משתמש:Neudorf/ארגז החול/
מתוך ויקיפדיה, האנציקלופדיה החופשית
'הינדואיזם היא הדת העתיקה ביותר מבין הדתות הראשיות בעולם, ועם כ 1.05 ביליון מאמינים, היא השלישית בגודלה בעולם. ההינדואיזם הוא הדת העיקרית בהודו שבה חיים 96% מההינדים. המאמינים בהינדואיזם נקראים הינדו וברבים (בעברית) הינדים.
תוכן עניינים |
[עריכה] תקציר
באופן היסטורי המונח הינדו' קדם להתייחסות להינדואיזם כאל דת. המונח הוא ממקור פרסי, והתייחס במקור לאנשים שגרו מעברו המזרחי של נהר האינדוס. בזמן השלטון הבריטי בהודו , החל השימוש במונח הינדו, באופן מעורפל מעט , לציין את אוסף ההשקפות דתיות והמונח הינדואיזם לציין את דתם של ההינדים.
המונח החדש היחסית הזה מעורר דיונים רבים. יש הרואים בהינדואיזם יותר "דרך חיים" מאשר דת מאורגנת ויש הרואים במונח סנטנה דהרמה' (Santana Dharma) הלקוח משפת הסנסקריט , שפירושו הדרך הנצחית, מונח מתאים יותר. רבים מההינדים רואים עצמם כמשתייכים לכת כזו או אחרת. על פי השקפה אחרת , הינדו הוא אדם המאמין בפילוסופיה המוארת בכתבי הקודש ההודיים הנקראים ודות (Vedas) ו ה אגמות הטנטריות (Tanstric Agamas). הודות הן קרוב לוודאי כתבי הקודש העתיקים ביותר בעולם. ההשקפה העיקרית המובעת בהן טוענת שטבע האדם הינו אלוהי. האל , הבורא הוא הברהמן קיים בתוכו של כל יצור חי. הדת היא החיםוש אחרי הכרה עצמית, החיפוש אחרי האלוהי בתוך ה"אני". הודות מצהירות שהאדם אינו זקוק ל"ישועה", ולעולם אינו אבוד. במקרה הגרוע ביותר, אדם יכול לחיות ללא מודעות לטבעו האמיתי.
הודנטה (פירוש המילה המילולי הוא "סוף הוודות", מכירה בכך שניתן להגיע אל האל בדרכים רבות, וכולן תקפות. כל דרך של תרגול רוחני יכולה להביא לאותו מצב של מודעות עצמית. הוודנטה מטיפה לכבוד לכל הדתות , והיא נבדלת מרוב הדתות האחרות בכך שהיא מעודדת סובלנות לאמונות אחרות.
בפועל , רוב ההינדים עובדים לאלים רבים , בדרך כלל באמצעות פסילים אלילים המכונים מורטיס. האלים נתפסים על ידי ההינדים כהתגלמויות שונות של הברהמן האחד. בין האלים הראשיים שאותם עובדים ההינדים ניתן למנות את וישנו, שיווה, לקשמי, פרוותי וגנש (Ganesh). ניתן לומר איפוא, שההינדואיזם אינה דת מונותיאסטית, אינה פוליתיאסטית, אלא היא דת פאנתיאסטית הרואה את קיום האל בכל.
עוד מאפיין של ההינדואיזם הוא בכך הוא מבוצע על ידי תרגולות רוחניות הנקראות יוגה, ביניהן בהקטי וגה (מסירות), קארמה יוגה (הגשמה עצמית), ו ג'ננה יוגה (יוגה של ידע ואבחנה). היוגות מתוארות בשלושה טקסטים מקודשים עיקריים : ה בהגאוואד גיטה , כתבי היוגה סוטרה, וההאטה יוגה פראדיפיקה
עקרון חשוב אחר של ההינדואיזם הוא מחזוריות העולם : תקופות של בריאה חיים והתפוררות באות בזו אחר זו במחזוריות אינסופית. עקרון חשוב זה משותף לכל שש הפילוסופיות ההינדיות שיפורטו בהמשך. מעיקרון זה נובעת האמונה בלידה מחדש ובגלגול נשמות.
