RELIGIONS OF INDIARLST 2610

TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF INDIANRELIGIONS, BELOW ARE LISTED THE MAIN ASPECTS WHICH PERVADETHROUGH THE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS IN INDIA

THESE ARE WAYS OF APPROACHING THE DIVINE OR ABSOLUTE

THEY ARE:

1) ASCETICISM

Asceticism of some form or another can be found in nearly every religion in India.It can involve fasting, holding the body in a particular posture. Jainism makes a veryextensive use of asceticism, especially involving fasting and pulling out one’s hair.Asceticism can also be milder and more mental, such as spending a long time sittingin one place in meditation.

When we talk about ascetics we usually mean those persons who give up living athome to 1)either become wanderers, or 2) live in a religious institution such as aHindu or Jain ashram or a Buddhist monastery.

Formal vows of asceticism include 1)Sannyasin, becoming a Hindu monk, 2)becoming a Jain monk, 3)becoming a Buddhist monk (Bhikshu/bhikku). Jains havemore women monks than either Hinduism or Buddhism.

Some persons don’t take formal vow and just become wanderers. These people areusually called Sadhus.

TEXTS USED: No particular texts used by a person who practices asceticism. However2 famous very short songs which extol asceticism were written by the 8th century Adi-Shankara- : 1) “the stanzas on wearing a loin cloth” and 2) “the stanzas on Nirvana.”

TIME LINE: Practiced historically throughout; not associated as beginning in anyparticular time.

2) YOGA

Yoga involves mastering the mind by quieting the thoughts. It takes its cosmologyfrom Samkhya and believes in Purusha=spirit and Prakrti,= nature (the elements earth,air, etc. and also including but unlike Samkhya also believes in ISWARA, the Lord. Thegoal of Yoga is “union”. This means especially to not let the mind, which is likened towild horses, carry one away, but rather to learn how to concentrate the mind on aparticular thought wave. By directing the mind one is able to eventually attainenlightenment. Yoga is a practice which relates to all the different religions in India,Buddhists practice Yoga, Jains practice Yoga, Hindus practice Yoga, and Sikhs practiceYoga. Yoga is about concentrating the mind, learning how to direct it. The ideas ofYoga are used by all these traditions however, Buddhism, Jainism and sikhism don’t referback to the text Patanjali wrote, the Yoga Sutras, even if these religions use the ideas thatPatanjali expounds.

How does asceticism relate to Yoga?

The practice of yoga in most cases involves asceticism, though the asceticism in yoga ismostly directed inwardly and is not so often expressed outwardly (except in the case ofTantric Yoga where the body becomes the vehicle and then the outward also has a role–but still secondary.) See below for the relationship between Yoga and bhakti, Yoga andTantra.)

TEXTS USED: Main Text used is Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (You’re reading a portion ofthis). Some persons also use the Bhagavad Gita to explain Yoga as well. Some personsalso use the Upanishads (You’re reading part of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) as a wayof understanding the mental practice and goal of Yoga. Tantric traditions also have sometexts used for Yoga as well such as the Vijnana Bhairava, a text which outlines 112different types of yogic meditations such as staring at a flame, or watching for the spacebetween 2 thoughts, or the space between the in-breath and the out-breath. 2 otherTantric yoga texts from approximately the 11th century: Hatha Yoga Pradiipikaa andGheranda Samhita. These texts deal mostly with bodily postures, the form of yogamade popular in classes in the West today.

TIME LINE: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras dates probably from 1st to the 2nd century CE. TheBhagavad Gita dates from the 2nd century CE. By approximately the 8th century Tantraconsciously begins to borrow from the earlier Yoga tradition and modifies it.

