to sit and see within yourself. Once I asked my Guru, “What did you achieve in your life? You are highly regarded by almost all the big musicians. They touch your feet, but you are sitting here. You did not play in public concerts. We have our Gurubhais [pupils of the same Guru] all over the world, but what I feel is that you are not very famous. What have you achieved?” He said, “Nobody ever asked me that. But this is a little boy [I was only fourteen at the time]. I will answer that later.” After I passed through school and entered college, one day he said “Acha, Somjit, one day you asked me one thing. I was telling you many things regarding the social status of men and women and such things, but I also told you about this soil, which can give the world the things that come from the spiritual light.” Then he told me, “What do you mean by sound? Sound is some cluster of frequencies that you are hearing. In that way, I am Radhikamohan Maitreya: I am a cluster of frequencies. My body is constructed out of that particular frequency. And you are Somjit Dasgupta. Some other set of

frequencies created you. That’s why your self and my self are joined in different ways, giving us different personalities. But our aim is to go back to the primordial frequency, through this sadhana, this spiritual practice. Everybody in every sadhana has to go through music. The Ramayana and the Mahabharat were sung; all the saints could sing. With our fi nger touch, by Guru’s grace, our aim is to reach that primordial frequency. And there, there is no myself. No self is there. That is eternity. There is no ‘you’ and ‘other’ feeling. This thing my Guru gave me. I cannot say it is an achievement. It is as though you are going back to your father’s place. It’s a huge joy, joy and joy.” I asked,”What is there?” Then he said, “Some day I will tell you. You asked me, and after four years I am saying this to you. I will tell you later what is there.” Then he told me about one song, which says, “The same single Omkar [a name referring to the Ultimate Reality as primordial vibration] is spread throughout the world. It has no form, no dimensions. In the primordial frequency there is nothing, nobody, only Omkar. When I see That personally, I enjoy That personally, I feel That personally, then only can I think about the Almighty.” He also told me about another song from the drupad musical tradition, a song which contains the seed, the essence. It says, “Chaitanya—the primordial sensations, presence, and sensitivity within me—is eternal, and very calm and quiet. Bindu is where you touch to experience that Chaitanya. When you are touching your instrument, that is your touching point. Beyond all these things is that same existence, that same primordial frequency.” He taught me fourteen songs about the Guru, containing the inner essence of dharma. One says, “There is no knowledge beyond the Guru. There is no spiritual practice, no meditation beyond the Guru. All kinds of inner enlightened knowledge fi nish in eternity: There my Guru stays, with all the blessings.” Our work is not to perform on the stage or anything like that. It is that whatever you get from your Guru, your entire existence is to pass that on, so that this teaching can go on and on and on, and give that essence for the future. Maybe a very worthy person can come who can achieve something much more than me, if I keep this teaching intact. So the main thing is to keep this teaching alive. The rest is up to the Guru, and up to the Almighty.29

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

98 HINDUISM

Death ceremonies are also carried out by fi re, as the body is cremated soon after death. Carefully washed, rubbed with fragrant sandalwood paste, and dressed in fresh clothes, it is wrapped in white sheets and carried on a wooden stretcher to a burning ground. Relatives and well-wishers place fl ow- ers on the shrouded body and then logs are stacked around it to make a fi erce fi re. Pandits may chant Vedic verses designed to cleanse it and assist the soul’s release from the body and its passage to the spiritual realm. The senior mourner—usually the eldest surviving son—carries a clay pot of water around the body three times, gradually pouring out the water, then dashes the pot to the ground, a dramatic and emotional moment signifying the end of the earthly body. It is also he who then lights the pyre. Alternatively, the shrouded body may be placed in an electric crematorium. Once the burning of the body is complete, survivors take the remaining bits of bone and ash for ritual immersion in the waters of a holy river.

In addition to public puja ceremonies conducted by pan- dits, home puja is an important aspect of Hindu life. Nearly every Hindu home in India has a shrine with pictures or small statues of various deities, and many have a prayer room set aside for worship. For puja, ritual purity is empha-

sized; the time for prayer and offerings to the deities is after the morning bath or after one has washed in the evening. Puja is an everyday observance, although among orthodox families menstruating women are considered unclean and are not allowed to approach the shrines. Otherwise, women as well as men carry on puja in their homes. Typically, a small oil lamp and a smoldering stick of incense are reverently waved before the deities’ images to please them with light and fragrance. If the devotee or family has a guru, a picture of him or her is usually part of the shrine.

Castes, duties, and life goals

Life in India continues to be shaped to a considerable extent by hierarchies and inequalities derived from Jati (thousands of groups denoted by shared geographical origin, language, food practices, common customs and beliefs, occupations, and endogamy—marriage only within their group) and Varna (a more general traditional four-fold division of labor that ultimately became hereditary). Both aspects of this complex situation are imprecisely referred to by the English word “caste.”

The Varnas seem to date back to the Vedic age. Because the Vedic sacrifi ces were a reciprocal communion with the gods, priests who performed the pub- lic sacrifi ces had to be carefully trained and maintain high standards of ritual purity. Those so trained—the brahmins—comprised a special occupational group. The orderly working of society included a clear division of labor among four major occupational groups, which later became entrenched as hereditary castes. These occupational categories applied to men; women were automati- cally associated with their father’s or husband’s Varna. The brahmins were the priests and philosophers, specialists in the life of the spirit. The next group, later called Kshatriyas, were the nobility of feudal India: kings, warriors, and vassals. Their general function was to guard and preserve the society; they

Read the Document Duties of the Four Castes on myreligionlab

Even the poorest Hindu families have a special room or place for puja to their favorite deities.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 99

were expected to be courageous and majestic. Vaishyas were the economic specialists: farmers and merchants. The shudras were the manual laborers and artisans. Lower than these original four Varnas were those “outcastes” who came to be considered “untouchables.” They carried on work such as remov- ing human waste and corpses, sweeping streets, and working with leather from the skins of dead cows—occupations that made their bodies and clothing abhorrent to others.

Over time, Vedic religion was increasingly controlled by the brahmins, and contact between castes was limited. Varna membership became hereditary. The caste system became a signifi cant aspect of Indian life until its social injustices were attacked in the nineteenth century. One of its opponents was Mahatma Gandhi, who renamed the lowest caste Harijans, “the children of God.” Finding this designation condescending, a segment of this population who are pressing for better status and opportunities now refer to themselves as Dalits (oppressed).

In 1948 the stigma of “untouchability” was legally abolished, though many caste distinctions still linger in modern India. Marriage across Varna lines, for instance, is still usually disapproved of and families typically try to maintain Jati endogamy when arranging marriages.

Caste distinctions are now being treated as a human rights issue. Since 1935, under British rule, there have been measures to reserve special quotas in government jobs and politics for those of Scheduled Castes (lists of the lowest Jatis subject to discrimination—the former “untouchables”). Many religious groups and social welfare organizations have tried to eliminate discrimina- tory practices based on caste divisions. Theories of the origins of caste dis- tinctions are being hotly debated by scholars in India and abroad. Numerous Dalit Hindus have converted to Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam—religions that do not recognize caste differences. A highly educated Dalit leader, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) became Chairman of the drafting commit- tee for the Indian Constitution and independent India’s fi rst law minister, and was instrumental in getting anti-discrimination clauses written into the Constitution. He inspired Dalits to get better education, and shortly before his death, he led half a million Untouchable Hindus to convert to Buddhism.

The division of labor represented by the Varnas is part of Hinduism’s strong emphasis on social duties and sacrifi ce of individual desires for the sake of social order. The Vedas, other scriptures, and historical customs have all con- ditioned the Indian people to accept their social roles. These were set out in religious–legal texts such as the Code of Manu, compiled 100–300 CE. In it are laws governing all aspects of life, including the proper conduct of rulers, dietary restrictions, marriage laws, daily rituals, purifi cation rites, social laws, and ethical guidance. It prescribed hospitality to guests and the cultivation of such virtues as contemplation, truthfulness, compassion, nonattachment, generosity, pleasant dealings with people, and self-control. It condemned untouchables to living outside villages, eating only from broken dishes. On the other hand, the code proposed charitable giving as the sacred duty of the upper castes, and thus provided a safety net for those at the bottom of this hierarchical system. And common practice did not necessarily follow the religious–legal texts. Whereas the Code of Manu barred shudras from owning land, in South India many shudras were apparently wealthy and infl uential landowners. The code prescribed a subservient status to women, but some ancient temples contain stone carvings commemorating women who had endowed them with money in their own names.

Read the Document Untouchability on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

100 HINDUISM

RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE

Anna Hazare

He lives in a small, bare room annexed to a temple in a rural Indian village and holds no public offi ce, but by his tremendous efforts and the force of his moral authority he has been able to make deep changes at all levels of Indian government. By 2011,

when he undertook a fast unto death for a national bill challenging corruption by government offi cials, his name was a household word throughout India. “Anna” is what the people call him; he was born Kisan Baburao Hazare in 1940. One of seven children, he grew up in poverty. He left school in seventh grade to try to earn some money to help the family. He began selling fl owers in Mumbai, but fell into bad company and wasted his income on vices. He joined the Indian Army in 1960, but became so depressed by the lonely life of a truck driver that he considered suicide. In 1965 during the war between India and Pakistan, Hazare’s truck was bombed, killing everyone but him. Later when he was serving in insurgent Nagaland, he was the only survivor of an attack by Naga terrorists. He began to think that his life was precious and that God was saving him for a reason. Then while sitting in the New Delhi railway station, he saw a book by Swami Vivekananda, Call to the Youth for Nation Building. He began to read Vivekananda’s books and also the writings of Mahatma Gandhi and his follower, Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Under these infl uences, he decided to give his life to improve society. In 1974, he returned to his native village, Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra. At that time, 80 percent of the villagers were barely surviving on only one meal a day. Thefts and fi ghts were commonplace. Perceiving that the most critical immediate need was for water, Anna began motivating the villagers to build canals, check-dams, percolation tanks, contour trenches, drip irrigation, and to plant trees. As the water table was replenished, farmers became self-suffi cient in grain production and no longer needed to leave the village in search of work. Related projects in dairy improvement brought farmers a tenfold increase in income. Encouraging the principle of shramdan (offering of voluntary labor), Hazare unifi ed the villagers in undertaking various social projects, such as constructing a school and renovating the temple. To attack the scourge of alcoholism, he held a meeting in the temple in which the villagers

decided to close down shops selling liquor and ban drinking in the village. Using the temple as the site for these decisions gave them the stamp of religious commitments. He also encouraged social mixing among all Jatis at community celebrations and helped Dalits to rise economically. Ultimately Hazare extended the Ralegan Siddhi model to seventy-fi ve villages of the area, for which in 1992 he was given one of India’s highest civilian awards. Hazare’s program of improving society reached the regional and state level, with the passage of laws such as a Prohibition Act by which if 25 percent or more of the women in an area voted to ban liquor, licenses of liquor sellers would be canceled. He won the right of locally chosen bodies to make decisions for local improvement. Traveling throughout his state of Maharashtra to inform and mobilize the people, he was able to force statewide and ultimately national legislation giving citizens the Right to Information, by which they could challenge lapses and corruption, which exists at all levels of government in India. Using his own body as a vehicle to force needed changes, Hazare has undertaken many indefi nite hunger strikes, refusing to eat until his demands are met. In 2011, he undertook another such fast in the capital, joined by huge crowds and cheered on by millions of citizens throughout India, to force passage of a strong Lok Pal bill, which instituted an independent ombudsman authorized to investigate charges of corruption. Highly respected for his honesty and determination, Hazare shares a simple philosophy:

Educational institutions are not enough to make good citizens. Every home should become an educational centre. Indulgence causes disease whereas sacrifi ce leads to accomplishment. When the person learns to see beyond his self-interest, he begins to get mental peace. One who performs all worldly functions and still remains detached from worldly things is a true saint. Salvation of the self is part of salvation of the people. It is impossible to change the village without transforming the individual. Similarly, it is impossible to transform the country without changing its villages. If villages are to develop, politics must be kept out.... Some of the crucial junctures of history demand that we live up to our national values and ideals; not living up to those values and ideals is like a living death.30

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 101

Hospitality to human guests is a duty for people of all castes. To turn some- one away from your door without feeding him or at least offering him a drink of water is a great sin, for every person is the deity incarnate. Ceremonies are often held for making offerings to a deity and feeding the public. The head of the household may, toward the end of his life, engage the services of a number of brahmins to help complete the requisite 24,000,000 repetitions of the Gayatrimantra during his lifetime. Beggars take advantage of belief in sacrifi ce by saying that those who give to them will be blessed. But the most important sacrifi ces are considered to be inner sacrifi ces—giving one’s entire self over to the Supreme Reality.