[עריכה] מקורות היסטוריים
רק מעט ידוע על מקורו ההיסטורי של ההינדואיזם , מכיוון שראשיתו לפני ההיסוריה הכתובה. הסברה היא שההינדואיזם התפתח מדתם של הארים, הדראווידיים וההראפניים, עמים שחיו בתת היבשת ההודית. בהמשך היו על ההינדואיזם השפעות עזות של הבודהיזם והג'ייניזם.
[עריכה] Hindu philosophy
The Astika (Believers or the orthodox school of thought) philosophies are elaborated below. The nastika philosophies are omitted as they are not descriptive of Hinduism.
[עריכה] Nyaya
The Nyaya school of philosophical speculation is based on a text called the Nyaya Sutra. It was written by Gautama (not to be confused with the founder of Buddhism), also known as Akshapada, round about the fourth or fifth century B.C. The most important contribution made by this school is its methodology. This is based on a system of logic that has subsequently been adopted by most of the other Indian schools (orthodox or not), much in the same way that western science, religion and philosophy can be said to be largely based on Aristotelian logic.
But Nyaya is not merely logic for its own sake. Its followers believed that obtaining valid knowledge was the only way to obtain release from suffering. They therefore took great pains to identify valid sources of knowledge and to distinguish these from mere false opinions. According to the Nyaya school, there are exactly four sources of knowledge (pramanas): perception, inference, comparison and testimony. Knowledge obtained through each of these can of course still be either valid or invalid, and the Nyaya scholars again went to great pains to identify, in each case, what it took to make knowledge valid, in the process coming up with a number of explanatory schemes. In this sense, Nyaya is probably the closest Indian equivalent to contemporary Western analytical philosophy. An important later development in Nyaya is the system of Navya Nyaya (New Logic).
[עריכה] Vaisheshika
The Vaisheshika system, which was founded by the sage Kanada, postulates an atomic pluralism. In terms of this school of thought, all objects in the physical universe are reducible to a certain number of atoms.
Although the Vaishesika system developed independently from the Nyaya, the two eventually merged because of their closely related metaphysical theories.
In its classical form, however, the Vaishesika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect: where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaishesika accepted only perception and inference.
[עריכה] Samkhya
Samkhya is widely regarded as the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism. Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: purusha and prakrti. The purushas (souls) are many, conscious and devoid of all qualities. They are the silent spectators of prakrti (matter or nature), which is composed of three gunas (dispositions): satva, rajas and tamas (steadiness, activity and dullness). When the equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed, the world order evolves. This disturbance is due to the proximity of Purusha and prakrti. Liberation (kaivalya), then, consists of the realisation of the difference between the two.
[עריכה] Yoga
The Yoga system is generally paired with the Samkhya philosophy. Its primary text is the Bhagavad Gita, which explores the four primary systems (see Bhagavad Gita); the sage Patanjali wrote an extremely influential text on Raja Yoga (or meditational) entitled the Yoga Sutra. The most significant difference from Samkhya is that the Yoga school not only incorporates the concept of Ishvara (a personal God) into its metaphysical worldview, which the Samkhya does not, but also upholds Ishvara as the ideal upon which to meditate. This is because Ishvara is the only purusha that has never become entangled with prakrti. It also utilizes the Brahman/Atman terminology and concepts that are found in depth in the Upanishads. The Yoga system lays down elaborate prescriptions for gradually gaining physical and mental control and mastery over the personal, body and mind, self, until one's consciousness has intensified sufficiently to allow awareness of one's real Self (the soul, or Atman) (as distinct from one's feelings, thoughts and actions). Realization of the goal of Yoga is known as moksha, nirvana and samadhi. They all speak to the realization of the Atman as being nothing other than the infinite Brahman. See Yoga for an in-depth look at its history.
[עריכה] Purva Mimamsa
The main objective of the Purva ("earlier") Mimamsa school was to establish the authority of the Vedas. Consequently this school's most valuable contribution to Hinduism was its formulation of the rules of Vedic interpretation. Its adherents believed that revelation must be proved by reasoning, that it should not be accepted blindly as dogma. In keeping with this belief, they laid great emphasis on dharma, which they understood as the performance of Vedic rituals. The Mimamsa accepted the logical and philosophical teachings of the other schools, but felt that these paid insufficient attention to right action. They believed that the other schools of thought, which pursued moksha(release) as their ultimate aim, were not completely free from desire and selfishness. In hinduism, we are all illuminated under the light of god. When we have moksha, we believe that we become closer to god. According to the Mimamsa, the very striving for liberation stemmed from a selfish desire to be free. Only by acting in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas could one attain salvation (rather than liberation). At a later stage, however, the Mimamsa school changed its views in this regard and began to teach the doctrines of God and mukti (freedom). Its adherents then advocated the release or escape from the soul from its constraints through what was known as jnana (enlightened activity). While Mimamsa does not receive much scholarly attention these days, its influence can be felt in the life of the practising Hindu. All Hindu ritual, ceremony and religious law is influenced by it.
