Soteriology Within Hinduism Dharma and Moksha

Exotic India Art, 2012

All of man’s activity is directed towards attaining that what is pleasant to him and preventing that which makes him suffer...Even then the Vedic Karma could not be performed...This is how and why Dharma was created, the four Varnas being in a sense its four pillars...Consider the number of virtues expected of Brahmin performing sacrifices for others...The king, who, even though he takes taxes from his people, remains oblivious to their protection, is considered a great sinner...He is fully entitled to the knowledge of Vedanta...Karmas like Vedic sacrifices etc. destroy the negative residue of sins accumulated by us over our many births...This is called working as a servant under God. Visit: https://bit.ly/3sYUqzs

The thought of Dharma is part and parcel of Indian Culture. Being one of the four Purusharthas, it is capable of upholding and integrating the whole society. Among the great concepts and doctrines, the basic principles and directives of Hinduism, Dharma stands out pre-eminent, with a vast, deep and pervasive significance of its own. The concept of Dharma is vast and vide. It is a Sanskrit expression of widest import. There is no corresponding word in any other language. Dharma is the lifeforce of the society, like 'Prana' in an individual. Any state or institution or even society or an individual cannot exist without Dharma. Those who believe in discrimination, in effect, don't practice Dharma. They never attain real happiness.

Ethics, 1926

Social order and harmony have been issues of consistent concern for the ṛṣi-s and authors of dharmaśāstra. Unlike the modern society, the dharma traditions did not conceive of a society in terms of utopian concepts like equality and egalitarianism, which when taken to its logical conclusion promote sameness and destroy diversity. Instead, Hindu dharma tradition recognized diversity as being ingrained in the very structure of the universe, destroying which is neither fully attainable nor desirable. Thus, instead of seeking to destroy diversity, dharma traditions conceived a social order wherein diversity was not only recognized as a fundamental reality of the human society, but was also nurtured and allowed to flourish and called this conceptual framework “varṇa vyavastha”. As Frawley (2014) notes: “The Vedic concept of ‘varṇa-dharma’—reflects an organic and ecological model of society that is universal and quite appropriate for the dawning planetary age… In this Vedic idea, human society follows the same organic order as the human body, which mirrors the order of the entire universe. Like the human body, human society should be one in nature, but differentiated according to functions .” Though varṇa, a misunderstood concept, is often equated with caste and discrimination, a thorough examination of dharma traditions reveals how at its very core, the framework of varṇa is all about creating a social order that facilitates individuals to live according to their inner temperaments and pursue their own unique paths to self-actualization. Varṇa upholds diversity and promotes meritocracy. The very term varṇa is derived from the verbal root word ‘vr’, which means “to choose”. Shastry (2011) describes varṇa as: “Unique descriptor tags, unique features which can be used for identification of individual entity for a specific identity .” Thus, varṇa can be understood either as a reference to the svadharma (personal duty/purpose of life) chosen by each individual in his/her life according to his/her svabhāva (inherent nature) or more appropriately as a descriptor tag referring to the svabhāva that drives people to spontaneously choose particular paths of life as their svadharma. This interplay of svabhāva and svadharma allow us to develop a conceptual framework of varṇa, which facilitates each member of the society to pursue their unique paths to success, prosperity and self-actualization. The paper will first briefly explore the meaning of varṇa in the context of their descriptions available in some of the prominent Hindu texts and its function in the Hindu framework of Purusharthas. The role of varṇa will also be explored in the context of svadharma and viśeṣa dharma. The paper will then utilize the interplay between svadharma and svabhāva to identify three key elements in a conceptual framework of varṇa, namely: a. Identification of the different temperaments of individuals b. Classification of people at a conceptual (not social) level into different groups according to different temperaments as per their inherent nature and capacity c. Enunciation of different duties/actions/paths of life most suitable/applicable to each group, such that people belonging to all the groups can attain overall wellbeing by performance of those duties The paper will then enunciate how only a merit based social order founded on the conceptual framework of varṇa can facilitate self-actualization of people while preserving diversity. In addition, a correlation between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the Hindu framework of Purusharthas will be presented to demonstrate how an individual’s svadharma lies in attaining self-actualization. Furthermore, a brief account contrasting varṇa with jāti and Caste, highlighting how varṇa is a conceptual framework, while the latter two are references to social structures will be presented.