Hinduism also holds up four major goals that defi ne the good life. One is dharma, or carrying out one’s responsibilities and duties, for the sake of social and cosmic order. A second is artha, or success in worldly activities, including the pursuit of wealth and advantage. A third is kama, which refers to love and sensual pleasures, and also to aesthetic expression. Many other religious paths regard eroticism as an impediment to spiritual progress, but the Mahabharata proposes that dharma and artha both arise from kama, because without desire and creativity there is no striving. The fourth and ultimate goal of life is mok- sha, or liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. Its attainment marks the end of all the other goals.

Life stages

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 fi fteen 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.

A brahmin male’s lifespan was ideally divided into four periods of approxi- mately twenty-fi ve years each. For the fi rst twenty-fi ve years he is a chaste student at the feet of a teacher. Next comes the householder stage, during which he is expected to marry, raise a family, and contribute productively to society. After this period, he starts to detach himself from worldly pursuits and to turn to meditation and scriptural study. By the age of seventy-fi ve, he is able to withdraw totally from society and become a sannyasin.

Living as a renunciate, the sannyasin is a contemplative who cuts himself off from wife and family, declaring, “No one belongs to me and I belong to no one.” Some sannyasins take up residence in comfortable temples. Others wander alone with only a water jar, a walking staff, and a begging bowl as possessions; some of them wear no clothes. In silence, the sannyasin is sup- posed to concentrate on practices that will fi nally release him from samsara into cosmic consciousness.

The majority of contemporary Hindu males do not follow this path to its sannyasin conclusion in old age, but many Hindus still become sannyasins. Some of them have renounced the world at a younger age and joined a monastic order, living in an ashram, a retreat community that has developed around a teacher.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

Sacred Thread Ceremony

When a boy from an upper-caste Hindu family reaches a certain age he may be formally initiated into Vedic rites and invested with a sacred thread. Although, according to Hindu canonical texts, the sacred thread is meant to be worn by all three upper castes, today the ceremony is associated only with the brahmin community. The rites involved are lengthy and detailed, for the boy must be taught many ancient Vedic rituals. He is initiated in the presence of his relatives, with his father and several pandits playing the major roles in his training, and his mother and other female relatives playing minor roles. Traditionally, this began the brahmacharya (student) stage of life, after which he would enter an ashram to study at the feet of his guru until the next stage of his life, during which he would marry and become a householder. Nowadays it is more likely that he will live at home with his parents, but he will at times be involved in sacred rituals, and will always be aware of his special caste status because beneath his outer clothes he will be wearing his sacred thread. The ceremony may last four to fi ve hours. Once the sacred thread is placed over the boy’s left shoulder by his father and the pandits, his training in Vedic rites begins. For instance, he is taught how to pray using Vedic mantras, how to hold his fi ngers while eating or doing pranayama (the yoga of breathing), and how to carry on havan (homa) fi re rituals. His hair is shaved above his forehead to reveal the shining of his inner third eye. He is bathed and dressed in a new dhoti, and then carried to the place of the sacred fi re by his maternal uncle, while his aunts wave a tray of red-dyed water before him as an auspicious omen. Three white stripes are painted on his forehead and arms, vertical if he is a

devotee of Vishnu or horizontal to identify him as a devotee of Shiva. He washes his father’s feet to show his reverence and affection, and then daubs colored powders on them to seek his father’s blessings. After formally requesting his father to give him the ancient Gyatri mantra, he, his father and mother, and the pandit huddle under a cloth so that he can receive the mantra in secret. When they emerge, his relatives throw fl owers and rice grains, symbolizing longevity and prosperity, over him. The boy is then given a branch from a palaasa tree, which symbolizes the trees under which the ancient rishis used to sit. A tilak of vermilion is rubbed on his forehead and he is wrapped in a turmeric-dyed cloth, symbolizing purity. He is taken outside to learn how to look at the sun without having his retinas burned, by interlacing his fi ngers before his eyes. After prostrating before the sacred fi re, he prostrates before his mother, who blesses him. Then he goes to each of his female relatives with a tray, symbolically begging them for alms, for if he had entered an ashram he would have been begging daily for his food. The net result of his initiation is a strengthening of his identity and confi dence as a member of what has traditionally been considered the highest spiritual caste in India, pledged to uphold dharma in everything he does.

Left: Ram (Vijay Krishna Ramaswamy), age eight, receives his sacred thread in the ancient math established by Shankara in the ninth century CE: Sharada Peetam in Karnataka. Center: Carried by his uncle, Ram is painted with horizontal stripes identifying him as a devotee of Shiva. Right: Ram washes his father’s feet with water poured by his mother.

102 HINDUISM

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 103

The guru

Nearly every practicing Hindu seeks to place himself or herself at the feet of a spiritual teacher, or guru. The title “guru” is applied to venerable spiritual guides. Gurus do not declare themselves as teachers; people are drawn to them because they have achieved spiritual status to which the seekers aspire. Gurus are often regarded as enlightened or “fully realized” individuals. A guru does not provide academic instruction. Rather, he or she gives advice, example, and encouragement to those seeking enlightenment or realization.

Anyone and everyone cannot be a guru. A huge timber fl oats on the water and can carry animals as well. But a piece of worthless wood sinks, if a man sits on it, and drowns him.

Ramakrishna31

The Siddha tradition of southern India specializes in “teaching” by shaktipat— the power of a glance, word, touch, or thought. A disciple of the late Swami Muktananda describes the effect, referring to him as “Baba” (Father):

When a seeker receives shaktipat, he experiences an overfl owing of bliss within and becomes ecstatic. In Baba’s presence, all doubts and misgivings vanish, and one experiences inner contentment and a sense of fulfi llment.32

When seekers fi nd their guru, they love and honor him or her as their spiritual parent. The guru does not always behave as a loving parent; often disciples are treated harshly, to test their faith and devotion or to strip away the ego. True devotees are nevertheless grateful for opportunities to serve their guru, out of love. They often bend to touch his or her feet, partly out of humility and partly because great power is thought to emanate from a guru’s feet. Humbling oneself before the guru is considered necessary in order to receive the teaching. A metaphor commonly used is that of a cup and a pitcher of water. If the cup (the disciple, or chela) is already full, no water (spiritual wisdom) can be poured into it from the pitcher (the guru). Likewise, if the cup is on the same level as the pitcher, there can be no pouring. What is necessary is for the cup to be empty and below the pitcher; then the water can be freely poured into the cup.

Women’s position

At the level of spiritual ideals, the female is highly venerated in Hinduism, compared to many other religions. Women are thought to make major con- tributions to the good earthly life, which includes dharma (order in society), marital wealth (by bearing sons in a patriarchal society), and the aesthetics of sensual pleasure. Women are auspicious beings, mythologically associated with wealth, beauty, splendor, and grace. As sexual partners to men, they help to activate the spiritualizing life force. No ceremonial sacrifi ce is complete unless the wife participates as well as the husband.

In the ideal marriage, husband and wife are spiritual partners. Marriage is a vehicle for spiritual discipline, service, and advancement toward a spiritual goal. Men and women are thought to complement each other, although the ideal of liberation has traditionally been intended largely for the male.

Many gurus migrated to the West to spread Hindu teachings there. Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi continues to attract Western followers to Indian religious traditions.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

104 HINDUISM

Akka Mahadevi, a saint who lived alone and naked in the mountains.

Women were not traditionally encouraged to seek liberation through their own spiritual practices. A woman’s role is usually linked to that of her husband, who takes the position of her god and teacher. For many centuries, there was even the hope that a widow would choose to be cremated alive with her dead hus- band in order to remain united with him after death.

In early Vedic times, women were relatively free and honored members of Indian society, participating equally in important spiritual rituals. But because of social changes, by the nineteenth century wives had become like servants of the husband’s family. With expectations that a girl will take a large dowry to a boy’s family in a marriage arrangement, girls are such an eco- nomic burden that female babies may be intentionally aborted or killed at birth. There are also cases today of women being beaten or killed by the husband’s family after their dowry has been handed over—an atrocity that occurs in various Indian communities, not only among Hindus.

Nevertheless, many women in contemporary India have been well educated, and many have attained high political positions. As in the past, women are also considered essential to the spiritual protection of their families, for they are thought to have special connec-

tions with the deities. Married women carry on daily worship of the deities in their homes, and also fasts and rituals designed to bring good health, prosper- ity, and long life for their family members.

There have also been many women who have left their prescribed family duties and achieved such high levels of spiritual realization that they have been revered as saints and gurus. The bhakti approach to the divine produced many such women. For example, Andal (725–755 CE) was a South Indian Alvar—a group known for its poet mystics. Andal was so overcome with love for Vishnu that she refused to marry anyone else. Her hagiography (ideal- ized biography of the life of a saint) maintains that she merged into the deity after being mystically married to Him. Many Vaishnavite temples thus have an image of Andal next to that of Vishnu.

Akka Mahadevi was a thirteenth-century bhakti poet saint in the radical South Indian Virashaivite movement, which rejected brahmin patriarchy and casteism. Its founder, Basava, had renounced his brahmin identity and taught that women—because of their creative and nurturing powers—and people of lower castes—because they are not constrained by wealth or worldly power— are closer to God than brahmin males. This movement gave rise to many great women saints. Akka Mahadevi was so devoted to Shiva that she refused mar- riage to any man:

I have fallen in love, O mother, with the Beautiful One, Who knows no death, knows no decay, and has no form. . . . Fling into the fi re the husbands who are subject to death and decay.33

After escaping from a forced marriage, the beautiful Akka Mahadevi lived alone as an ascetic amid the streams and mountains of a holy area linked with Shiva. Her rejection of the life of a traditional wife was so total that she lived

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 105

naked. She was an early advocate of the equality of women and of women’s right to spiritual and social liberation.

A more recent renowned female saint in the bhakti tradition was Mirabai (see p. 82). Like many women saints, she was at fi rst considered mad as well as socially deviant as she danced on the streets in ecstasy, describing herself as “defi ant of worldly censure or family shame,” behavior considered totally unfi tting for her status as a Rajasthani princess. But her songs, like those of Andal and Akka Mahadevi, continue to be widely sung in rural India.

The tantric traditions and texts suggest that there have been many women adepts who have transmitted tantric doctrines. There are references, for instance, to yoginis who are either solitary ascetics known for their enlight- ened wisdom or consorts of male tantric masters, worthy of the same respect as the male gurus. In tantric literature, worshipers are encouraged to identify with the inner shakti, as the Universal Goddess. This is considered easier and more natural for those who are already in women’s bodies. Some of the most remarkable Hindu teachers today are women who understand themselves as embodiments of the Goddess and see all people as their children.

Hinduism has thus given rise to many renowned female spiritual teachers over the millennia. Among the most famous of recent times was Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896–1982, “Blissful Mother”), a guru from Bengal who was born in a very poor orthodox brahmin family. Often seen sitting in sama- dhi as a child, but nonetheless scrupulously carrying out all her domestic chores, she was married at a young age to a kind young man. Their marriage was never consummated for when he tried to approach her, he received a powerful electric shock. When she was twenty years old, she began spon- taneously adopting advanced yogic postures and reciting ancient Sanskrit texts and mantras that she had never learned from any human teacher. She was suspected of being possessed, and exorcists were called, but they were unsuccessful in stopping her spiritual expressions; one exorcist even expe- rienced severe pain until Ma healed him. An inner voice told her that the power manifesting in her was “Your Shakti. You are everything.” Ma later explained, “I realized that the Universe was all my own manifestation.”34

When she was twenty-two, she was guided to give herself mantra initiation, thus adopting the roles of both guru and disciple. People began fl ocking to her for darshan, healing, and spiritual counseling. Detached from worldly con- cerns and thoughts, she ate very little and ultimately stopped feeding herself, so her devotees tried to hand-feed her. Following only the inner guidance, in total disregard for cultural and religious mores—especially restrictions on women—she sometimes gave brilliant teachings in Vedanta philosophy (even though she was nearly illiterate), traveled unpredictably, attracted stray ani- mals by her aura of love, and reportedly manifested siddhis (spiritual powers) such as appearing at several places at the same time, changing her size, help- ing people at distant locations, multiplying food, and transforming people by her joyous and peaceful presence. Ultimately millions of people became her followers, regarding her as the Goddess in human form, but she reportedly did not consider herself a guru, nor did she recognize anyone as her disciples—she saw only Herself everywhere.