[עריכה] Vedanta
The Uttara ("later") Mimamsa school, more commonly known as the Vedanta, concentrates on the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads rather than on the ritualistic injunctions of the Brahmanas. But there are over a hundred Upanishads and they do not form a unified system. Their systematisation was undertaken by Badarayana, in a work called the Vedanta Sutra.
The cryptic way in which the aphorisms of the Vedanta texts are presented leaves the door wide open for a multitude of interpretations. This led to a proliferation of Vedanta schools. Each of these interprets the texts in its own way and has produced its own series of sub-commentaries - all claiming to be faithful to the original.
[עריכה] Monism: Advaita Vedanta
This is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools. Advaita literally means "not two"; thus this is what we refer to as a monistic (or non-dualistic) system, which emphasises oneness. Its first great consolidator was Shankara (788-820). Continuing the line of thought of some of the Upanishadic teachers, and also that of his own teacher Gaudapada, Shankara expounded the doctrine of Advaita - a nondualistic reality. By analysing the three states of experience (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) he exposed the relative nature of the world and established the supreme truth of the Advaita: the non-dual reality of Brahman in which atman (the individual soul) and brahman (the ultimate reality expressed in the trimurti) are identified absolutely. His theories were controversial from the start and some of his contemporaries accused him of teaching Buddhism while pretending to be a Hindu.
Subsequent Vedantins debated whether the reality of Brahman was saguna (with attributes) or nirguna (without attributes). Belief in the concept of Saguna Brahman gave rise to a proliferation of devotional attitudes and more widespread worship of Vishnu and Shiva.
[עריכה] Qualified Monism: Vishistadvaita Vedanta
Ramanuja (1040-1137) was the foremost proponent of the concept of Sriman Narayana as the supreme Brahman. He taught that Ultimate reality had three aspects: Ishvara (Vishnu), cit (soul) and acit (matter). Vishnu is the only independentreality, while souls and matter are dependent on God for their existence. Because of this qualification of Ultimate reality, Ramanuja's system is known as qualified non-dualism.
[עריכה] Dualism: Dvaita Vedanta
Like Ramanuja, Madhva (1199-1278) identified god with Vishnu, but his view of reality was purely dualistic and is therefore called Dvaita (dualistic) Vedanta.
[עריכה] Tantra
According to the most famous and Tantrik scholar, Sir John Woodroffe (pseudonym Arthur Avalon): " The Indian Tantras, which are numerous, constitute the Scripture (Shastra) of the Kaliyuga, and as such are the voluminous source of present and practical orthodox "Hinduism." The Tantra Shastra is, in fact, and whatever be its historical origin, a development of the Vaidika Karmakanda, promulgated to meet the needs of that age. Shiva says: "For the benefit of men of the Kali age, men bereft of energy and dependent for existence on the food they eat, the Kaula doctrine, O auspicious one! is given" (Chap. IX., verse 12). To the Tantra we must therefore look if we would understand aright both ritual, yoga, and sadhana of all kinds, as also the general principles of which these practices are but the objective expression." (Introduction to Sir John Woodroffe's translation of "Mahanirvana Tantra.")
The word "tantra" means "treatise", and is applied to a variety of mystical, occult, medical and scientific works as well as to those which we would now regard as "tantric". Most tantras were written in the late middle ages and sprang from Hindu cosmology and Yoga.
While Hinduism is typically viewed as being Vedic, the Tantras are not considered part of the orthodox Hindu/Vedic scriptures. They are said to run alongside each other, The Vedas of orthodox Hinduism on one side and the Agamas of Tantra on the other. However, it is notable that throughout the Tantras, such as the Mahanirvana Tantra, they align themselves as being natural progressions of the Vedas that exist for spiritual seekers in the age of Kaliyuga, when Vedic practices no longer apply to the current state of morality and Tantra is the most direct means to realization. Thus, aside from Vajrayana Buddhism, much of Tantrik thought is Hindu Tantra, most notably those that council worship of Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother, Kali.
