RST 68

Yajurveda

"Veda of Sacrifical formulas" - contains formuals, invocations, spells, muttered by hindu priests who performed spiritual rights - parallel texts divided into 2 branches of black and white black: mixture of text types white: mantras

Jnana

(Knowledge/ learning) a comprehensive system of gathering knowledge. Knowledge with no knowing, involvement of the senses, mind/ ordinary intelligence is the highest knowledge - acquired in a deep state of absorption

Harrapa/ Mohenjo- daro

- both major cities of the Indus Valley -Both had populations of around 40,000 and the cities were structured with baked bricks, big marketplaces, and each house was connected to covered drainage systems around 1700BCE they disappeared

4 books of the vedas

1. Rg Veda 2. Samaveda 3. Yajur Veda 4. Atharva Veda

Astanga

3 parts: ethics, physical, and spiritual. This form of yoga is meant to practice yoga and self absorption, the first 5 external, the last 3 internal - eight folded path of yoga, though it is a specific yoga tradition it can be seen as covering all aspects of yoga within any yoga tradition

Varna

4 Varnas, caste determines place in society. You are born into this. It is w way of kind of being in the world - the Varna have been known since the Rg Veda

Sakha

Hindu theological school that specializes in learning Vedic texts

Indus Valley

Hinduism is thought to first form here around 1700 BCE - water tanks - ceramic seals - Aryan migration

Kshatriya

Second highest in ritual status of the four varnas - the ruling and military elite consisted of this class, their role was to protect society by fighting in war time and governing in peacetime

Jati

a Hindu caste, Jati describes any group of things that things have in common. Hindu codes treat their Jatis as varnas. Your cute place is determined by birth

Purusa Sukta

a hymn of the Rg Veda dedicated to the purusa "cosmic being" it gives a description of spiritual unity of the universe

Asceticism

a life style characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Known as Sadhu and Sannyasi for the extreme forms of self-denial including acts of devotion to deity such as vowing to hold your arm in the air for months or years

Neti Neti

a sanskrit expression which means "neither this, nor that". It helps people to understand the nature of Brahman by first understanding what isn't Brahman - Jnana Yoga practices lead to " Neti Neti search"

Bandhu

a settle connection between one of the four different levels of the world - the Vedas are a list of instructions to understand and manipulate these connections - these connections are the root of what makes the universe structured

Agni

deity of fire and the conveyor of sacrifices to the gods, one of the most important Vedic gods - fire is central to vedic rituals. All offerings in the Vedic sacrifices are invariably offered to Agni and thru him to other gods. He is the primary recipient of the Vedic sacrifices. - according to tradition he has 10 forms, the first 5 are his material forms while the rest are his ritual forms

Brahmana

earliest writings of Hinduism explaining their significance as used in ritual sacrifices and symbolic import of a priests actions. It means either priest or the exposition of a sacred word

Ezourvedam

fifth veda, creative veneering of the gospels and loose translation of them

Karma

first expressed as a principle of cause& effect in the Upanishads. Karma is the same way we understand physics, because you were this way, this happened - a system of actions and reactions throughout a souls reincarnated lives. A way of explaining evil in the world even for those who don't deserve it

Dharma

frames how we should live our lives, what is permitted/ what is not. Our place in social structure, whatever ones Dharma is, it is defined fundamentally - universal order of things by which man is born into certain social stratum and into one of the religious traditions and has to behave accordingly - includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues "right way of living" - for ex it is the dharma of the bee to make honey

Ekagrata

having a single object and at the most basic level this object is our breath. Its intent of pursuit of one object, close and undisturbed attention. Yoga emphasizes this

smrit

interprets/ codifies vedic. What is remembered is tradition and the recollection on an experience

Tapas

keeping something and disregarding something else - ascetic practice voluntarily carried out to achieve spiritual power/ purification - yoga is linked to tapas

Indra

leader of the Devas and the lord of a level of heaven - he is the god of thunder/ rain, a warrior, and is a symbol of strength and courage - central Figure in Rg Veda

Samnyasa

life stage of renunciation within Hindu philosophy of four aged based life stages known as ashrams - form of asceticism represented by a state of disinterest and detachment from material life and has purpose of spending ones life in peaceful, love inspired spiritual life

Vedas

list of instructions to understand and manipulate connections or badhus across spheres - hindus accept the Vedas as holy scriptures - not about the meaning of the words it is about what they do, when you chant them they bring harmony - there weren't physical copies until the 14c because hey were meant to be spoken (the power is in the sound) writing them down made them dirty - knowledge of how to put universe back into order

Atman

self or soul. In order to attain liberation a human must acquire self knowledge, which is to realize that one's Atman is identical with Brahman - the Atman needs to change to achieve moksha (release of samara). However Atman doesn't change, it is eternal and is individual and not individual at the same time - its not changing but is a temporary cloak of ignorance that is put around ourselves as we identify with ourselves and about ourselves as a whole

Sanatana Dharma

set of duties incumbent upon all hindus regardless of class, caste, or sect - used during revolution to avoid using Hindu which isn't native origin

Samhita

textual subdivision, most important on how to do the rights. Most ancient layer of the texts consisting of mantras, hymns, prayers, and benedictions

Moksa

the end of the death and rebirth cycle. It is achieved by overcoming ignorance and desires, it is both achieved in this life and after death. It is the release from samsara however the atman must change to achieve this - realization of knowing truth releases us from samsara - yoga tries to attain moksa, in indetifying problems' fluctuations of the mind, people can find ways to attack problems of this world achieving moksa

Brahmin

Varna caste, preist, teachers, protectors (warriors) of the sacred - responsible for religious rituals in temples - highest of the 4 Hindu castes