Similarly, Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923–2011) was regarded by her devotees as an incarnation of the primal Shakti. She is now venerated as divine by her followers in over 200 countries. And as we will see later, Amritanandamayi (“Amma”) is one of the world’s most famous contemporary saints, with millions of followers and extensive charitable activities to take care of her “children.”

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

106 HINDUISM

Fasts, prayers, and auspicious designs

Orthodox brahmins and also common people observe many days of fasting and prayer, corresponding to auspicious points in the lunar and solar cycles or times of danger, such as the months of the monsoon season. The ancient practice of astrol- ogy is so highly regarded that some couples are choosing birth by Caesarean section for the purpose of selecting the most auspicious moment for their child’s birth.

Many expressions of Indian spirituality, particularly in rural areas, are not encapsulated within Brahmanic tradi- tions but rather have a timeless existence of their own. Such, for instance, are the homemade designs daily laid out before homes at dawn. They are created by women to protect their household by inviting a deity such as the goddess Lakshmi. Typically made of edible substances, such as rice fl our, the designs are soon dismantled by insects and birds, but this is of no concern for they help to fulfi ll the dharmic requirement that one should feed 1,000 souls every day.

Reverence of trees and rivers

Practices such as worship under large trees stretch back into prehistory and are apparent in archaeological evidence from the Indus Valley civilization. Such worship continues at countless small shrines today. In some rural areas, trees are thought to have great capacity for absorbing suffering, so sometimes people are fi rst “married” to trees in order to improve the fortunes of their families who are facing diffi culties. There is a strong taboo against cutting certain sacred tree species, such as the peepul tree, which sprouts wherever it can gain the slightest foothold, often in stone or brick walls, even on the sides of buildings. Whole tracts of virgin forest are kept intact by villagers in some parts of India. There they reverently protect both animal and plant life with the understanding that the area is the home of a deity. These sacred groves are now viewed by environmentalists as important islands of biological diversity.

Not only forests but also hilltops, mountains, and river sources are often viewed as sacred and their natural environment is thus protected to a certain extent. The Narmada River, one of India’s most sacred, is regarded by mil- lions of people as a goddess (as are most Indian rivers). Its banks are lined with thousands of temples devoted to Mother Narmada and Lord Shiva. Pilgrims reverently circumambulate the entire 815-mile (1311.5-kilometer) length of the river, from its source in central India to its mouth in the Gulf of Khambhat, and back again. However, the river and its huge watershed are the subjects of the world’s largest water development scheme. The highest of the dams is under construction, creating a reservoir with a fi nal proposed height of 448 feet (136.5 meters). When the reservoir is fi lled, some 245 villages will be submerged, temples and all. The idea is to capture the water and divert it to drought-ridden areas to benefi t people there. However, the inhabitants of the watershed that will be inundated are closely linked to their local sacred landscape. One of them explains, “Our gods cannot move from this place. How can we move without them?”35 Fierce confl icts have been raging since 1990 between environmentalists and social activists who are fi ghting the high dams, claiming they will adversely affect at least one million people in

Watch the Video Union with God on myreligionlab

An Indian woman prepares a protective rice-fl our pattern on the earth outside her home, honoring the ancient tradition by which her female ancestors created intuitive designs to bring spiritual protection for their families.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 107

the watershed for the sake of vested interests elsewhere, and modernists who regard such high dams, as Nehru said, as “the secular temples of modern India.”36

High dams are not the only threat to sacred rivers. Construction and waste dumping have polluted rivers even up to the headwaters of the sacred Ganges high in the Himalayas. Religious practices themselves may lead to high levels of water pollution. Mass bathing on auspicious occa- sions is accompanied by wastes, such as butter oil, fl owers, and human excreta (contrary to scriptural injunctions about proper behavior in sacred rivers). The remains of dead bodies reverently immersed in the sacred rivers may be incompletely cremated. Immersion of images of Ganesh or Durga on holy days as a symbol of purifi cation has become a major source of water pollution. In one year alone, ritual immersion of idols in Calcutta added to the Hoogli River an estimated seventeen tons of varnish and thirty-two tons of paints, which contained manganese, lead, mercury, and chromium.37

Pilgrimages

Pilgrimages to holy places and sacred rivers are thought to be special opportunities for personal purifi cation and spiritual elevation. Millions of pilgrims yearly undertake strenuous climbs to remote mountain sites that are thought to be blessed by the divine. One of the major pilgrimage sites is Amarnath Cave. At an altitude of 11,090 feet (3,380 meters) in the Himalayas of Kashmir, ice has formed a giant sta- lagmite, which is highly revered as a Shiva lingam. Pilgrims may have been trekking to this holy place in the high Himalayas for up to 3,000 years. The 14,800-foot (45-kilometer) footpath over a glacier is so dangerous that 250 people were killed by freak storms and landslides in 1996, but in subsequent

A devotee prays before taking a holy bath in the sacred Ganges River.

Millions of Hindus undertake diffi cult pilgrimages to worship at mountain shrines each year.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

108 HINDUISM

years tens of thousands of devotees have continued to undertake the pilgrim- age. Similarly, Shaktas trek to shaktipithas; these fi fty-one pilgrimage spots on the Indian subcontinent are thought to mark abodes of the goddess or places where parts of her body now rest.

The places where great saints and teachers have lived also automatically become places of pilgrimage, during their lives and after they pass on. It is felt that their powerful vibrations still permeate and bless these sites. One such place is the holy mountain of Arunachala in southern India. The great saint Ramana Maharshi (1879–1951) lived there so absorbed in Ultimate Consciousness that he neither talked nor ate and had to be force-fed by another holy man. But the needs of those who gathered around him drew out his compassion and wisdom, and he spontaneously counseled them on their spiritual needs.

Festivals

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 (see Box, p. 110).

In August or September, Vaishnavites celebrate Krishna’s birthday (Janmashtami). Devotees fast and keep vigil until midnight, retelling stories of Krishna’s life or reading his enlightened wisdom from the Bhagavad-Gita. In some places Krishna’s image is placed in a cradle and lovingly rocked. Elsewhere, pots of milk, curds, and butter are strung high above the ground to be seized by young men who form human pyramids to get to them. They romp about with the pots, drinking and spilling their contents like Krishna, playful stealer of the milk products he loved.

At the end of summer, Ganesh is honored, especially in western and southern India, during Ganesh Chaturti. Special potters make elaborate clay images of the jovial elephant-headed remover of obstacles, son of Parvati who formed him from her body’s dirt and sweat, and set him to stand guard while she bathed. When he wouldn’t let Shiva in, her angry spouse smashed the boy’s head into a thousand pieces. Parvati demanded that the boy be restored to life with a new head, but the fi rst one found was that of a baby elephant. To soothe Parvati’s distress at the peculiarity of the transplant, Shiva granted Ganesh the power of removing obstacles. The elephant-headed god is now the fi rst to be invoked in all rituals. After days of being sung to and offered sweets, the Ganesh images are car- ried to a body of water and bidden farewell, with prayers for an easy year.

Janmashtami is often celebrated by placing an image of baby Krishna in a decorated swing. Everyone takes turns to pull the cord and lovingly rock Krishna.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 109

In different parts of India the fi rst nine or ten days of Asvina, the lunar month corresponding to September or October, are dedicated either to the Durga Puja (in which elaborate images of the many- armed goddess celebrate her powers to vanquish the demonic forces) or to Dussehra (which marks Rama’s nine nights of worshiping Durga before killing Ravana on the tenth day). The theme of both Durga Puja and Dussehra is the triumph of good over evil.

Divali, the happy four-day festival of lights, is twenty days later, on the night of the new moon. Variously explained as the return of Rama after his exile, the puja of Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, who visits only clean homes), and the New Year of those following one of the Indian calendars, it is a time for tidying business establish- ments and bringing fi nancial records up to date, cleaning houses and illuminating them with oil lamps, wearing new clothes, gambling, feasting, honoring clay images of Lakshmi and Ganesh, and setting off fi reworks, often to the point of severe air pollution.

Initially more solemn is Mahashivaratri, a day of fasting and a night of keeping vigil to earn merit with Shiva. During the ascetic part of the observance, many pilgrims go to sacred rivers or special tanks of water for ritual bathing. Shiva lingams and statues are venerated, and the faithful stay awake throughout the night, chanting and telling stories of their Lord.

Every few years, millions of Hindus of all persuasions gather for Kumbha Mela. It is held alternately at four sacred spots where drops of the holy nectar of immortality are said to have fallen. On one day in 2001, in what has been recorded as the largest ever gathering of human beings for a single purpose, over twenty-fi ve million people amassed at the point near Allahabad where the Jumna River meets the sacred Ganges and the invisible Saraswati, the sacred river that dried up long ago but is still considered invisibly present. There they took a purifying bath in icy waters on the most auspicious date,

At the end of the Durga Puja, images of the ten- armed vanquisher of evil are carried to the river and consigned to the deep, so that she may return to her mate Shiva, who awaits her in the Himalayas.

In the villages of India, all-night singing of sacred songs often marks special holidays. Women have their own repertoire and improvisations.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

Holi

The jolliest of all Hindu festivals is Holi, celebrated at the time of winter’s death and the advent of spring. It falls on the fi rst full moon of the lunar month Phagun (late February or early March in the solar calendar). The major activity is throwing colored powder or squirting water paint with wild abandon. This may not seem spiritual when measured by the standards of more staid religions, and people may not even be sure exactly what is being celebrated. Indeed, the same wild fl inging of paint is given different meanings in different parts of India, illustrating the great variety of ways that are collectively referred to as “Hinduism.” Apparently Holi has been celebrated since prehistoric times. The earliest colors were made from natural plants that are also used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine to ward off viral fevers and colds, such as yellow-dyeing turmeric powder. Psychologically, Holi’s effect is rejuvenating and harmonizing, as social taboos are transcended and people from all levels rub or throw paint on each other. This is a major, albeit temporary, change from the usual taboos according to which males and females, high and low castes, do not touch each other. Women have free license on this day to beat men with sticks and throw buckets of mud on them—a role reversal they adopt with great hilarity. Vaishnava devotees relate Holi to the story of Prahlad, a young follower of Vishnu. His father was Hiranyakashipu, king of demons. Hiranyakashipu became so proud that he attacked heaven and earth and demanded that everyone worship him instead of the gods. However, his own son Prahlad persisted in worshiping Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tried

to get him killed by poison, by elephants, and by snakes, but Prahlad survived all the attacks. Then Hiranyakashipu enlisted the help of his sister Holika, who had a magic shawl that protected its wearer from fi re. He ordered Prahlad to sit on his aunt’s lap in a fi re, expecting his son to burn to death while Holika in her shawl would be unharmed. Instead, the shawl fl ew off Holika and onto Prahlad, who had prayed to Vishnu for safety. Thus many Vaishnavites begin their Holi celebration by building big fi res to rejoice over the burning of the demoness Holika, for whom the festival is named. Krishna worshipers associate Holi with the love of Radha for Krishna, especially in spring, the season of love. It is thought that Krishna played Holi mischievously with the gopis, and when he criticized Radha because her skin was not as dark as his, his mother put Holi colors on her face to darken it. Yet another Krishna legend has been linked with Holi. According to this, at the time of Krishna’s birth his uncle Kans, king of winter, ordered that all babies be murdered to avoid Krishna’s future threat to his power. A demoness was sent to suckle Krishna to death, but Krishna, recognizing her, instead sucked out all her lifeblood, whereupon she died. Some Krishna worshipers therefore burn the demoness in effi gy as well as spraying colors, singing, and dancing to celebrate Holi at the onset of spring. To Shiva worshipers, Holi commemorates a story about Shiva. According to this, Kamadeva, god of love, was implored by Parvati to help her get Shiva’s attention. Shiva was deep in meditation when Kamadeva shot his weapon at him. At this, Shiva opened his third eye (the all-seeing eye in the center of the forehead), whose gaze was so powerful that Kamadeva was burned to ashes. He was later restored to life at Parvati’s request, and Shiva and Parvati were married. In this story, winter is the time of meditation, and the coming of spring signals fertile new life and fulfi llment. Backed by a variety of legends, Holi is celebrated with such vigor that some revelers take it as an excuse for drunken and destructive behavior. Furthermore, environmental groups are now pointing out that the industrial dyes used for Holi powder can be quite toxic. However, like those who are trying to educate the public not to shoot off fi reworks on Divali to avoid extreme air pollution, these groups have had little effect on people’s exuberant, carefree ways of celebrating the Hindu holidays.