3) BHAKTI = DEVOTION

Bhakti begins to become prominent very early. The Bhagavad Gita (2nd cent.) extolsdevotion to Krishna. However Bhakti really starts to become very popular by the 6th

century with the songs to Shiva by the Nayanar poets in South India (the folk songs toShiva that you read are a folk form of bhakti that comes from this movement) and theVishnu Namalvar poets a few centuries later, also in South India. Telling the stories ofthe young cowherd boy Krishna are a main form of bhakti practiced also, even today.This begins in South India with Srimad Bhagavatam Puranam in approximately the 9th

century. This book has lots of stories of the life of the young Krishna, how he stealsbutter, how he as an adolescent steals the clothes and hearts of the cowherd women(gopis) and how he meets with them and dances with them in the forest. The pictures ofKrishna with his flute come from this cycle of stories. Later in the 16th century, Mirabaithinks of Krishna using these same stories featured in the Srimad Bhagavatam Puranamand has great devotion for Krishna and writes her own poems about and to Krishna. (youread some of these). In Bengal too, in the 16th century people talk about these stories andwrite about them and sing to Krishna, dancing in the streets. This movement whichbegan with the Bengali saint Caitanya, is what the Hari Krishnas today look back to astheir roots. There are also some important South Indian poets who are devotees of Shiva,called Virashaivas, a movement that begins in the 12th century. These include the courtminister Basavanna, and also Akka Mahadevi, who leaves her husband to wander nakedthrough India writing songs to Shiva. In north India, in the 15th and 16th century manyother poets are great Bhaaktas. These include especially Ravidas, the outcaste poet whoreveres the god Rama, (you read some of his poems) and Tulsidas who lived in the 16th

–17th centuries and also wrote poems to Rama. Note the North Indian distinction betweenSaguna and Nirguna. Saguna is worship of god in a particular form, (like Krishna).Nirguna is worshipping God as transcending all forms.Devotion to the Goddess is also very important. One of the main expressions of thisbhakti happens during the 9 nights (navaratri) celebration in the fall. At this time peopleread the Devi Mahatmya for 9 straight days, do puja to images of the GoddessMahishasura Mardini (a form of Durga who slays the buffalo demon).

Reciting the name of God is also a very important practice in bhakti. This happensacross religious traditions. Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus (not so much Jains) all use thisbhakti practice.Sikhs also rely heavily on the practice of Bhakti. And their scripture, the Guru GranthSahib includes poems of Kabir and Ravidas. (Question to figure out: why is Ravidas, whois the guru of Mirabai according to tradition, in the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib, while hisdisciple Mirabai is not?)Devotion is also an element of Buddhism, though this aspect only starts to get stressedlater with Mahayana traditions, (4th century – about the same time that Bhakti starts to getimportant within Hindu traditions). Especially bhakti gets underway in Buddhism withthe Lotus Sutra (a text that becomes very popular in China and Japan).Jainism also has elements of bhakti, but of all the traditions it downplays this aspect inits literature and ritual. (Question to figure out: why does Jainism downplay bhakti?)

How does bhakti relate to Yoga?Bhakti and Yoga are said to lead to the same goal, but these two methods are probablythe most different from each other. This is because Yoga involves the mastery of themind, while bhakti is about surrendering to God. So the mind becomes still when oneuses yoga to control it, actively inculcates an opposite thought, AND the mind becomesstill when it gets absorbed in love with the form of Krishna. These are two differentmethods, which both lead to the mind becoming still.

How does bhakti relate to asceticism?Bhakti is a path of love, devotion, so it tends to not involve conscious asceticism. Theonly asceticism it employs is when one is so much in love with the deity that one doesn’teven realize that one hasn’t eaten etc.

On the other hand, numerous (probably most) ascetics really do have much *devotion* tothe divine and will adopt bhakti practices to help them in their ascetic quest, even thoughas a method for approaching the divine, bhakti does not at all require asceticism.

Bhakti is probably the single most popular way to approach the divine, todayespecially. Even today in India, many people practice devotion, bhakti by singing songsto different Gods, offering puja to them. Some people today even write their own songsas a practice of devotion to God, just as Mirabai and Ravidas did (as well as many others)in the past. People also don’t just have devotion bhakti for Gods; sometimes importantsaints are worshipped with devotion as well. For example, you saw the film of the saintRamana Maharshi—he too is worshipped today, as is the famous saint Shirdi Sai Babawho died in 1918 and who now has many temples (even some in America) where peopleworship images of him.

