A B C of Hinduism

Hinduism is not a religion. It is a language. Outsiders are often baffled by the enormous diversity of beliefs and customs in Hinduism, and attribute it to the frivolous nature of this "religion". On the other hand, insiders sometimes attempt to unify these beliefs into a single religious system, especially in modern times. The foolishness of the insiders is as dangerous as the ignorance of the outsiders, because they both create tensions and conflicts.

I feel these misconceptions can be resolved by a common-sense observation, which is that Hinduism is a "language".

Learning about Hindu customs and beliefs is like learning a new language. In this blog, I hope to introduce you to the A B C of this language. With this background, I hope you'll be in a better position to evaluate the *thousands* of very diverse religions which evolved in India, but which use the same shared vocabulary.

I will introduce 3 words. A for Ātman, B for Brahmān, C for Chalan. These three words are the ABC of the language of Hinduism. These three pose three philosophical questions namely,

A) Who am I ?
B) What is existence ?
C) What is motion ?

Such philosophical questions have bothered in Indian minds for the last 6000 years. The fecundity of the minds probably had something to do with the fertile banks of the Indus river :) Whenever a person attempted to find an answer to these questions, a new religion germinated.

So let's understand the basic meaning of these words.

Ātman : the closest English word for this is "self", not "soul" as translated often. "Atman" means "I" that I feel inside me.

What is Ātman ? What is this "I" which moves my fingers, and speaks through my throat ? What is this "I" that feels anger, desire and other emotions ? What is this "I" that creates dreams or composes art ?

I am not the clothes that I wear, I am not my hair, not my skin. I am not my face. "I" shall survive even if any of them is destroyed. So what else is "I" ? I am not my heart, I can survive over a heart transplant. I am not my brain, "I" will still survive if I had a brain surgery, even though some of my memories might be lost. So what is this "I" and where is this located ? Exhausted by searching everywhere and not finding the answer, the ancient scholars describe this "I" with another concept : şūnyam or zero. Ultimate nothingness.

Brahmān : the closest English word for this is "reality", and not "God" as often translated. What is this that I see, hear and feel outside ? What is this universe ? The ancient scholars have considered "motion" to be the very nature of existence. The word Brahmān means that which is evolving / growing. Our very universe is not static, it is evolving. Somehow, it has grown from zero to infinity.

After careful observation of the universe, ancient scholars have identified five sheaths in this "evolving universe" or "Brahmān". These are the layers of anna (inanimate matter), prāṇa (life), mānasa (mind), vijñāna (understanding) and ānanda (bliss). Various objects in this universe are located as forms in one or more of these layers. For example, plants contain prāṇa and anna. Animals with brain contain a third layer of mānasa in addition. Human beings are capable of abstract symbolic thought, and thus possess a fourth layer of vijñāna. It is said that enlightened human beings have a presence of the fifth layer of ānanda. Thus Brahmān means (all the objects and forms of) this universe in its five sheaths of existence.

Many objects in the universe can often be dissolved into a more supreme form. For example, "ice" can be understood in terms of "water", and "water" in terms of "matter". Such supreme forms are called dēvas and they have a hierarchy amongst them. The various forces in this universe can ultimately be understood in terms of sensory fields that they create. So the process of sensing is supreme to them all. This is represented by a word named Indra who is considered to be the king of the dēvas However, this indeed is not the most supreme form.

Ultimately anything in this universe can be represented as one of these three forms : awareness or intelligence (represented by Brahma) life or harmony (represented by Vishnu) and energy (represented by Shiva). They are called Trimurti (literally, three forms) which are the most fundamental representations of this universe. Their wives represent exactly the same concept, but in the feminine. Speech (Saraswati) is wedded into intelligence. Beauty or wealth (Lakshmi) is wedded to life. And energy in action (Pārvati) is wedded to energy in potence Shiva. They are supposed to be three facets of the one and the same Brahmān. These 3 forms are considered to have 3 functions. The universe is created through awareness (Brahma), it is preserved through life (Vishnu) and it shall be destroyed through energy (Shiva).

Can Brahmān have a meaning without an observing self (Ātman) to validate this by observation ? To eliminate the dependence on an observer, we can consider the space of all things that "can" exist, not just the things that exist in this particular time that are seen by an observer in the universe. This space of all potential possibilities is called para-brahmān (or absolute potential reality). Ancient scholars have found its nature as infinity : pūrṇam or absolute completeness.

Chalan : Why are there dynamic phenomena in this universe ? What is moving the various objects ? It is motion that creates both space and time. Without motion, there is no time. Without time, there is no meaning for causality. Thus the question of the origin of motion is the most fundamental question of all.

The word cara means something that moves. This word is related to carca (discussion), caritra (history), calana (motion) etc. The word kara means something causes motion (which does an action). This word is related to karma (action), kāra (doer of action), ākāra (form or shape, that which is created by action) etc.

A change (motion) once induced in either of the 5 layers of the universe will persist. Such persistence is due to the very nature of time. This is called the law of karma. For example, if I pluck an apple from a tree, that apple will no longer be on the tree. The result of any action (on any form in the universe) shall persist in time. Indeed, the various laws of physics are results of actions, done just after the big-bang of the universe. The universe is an integral composition of the results of various actions (karma) that were done by various objects "inside" the universe.

The big questions

With the terminology in place, there are various deep philosophical questions that can be asked.

1) what is the doer in this universe, that who is setting things into motion. Is there just one doer or multiple doers ?

2) Does a doer have a "choice" to act ? And if there is a "choice", how big is the level of freedom for the doer ?

3) What is the relation between Ātman and Brahmān ? Can zero become infinity ? If so, how ?


Different Religions

Various Hindu religions answer these questions differently. Please make no mistake. The answers are very different. Each of them prescribes a specific path to an individual : on how to lead life, how to treat other human beings, and what type of relation one should have with the universe. These paths are also very different, and sometimes even contradictory. Each of these religions has a specific mythology, prophets and pantheons of saints. These religions can be atheistic or theistic. But what unifies these religions is that they use the same shared vocabulary described above. Sometimes, new vocabulary is introduced : for example "God" (Īshvar) or devotion (bhakti) .

I would like to finish my blog by introducing one of these religions, the most ancient one amongst them called Sāmkhya. It is an *atheistic* religion, and it literally means "enumeration". This is related very closely to the Indian method of counting, with zeros.

Sāmkhya explains how different forms in the universe can be numbered (with finite numbers). It tells how each of these forms is in a perennial journey to grow till infinity. The five sheaths of reality that I mentioned earlier can be visualized as five place-holders in a decimal system of counting. Each successive sheath is exponentially larger (more complex) than the earlier one.

Imagine the counting of natural numbers : 1,2,..9,10,11,12,...98,99,100....

To move to a new and bigger place-holder, a zero has to be introduced into the earlier layers. For example, if a form wants to sense the 3rd layer of mind (mānasa) it has to put zeros in the earlier two layers (of anna and prāṇa). This is the fundamental idea behind renunciation. Without renouncing earlier layers, one cannot proceed to the higher layers. The pleasures that are present in the higher layers are supposed to be exponentially larger (superior) than those in the earlier ones. Most importantly, the layer of ānanda (or bliss) is the objective of human existence. To proceed into this layer, one should first achieve fulfillment in all the earlier layers, and then introduce a zero in them all. This explains the Hindu obligation for dharma or duty of oneself towards one's existence.

Sāmkhya says that the desire to move towards the infinity is the cause of all the motion (chalan) in this universe.

My blog ends here. I hope this serves as a gentle introduction to a curious reader, for a further exploration into the vast and ancient language of Hinduism.