110 HINDUISM

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 111

as determined by astrologers. Among the Kumbha Mela pilgrims are huge processions of ascetic sadhus from various orders, many of whom leave their retreats only for this festival. They gather to discuss religious matters and also social problems, which sometimes leads to revisions of Hindu codes of conduct. Many of the lay pilgrims are poor people who undergo great hard- ships to reach the site. The Kumbha Mela is a prime example of what Rajiv Malhotra describes as the self-organizing nature of Hindu celebrations, which look like chaos to Westerners:

India’s Kumbha Mela amply demonstrates that diversity can be self-organized and not anarchic, even on a very large scale. Held every twelve years, this is the world’s largest gathering of people, attracting tens of millions of individuals from all corners of India, from all strata of society, and from all kinds of traditions, ethnicities and languages. Yet there is no central organizing body, no “event manager” to send out invitations or draw up a schedule, nobody in charge to promote it, no centralized registration system to get admitted. Nobody has offi cial authority or ownership of the event, which is spontaneous and “belongs” to the public domain.38

Hinduism in the modern world

Hinduism did not develop in India in isolation. Christianity may have put down roots in India as long ago as 70 CE. Muslims began taking over certain areas beginning in the eighth century CE; during the sixteenth and seventeenth

Bridges are constructed over the Ganges River at Haridwar to help accommodate huge crowds during the Kumbha Mela.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

112 HINDUISM

centuries a large area was ruled by the Muslim Mogul emperors. Islam and Hinduism generally co-existed, despite periods of intolerance, along with Buddhism and Jainism, which had also grown up within India. Indian traders carried some aspects of Hinduism to Java and Bali, where it survives today with a unique Balinese fl avor.

When the Mogul Empire collapsed, European colonialists gradually moved in. Ultimately the British dominated, and in 1857 India was offi cially placed under direct British rule. Christian missionaries set about correcting abuses they perceived in certain Hindu practices, such as widow-burning and the caste system. But they also taught those who were being educated in their schools that Hinduism was “intellectually incoherent and ethically unsound.”39

Some Indians believed them and drifted away from their ancient tradition.

Modern movements

To counteract Western infl uences, Mahatma (Great Soul) Gandhi (1869– 1948) encouraged grassroots nationalism, emphasizing that the people’s strength lay in awareness of spiritual truth and in nonviolent resistance to military or industrial oppression. He claimed that these qualities were the essence of all religions, including Hinduism, which he considered the univer- sal religion.

In addition to being made a focus for political unity, Hinduism itself was revitalized by a number of spiritual leaders. One of these was Ramakrishna (1836–1886), who was a devotee of the Divine Mother in the form of Kali. Eschewing ritual, he communicated with her through intense love. He prac- ticed tantric disciplines and the bhavanas (types of loving relationships). These brought him spiritual powers, spiritual insight, and reportedly a visible bril- liance, but he longed only to be a vehicle for pure devotion:

I seek not, good Mother, the pleasures of the senses! I seek not fame! Nor do I long for those powers which enable one to do miracles! What I pray for, O good Mother, is pure love for Thee—love for Thee untainted by desires, love without alloy, love that seeketh not the things of the world, love for Thee that welleth up unbidden out of the depths of the immortal soul! 40

Ramakrishna worshiped the divine through many Hindu paths, as well as Islam and Christianity, and found the same One in them all. Intoxicated with the One, he had continual visions of the Divine Mother and ecstatically wor- shiped her in unorthodox, uninhibited ways. For instance, once he fed a cat some food that was supposed to be a temple offering for the Divine Mother, for she revealed herself to him in everything, including the cat. He also placed his spiritual bride, Sarada Devi, in the chair reserved for the deity, honoring her as the Great Goddess.

Do not care for doctrines, do not care for dogmas, or sects, or churches, or temples; they count for little compared with the essence of existence in each [person], which is spirituality. … Earn that fi rst, acquire that, and criticize no one, for all doctrines and creeds have some good in them.

Ramakrishna41

The pure devotion and universal spiritual wisdom Ramakrishna embodied inspired what is now known as the Ramakrishna Movement, or the Vedanta

Ramakrishna, the great 19th-century mystic, recognized the divine as being both formless and manifested in many forms, and also as transcending both form and formlessness.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 113

Society. A famous disciple, named Vivekananda (1863–1902), carried the message of Hinduism to the world beyond India and excited so much inter- est in the West that Hinduism became a global religion. He also reintroduced Indians to the profundities of their great traditions. He taught detachment from material perspectives, in favor of evolved spiritual understanding:

What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains, one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the soul is bliss, peace, unchanging.42

Within India Hinduism has also been infl uenced by reform movements such as Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj. The former defended Hindu mysti- cism and bhakti devotion to an immanent deity. The latter advocated a return to what it saw as the purity of the Vedas, rejecting image worship, devotion to a multiplicity of deities, priestly privileges, and popular rituals.

In addition to religious reform movements, Hindu tradition is currently being challenged by social reform movements facing issues of gender, caste, poverty, pollution, and corruption. Feminists are criticizing the traditional ideal that all women should marry and dedicate themselves to serving and obeying their husbands. Ecofeminists are encouraging recognition of the sacredness and interdependence of all life, as found in tantric and goddess traditions, rather than exclusionary brahmanic philosophies of purity and superiority that are blamed for exploitation of women, marginalized people, animals, and the earth. Dalit activists are attacking old caste distinctions that tend to keep them marginalized and poor. And the Indian government is challenging huge depositories of money, gold, silver, and jewels found in the treasuries of certain extremely wealthy temples and gurus.

Global Hinduism

Hinduism is also experiencing vibrant growth beyond the Indian subconti- nent, partly among expatriates and partly among converts from other faiths. During the British Empire, Hindus along with other Indians were sent as slaves to other parts of the Empire. After India achieved its independence in 1947, in the post–World War II period waves of Indian laborers and professionals left India to work abroad, rebuilding war-torn areas, developing stunning modern communities on the former sands of the Gulf States, and providing skilled services such as medicine and information technology. Hindus now live in more than 150 countries. When Hindus have gathered abroad, they have often tended to develop a heightened awareness of their Hindu identity, as they fi nd themselves in the minority. Many have pooled their resources to build temples in order to preserve their traditions and their identity. But since Hinduism is so multifaceted, there have been disagreements over which dei- ties should be worshiped in the temples. There has thus been a trend toward a less sectarian, generalized version of Hinduism, as well as some adjustments in traditions to the new geographic and cultural environments into which Hindus have moved.

Hindus in the diaspora, along with other people of Asian heritage, have sometimes experienced discrimination, disenfranchisement, violence, temple destruction, and forced conversions by members of majority communities. Even within Asia, such problems have occurred in areas where Hindus are in the minority, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. In the

Vivekananda was a brilliant spiritual teacher who brought Hinduism to the attention of the West when he spoke at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. When he returned to India, he founded a mission to spread the teachings of his teacher, Ramakrishna.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

Dharmic Principles: The Swadhyaya Movement

Today there are said to be twenty million people in 100,000 villages in India who are benefi ciaries of a silent social revolution based on the principles of the ancient Hindu scriptures, especially the Bhagavad-Gita. The movement is called Swadhyaya. The term means “self-study,” using traditional scriptural teachings to critically analyze oneself in order to improve. The work began in the 1950s, as scriptural scholar Pandurang Shastri Athavale, known by his followers as “Dada” (elder brother), determined that the Gita was “capable of resolving the dilemmas of modern man and solving the problems of material life, individual and social.”43 He founded a school near Mumbai, refusing until today to accept any fi nancial help from the government or outside funding agency, insisting that “those institutions which depend upon others’ favors are never able to achieve anything worthwhile or carry out divine work.”44

He named the buildings for the ancient sages who have inspired people to live according to Vedic principles. It was they who recognized that within each person is a divine spark whose realization gives them the energy and guidance with which to uplift themselves. As Dada once observed, the sage who wrote the Ramayana is:

virtually urging us to take Ram—the awareness that the Lord is with us and within us all the time—to every home and every heart, as this alone will provide the confi dence and the strength to the weakest of the weak and will bring joy and fragrance into the life of every human being.45

Realization of the divine within themselves also leads to realization of the divine within others, which is the beginning of social harmony and cooperation. The principle upon which Dada’s social development work is centered is bhakti, or selfl ess devotion. He inspired his students to pay devotional visits to towns and villages in Gujarat state. They carried their own food and asked for nothing from the people. They simply met the inhabitants one to one and spoke of the divine love which made them reach out to distant places. After years of regular visits and assurance that gratefulness to God and brotherly love was developing among the villagers, they allowed them to build simple hut temples of local materials, devotional places for people of all castes and creeds. In gratitude toward the in-dwelling God for being present when they go to their farms, giving

them energy to work, swadhyayees feel that God is entitled to a share in the produce. They therefore bring a portion of their income to the hut temples to be distributed among the most needy, as the benevolence of God. Believing in work as worship, the villagers were also inspired to set aside a portion of land to be farmed in common, as “God’s farm.” All give a certain number of days of volunteer service on the farm, in grateful service to God. The harvests are treated as “impersonal wealth.” One-third of the money is distributed directly to the needy; two-thirds are put into a community trust for long-term needs to help people stand on their own feet. The movement spreads from village to village, as missionaries who have seen the positive results of the program voluntarily go to other areas to tell the people there about it. When Swadhyaya volunteers fi rst appeared in fi shing villages on India’s west coast, they found the people were spending what income they had on gambling and liquor. Now, the same people place a portion of their earnings from fi shing and navigation at the feet of God, as it were. They have created such a surplus that they have been able to purchase community fi shing boats. These are manned by volunteers on a rotation basis, with everyone eager to take a turn, and the income is distributed impersonally as God’s graceful benefi cence to those in need. In addition, swadhyayees have created “tree temples,” in which trees are planted in formerly barren lands, and have developed cultural programs, sports clubs, family stores, dairy produce centers, children’s centers, centers for domestic skills, and discussion centers for intellectuals and professionals. Through water-harvesting by recharging over 90,000 wells and constructing over 500 percolation tanks, swadhyayees by their own skill and labor are generating additional annual farm produce worth some 300 million US dollars for small and medium- sized farmers. They have also introduced soakpit systems for disposal of household drainwater and refuse, thus improving village hygiene and health. Throughout the growing network of swadhyayees, there is no hierarchy and no paid staff. Those whose lives have been improved by inner study and devotional service become enthusiastic volunteers and living demonstrations that people are happiest when dharmic principles are placed ahead of self-interest.

114 HINDUISM

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 115

West, people of Abrahamic religions have historically had diffi culty in under- standing the complexities of Hindu traditions which are different from their own, and have sometimes decried them as “evil” and “demonic.” In 2011, there was an attempt to ban the Bhagavad-Gita in Russia, where it was alleged that the scripture promotes social discord and hatred of non-Hindus. There have also been instances of deep insults to Hindu sensitivities by Western companies, with the manufacture of products such as footwear or toilet seats featuring pictures of Hindu deities.

Nevertheless, Hindu philosophy and practices have left indelible imprints on other cultures. To cite a few examples in the United States, the nineteenth- century Transcendental poets Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman were deeply infl uenced by “Hindoo” texts. Swami Vivekananda had a major impact when he addressed the 1893 Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. After the band the Beatles encountered Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh in the 1960s, many Hindu references began to make their way into Western popular culture. Teachers of yoga and meditation have spread those practices widely, often as self-help and physical- culture techniques divorced from their spiritual roots.

Hinduism has also been spread globally by gurus who have exported its teachings. For the past hundred years, many self-proclaimed gurus have left India to develop followings in other countries. Some were discovered to be fraudulent, with scandalous private behavior or motives of wealth and power. Despite increased Western wariness of gurus, some of the exported move- ments have continued to grow.