TEXTS USED: Many different texts are used. The most important ones are oftenrecited today still. These include Srimad Bhagavatam Puranam, Tulsidas’Ramacharitmanas, which is a rewriting in Hindi of the epic Ramayana (recited especiallyin North India). Also, the songs of Ravidas, Mirabai, and Kabir are still sung (You’rereading some of these). The Bhagavad Gita is also used as a text relating to Bhakti. ForSikhs the Guru Granth Sahib is especially recited (You’re reading some of these). Thisis a devotional practice. Later Buddhism has several texts, especially the Lotus Sutra, buteven more important for Buddhist devotion is reciting the name of the Buddha orbodhisattvas who are yet to come such as Amitabha, or Avalokiteshwara. The recitationof the phrase “Om mani padme hum” is used as a devotional practice by many.

TIME LINE:

Bhakti is a way of approaching the divine which certainly exists by the time of theBhagavad Gita, if not much earlier. It continues even through today. Most people whorevere Hindu Gods today practice some form of Bhakti. Examples would becontemporary saints like Ammachi who encourages the path of bhakti for her followersor the modern saint Ramakrishna who had great devotion to the Goddess Kali. Bhaktibecomes very popular by the 6th century in south India, with the Alvars and Nayanars.The south Indian Virashaivas begins in the 12th century. Bhakti becomes very popular inNorth India by the 15th century with saints like Ravidas and Kabir, with Mirabai andTulsidas in the 16th century. From this time onward its popularity has remained unabated.The Guru Granth Sahib is from the 16th—17th century.

4) TANTRA

Tantra is a movement which begins to gain momentum by the 9th century. It involvedusing very technical ritual in order to approach the divine. Its goals are stated as two-fold: 1) the attainment of powers; 2) the attainment of liberation. It employs verysophisticated rituals to attain these goals, and sometimes, in the case of “left-handed”Tantra, the use of illegal substances, such as liquor, sex as part of the ritual (the 5 m’s).Tantra cuts across all lines: so there are Vaishnava Tantrics (people who worship Vishnu)and Shaiva Tantrics, also Tantrics who follow one or another form of the Goddess(especially, Durga, Kali, Lalita). There are also Buddhist Tantrics (the Dalai lama).There were Jain Tantrics (but not anymore today). (There is not much documentation ofSikh Tantrics, however there is a tradition of this, just with very little literature).

How does Tantra relate to Yoga?Tantra often employs elements of Yoga, however Tantra uses a slightly differentsystem—instead of 8 limbs as in Patanjali, Tantra has 6 limbs. The limbs are the sameexcept Tantra compress the last three and adds Reasoning as the highest.

Important differences between Tantra and Yoga:1)Tantra employs more external ritual than Yoga.2) Tantra focuses more on the body—especially with the idea that the body is amicrocosm.3) Tantra yoga practice not so much quieting the mind as directing it to visualizingcomplex images of deities and concentrating on mantric sounds.

How does Tantra relate to Asceticism?There are many ascetics who are Tantrics; and many more ascetics who are not Tantrics.In general Tantric paths are highly organized in terms of their ritual and practice, whereasmany non-Tantric ascetics don’t employ such a high degree of ritual organization.Tantrics use methods of asceticism, but not so much fasting. Tantra explicitly declaresthat asceticism is not a higher path than the householder path. On the other hand,numerous Tantrics do become wandering sadhus and some also become sannyasins.

How does Tantra relate to Bhakti?Tantra nearly always employs elements of bhakti—devotion to the deity is very importantin Tantra, however Tantra involves

1) much more attention to method2) a greater focus on the body as a part of the practice: (examples: kundalini,

installing the deities in the body via “nyasa” the ritual awakening of the deities inthe body.)

3) Tantra tends to be more non-dual—the self is the deity. (example: when onedoes the puja, worship as part of a Tantric ritual, sometimes this involves offering

the flowers which one offers to the deity on top of one’s own head. Why?Because you are ultimately the deity).

