Hinduism has different founders with different castes and ideologies and different ideas of personal Gods and different scriptures.
Hinduism indulges non-Vedic beliefs such as idolatry, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability, and child marriages. All these lack Vedic sanctions, therefore, Hinduism is not Ancient Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.
These core beliefs are at odds with those of the Vedas. Many followers of Hinduism do translate the Vedas to fit into Hindu thought by changing the translation to reflect the beliefs of monism, reincarnation, the caste system, and the absence of animal and human sacrifice. However, this poor translator.
A well-known movement to go "back to the Vedas" is the Arya Samaj movement. This movement was started in 1875 by Maharshi Dayananda. It was a movement within Hinduism that was meant to turn back to the Vedas. It was their belief that the Vedas alone were sacred and the only revelation of God. They also believed that all of the sciences of the modern world could be found within the Vedas.
As has been already stated, Arya Semaj is a follower of Hinduism. While they are attempting to go back to the Vedas, they are not Vedic. While they do not accept the texts past the Vedas, they are still monists and uphold other Hindu views. In their reformations, they rejected Brahminic control and they are open to all castes and women.
The Vedic culture and religion eventually came to dominate, and define, India. Towards the end of the Vedic period, the many scholars within Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion began to start a process of thinking differently about how they were connected to the Gods, to Heaven, and to Yajna. It was this questioning mixed with the ramped corruption of the different theories that helped lead the way to Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion fall.
The people who had once practiced Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion were now on their way to adopting new philosophies and ways of communing with the divine(s). The religions that splintered off from Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion took ideas, thoughts, and beliefs from Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion and brought them into new ways of thinking that were meant to rebel against the Vedic religion, thus negating them as a different sect of Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion.
Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion was not allowed to evolve further as a religion, but instead, it lay stagnant while other religions splintered off from it. These religions took specific beliefs within Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion and followed them to their own ends, thus ending the Vedic period and the religion of Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion. Some of the off-shoot religions of Sanatana Dharma or Vedic religion are Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Moksha is interpreted in various ways. It means the dispelling of ignorance, freeing the Soul, the Self from the bondage of the illusory experience of birth, life, death, and the world--all other meanings regarding heaven, etc. are all imagination. Moksha only means knowing the ultimate truth or Brahman. That is why they have coined the word Jivanmukta.
In the Vedic era, a Brahmin was a person who had attained Self- knowledge or Atma Jnana. This was an extremely difficult path of the discipline of body, mind, and intellect, and people irrespective of their birth or class, who were dedicated to such an austere life, were recognized as Brahmins.
A great example of this tradition (that a person becoming a Brahmin, rather than born as one) is the case of Vishwamitra, a warrior (Kshatriya), who became a Brahmin after attaining Atma Jnana or Self-Knowledge.
A smritis or code of conduct composed by Sage Atri defines Brahmin hood very clearly.
"By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice-born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through the realization of supreme spirit (Brahma jnana), he becomes a Brahmin."
The belief that people born in the Brahmin caste, automatically become Brahmins, is a much later concept in very ancient India. Thus, Brahmin means not caste but one who has attained Atma Jnana or Brahma Jnana. :~Santthosh Kumaar
No comments:
Post a Comment