[עריכה] The bhakti (devotional) schools
Adoration and loving devotional worship of a personal god (bhakti) is part and parcel of most religious traditions. In Hinduism, too, it has been found since the earliest days, but only in the second millennium A.D. do we start to see organised movements advocating this type of religious behavior. Among the first was the Vira-Shaiva school, in the thirteenth century. Its founder, Basava, rejected the caste system, denied the supremacy of the Brahmins, condemned ritual sacrifice and insisted on bhakti and the worship of the one god, Shiva. His followers were called Vira-Shaivas, meaning "stalwart Shiva-worshippers".
The Shaiva-Siddhanta school is a form of Shaivism (Shiva worship) found in the south of India and was established around A.D. 1300. Based on Tantra, it espouses the belief that Shiva is God, and his infinite love is revealed in the divine acts of the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe, and in the liberation of the soul.
In the period between 1400 and 1650, a great bhakti movement swept through Northern India. The implications of this movement were that people could cast aside the heavy burdens of ritual and caste and the subtle complexities of philosophy and simply express their overwhelming love for God.
This period was also characterised by a spate of devotional literature in the ethnic languages of the various Indian states or provinces.
In Southern India, there had been two parallel devotional movements just before this period, one centering on Vishnu and the other on Shiva. It was the Vishnu movement that mainly spread to the north, where it itself divided into two camps, the one worshipping Vishnu mainly in the form of his avatar Rama, the other in the form of Krishna.
The leader of the bhakti movement focussing on the Lord as Rama was Ramananda. Very little is known about him, but he is believed to have lived in the first half of the 15th century. He taught that Lord Rama is the supreme Lord, and that salvation could be attained only through love for and devotion to him, and through the repetition of his sacred name.
Ramananda's ashram in Varanasi became a powerful centre of religious influence, from which his ideas spread far and wide among all classes of Indians. One of the reasons for his great popularity was that he renounced Sanskrit and used the language of the people for the composition of his hymns. This paved the way for the modern tendency in northern India to write literary texts in local languages.
Devotees of Krishna worship him either as an adult together with his first wife and queen Rukmini (Rukmani) or, far more commonly, as an adolescent together with his childhood sweetheart and eternal consort Radha, who is regarded as an incarnation of Lakshmi and the embodiment of devotion. Two major systems of Krishna worship developed, each with its own philosophical system.
Vallabhacharya (1479-1531) called his system of thought Shuddhadvaita (pure monism). According to him, it is by God's grace alone that one can obtain release from bondage and attain Krishna's heaven. This heaven is far above the "heavens" of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, for Krishna is himself the eternal Brahman.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1485-1533) named his system of philosophy Achintya Bheda-Bheda (incomprehensible dualistic monism). It attempts to combine elements of monism and dualism into a single system. Chaitanya's philosophy is one of the main elements in the belief system of the contemporary International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known by Chaitanya's mantra as the Hare Krishna movement.
Beyond the confines of such formal schools and movements, however, the development of bhakti as a major form of Hindu practice has left an indelible stamp on the faith. Philosophical speculation had always been a minority interest, in India as elsewhere, which really only left the general population with increasingly archaic rituals and increasingly onerous religious duties to perform. Bhakti practice, however, was instantly available to all. If it did not do away with the worst features of the caste system, then at least it gave people a temporary respite from it.
[עריכה] Related faiths
Jainism and Buddhism evolved from Hinduism. Sikhism emerged from a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic ideas following the Islamic conquest of the Indian subcontinent.