Dharma or Ethics from India. Antonio J. Rivas Melean. 2020. National Academy of Science of U.S. 06-12-2020. (Academy.edu). English-Español. , 2020

ABSTRAC THE DHARMA, INDIA ETHICS A human being in a group or a society is called to learn with a Dharmic Guide or Ethical Guide, to cultivate to live with a Character or Éthos of the Personality or the Second Nature of Aristotle, with their habits, customs, behaviors and Moral Ethical norms of the group or society, for the purpose of an organized, cooperative life, coexistence, feelings of equity, justice, respect, with a Universal Ethics, for a System of Life, with good Survival, and Purposes of Well Being or of happiness. With moral-ethical guidelines, for actions, facts and their abstentions. Very briefly we examine the Dharma of Hinduism, which bears a resemblance to the Greek Ethic origin word of our civilization. The Ethical Guide must guide the Éthos or Character, The dharma of Hinduism has originated from its philosophical inclination, with strong influence and guidance for the personality with its moral standards, at all levels of its people, and occupies the first place among its goals.

An ideal of a religious life constitutes undeniably a broad term and varies depending on the religion, its orthodoxy, performed rituals, a situation of a particular person and the potential opportunities which these certain circumstances create. Each of doctrines advocates different injunctions and praises certain rites. However, a common denominator for a number of different religions is an ascetic path of life as the most elevated one. Max Weber, in his "Economy and Society", distinguishes two types of asceticism, "inside the world" and "outside the world asceticism". The division expresses an eternal dilemma between expectations created by the social responsibility, our role in the society and the virtues praised by the dogma of a religion, since the former term refers to a life concentrated on salvation, but within the worldly, everyday activities and the latter one points to people withdrawing from the society and choosing a path of renunciation. While some doctrines like Protestantism (as claimed by Weber in his "Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus") 1 stress the importance of work within a worldly, material context, religious systems originating from South Asia always emphasized the role of asceticism, understood as resigning from the temporal aspects of life. Both, Kaelber and Stevenson point to the VI century BC as a time of a special interest in the path of renunciation 2 . They stress its character of drastic social and cultural change in India. They consider instability of that time, constant tensions and wars of different small kingdoms, but also a "growing individualism, cosmopolitanism and freedom of motion" 3 a basis for soteriological alternation. Kaelber understands this change as a transgression from the orthodox Brahmanism to the "formative Hinduism" and other religious movements like Buddhism or Jainism challenging the karma-kānda (theology based on the efficacy of the ritual) and centered more in jñāna-kānda 4 .

Anu Books, 2022

It is understood that in the very popular understanding of the term 'dharma', it designates a 'religion' or a religious sect'. That is in common parlance, 'dharma' is found to be used in the sense of the institutionalized religions. For example, Hindu dharma (having alternative names like: Aarya dharma/ Sanatana dharma), Jaina dharma, Bouddha dharma, etc. But every religious sect or dharma has its own understanding of the concept of dharma in a specific manner. That is, some standards are accepted in an institutionalized religion to be treated as dharma. Those are prescribed in the form of certain codes and conducts aiming at an ideal living. This article aims at attempting the exposition of an understanding of the concept of dharma as found in the above-mentioned two religious sects to show that the primary aim of these religious sects is to enforce dharma to act as a guide to the moral living of its followers. Their aim of emphasizing on dharma is not from religious perspectives, but rather from moral perspectives.