One more important difference between the two:4) Tantra explicitly says its methods can offer the attainment of magical power

and/or enlightenment/salvation.

Bhakti, on the other hand, does not promise the attainment of magical power, onlythe hope of salvation.

5) Bhakti takes most of its ritual forms from Tantra and greatly simplifies them. So themain ritual forms of worship for bhakti are puja and singing songs. The elements of pujain bhakti are a simplified form of that used in Tantra. Both Tantra and Bhakti use singingas a way to connect with the divine, but Bhakti uses it more than Tantra and the songs areoften easier to remember, and simpler in form.

6) Both Tantra and bhakti place importance on reciting the name of the deity. Bhaktiemphasizes external singing out loud more, whereas Tantra emphasizes internal recitation(japa) however both approaches use both methods (out loud and inwardly.)

TEXTS USED: The texts used in Tantra are much more diverse and numerous thanthose used for other methods. The texts vary also according to the main deity onefollows (this is also the case with bhakti). Important texts which are used include:1) the Devi Mahatmya, a 6th century text devoted to the Goddess. (used both in bhakti andin Tantra), especially important in Bengal, but also referenced elsewhere including insouth India. This is probably the single most popular Tantric related text all over India.2) Also the 1000 names of Lalita, with its commentary by Bhaskararaya, which is veryimportant in south India, and also important in Benares.3) works by Abhinavagupta including the Tantra Aloka.4)Also important are the Vijnana Bhairava, a text from the 9th century (or earlier) used innon-dual Kashmiri Shaiva tantra, the Kularnava Tantra (from about the same period) andreferenced in the north and the south.5) the Mahanirvana Tantra, mostly used in Bengal and northeast India.

TIME LINE: Tantra begins perhaps as early as the 5th or 6th centuries, CE, but doesn’treally begin to become prominent until the 8th and 9th centuries. It then spreads all overIndia and then into Asia, in China Korea and Japan. Important schools which aredeveloped in Kashmir in the 9th –12th centuries, especially including the writings ofAbhinavagupta make their way into south India and become part of the Shri vidyatradition which is extremely popular still today in India. The text of Shaiva Tantra thatyou read comes from this tradition. Tantra started to lose ground by the 18th and 19th

centuries, and especially the British when they went to India thought it was corrupt,transgressive and were vehement in denouncing it. As a result it does not have therespectability today that it had centuries ago. However we should keep in mind thatTantra has always been a practice which has been kept very much secret.

** OFTEN ONE PERSON WILL EMPLOY ALL OF THESE 4 DIFFERENTAPPROACHES BUT IN DIFFERENT DEGREES.

** SOME PEOPLE ONLY PRACTICE 1 OR 2 OF THESE

BELOW IS A CHART WITH THE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS OF INDIA AND HOWAND TO WHAT DEGREE THEY EMPLOY EACH OF THESE 5

Method

Tradition ↓

Asceticism Yoga Bhakti Tantra

Veda Not much,more rltualpractice,especially thefire sacrifice

Not much.More ritualpractice,especially thefire sacrifice.

Not a lot, butsome, howeverit tends to beincidental to theritual praxis, ofthe fire and therecitation of theVedas.

No. (thoughsome laterTantricpractitioners –after the 17th

century at theearliest--especially inthe Sri Vidyatraditioninterpret someelements of theVedas as ahidden formand precursorof Tantra. )

Vedanta Yes! but not somuch fasting.Much morewandering andthinking aboutthe self

Yes, especiallywith the idea oflooking inward.Yoga traditionsoften look backto theUpanishads.The Upanishadsdon’t lay asmuch emphasison controllingthe mind asYoga does,however.

Not really.Vedantafocuses muchmore onknowledge:knowing theself and onlyincidentallydoes thisinvolvedevotion to thedeity. Theproblem withdevotion forVedanta is thatit tends toseparate the selffrom the deity,whereasVedanta wantsto instill themessages:“tattvam asiand “neti neti”

No. EarlierTantraespeciallycritiques thephilosophy ofVedanta as notreally non-dualbecause it canonly see theworld as“illusion”“Maya”.(interestingly,after the 17th

century thefamous “popes”(shankaracaryas) of India, whoare openlyVedantic aresecretlyTantric.)