[עריכה] See also
- List of Hindus
- Hindu deities
- Metrics of time in Hinduism
- Contemporary Hindu Movements
- Vedic science
- Hindu kingdoms in West Asia
- Hinduism in Southeast Asia
[עריכה] External links
Contemporary resources on Hinduism from the Hindu point of view:
- http://www.hindunet.org/
- http://www.hindukids.org/
- http://www.hindubooks.org/
- http://www.hindu.org/
- http://www.atributetohinduism.com/
- http://www.saranam.com/
- http://www.panchamukha.org/
- http://www.vedanta.org/
- http://www.encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org
- http://www.dharmacentral.com/faq.htm
- http://thetruehistoryandthereligionofindia.org/
- Hindu Ceremonies
- Hindu Baby names
- http://www.vedanet.com/ : American Institute of Vedic Studies
- http://www.arshavidya.org/ : Arsha Vidya Gurukulam
- http://www.hindu-indonesia.com/ : Hinduism in Indonesia
- http://sanskrit.gde.to/ : Sanskrit Stotra, Shloka for Hindu Deities
- http://satsang.tripod.com/ : Hindu Bhajan - Text and Audio
- http://satsangh.tripod.com/ : Hindu Puja - Text and Audio
- http://www.prapatti.com/: Vaishnava site with slokas downloadable
See also: Agnihotra, Puja, Rama-Lilas, Rta ________________________________________________________________________________Jainism, religion of India concentrated largely in Gujarāt and Rājasthān, in parts of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and in the state of Karnātaka (Mysore), as well as in the larger cities of the Indian peninsula. The Jains totaled about 4 million in the late 1990s, but they exert an influence in the predominantly Hindu community far out of proportion to their numbers; they are mainly traders, and their wealth and authority have made their comparatively small sect one of the most important of living Indian religions.
II ORIGINS
dynamic timeline Jainism Gains Followers in India
Jainism is somewhat similar to Buddhism, of which it was an important rival in India. It was founded by Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira (599-527 bc), called Jina (Spiritual Conqueror), a contemporary of Buddha. As do the Buddhists, the Jains deny the divine origin and authority of the Veda and revere certain saints, preachers of Jain doctrine from the remote past, whom they call tirthankaras (“prophets or founders of the path”). These saints are liberated souls who were once in bondage but became free, perfect, and blissful through their own efforts; they offer salvation from the ocean of phenomenal existence and the cycle of rebirths. Mahavira is believed to have been the 24th tirthankara. Like adherents to their parent sect, Brahmanism, the Jains admit in practice the institution of caste, perform a group of 16 essential rites, called samskaras, prescribed for the first three varna (castes) of Hindus, and recognize some of the minor deities of the Hindu pantheon; nevertheless, their religion, like Buddhism, is essentially atheistic.
Fundamental to Jainism is the doctrine of two eternal, coexisting, independent categories known as jiva (animate, living soul: the enjoyer) and ajiva (inanimate, nonliving object: the enjoyed). Jains believe, moreover, that the actions of mind, speech, and body produce subtle karma (infraatomic particles of matter), which become the cause of bondage, and that one must eschew violence to avoid giving hurt to life. The cause of the embodiment of the soul is thought to be karmic matter; one can attain salvation (moksha) only by freeing the soul of karma through the practice of the three “jewels” of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.
III DIFFERENCES IN DOCTRINE
These principles are common to all, but differences occur in the religious obligations of the monastic orders (whose members are called yatis) and the laity (sravakas). The yatis must observe five great vows (panca-mahavrata): refusal to inflict injury (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), refusal to steal (asteya), sexual restraint (brahmacarya), and refusal to accept unnecessary gifts (aparigraha). In keeping with the doctrine of nonviolence, they carry the Jainist reverence for animal life to its most extreme lengths; the yati of the Svetambara sect, for example, wears a cloth over his mouth to prevent insects from flying into it and carries a brush to sweep the place on which he is about to sit, to remove any living creature from danger. The observation of the nonviolent practices of the yatis was a major influence on the philosophy of the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi. The secular sravaka, in addition to his observance of religious and moral duties, must engage in the adoration of the saints and of his more pious brethren, the yatis.
The two main sects of Jainism, the Digambara (space-clad, or naked) and the Svetambara (white-clad, wearers of white cloth), have produced a vast body of secular and religious literature in the Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. The art of the Jains, consisting primarily of cave temples elaborately decorated in carved stones and of illustrated manuscripts, usually follows Buddhist models but has a richness and fertility that mark it as one of the peaks of Indian art. Some sects, particularly the Dhundia and the Lunka, which reject the worship of images, were responsible for the destruction of many works of art in the 12th century, and Muslim raids were responsible for the looting of many temples in northern India. In the 18th century another important sect of Jainism was founded; it exhibited Islamic inspiration in its iconoclasm and rejection of temple worship. Complex rituals were abandoned in favor of austere places of worship called sthanakas, from which the sect is called Sthanakavasi.