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2015

In the tantric context, samayas are the rules a Śaiva or Śākta neophyte is to follow after he is introduced into his new community and receives an initiation name. The samaya rules are therefore part of what defines the Śaiva or Śākta Śaiva tantric community, at least according to the scriptures. This paper attempts to see what these rules are, how they are related to mainstream brahmanical rules prescribed by Dharmaśāstras and in what way they may actually demarcate various Śaiva and Śākta communities. Before turning to the samayas themselves, a nontantric Śaiva story is presented, which clearly shows that in spite of their overall conformity to traditional brahmanical prescriptions, lay Śaivas also saw themselves as following a different set of laws and rules. Then three different types of samaya sets will be examined: those of the Śaiva Siddhānta, the heterogeneous lists of early Śākta scriptures and the strictly 'nondualist' rules of later Śāktas. While these rules cannot reveal the exact relation of the respective communities to their contemporary society or to each other, they may betray something about the way in which these communities saw themselves within a larger context. * The first version of this paper was delivered at the workshop 'Visions of Community. Tantric Communities in Context: Sacred Secrets and Public Rituals' (5-7 February 2015, Vienna, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften), in which I was able to participate thanks to the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) VISCOM SFB Project. I would like to thank Nina Mirnig and Vincent Eltschinger for inviting me to this event. I am grateful for all the comments made by the participants present, in particular to Jung Lan Bang for discussing difficult passages of the Tantrasadbhāva and sharing her draft edition as well as manuscript photos, to Shaman Hatley for helping to understand obscure expressions in the Brahmayāmala, and to Csaba Kiss for corrections, comments and issues raised in the last stages of the writing of this paper.

Practical Buddhist Studies Reviewed Journal, Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka,Vol, 01,2018,pp 220-228, 2018

The moral teaching of Indian society at the time when Buddha was born, were developed under the both Brahmana and Sramana traditions. While Brahmanism explained the moral teaching in relation to the omniscience, omnipotent God, asceticism represented the necessity of practicing ascetic practices for the purpose of achieving moral life. It is true to say that the moral conducts of Brahmanism based on the self-indulgence (Kāmasukallikanuyoga) 1 and opposite, self-mortification 2 was the optimum path of moral conduct of asceticism. The germs of the moral teachings are included in the Vedic literature. The moral conducts of the Vedic period squarely connected with concept God, heaven and concepts Ṛta (constant and circular nature of the universe) and Iṭapūrta (sacrifice) were two prominent aspects of moral basis of the Vedic period. The process of the Ṛta equally effect for everyone and it was controlled by the god Varuna. Generally God Varuna represents the controller of the good and bad. Therefore, behaving according to the process of Ṛta considered as obedience for the wish of Varuna. The man who has conformity with wish of Varuna should complete sacrifices (Iṭapūrta). The sacrifices represent the concept of good and bad and disobedience for Varuna or does not complete the sacrifices represent the concept of bad. The heavenly rebirth was ultimate good but only few people would be born in the heaven and majority of the people would be born in patriarch world. 3 Two places that the human beings would be born after the death, generally known as Arvīr Mārga (illuminated world) and Dūma Mārga (gloomy world). 4 A.B. Keith emphasized that Vedic Aryans believed that the faith on the God is the path of heavenly rebirth than the actions of them. 5 But they believed practicing of austerity, giving alms to Brahmanic priests etc. cause to heavenly rebirth. 6 Later, in the Brahman period priority has given to the sacrifices than the God who accepts the sacrifices. Aśvamēnda, Puruśamēda, Vājapēya, Niraggala, etc. were such important sacrifices that should be offered by the man. The concept of the good and bad depended on the sacrifices; the man who does the sacrifices, consequently receives the good result while the man who does not do sacrifices receives the bad result. To represent the concept of good and bad, they used the terms like, sukṛuta, duskṛuta, sādhu, asādu, puñña, pāpa etc. During the Araṇyaka and Upanishad periods concepts of Ṛta and sacrifices were not completely disappeared but instead of those concepts they explained the teaching of Ātman and Brahman concepts. The person who understand respectively the reality of Atman and Brahman has