Many non-Indians discovered Hinduism by reading Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952). The book describes his intriguing spiritual experiences with Indian gurus and also explains principles of Hinduism in loving fashion. Yogananda traveled to the United States and began a move- ment, the California-based Self-Realization Fellowship, which has survived his death and is still growing, with centers, temples, and living communities in forty-six countries. Their fi rst goal, as set forth by Paramahansa Yogananda, is to “disseminate among the nations a knowledge of defi nite scientifi c techniques for attaining direct personal experience of God.”46

Another still-fl ourishing example of an exported movement is the Netherlands-based Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement, begun by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (d. 2008) in the 1960s. For a fee of thousands of dollars, his disciples teach people secret mantras and assert that repeating the mantra for twenty minutes twice each day will bring great personal benefi ts. These range from enhanced athletic prowess to increased satisfaction with life. By paying more, advanced practitioners can also learn how to “fl y”—that is, how to take short hops into the air while sitting cross-legged. The organization claims a success rate of sixty-fi ve percent in ending drug and alcohol addiction and asserts that groups of yogic “fl iers” temporarily lowered crime rates in Washington, D.C., and confl icts in West Asia, claims that have not been independently verifi ed. TM is now a vast global organization, complete with luxurious health spas in Europe, a Vedic “theme park” near Niagara Falls in Canada, Vedic-based development projects in Africa, colleges, universities, and Maharishi Schools of Management in many countries, an ashram for 10,000 people in India, and ongoing plans to build large “peace palaces” near cities around the world where people could receive training in TM and thus help to bring peace in the collective unconscious of the world, through the “Maharishi effect.”

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

116 HINDUISM

Another success story is ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In 1965, the Indian guru A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived in the United States, carrying the asceticism and bhakti devotion of Shri Chaitanya’s tradition of Krishna worship from India to the heart of Western materialistic culture. Adopting the dress and diet of Hindu monks and nuns, his initiates lived in temple communities. Their days began at 4 a.m. with meditation, worship, chanting of the names of Krishna and Ram, and scriptural study, with the aim of turning from a material life of sense gratifi ca- tion to one of transcendent spiritual happiness. During the day, they chanted and danced in the streets to introduce others to the bliss of Krishna, distrib- uted literature (especially Swami Prabhupada’s translation of the Bhagavad- Gita), attracted new devotees, and raised funds. Despite schisms and scandals, the movement has continued since Swami Prabhupada’s death in 1977, and

is growing in strength in various countries, particularly in India and eastern Europe. In England, followers have turned a great mansion into a huge ISKCON temple, which also serves Indian immigrants as a place to celebrate major festivals.

Some contemporary gurus are also enjoying great global popularity. One of the most famous at present is Mata Amritanandamayi, a seemingly tireless, motherly saint from South India who takes people from all walks of life into her arms. In large-scale gatherings around the world, the “hugging saint” may embrace up to 70,000 people at a stretch, through the night and into the next day. She encourages her “children” to fi nd per- sonal solace and compassion for others

Listen to the Podcast Long Days and Short Nights for a Hindu Monk on myreligionlab

Devotees of Lord Krishna ecstatically sing his praises in Western settings—here, in London.

Mata Amritanandamayi comforts a man after he has been operated on for a brain tumor and also embraces his father with her left arm.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 117

through worship of the divine in any form. Many of her followers regard “Amma” herself as the personifi cation of the Divine Mother.

Hindu identity

As Hinduism is reaching around the world, some Hindu academics and organizations in the diaspora—especially DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America, which is initiating a new fi eld known as Dharma Studies)— are defi ning their identity in broad terms, as being part of a process of inter- related development among the dharma traditions that arose on the Indian subcontinent. At the same time, some Hindu groups within India are narrow- ing their identity and giving Hinduism a nationalistic thrust. In particular, the RSS—Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh—arose early in the twentieth century, espousing Hindu cultural renewal in order to combat the ills of modernity and return to an idealized past referred to as “Ram Rajya,” the legendary king- dom of Lord Ram, when Hindu virtues were maintained by a perfect ruler. This movement gave organized expression to the ideals of V. D. Savarkar, who wrote of an ancient Hindu nation and Hindutva (Hinduness), excluding Muslims and Christians as aliens in India, in contrast to historical evidence that what is called Hinduism is a noncentralized, evolving composite of vari- egated ways of worship.

Secularism is offi cially established by India’s constitution, which recognizes the multicultural, multireligious fabric of the country and does not confer favored political status on any religion. But according to what could be called Hindu “fundamentalists,” in the name of secularism people are being robbed of their religious values and identity, which the RSS, the religious organiza- tion Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), and political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) say they are trying to restore.

The RSS maintains tens of thousands of branches in Indian villages and cities where Hindu men and boys meet for group games, songs, lectures, and prayers to the Hindu nation, conceived as the Divine Mother. The leader of the RSS has publicly urged throwing all Christian missionaries out of India and has asserted that all Indians are actually Hindus. There are estimated to be 12,000 RSS schools in India in which children are educated according to the Hindutva agenda.

A major focus of these activities has been the small town of Ayodhya, which according to Hindu mythology is the birthplace of Lord Ram. According to Hindutva belief, Babur, the Muslim Mogul ruler, had the main temple commemorating Ram’s birthplace torn down and the Babri Mosque built on its ruins. Firm believers attempted to take matters into their own hands and redress this perceived insult to their holy place. In 1992, some 200,000 Hindus managed to enter Ayodhya and tear down the Babri Mosque. This act was followed by a spate of Hindu–Muslim violence throughout India. In 2010, a high court ruling divided the disputed land into three parts, two for Hindu groups and one for the Sunni board managing mosques, a decision that brought temporary peace in the area but may be contested.

Political affi liates of the RSS—particularly the BJP—have become very powerful in Indian politics. It was the leading party in the central govern- ment in power in 2002 when one coach of a train carrying volunteers who were seeking to illegally construct a new temple in Ayodhya caught fi re in the state of Gujarat and was surrounded by a presumably Muslim mob. Inside the coach, fi fty-nine Hindus burned to death, a horror that was followed by

Read the Document Hindu-ness on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

118 HINDUISM

terrible inter-religious violence. Perhaps 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by mobs while local offi cials did little to stop them.

Some Hindu groups are also trying to woo Christian converts back to Hinduism and are actively opposing Christianity in India, where Christians have offered social services for the poor such as schools and hospitals. An estimated fi fty percent of all Christians in India were formerly of low-caste origin. Opposition to Christian conversion has sometimes turned quite vio- lent, as it did in 2008, when the homes of thousands of Indian Christians in the state of Orissa were burned, apparently by Hindu extremists. Tensions also continue to run high between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir, where efforts to bring Kashmiri independence from India often pit Hindus and Muslims against each other.

Such confl icts are not in keeping with the Hindu ideal of tolerance for many ways to the divine. Although tensions between religions exist in many regions of India, what predominates is the spirit of accommodation with which the various communities have lived side by side for hundreds of years.

The Indian Supreme Court has formally defi ned Hindu beliefs in a way that affi rms universality rather than exclusiveness. According to the court’s defi nition, to be a Hindu means:

1 Acceptance and reverence for the Vedas as the foundation of Hindu philosophy;

2 A spirit of tolerance, and willingness to understand and appreciate others’ points of view, recognizing that truth has many sides;

3 Acceptance of the belief that vast cosmic periods of creation, maintenance, and dissolution continuously recur;

4 Acceptance of belief in reincarnation; 5 Recognition that paths to truth and salvation are many; 6 Recognition that there may be numerous gods and goddesses to

worship, without necessarily believing in worship through idols; 7 Unlike other religions, absence of belief in a specifi c set of

philosophic concepts.47

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of independent India, asserted that Hinduism’s special identity lies in its inclusiveness, dynamism, and continuing search for truth:

Hinduism is a living organism liable to growth and decay, and subject to the laws of Nature. It is and is not based on scriptures. It does not derive its authority from one book. It takes a provincial form in every province, but the inner substance is retained everywhere. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Smritis [authoritative but nonrevealed scriptures], the Puranas, and the Itihasas [historical epics] did not arise at one and the same time. Each grew out of the necessities of particular periods. Hinduism abhors stagnation. Every day we add to our knowledge of the power of Atman, and we shall keep on doing so.48

Key terms asana Yogic posture. ashram A usually ascetic spiritual community of followers gathered around their guru.

Read the Document The Secular Face of Hinduism on myreligionlab

Study and Review on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

HINDUISM 119

atman The individual soul. avatar An incarnation of a deity. bhakti Intense devotion to a personal manifestation of Supreme Reality. Brahman The Supreme Reality. brahmin Priest or member of the priestly caste. caste An occupational category. chakra A subtle energy center in the body. darshan Visual contact with the divine. deva A deity. dharma Moral order, righteousness, religion. guru Spiritual teacher. Kali Yuga The present degraded era. karma Our actions and their effects on this life and lives to come. mantra A sound or phrase chanted to evoke sound vibration of one aspect of

creation or to praise a deity. moksha Liberation. prana The invisible life force. puja Ritual worship. reincarnation After death, rebirth in a new life. rishi A sage. Shaivite Worshiper of Shiva. Shakta Worshiper of the divine in female form. samsara The worldly cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. sannyasin Renunciate spiritual seeker. Sanskrit The ancient language of the Vedas. secularism The constitutional principle of not giving favored status to any religion. sutra Terse spiritual teaching. Tantra A sacred esoteric text with spiritual practices honoring the divine in

female form. Upanishads The philosophical part of the Vedas. Vaishnavite Worshiper of Vishnu or one of his manifestations, such as Krishna. Vedas Revered ancient scriptures. yoga Practices for union with the true Self.

Review questions 1. What is known about the Indus Valley civilization, the Aryans, and their

contributions to the early development of Brahmanic traditions? 2. Describe these major philosophical themes of Hinduism: atman, karma, samsara,

moksha, Brahman, and yoga. 3. Describe the deities and practices associated with each of the three major

groupings of Hinduism’s theistic path. 4. Describe the Hindu ritual practices of puja, darshan, prasad, and important

festivals and pilgrimages. 5. Describe Hindu views regarding social roles and duties with respect to caste,

gender, and life stage, and note some of the challenges leaders such as Gandhi have made to these traditional roles.

Discussion questions 1. Consider the multiple components of the term dharma in Hinduism and how

they might complicate traditional defi nitions of the term “religion.” 2. Compare and contrast the philosophical positions and practices of Samkhya,

varieties of yoga, and Advaita Vedanta. 3. How do the epics and Puranas of Hinduism represent the Supreme? 4. Compare the secular and fundamentalist understandings of Hinduism. Are you

aware of similar dynamics in other religions?

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

120 HINDUISM

MyReligionLab Connections

Watch. Listen. View. Explore. Read. MyReligionLab is designed just for you. Each chapter features a customized study plan to help you learn and review key

concepts and terms. Dynamic visual activities, videos, and readings found in the

multimedia library will enhance your learning experience.

Watch on myreligionlab

Hinduism an Intro: OM

Union with God

Read on myreligionlab

Realize the Brahman

Karma Yoga

Without Krishna I Cannot Sleep

I am the Beginning and the End

Duties of the Four Castes

Untouchability

Hindu-ness

The Secular Face of Hinduism

Listen on myreligionlab

Long Days and Short Nights for a Hindu Monk

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 121

Although the majority of Indians who are religious continue to follow the Hindu paths, Mother India has given birth to several other religions which are not based on the Vedas. One of them is Jainism, which has approximately six million adherents. Until recently, it has been little known outside India. Even within India it is practiced by only a small minority. Yet its ascetic teach- ings offer valuable clues to our global survival. It is becoming recognized as a complete and fruitful path with the potential for uplifting human awareness and inculcating high standards of personal ethics. For example, it has never condoned war or the killing of animals for any reason. Jain teachings recog- nize that we humans are imperfect, but hold out the promise that through careful control of our senses and thoughts we can attain perfection, freedom, and happiness.

The Tirthankaras and ascetic orders

Early signs of what is now called Jainism may be seen in the yogic seals and statues from the Indus Valley civilization (c.2500 BCE), from which many Indian religious traditions may have developed. As later codifi ed by Patanjali and others, yoga consists of means of eliminating negative karma, observing, purifying, disciplining mind and body, and living by strict ethical principles. The Jain version of these ancient practices has particularly emphasized ethi- cal vows.

