Hinduism

By Phiroz Mehta

Continued from part 1 and part 2

Hindu ethics

How is disharmony produced? By denying in act or word or thought our relationship to the world of things, to all life and nature, and above all, to God. In other words, we produce disharmony whenever we spoil or try to break the basic unity of all existence in thought or word or deed. Thus we deny Love and Truth. We deny God, the All-Good. This is sin. The root cause of sin is ignorance of dharma, of the true nature of everything. This ignorance brings about Ahamkāra, the root of selfishness. ‘Aham’ means ‘I’, the ego; ‘kāra’ means ‘maker’. Ahamkāra is the kind of egoism which is not merely a self-sense in a reasonable way (for after all, you, John Smith are John Smith and not Willy Jones), but a self-sense which makes you live as if you were quite separate from others, as if there was no relationship whatever between you and others, and between you and God. Naturally, this leads to ill-behaviour, cruelty, irreverence, inconsiderateness and acquisitiveness.

Selflessness and altruism are root virtues. From the earliest days, Brahmanism praised five simple virtues: non-violence, that is not to murder or to hurt in act or speech or thought; non-stealing; truthfulness in speech, act and thought; non-acceptance of unnecessary gifts; complete purity in act, speech and thought. These virtues were to be practised by everyone. Those who were more in earnest about living the religious life also observed cleanliness (of body and mind), contentment, austerity, study of the scriptures, and self-surrender to God.

Hinduism has always taught: honour thy father and mother, thy teacher and thy elders. In one of the scriptures, the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, it is distinctly laid down that the parents and the teacher should be venerated as gods. In a later work, by Manu, it is declared that the father deserves a hundredfold the reverence due to the teacher, but the mother exceeds the father a thousand times. In another part, however, of the same work, Manu declares that the teacher of sacred knowledge who gives the eternal, spiritual body, is greater than the parents who give the material, perishable body.

Ceremonies and festivals

Six other ennobling virtues mark the religious character: faith, tranquillity, self-control, detatchment from worldly things, fortitude and being constantly mindful of God. All these virtues, together with several others not mentioned, indicate the moral standard expected of the Hindu. There is probably no other religion which has so many ceremonies and festivals as Hinduism. We must briefly notice a few. Shortly after birth there is a ceremony to give the child his or her name. Later on, some time between seven years of age and puberty, there is an elaborate confirmation ceremony called upānayana, when the boy is invested with the sacred thread and girdle. Henceforth he is pledged to the Hindu faith. In olden days, girls, too, went through this ceremony. Nowadays, girls do not go through it in their early years, but combine it with their marriage ceremony. This, of course, is the most important one. It is preceded by the betrothal ceremony, which is considered in India to be fully binding. It would be very unusual, even in our own times, to break off a betrothal, although modern legislation allows each individual great freedom. The reason is that from the earliest days, quite four thousand years ago, marriage has always been regarded as a spiritual sacrament first and a social contract afterwards. Conjugal love was pure and exalted only if approached with deep reverence. The earliest known wedding hymn is in the Ṛg-veda. The first part of this hymn presents marriage as being made in heaven, and is deeply mystical. The marriage made in heaven is the spiritual origin and the religious basis of earthly, human marriage, celebrated in the second part of the hymn, of which here are some extracts:

The priest says:

Let Aryaman and Bhaga lead us: perfect, O gods, the union of the wife and the husband.

To thy husband I bind thee with auspicious bonds, that, bounteous Indra, she may live blest in her fortune and her sons.

Go to the husband’s house to be the household’s mistress, and speak as lady to thy gathered people

Happy be thou and prosper with thy children here: be vigilant to rule thy household, in this home.

Closely unite thy body with this man thy lord. So shall ye, full of years, address thy company.

The bridegroom says to the bride:

I take thy hand in mine for happy fortune that thou mayst reach old age with me thy husband.

Gods, Aryaman, Bhaga, Savitar, Purandhi, have given thee to be my household’s mistress.

(The names in these extracts are the names of Vedic gods.)

Life in this world is ended by death. Whereas it is uncertain whether a man and wife will have a child or not, it is quite certain that if a child is born, it will die some day. Death is the most certain event for any living creature. It is a solemn event. Hence a funeral service is a solemn service. The funeral hymns of the Hindus seem to indicate that the very early custom of burial was changed to cremation after the Aryans settled in India. Cremation is the Hindu custom to this day. Here are some verses from the Ṛg-veda:

The priest, addressing death:

Depart, O Death; go thy way — the path which is thine own, far removed from that of the gods.

To thee I speak, that hast eyes, hast ears: harm not our children nor our men.

Addressing the dead man:

Hie thee to Earth, the Mother; to the wide-spread, blessed Earth; to the pious man she is a maiden soft as wool; may she guard thee from evil.

Open wide, O Earth, oppress him not. Be gracious unto him; shelter him kindly, cover him, Earth, even as a mother covers her infant with a garment.

I have heaped up the earth around thee, and may this clod not hurt thee as I place it over thee. May the fathers guard this house, and Yama prepare thee a dwelling in the world beyond.

Addressing the god of fire:

Scorch him not, consume him not, O Agni; rend not his skin or limbs. When thou hast matured him, convey him to the fathers.

The Hindus cremate the corpse, after it has been washed, perfumed and decked with flowers, within a day of the man’s death. The dead man’s nearest relative, usually his eldest son, lights the funeral pyre.

Every day is a holy day for the Hindus, and each day has its appropriate ceremony or its festival. If a Hindu tried to be strictly orthodox and observe all the ceremonies and festivals prescribed for him, he might possibly find himself deprived of the time and energy to attend adequately to his daily business.

Of all the festivals, Dipavali, usually called Divali, the festival of lights, is one of the most popular. It is the chief holiday of the merchant caste. It falls in October–November and marks the New Year Day of the Hindus who follow the Vikram Era, which begins in 57 B.C. One legend has it that good King Rāma’s coronation took place on this day on his return to his capital Ayodhya, on the banks of the Gogra, after he had defeated Ravaṇa the wicked King of Lanka (Ceylon).

The festival is so named because the main feature of the celebration is the illuminations. Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth, and Kṛṣṇa the Divine Incarnation, are worshipped on this day. Presents are given freely to everybody. Children particularly delight in seeing the fireworks and in eating the sweets. Everywhere there are pageants of adults and children, dressed in their gayest, crowding fairs and temples and open spaces. The merchants renew their account books, whitewash their offices, and make excellent New Year resolutions, most or all of which will be re-made the following Divali day.

When fighting Ravaṇa, King Rāma observed a fast for nine days worshipping the goddess Durgā. On the eighth day he killed Ravaṇa, spent the ninth day performing a thanksgiving service and started his journey back to Ayodhya on the tenth day. This is commemmorated in the Daśara festival which is special to the warrior caste. It is also known as Durgā Pūjā or worship of Durgā and as Navarātra, the nine nights. The goddess is worshipped as an unmarried girl. The worshippers are supposed to fast, or to take only one meal a day. Those whose faith is not strong enough may fast for fewer days. In some parts of India children begin their education on Daśara day. It is also considered a favourable day on which to begin a war! It falls in September–October. Broadly, all these festivals are intended to represent the triumph of good over evil, of knowledge over ignorance.

Continued in part 4, part 5 and part 6

Comments

This article is a good one as it brings up some of the most important highlights of Hinduism — how it is not just a system to take one to heaven or some such wishes of the ego.

T. C. Gopalakrishnan, 9^th November 2011