Hinduism--Vaishnava--Shaiva--Devi/shaktaother deities:--Ganesh--Surya--Hanuman

Yes, butpartially.Asceticsworship allthese differentgods. Alsomany sadhus(wanderingascetics) whoare notaffiliated withan officialinstitution willbe devoted toone or otherform of thesedeities.

Partially. Someof the followersof thesedifferent deitiesincorporateyoga in theirpractice andsome do not.These traditionsare highlydiverse.

Yes! All of thefollowers ofthese deitiespractice someform ofdevotion to thedeity theyworship. Thisalways involvesthe elements ofbhakti,including pujaand reciting thename of God.This alsoincludes theworship of

Yes, butpartially. Someof the followersof these deitiesare Tantric andsome are not.The greatestmajority will bethose whoworship theGoddess.(Though somewho worshipthe Goddess arenot Tantric.)The smallestnumber will be

--One’s ownguru or afamous orimportant saintare also oftenthe recepient ofdevotion aswell

ascetics) whoare notaffiliated withan officialinstitution willbe devoted toone or otherform of thesedeities.

These traditionsare highlydiverse.

always involvesthe elements ofbhakti,including pujaand reciting thename of God.This alsoincludes theworship ofone’s guru oran importantsaint, who canbe either aliveor dead.

those whoworship theGoddess.(Though somewho worshipthe Goddess arenot Tantric.)The smallestnumber will beVaishnavas.(Though thereare a goodnumber ofVaishnavaTantras, mostlyin the Bengalregion. Cf. TheSahajiya textyou read.)Worship of theGurus isespeciallyimportant inTantra

Buddhism Yes, especiallyBuddhistsbecome monksand belong to amonastery. Notreally manywanderers at allwho are notaffiliated with amonastery.

Yes. HoweverBuddhismborrows fromearlier Hinduyoga to developits own formsof yoga. TheBuddha alsotaught manytechniques formeditationwhich wouldclassify asyoga.

Only later withthedevelopment ofMahayana.Earlier forms ofBuddhismeschewdevotion togods, even tothe Buddhawho in thebeginning isonlyrepresented byhis footprints.Later mahayana(beginning 3rd

cent.) starts tovenerate theBuddhas as onevenerates gods.

Yes. Developsbeginning withthe6th cent.approximately.This is the formof buddhismwhich isprevalent inTibet. In SriLanka—No.the prevalentform is theearly form:Theravada.

Jainism Yes, many Jainascetics, mostare affiliatedwith aninstitution,some are not.Also some whoare affiliatedwith aninstitution willwander, as domany Hindus.(not so withBuddhists).

Yes. LikeBuddhism,Jainismincorporateselements ofyoga in itspraxis.

Not so much.Except on apopular level,more so.However,Jainism tends tohighlight thatonly one’s ownpractice willsave one, soeven puja is justa practice tohelp inspire aperson to reachthe level of theJinas, not to gethelp from them

For a shortperiod, a little.Jain Tantradoes involvesome worshipof deiites,however JainTantra is neververy strong andeventuallyfades away. Notat all today.

with aninstitution willwander, as domany Hindus.(not so withBuddhists).

practice willsave one, soeven puja is justa practice tohelp inspire aperson to reachthe level of theJinas, not to gethelp from themor Gods, somuch..

very strong andeventuallyfades away. Notat all today.

Sikhism Some Ascetics,but Sikhismdoesn’t stressleaving home towander as anascetic. Ratherthe communityis more tightlyknit.

Yes. Sikhismincorporateselements ofyoga.

Yes! Sikhisminvolvesdevotion to theFORMLESSaspect of godand also to thegurus of thetradition. Thefinal “guru” isthe book, theGuru GranthSahib.

Some.. Sikhisminvolves use ofTantric ideasandmethods—butnot left-handedmethods.Kundalini isreferenced.