Jainism’s major teacher for this age is Mahavira or Mahavir (The Great Hero). He was a contemporary of the Buddha and died approximately 527 BCE. Like the Buddha, he was the prince of a Kshatriya clan and renounced his position and his wealth at the age of thirty to wander as a spiritual seeker. The austerities he undertook while meditating without clothes in the intense summer heat and winter cold are legendary. He often undertook total fasts of at least two days, not even drinking water. In Jain scriptures it is written that six times he fasted for two months at a time, and once he fasted for six months straight.1 Swarms of mosquitoes and ants often bit him. Humans also tormented him. He was repeatedly arrested and mistreated by offi cials who mistook him for a common thief, not recognizing him as the son of their king. In places where he was meditating, often in a standing position, villagers are said to have treated him miserably to make him leave:

JAINISM

C H A P T E R 4

“Be careful all the while!”

• The Tirthankaras and ascetic orders 121

• Freeing the soul: the ethical pillars 123

• Spiritual practices 128

• World Jainism 133

KEY TOPICS

Listen to the Chapter Audio on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

122 JAINISM

Once when he [sat in meditation], his body unmoving, they cut his fl esh, tore his hair, and covered him with dirt. They picked him up and then dropped him, disturbing his meditational postures. Abandoning concern for his body, free from desire, the Venerable One humbled himself and bore the pain.2

Finally after twelve years of meditation, silence, and extreme fast- ing, Mahavira achieved liberation and perfection. For thirty years until his death at Pava, he spread his teachings. His community is said to have consisted of 14,100 monks, 36,000 nuns, and 310,000 female and 150,000 male lay followers. They came from all castes, as Jainism does not offi cially acknowledge the caste system.

The Jain teachings are not thought to have originated with Mahavira, however. He is considered the last of twenty-four Tirthankaras (Fordmakers) of the current cosmic cycle. In Jain cosmology, the uni- verse is without beginning or end. Eternally, it passes through long cycles of progress and decline. At the beginning of each downward cycle, humans are happy, long-lived, and virtuous; they have no need

for religion. As these qualities decline, Tirthankaras must create religion in order to steer people away from the growing evil in the world.

Hagiographies of the Tirthankaras are major sources of ethical instruction and inspiration for Jains. The fi rst Tirthankara introduced civilizing social institutions, such as marriage, family, law, justice, and government, taught the arts of agriculture, crafts, reading, writing, and mathematics, and built villages, towns, and cities. Twenty-three more Tirthankaras followed over a vast expanse of time. The twenty-second is generally acknowledged by schol- ars as an historic fi gure, Lord Krishna’s cousin, renowned for his compassion toward animals. The twenty-third Tirthankara, a prince who became an extreme ascetic and a great preacher, lived from 877 to 777 BCE. His traditional hagiographies bear interesting resemblances to those of the Buddha, such as his terrifi c confrontation by Mara (Death) while meditating, after which he emerged serene and omniscient. In Jain iconography, which may derive from prehistoric myths, this twenty-third Tirthankara is typically shown protected by a multi-headed snake forming a canopy over his head.

The extreme antiquity of Jainism as a non-Vedic, indigenous Indian reli- gion is well documented. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures refer to Jainism as an existing tradition that began long before Mahavira.

After Mahavira’s death, his teachings were not written down because the monks lived without possessions; they were initially carried orally. In the third century BCE, the great Jain saint Bhadrabahu predicted that there would be a prolonged famine where Mahavira had lived, in what is now Bihar in north- east India. He led some 12,000 monks to southern India to avoid the famine, which lasted for twelve years. When they returned, they discovered that two major changes had been introduced by the monks who had remained. One was relaxation of the requirement of nudity for monks; the other was the convening of a council to edit the existing Jain texts into a canon of forty- fi ve books.

Eventually the two groups split into the Digambaras, who had left and did not accept the changes, and the Svetambaras, who had stayed near Mahavira’s original location. Digambara (sky-clad) monks wear nothing at all, symbolizing innocence and nonattachment. They do not consider them- selves “nude”; rather, they have taken the environment as their clothing. They have only two possessions: a gourd for drinking water and a broom of

Read the Document Jaina Sutras, Parts I and II on myreligionlab

Mahavira is said to have become so detached from worldly concerns that he shed his clothes as well as his royal status.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 123

feathers dropped by peacocks. The broom is used to sweep the ground before they walk on it, to avoid harming any creatures. The Svetambara (white-clad) monks and nuns wear simple white cloth robes: They do not feel this prevents them from attaining liberation.

The two orders also differ over the subject of women’s abilities. Digambaras believe that women cannot become so pure that they could rise to the high- est heaven or so impure that they would be reborn in the lowest hell; they cannot renounce clothes and be naked; they cannot be such skillful debat- ers as men; they are of inferior status in society and in the monastic order. They can be liberated only if they are reborn in a man’s body. Svetambaras feel that women are capable of the same spiritual achievements as men, and that the nineteenth Tirthankara was a woman. In truth, even Svetambara nuns are of lower status than monks, but they still comprise the great major- ity of Jain nuns. Of today’s approximately 6,000 Jain nuns, fewer than 100 are Digambaras. The existence of thriving orders of female ascetics—which include many skillful teachers and counselors and which have apparently always outnumbered male ascetics—is unique in India. In Brahmanic Hindu tradition, women were never allowed to be mendicants and marriage was considered obligatory. Whereas previously most Jain nuns had been widows, today most are young women who have never married, for Jains now con- sider the ascetic vocation an acceptable alternative to marriage for females.

Freeing the soul: the ethical pillars

In the midst of a world of decline, as they see it, Jains are given great room for hope. 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. Jains, like Hindus and Buddhists, believe that we are reborn again and again until we fi nally free ourselves from samsara, the wheel of birth and death.

The gradual process by which the soul learns to extricate itself from the lower self and its attachments to the material world involves purifying one’s ethical life until nothing remains but the purity of the jiva. In its true state,

Listen to the Podcast India’s Diverse Faiths, As Told Through “Nine Lives” on myreligionlab

Jain nuns at the feet of a monolithic fi fty-foot (seventeen-meter) statue of Bahubali (thought to be the great renunciate son of the fi rst Tirthankara), also shown in miniature in the foreground. During a famous ceremony that takes place once every twelve years a succession of offerings is poured over the statue from a scaffolding above. These include sugarcane juice, milk, turmeric, herbs, sandal, saffron, gold and silver fl owers, precious stones, and, at the end, fl owers showered from a helicopter.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

124 JAINISM

TEACHING STORY

The Story of Bahubali

Rishabha, the fi rst Tirthankara of the current cosmic cycle, had 100 sons from one wife and one son, Bahubali, from the other. He gave his eldest son, Bharat, the lion’s share of his inheritance. Bharat was eager to be the supreme king, and he wanted his other brothers, who had been given smaller portions of land, to come under his subjugation. All the people surrendered to his sovereignty, except for Bahubali, who refused to surrender his kingdom. He said to Bharat, “You are independent, I am independent. Why should I come under your rule?” The armies of the two sides were drawn up on the battleground. The wise men from the two sides came forth and said, “In the clash of two brothers, millions of people will be killed. Millions of innocent people will be killed to satisfy the egos of two brothers. Why should this happen?” So it was decided that the two would fi ght it out between themselves. They would fi ght in three ways to see who was defeated. First, they looked into each other’s eyes, concentrating until one looked away. Bahubali defeated Bharat in this combat. Then they fought under water, and again Bahubali was victorious.

Thirdly, Bahubali picked up Bharat physically and held him overhead, ready to dash him to the ground. That is how he got the name Bahubali—“He whose arms are very powerful.” As Bahubali was holding Bharat aloft, a thought crossed his mind: “Whom am I throwing? My own brother. For what? For this parcel of land? For this kingdom? Only for that, I would kill my brother?” He put Bharat down. At that point, Bahubali felt like renouncing the world. He ceased to make war, and he went into meditation. For twelve years he meditated, standing. Vines grew on his legs. Snakes made their homes around his body. Many people tried to convince him to come out of his meditation, but he was unmoved. Nevertheless, he could not attain ultimate liberation. Rishabha, his father, was asked why Bahubali was not attaining liberation. From his omniscient knowledge, Rishabha said that just before Bahubali started his meditation, he had a thought left in his mind: “I am standing on my brother’s soil.” So Bharat went and prayed to him: “This soil is universal, not yours or mine.” The moment that thought entered Bahubali’s mind he was liberated.

it is fully omniscient, shining, potent, peaceful, self-contained, and blissful. One who has thus brought forth the highest in his or her being is called a Jina (a “winner” over the passions), from which the term Jain is derived. The Tirthankaras were Jinas who helped others fi nd their way, by teaching inspir- ing spiritual principles.

Karma

Jains believe that the universe is without beginning and that it has no creator or destroyer. Our lives are therefore the results of our own deeds; only by our own efforts can we be saved. Padma Agrawal explains:

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.3

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 infl uence the future course of our current life, and of our lives to come.

Watch the Video Jainism: Temple of 1000 Pillars on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 125

But in Jain belief, karma is actually subtle matter—minute particles that we accumulate as we act and think. Until it frees itself from karmas, the mun- dane soul wanders about through the universe in an endless cycle of deaths and rebirths, instantly transmigrating into another kind of being upon death of its previous body. Acharya Shri Kund Kund, a great ancient Jain teacher, asserted: “Nowhere throughout the space in the entire universe is there any place in its course where the mundane soul has not taken birth in many forms, big and small.”4

Birth as a human is the highest stage of life, short of liberation. One should therefore lose no time in this precious, brief period in human incarnation, for within it lies the potential for perfection.

To perfect and purify themselves as quickly as possible, Jains try to elimi- nate within themselves any false mental impressions, negative tendencies, or passions, and to develop pure thoughts and actions. Through this process, the veils of karma are lifted and the soul experiences more and more of its natural luminosity. In the highest state of perfection, known as kevala, the liberated being has “boundless vision, infi nite righteousness, strength, perfect bliss, existence without form, and a body that is neither light nor heavy.”5

The three basic principles that Jains adopt to avoid accumulating karma are ahimsa (nonviolence), aparigraha (nonattachment), and anekantwad (non- absolutism).

Ahimsa

The principle of nonviolence—ahimsa—is very strong in Jain teachings, and through Jainism it also infl uenced Mahatma Gandhi. Jains believe that every centimeter of the universe is fi lled with living beings, some of them minute. A single drop of water contains 3,000 living beings. All of them want to live. Humans have no special right to supremacy; all things deserve to live and evolve as they can. To kill any living being has negative karmic effects.

It is diffi cult not to do violence to other creatures. Even in breathing, Jains feel, we inhale tiny organisms and kill them. Observant Jains avoid eating after sunset, so as not to eat unseen insects that might have landed on the food, and some Jain ascetics wear a cloth over their mouth to avoid inhaling any living organisms.

The higher the life form, the heavier the karmic burden of its destruction. The highest group of beings are those with many senses, such as humans, gods, and higher animals. Lower forms have fewer senses. The “one-sensed” beings have only the sense of touch. They include plants and the earth-bodies in soil, minerals, and stones, the water-bodies in rivers and lakes, fi re-bodies in fi res and lightning, and wind-bodies in winds and gases. The Jain sutras describe the suffering of even these one-sensed beings: it is like that of a blind and mute person who cannot see who is hurting him or express the pain.

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.

Akaranga Sutra, IV: Lesson 16

Read the Document On Non-Violence on myreligionlab

The new Jain symbol: ahimsa is inscribed on the open palm. The swastika is an ancient Indian symbol representing the wheel of samsara, in which beings return to life again and again. The three dots symbolize insight, knowledge, and conduct. The crescent and dot above symbolize the liberated soul in the highest region of the universe.