Samaveda

Veda of melodies and chants - one of the four vedas, these are extracted from the Rg Veda - known for intricacy and metro of poetry rather than its literary content, reduced version of the Rg Veda

Ashrama

period of one's life. Your relationship to all others in society, it was a way of being in the world. For example ages 15-25 is the student period. There's 4 based life stages consisting of the student, the householder, the retired, and the renounced

Soma

plant in which the juice was an offering of Vedic sacrifices. Offered a libation of the gods the remainder was consumed by a priest/ sacrificer - also a god, sometimes a supreme god, cures diseases, gives people joy

Aranyaka

The comic side of the brahman a about some of the more cryptic and secret rituals. The ritual sacrifice part of the Vedic texts. It discusses rituals from various perspectives and has more philosophical speculation, composed around 700 BCE

Rsi

an inspired poet of Rgvedic hymns regarded as "seers" who after intense meditation realized truths and eternal knowledge, which they composed into hymns

Vedanta

based on the Vedas, Vedanta affirms the oneness of existence the divinity of the soul, the harmony of religions, it is the philopshical foundation of Hinduism - 3 fundamental texts: 1. Upanishads 2. Brahmasutras 3. Bhagavadgita - adopted ideas such as yoga and one of the 6 orthodox Hindu philosophy schools which became the most important

Asana

bodily attitudes, such as the way to sit. Asana denotes the art of sitting still and any posture useful for restoring and maintaining a practitioner's well being and improving the body's flexibility and vitality, cultivating the ability to remain seated in mediatation

Upanisads

collection of writings. set forth doctrines of self realization, yoga, and meditation - summits of thought on banking and the universe designed to push human ideas to their limits and beyond

Samsara

continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation - feature of life based on Maya enabling a person to think he is an autonomous being instead of recognizing the concoction between self and reality - by fully grasping this unity the believer has the potential to break illusion upon which samsara is based and achieve moksa

Rita

cosmic order mentioned in the Vedas. The concept of rita led to the doctrines of dharma and karma. Rita is the physical order of the universe, the order of sacrifice/moral law of the world - bc of Rita seasons proceed in regular movement

Shudra

lowest class of the varnas, service providers/ laborers - they aren't permitted to perform the initatory rite into the study of the vedas - their tasks involve the pollution such as disposing garbage and laundering - many became wealthy, adopting rituals of twice born castes

Agnicayana

means "piling the fire", this piling of the alter of Agni is a 12 day Srauta Yajna ritual of the Vedic religion. The predecessor of modern day Hinduism which is considered to be the greatest ritual as per Vedic ritual hierarchy - takes 12 days in which a great bird shape alter is built from 1005 bricks - the purpose is to build up for the sacrificer an immortal body that is permanently beyond the reach of the nature of life, suffering and death that characterizes a mans existence

Hindutva

means Hinduiss which is a quality. It's the ideology of a part of the upper caste, lower middle class Indians. The ideology is an attack on Hinduism and an attempt to protect the flanks of minority consciousness - the minority consciousness that Hindutva protects survives on anger of the Indians who have uprooted themselves from their traditions seduced by promises of a good life/ political role -with the demise of imperialism these promises have failed to be kept

Shruti

most revered body of literature, considered the product of divine revelation. Considered to have been heard by earthly sages and contrasted to smriti - revelation in western terms

Vedic Sacrifice

no temples or images, ceremonies took place in an open space that was made fresh for sacrifices - to ensure efficiency of prayers, people came to believe that offerings were more acceptable with sacrifice

Kama

one of the 4 goals on Hindu life. It is pleasure/ enjoyment and is appropriate in the pursuit of a householder - god of love is names Kama

Rg Veda

one of the 4 texts of the Vedas - oldest text and the basis for other texts - collection of verses forming humans to be recited during ritual - the book of Mantra. It contains the oldest forms of mantras and is built around a science of sounds which comprehends meaning/ power in each letter

Yajamana

the sacrificer

Varnasrama Dharma

the social system which provides a structure which allows people to work according to their natural tendencies and to organize society so everyone makes a spiritual advancement 4 qualities of work: 1. intellectuals/ preiests 2. government, military, administratives 3. farmers/ businessmen 4. workers 4 spiritual divisions: 1. student life 2. married life 3. retired life 4. renounced life

Vayu

the wind god, rides in a chariot drug by 0- 1million horses. In the Upanishads he is described with having great power

Vaishya

third class/ lowest level of "twice born" commoners but not servants. They tend cattle, trade, lend money, and study the vedas. They need to know languages, business methods, and values of commodities

Atharvaveda

this text is the fourth veda, but has been a late addition to Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. Known as the knowledge storehouse or procedures for everyday life - contains magical spells, healing spells, and hymns and materials for rituals such as marriage and death

Maya

unreality - Maya is the delusion tin the sense that bc we perceive the world s being divided into things (subjects/ objects) we don't see the world as it is. It is not only that the world does not exist (not exactly true) it is not denied that theres stuff here they deny that we divide the world into good and bad - if we deny maya we can't see truth - you can't achieve moksha with the mindset of maya

Cittavritti

vritti = "whirlpool" citta = "consciousness" in yoga meant to indicate the contents of mental awareness are disturbances in the medium of consciousness - Chitta is the mind , the instrument that stands between the man and the world. It has 2 functions 1) receptive (negative) 2) active (positive) - yoga is thus the control of whirlpools or the change of minds

Ahimsa

without violence, it literally means not inflecting pain or injury upon others thus is interpreted as non violence. Throughout time it becomes more prevalent through the Vedic tests and eventually becomes the highest Vedic virtue around 500 BCE