Post 3

According to Huston Smith's understanding of Hinduism what do people want (including what they really want) and what are the ways to achieve it?

The Hindu people state that people in general want four things, which begin with pleasure. They say to the person who wants pleasure: go after it. There is nothing wrong with it and it is one of the four legitimate ends of life. Sooner or later everyone wants more from life than pleasant sensations. When this thought enters one’s head, their interest turns towards the second major goal of life, namely worldly success in the form of wealth, fame, and power. This goal should not be repressed nor is condemned. Its satisfactions are social. Although unlike mental and spiritual treasures, they cannot be dispensed without diminishing one’s own portion. This drive for success is insatiable. People who place these things first in their lives can never be satisfied. For this very reason this is not what people really want. Worldly success is shared with hedonism (which is a devotion to pleasure as a way of life). Success, too, centers meaning in one’s finite self, which proves to be too small for enduring interest. The final reason why worldly success cannot satisfy us is that its rewards are ephemeral. “You can’t take it with you.” Hindus locate pleasure and success on the Path of Desire. From that path we move into the Path of Renunciation. This path has earned India a reputation of being a life-denying spoilsport.


Moreover, how do Hindus view god, the universe and the self?

Pleasure, success, and duty are not what we really want, the Hindus say: what we really want is to be, to know, and to be happy. Pleasure, success, and duty are only approximations of what we really want; they are apertures through which our true wants come through to us.


Explain in depth drawing from the Smith's book. In a way you are offering a "chapter summary" of the book. The key is that I need to determine based on your writing if the book was read and analyzed in some way.

Hinduism believes that it is possible to transcend imperfections and be joyful, have knowledge, and being which is what we basically want. The three subgroups that withhold us from having joy are physical pain, thwarted desire, and ennui – an emptiness that breeds apathy, and depression. Another of life’s limitations is ignorance. The third limitation is how we define ones self. We need to approach the definition not only spatially, but also in terms of time. Hinduism’s way for actualizing the human potential come under the heading of yoga. Yoga is a method of training designed to lead to integration or union. It includes physical exercises, but its ultimate goal is union with God. There are four spiritual trails that the Hindus use towards this goal. There are four paths because we do not all start from the same point. Because there are different spiritual personality types Hinduism has identified the principal types and delineates the programs that are suited to each. For each type of personality (reflective, emotional, active and energetic, and lastly experimental) Hinduism prescribes a distinct yoga. The first step of every yoga is replacing bad habits with good ones such as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-control, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, and a desire to reach the goal. Jnana Yoga is intended for those who have a strong reflective bent. It is the path to oneness with God through knowledge. In order to gain this knowledge one must proceed through three stages, the first of which is hearing. The second step is thinking. The third step on the path of knowledge is shifting self-identification to one’s abiding part. The goal of bhakti yoga (the yoga of love and devotion) is to direct toward God the love that lies at the base of every heart. This is the most popular of the four yogas. To the bhakta, for whom feelings are more important than thoughts, God appears differently. As healthy love is outgoing, the bhakta will reject all suggestions that the God one loves is oneself, and insist on God’s otherness. They will also strive not to identify with God but to adore God with every element of his or her being. Bhakta will also practice Japam, which is the practice of repeating God’s name. They last step if you will is the worship of God in the form of one’s chosen idea, or ishta. This form of worship is indented to deepen God’s presence and his power be fully assimilated. The 3rd path toward God, is intended for persons of energetic bent, is Karma yoga, the way through work. In the first case, karma yoga is practiced thoughtfully, in jnanic mode; while in the second, it is performed as loving service (bhakit). If every act is done for yourself you add more layers to your ego and then separating yourself further from God. If every action is done for God’s sake instead of their own the self-centeredness is diminishes and is brought closer to God. Each task becomes a sacred ritual, performed as a loving sacrifice for God’s glory. If the person is more of a reflective personality than emotional bent, God-oriented work is then done differently. They will approach work less relationally, seeking through it enlightenment rather than deepening love relationship. They do this in working in the spirit of detachment. Both yogis starve the finite ego by withdrawing interest from the bearing of their work on their finite selves. Raja Yoga is designed for persons of experimental bent, it is the way to God through psychophysical experiments. The hypothesis that underlies raja yoga is the Hindu doctrine of the human self, which is restated as follows: The self has four layers. First, we have bodies. Second the conscious layer of our minds. The third region is the individual subconscious. The West is familiar with these three segments of self however, Hindu view includes a forth component, and private subconscious stands Being Itself – infinite, unthwarted, eternal. The purpose of raja yoga is to demonstrate the validity of this fourfold estimate of the human self by leading the inquirer to direct personal experience of “the Beyond within.” There are eight steps of its experimental attempt to verify that hypothesis. The first step involves the practice of five abstentions (from injury, lying, stealing, sensuality, and greed). Step two deals with the five observances (cleanliness, contentment, self-control, studiousness, and contemplation of the divine). Thirdly raja yoga works through the body into the mind. Its chief concern for the body is to keep it from distracting the mind when it concentrates. This is where India’s most famous discovery, the “lotus position” enters. Fourthly the yogi turns to his or her own breath. Evenness and breath reduction are the general aims here. The fifth step causes for the yogi to sit in contemplation. The object of the fifth step is to unplug one’s senses so it won’t disturb the yogi’s concentration. Within the sixth step the yogi battles their own mind in order to make it still. In the seventh step the knower is dropped from view and the object occupies his entire attention, leaving no remainder for self awareness. During the last step, the eighth step also called the climactic stage (known as Samadhi) the object likewise vanishes. The knower is confronted with total being, and for a spell is immersed in it. Hnuisim encourages people to test all four yogas and combine them in the ways they find most productive.




Finally. offer some reflections about the film assigned.]

The Hinduism believes that the actual gods spoke the Sum Hita and it was heard by inspired sages. Usually one of the Veda poems within the Sum Hita addresses one of the gods or goddesses which usually represent natural forces. In ancient times Hindus actually ate beef but over time the cow became sacred and a sign of fertility. Thus became a sin to eat beef. The first Vedas described an after life however the Upanishads introduced the idea of reincarnation. This was where the soul was trapped in a cycle of birth and death. Hinduism entered the idea of casts into India. This was a sort of classification of human’s which the lower casts were not allowed to take part in rituals. This is why Jainism and Buddhism were formed as a reaction to the casts. After that a new era of Hinduism began and revamped their philosophical systems. Like the Buddhist they accepted reincarnation and karma. They rejected however that the Buddha had learned the way to salvation. They also entered an idea of personal divinities which were not the same as described within the Vedic texts however, were not as great as the Braman. Another great text entered the religion call the Great book of the Rubatitas. Within this book there are eighteen chapters called the Bhagavad Gita, which means the song of god, became sacred scriptures. Another scripture is the Kama Sutra which is a sex manual for those in love. In a normal Hindu home it is custom for them to have a shrine that has a figure whether it in a painting or statue form of a deity. Every day there is a ritual called Punjab in which an offering is given to the statue usually a small piece of food. In the 11th century outside forces help shaped Hinduism into its modern day form. The Muslims began to invade India and influenced Hinduism in two ways: It sharpened Hinduisms monotheism. Second most Hindu’s rejected Islam and strengthened their own beliefs. Krishna, one of the Hindu deities, was believed to be God incarnate, that of the same level of Jesus Christ. An interesting fact about the Hindu’s was that they did not in fact call themselves Hindu’s (referring to religion) until the British came to India to set up trade. After the British used the term Hindu’s adopted the term to distinguish their religion from other religions.

The whole foundation of Hinduism is that there is one God that appears in many ways.