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

126 JAINISM

Jains are therefore strict vegetarians, and they treat everything with great care. In Delhi, Jain benefactors have established a unique charitable hospital for sick and wounded birds. Great attention is paid to their every need, and their living quarters are air-cooled in the summer. Some Jains also go to mar- kets where live animals are usually bound with wire, packed into hot trucks, and driven long distances without water to be killed for meat. To try to save the animals from suffering, they buy them and then attempt to raise them in comfort. Even to kick a stone while walking is to injure living beings. Jains are keenly aware that we may cause violence even through the clothes we buy. Many Jains thus eschew both leather and silk. Layman R. P. Jain tells how he felt when he learned how silk is made:

I used to wear silk. On my eighteenth birthday I was telling one of my distant relatives not to eat chocolate because it had egg powder in it. He said, “Turn around—you’re wearing silk. What are you preaching? Do you know that to make one yard of silk, nearly fi fty thousand to one hundred thousand silkworms are boiled alive? To wear silk is a sin!” When I learned that is the way natural silk is made, I said, “R. P. Jain, what are you doing to your own soul? Shame on you!” From that day, I took a vow never in my life to wear natural silk.7

Ahimsa also extends to care in speaking and thinking, for abusive words and negative thoughts can injure another. The revered ascetic Acharya Tulsi (1914–1997) explained:

A non-violent man is he who does not in the least discriminate between rich and poor or between friend and foe. … Non-violence is the best guarantee of humanity’s survival and progress. A truly non-violent man is ever awake and is incapable of harbouring any ill will.8

One’s profession must also not injure beings, so most Jains work at jobs considered harmless, such as banking, education, law, and publishing. Agriculture is considered harmful, for in digging one harms minute organisms in the earth; in harnessing bullocks to plows one harms not only the bullock but also the tiny life forms on its body. Monks and nuns must move slowly with eyes downward, to avoid stepping on any being. In general, they will do the least harm if they devote their time to sitting or standing in meditation rather than moving around.

Global violence is of increasing concern, and here, too, Jains have great wisdom to offer. The late Acharya Tulsi taught that self-restraint is essential for the sake of world peace. He said:

Individual desire and ego are perennial human traits. Whenever they have been conjoined with power, there has been a general increase in war hysteria leading to the repetition of bloody and violent events in history. The reason why moral values have been held in the highest esteem is that they transform this evil combination of desire, ego and power into courteous humility. The history of the human race has been far more honorable and full of freedom during periods of such transformation. … The fact cannot be ignored that the fate of the politicians is fi nally in the hands of the people. Even though it is generally true that it is the former who ultimately decide war and peace, the awakened conscience of the people is bound to ensure one day that a handful of over-ambitious people are not allowed to play with the future of mankind by imposing wars on them. The way to universal peace lies in our adherence to the precept of self-restraint.9

Read the Document Respect for Life on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

RELIGION IN PRACTICE

Jain Purifi cation

A central Jain practice undertaken both by laypeople and by ascetics has for thousands of years been used for freeing the soul from internal impurities. Anger, pride, deceit, and greed are lasting stains that must be completely eradicated if the soul is to realize its true nature: pure consciousness, infi nite knowledge, and bliss. Even a momentary realization of this state brings a feeling of great inner purity and calmness and a longing to return to it permanently. The ritual for achieving this inner purifi cation is known as samayika. Jain laypeople usually undertake this practice in the evening, after work and a meal. They sit in a quiet and solitary place, remove excess clothing, sit cross-legged on a mat, and chant formulas to cleanse and pacify their mind. These begin with a pledge to renounce all harmful activities, followed by requesting forgiveness:

I ask forgiveness of all beings may all beings forgive me. I have friendship with all beings, and I have hostility with none.10

They reach out mentally to all life forms, saying:

Friendship toward all beings, Delight in the qualities of virtuous ones, Utmost compassion for affected beings, Equanimity towards those who are not well-disposed towards me, May my soul have such dispositions forever! 11

Then follow verses that commit the person to renouncing food, bodily desires, and passions for the period of the meditation, persisting in equanimity, come what may. The meditation ends with the universal Jain prayer:

Cessation of sorrow Cessation of karmas Death while in meditation, Attainment of enlightenment. O holy Jina! friend of the entire universe, let these be mine, for I have taken refuge at your feet.

Aparigraha

Another central Jain ideal is nonattachment to things and people. One should cut one’s living requirements to a bare minimum. Possessions possess us; their acquisition and loss drive our emotions. Digambara monks wear no clothes; the Tirthankaras are always depicted as naked, and therefore free. Even attachments to our friends and relatives bind us to samsara. We are to live helpfully and consciously within the world but not be drawn into its snares.

Aparigraha, or nonacquisitiveness, is considered the way to inner peace. If we can let go of things and situations, moment by moment, we can be free. A Jain nun of the Rajasthan desert, Samani Sanmati Pragya, belongs to an order in which the nuns’ clothing and bedding is limited to four white saris, one white shawl, and one woolen cloth. She explains:

In the winter we do not have a quilt for warmth at night, for it would be too bulky to carry. In the summer we use no fan. It is so hot that we cannot sleep at night. We bear any kind of circumstances. In fact, we remain very happy. Our happiness comes from inside.12

Aparigraha is of value to the world community as well. Contemporary Jains point out that their principle of limiting consumption offers a way out of the global poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation that result from unequal grasping of resources by the wealthy.

JAINISM 127

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

128 JAINISM

Anekantwad

The third central principle is anekantwad (Sanskrit: anekantavada), or “mani- fold aspects.” Jains try to avoid anger and judgmentalism, remaining open- minded by remembering that any issue can be seen from many angles, all partially true. They tell the story of the blind people who are asked to describe an elephant. The one who feels the trunk says an elephant is like a tree branch. The one grasping a leg argues that an elephant is like a pillar. The one feeling the ear asserts that an elephant is like a fan. The one grasping the tail insists that an elephant is like a rope. And the one who encounters the side of the elephant argues that the others are wrong; an elephant is like a wall. Each has a partial grasp of the truth.

In the Jain way of thinking, the fullness of truth has many facets. Shree Chitrabhanu describes the results of eliminating false impressions and allow- ing the pure consciousness to fl ow in:

Once you have closed the open gates, dried up the polluted water, and cleaned out all the debris, then you can open them again to receive the fresh, clean rainfall. What is that rainfall? It is the fl ow of maitri—pure love, compassion, and communication. You feel free. … See how easily you meet people when there is no feeling of greater or lesser, no scar or bitterness, no faultfi nding or criticism.13

Spiritual practices

Jainism is an ascetic path and thus is practiced in its fullest by monks and nuns. 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.

Jain monks and nuns carry ahimsa to great extremes in their wariness of injuring one-sensed beings. Among the many activities they must avoid are digging in the ground (because of the earth-bodies there); bathing, swimming, or walking in the rain (because of the water-bodies they might injure); extin- guishing or lighting fi res (because even to light a fi re means that a fi re-body will eventually be destroyed); fanning themselves (to avoid sudden changes

Read the Document The Doctrine of Manifold Aspects on myreligionlab

Jain monks and nuns are celibate ascetics. This 15th-century illustrated text of Mahavira’s last teachings shows a monk resisting the attractions of women.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 129

in air temperature that would injure air-bodies); and walking on vegetation or touching living plants.

In New Delhi, a wealthy sixty-year-old Jain businessman, head of a large construction company, astounded the populace in 1992 by advancing from lay austerities, such as eating and drinking only once in twenty-four hours, to the utterly renunciate life of a naked Digambara monk. Before a huge celebration in which he shed his clothes and his possessions, Lala Sulekh Chand announced:

I have no interest in life. I have found that life just means one remains agitated for twenty-four hours and there is no peace of mind. I have fulfi lled all my responsibilities and obligations in life and handed over my business to my son and family. I am not taking this path due to some problem.14

He then sat unfl inching as his mentor, Muni Amit Sagar, pulled all the hairs from his head, a process that took an hour and a half. Afterward, Muni Amit Sagar admonished the crowd that the way to spiritual liberation lies in nonattachment and patient, indifferent forbearance of all diffi culties. “We cannot change anything, but we can change our attitude of expectation,” he said. “The peace one gets from renunciation cannot be gained by reading a lot of religious books.”15

Diffi cult to conquer is oneself; but when that is conquered, everything is conquered.

Uttaradhyayana Sutra 9.34–36

Most householders cannot carry renunciation as far as monks and nuns, but they can nonetheless purify and perfect themselves. Jain homes and temples are typically scrupulously clean, diets are carefully vegetarian, and medicines are prepared without cruel testing on animals. The mind and passions are also to be willingly controlled. Twelve “limited” vows are to be undertaken by Jain laypeople, the major ones being the fi rst fi ve:

• The vow of nonviolence. • The vow of truthfulness. • The vow of not taking anything that has not been given. • The vow of renouncing any sexual activity outside of marriage. • The vow of limiting one’s possessions. • The vow of limiting the geographic area of nonvirtuous activities. • The vow of limiting the quantity of things one will use. • The vow of abstaining from purposeless harmful activities. • The vow of meditation and reading scriptures for at least forty-eight

consecutive minutes in a day. • The vow to further reduce for a fi xed period the area of

nonvirtuous activities. • The vow of fasting and living like an ascetic for a certain period. • The vow of giving necessary articles to monks and nuns.

In all spheres of life, Jains are taught to limit the harm they do to them- selves, to others, and to the environment. Acharya Mahaprajna (1920–2010) pointed to many facets of violence in the world and taught that violence can only be overcome through profound individual transformation:

Read the Document The Five Great Vows on myreligionlab

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

130 JAINISM

Purity of life, peacefulness and compassion are the foremost requirements of a civilized society. Reform cannot come until one achieves the capacity to withstand pain, oppression and hardship.16

Practicing strict ethics and self-control, Jains are often quite successful and trusted in their professions. Many Jains have thus become wealthy. Because of the religion’s emphasis on nonpossessiveness, wealthy Jains are often philanthropists.

Lay Jains are divided into those who worship at temples and those who do not. For those who worship in temples, Jain philanthropists have built very ornate temples, which are kept immaculately clean. Within the temples, the Tirthankaras are honored through images. They all look alike, for the perfect soul is nonparticularized; symbols such as the bull, always shown with the fi rst Tirthankara, are used to help worshipers identify each of the twenty- four. The worshiper’s feeling is one of reverence rather than supplication; the Tirthankaras are elevated beyond the human plane and are not available as helpers. They are instead models for one’s own life, and since there can be no divine intervention there is not a great emphasis on priesthood. Laypeople can carry out worship services themselves, either alone or in groups. People pay their respects before images of the Tirthankaras with offerings and by waving lamps, but do not expect any reciprocation from them. Liberation from samsara is a result of personal effort, often portrayed by a symbolic diagram laid out with rice grains. Acharya Tulsi expressed the Jain point of view: “The primary aim of dharma is to purify character. Its ritualistic practices are secondary.”17

Just as a fi re quickly reduces decayed wood to ashes, so does an aspirant who is totally absorbed in the inner self and completely unattached to all external objects shake to the roots, attenuate, and wither away his karma-body.

Samantabhadra, Aptamimamsa 24–7

In Jain worship, images of the Tirthankara are ideally to be venerated without expectation of help or a personal response to prayers.

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 131

The ultimate spiritual practice in Jainism is fasting unto death at the end of life. This tradition has been observed for several thousand years as an honorable fi nal cleansing of one’s karmic burden by ceasing to kill liv- ing beings. The discipline requires many years of previous ascetic practice. It is not considered suicide, which is forbidden in Jainism. A classic text, Ratnakarandaka Sravakaschara, describes the practice, which is known as Sallekhana (thinning out of existence) by Digambaras and as Santhara (passing over) by Svetambaras:

Prior to the adoption of the vow one should give up all love, hatred and attachment to possessions, with a pure mind, and obtain forgiveness of one’s relations while also forgiving them oneself. One should give up grief, fear, anguish, attachment and keep oneself engaged in meditation. Then he should give up gradually food, then liquid and even water. During the observance of the vow one should not commit any of the transgressions.18

The only circumstances under which a Jain can undertake the ultimate fast are very old age, terminal illness, famine, or dire calamity. Despite the strict conditions imposed, this ancient practice is now controversial and is being legally challenged in India as a form of suicide. But it is not perceived as such by Jains. Dr. Shugan Jain, chairman of the International School for Jain Studies in Delhi, explains the philosophy of “pious death”:

It is not that you want to die. We say, “The body is not cooperating with me to observe my religious duties. So since this body is not helping me, I want to leave it. And after death, I will acquire a new body. If I have detachment, then hopefully my new body will be better and stronger so that I can perform more religious duties.” The most important thing is faith in the eternity of the soul and its capability to achieve super-soul status: liberation from worldly transmigration. This is the faith you must have. If you don’t believe in the soul or if you don’t believe in birth after death, and don’t see the world as a place of misery, then this practice will not be tenable for you. You will say it is suicide.19

Festivals and pilgrimages

With their emphasis on self-discipline and self-perfection, 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.

Divali, which Hindus celebrate with lights and fi reworks, is for 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 fi fth 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 fi nal day is celebrated as Forgiveness Day. People seek forgiveness from anyone toward whom they feel hatred or enmity and try to give up these negative karmic burdens, adopting instead feelings such as compassion, contentment, equanimity, and sharing. Jagdish Prasad Jain, president of the Jain Mission in New Delhi, explains:

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

132 JAINISM

LIVING JAINISM

An Interview with M. P. Jain

M. P. Jain is the director of Motilal Banarsidass Publishing Company, a venerable publisher of books about Indian religions and culture. He is one of fi ve brothers who live together in New Delhi as an extended family, all

involved in the family publishing business along with their married children. He speaks of the diffi culty of the lay practice of Jainism:

Very few people are really practicing the true Jainism—not even the monks. Jain tradition speaks of two aspects: the self and the non-self. Non-self is everything that is destroyable, whether your body, your ideas, your house, your business, or your eatables. Non-self cannot be possessed. The self, the jivatma, is eternal. It moves from one body to another body after birth and rebirth. Thus that is the permanent thing, but people do not understand this. They love only those things that are non-self, and non-self is absolutely impermanent. To consider all non-self things impermanent and detach yourself from them is very diffi cult, because in all previous births we have been loving non-self things. This is a habit; there is no habit of concentrating on the self. That requires a lot of spiritual practice. Only then can you divert yourself from non-self to self. The practice is that you have to look upon worldly things as the seer. You are not to be involved in them, because through attachment with worldly things you land up with all those problems that are existing in the world. If you detach yourself, you become only a seer, and then you attach yourself with the self only. Then you can achieve something. In business, most people’s main purpose is to make money somehow, by wrong or right methods. But I don’t agree. One should try to be as fair as possible. Renunciation has to be done happily. One must be mentally happy, physically happy, and happy in activities. Only then can one achieve the goal. As a father, I can only tell my family that this is the way, but it is very hard to make them do it. Only through punye—good deeds which one has done in previous births—can you renounce. You have to change from

the prevalent way. Only one like Mahatma Gandhi, who walked alone, can change from the prevalent way. He had those punye, so he could walk alone and thousands of people followed him. I have a spiritual teacher. He is an unassuming person, absolutely unknown. He is like a monk, living in the Himalayas. I see him only once a year when he passes through Delhi on his way to meet his mother. I go to the temple every day. I worship there, reciting some mantras and doing some rituals. There is a sense of pleasure and a sense of duty. It is essential because I have understood the importance of worshiping those who have attained the highest level of renunciation. If you worship greater people, those who have attained nirvana, you will get the same peace that they have attained. Our guru inspired us to do so. From our family, about twenty percent of us go to the temple every day, including my mother, who is still practicing Jainism to a great extent. We support the monks and nuns by providing them the things that they need, like clothes, food, and travel arrangements. They do not travel in vehicles, but when they walk from one station to another, they need a rickshaw for their belongings and a servant to escort them so that they go to the right place. But things are changing. The older monks and nuns have started traveling in wheelchairs; someone pushes them. My wife, my mother, and I do not eat after sunset, because in food preparation, drinking water, and so forth there is more death of jivas after sunset than before sunset. Some jivas cannot be seen; some can be seen. It depends on their size. One should try to save them as much as one can. That is the reason one should not travel during night, because in the night they are many, and in the sunlight they are less. As for mosquitoes, I try to keep my room as clean as possible so that the mosquitoes do not show up. If they come, you have to turn on the air-conditioner, take a blanket, and sleep under that. There is no question of killing them. It is better to bear the mosquitoes to be on the safe side, because killing is no answer. If you kill, that is very harmful, because if you kill one soul you kill your own soul also.20

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 133

One can perform these other activities benefi cial to others only when there is renunciation of excessive attachment or sense of mine-ness to material objects, subsidence of the passion of greed, i.e. acquisitiveness and exploitation of others, which are often the cause of enmity and hatred on the part of others. Thus, the virtues of humility, honesty or straightforwardness and purity of mind, including freedom from greed, are dovetailed into forgiveness. One is asked to renounce or minimize the four passions of anger, pride, deceit and greed, which are the real enemies of the purity of the soul and which stand in the way of peace and happiness of the individual as also social well-being.21

Pilgrimages to sacred sites are also very popular forms of Jain spiritual practice. Individuals, families, or groups may travel long distances to worship at famous sites, many located on hills or mountains in beautiful natural envi- ronments. Many of these are in Bihar, south of the Indian border with Nepal. Bihar is considered the cradle of Jainism, for it was here that twenty of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, including Mahavira, are thought to have achieved liberation. Some areas in western India are also rich in intricately carved Jain temples and pilgrimage places. And in South India there is a colossal statue of Bahubali which was carved out of solid rock in 980 CE. His feet—the most accessible part, as well as the focus of reverence in Indian culture—are daily bathed as a devotional ritual. Every twelve to fi fteen years, a huge scaffold is erected so that pots of water, sandalwood fragrance, coconut, and sugar can be poured over the fi fty-foot (seventeen-meter) statue. This special ceremony draws enormous crowds of worshipers. Construction of temples continues today, keeping alive ancient traditions of intricate stone-carving.

World Jainism

Through the centuries, Jainism managed to survive as a small minority within largely Hindu India. Today there are approximately six million Jains. Since the twentieth century, Jainism has been carried to the outside world by several teachers. One of them, Shree Chitrabhanu, was for twenty-nine years a monk who walked barefoot over 30,000 miles of Indian soil to teach Jain principles to the populace. When he was invited to address interfaith conferences in Switzerland and the United States in 1970 and 1971, his controversial deci- sion to attend in person marked the fi rst time in Jain history that a Jain monk had traveled outside India. He then established Jain meditation centers in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and India.

Acharya Shri Sushil Kumar (1926–1994) likewise established Jain centers in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as in India. He pointed out that the Jain scriptures consider as “Jains” all those who practice Jain principles:

If somebody is a real symbol of non-violence, love, compassion, peace, harmony, oneness, then he is the perfect Jain. We can’t convert any Jains, but you can convert your habits, your mind.22

Many Jains live outside India now, due to emigration to North America, Europe, East Africa, and elsewhere. Approximately 120,000 Jains live in North America, where there are over one hundred Jain organizations and thirty-six Jain temples or combined Jain-Hindu temples, many of them con- structed of marble in elaborate Rajasthani style. Wherever they have gone, the highly literate Jain emigrants have kept in touch with their Indian roots

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

134 JAINISM

and have established sociocultural associations. In England, Jains have organ- ized the Institute of Jainology, under whose auspices some thirty scholars worked to prepare the Jain Declaration on Nature and ancient Jain texts are being translated into modern English. Jain Studies are also going on at the renowned School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and in the United States a perpetual Bhagwan Mahavir Chair for Jain Studies has been endowed at Florida International University.

In the diaspora, the traditional Jain qualities of individual asceticism and renunciation seem to be giving way to focus on environmentalism, animal rights, vegan diet, nonviolence, and interfaith activities. This trend is espe- cially pronounced among the second-generation young people. Some see the ascetic practices as old-fashioned and incompatible with modern lifestyles. When both parents work into the night, for instance, it is not possible to eat dinner before sunset.

The extreme asceticism modeled by monks and nuns in India is not visible outside the country, since they can only travel on foot. However, in 1980 Acharya Tulsi created new orders of “semi-monks” and “semi-nuns” who are allowed to travel abroad in order to spread Jain teachings. He also inspired the development of the Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, a university in the Rajasthani desert where research into Jain traditions is being conducted, “to promote and propagate the high ideals of Anekant (nonabsolutist outlook), Ahimsa (nonviolence), Tolerance and Peaceful Co-existence for the weal of mankind.” Its students are modeling and teaching these principles in many settings, both in India and abroad. The Institute explains:

There is no dearth of universities and institutes throughout the world. They are fulfi lling the aims of education by awarding degrees for getting jobs and orienting the students in the fi elds of Science, Arts, and Commerce. Though this type of education leads to the advancement of science and technology and sharpens the intellect of students, it also increases the tendency of materialistic possession, which demands indiscriminate fulfi llment of wants, leading to an erosion of rules, code of conduct, moral values and the ethical content from human life. The prevalent educational system has inadvertently neglected character-building and the attainment of emotional balance, without which human beings, with all their high intellectual accomplishments, cannot co-exist peacefully.23

Acharya Tulsi also began the Anuvrat Movement in 1949, to enlist people of all faiths and nationalities to commit themselves to anuvrats (small vows). He developed these to help people rejuvenate strong moral standards of self-restraint in the midst of an ethically unhealthy society. The small vows include: avoid willful killing of any innocent creature, refrain from attacks and aggression and work instead for world peace and disarmament, avoid dis- crimination on the basis of caste or race, eschew religious intolerance, avoid false business and political practices, limit acquisition of possessions, eschew addictive substances, and avoid wasting water or cutting down trees.

In 1995, Acharya Tulsi renounced even his own position as the leader of his order by installing Acharya Mahaprajna as his successor. Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahaprajna developed a system which they called “Preksha Meditation,” for teaching people of all backgrounds and religions transforma- tion of thoughts, development of “right emotions,” and effi cient use of mind and body. It includes yogic practices that lead to impartial awareness of breath, physical sensations, emotions, and urges, and thus ideally to a purifi ed state of

Acharya Tulsi (1914–1997).

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1

JAINISM 135

constant equanimity in which karmas do not accumulate. Hundreds of thou- sands of people from many countries have participated in Preksha Meditation camps thus far.

Acharya Mahaprajna’s self-description is an indication of the internal qualities which keep Jain faith alive:

I am an ascetic. My asceticism is not bound by inert rituals. … I follow a tradition, but do not treat its dynamic elements as static. I derive benefi t from the scriptures, but do not believe in carrying them as a burden. … In my consciousness there is no bondage of “yours and mine.” It is free from it. My spiritual practice is not to “worship” truth, but to subject it to minute surgery. The only mission of my life is boundless curiosity to discover truth. … It is not an external accoutrement. Like a seed it is sprouting out of my being.24

Key terms ahimsa Nonviolence, a central Jain principle. anekantwad The Jain principle of manifold aspects of the truth. aparigraha Nonacquisitiveness, a major Jain principle. Digambara A highly ascetic order of Jain monks who wear no clothes. Jina A fully perfected human. jiva The soul. karma Subtle particles that accumulate on the soul as a result of one’s thoughts

and actions. samsara The continual round of birth, death, and rebirth. Svetambara Jain order of monks who are less ascetic than the Digambara. Tirthankaras The great enlightened teachers in Jainism, of whom Mahavira was the

last in the present cosmic cycle.

Review questions 1. Taking into account samsara, caste, karma, kevala, jiva, and Jina, describe the Jain

quest for purity. 2. Explain the concepts of ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantwad. 3. Explain the Jain belief about the Tirthankaras and their role in spiritual liberation. 4. Compare and contrast the Digambaras and the Svetambaras.

Discussion questions 1. How might someone put the principle of ahimsa into practice in your own

society? How would it affect the person’s behavior? 2. Compare Jain beliefs about how to live in the world with those of indigenous

sacred ways. 3. What are some similarities and differences between Jainism and Buddhism?

Study and Review on myreligionlab.com

IS B

N 1

-2 69

-4 10

74 -1

136 JAINISM

MyReligionLab Connections

Watch. Listen. View. Explore. Read. MyReligionLab is designed just for you. Each chapter features a customized study plan to help you learn and review key

concepts and terms. Dynamic visual activities, videos, and readings found in the

multimedia library will enhance your learning experience.

Watch on myreligionlab

Jainism: Temple of 1000 Pillars

Listen on myreligionlab

India’s Diverse Faiths, as Told Through “Nine Lives”

Read on myreligionlab

Jaina Sutras, Parts I and II

On Non-Violence

Respect for Life

The Doctrine of Manifold Aspects

The Five Great Vows

IS B

N 1-269-41074-1