Hinduism a holistic

perspective
Compiled by
T V Krishnamurthy
INDEX
PREFACE and INTRODUTION
CHAOTER I VEDAS , the central theme of Hinduism
CHAPTER II Th principle of GODS
CHAPTER III DESIRE AND ATTACHMENT
CHAPTER IV HUMAN LIFE the passage
CHAPTER V PATHS OF WORSHIP
CHAPTER VI SOACE TIME AND TIMELINES
CHAPTER VIII HUMAN BODY
CHAPTER IX HINDU RITUALS AND SAMSKARAS
CHAPTER X ESSENTIAL TEACHINGS
PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION

Of the many isms of the modern day, the oldest of the isms
HINDUISM is perhaps is the closest to the ground and remains the hear-
beat of millions across the world. More because it depicts the true
reality and closely relates to modern times as much as it did thousands
of years ago. The power and strength have withstood all the
tumultuous changes and warrants of time. Its unparalleled openness
for adaptation sans all boundaries of religion, space or time. It is simply
the way of life and anyone practicing any other religion can easily
adopt the teachings of Hinduism without converting to Hinduism. H
authenticity for the principles and philosophy come from the Vedas,
directly from the revelations of the Gods and supported by the various
scriptures ithihasas and puranas. Thousands of saints have carried out
intense research on the concepts for thousands of years and have
percolated a essence of Hinduism.
Hinduism is a vast ocean and no justification can ever be made by
presenting some aspects of its principles. It is so composite and
complete that it is like the blind describing an elephant. While it is so
simple to follow its teachings yet difficult to comprehend. It is a
guideline of a human life and its celebration.
As many great saints have declared it is the single most treasured
contribution to the peoples of the world.
Personal note:
This is a humble attempt to highlight some of the concepts of Hinduism
I tried to understood thru contemplation of the unknown and
meditation with the principles laid out by many saints. This reflects
many interactions with many respected gurus and learned teachers, I
had the opportunity to listen to. The inaccuracies and mispresentations
of the concepts are of my own making and I seek your pardon for all
the gaffes. As sage Vashishta said, Vicharam parama Gnyanam,
meaning inquiry leads to perfect knowledge, this is more an attempt to
create the mind set for vicharam inquiry.
Personally at the insistence of my daughter Vidhya Krishnamurthy and
my daughter-in-law Renika Sehgal Krishnamurthy, I am lunching on
developing a dossier on Hinduism perspective to make some little
contribution to the youngsters in the community (who have not had an
opportunity to experience the bliss of Hinduism) and give them some
insight before I hang my jersey and this is an attempt to satiate that
feeling.
YOUR Comments are most welcome!!!!

T V Krishnamurthy
CHAPTER I

Vedas the central theme of Hinduism

Vedas the beginning
Hinduism represents a 'way of life' - a way of life that is adaptable without any
space-time constraints. It is independent of time, region or religion. The rich values
of Hinduism are time tested and are universal. Adaptation of the basic Hindu
principles makes the fabric of human life very strong and blissful. Principles such as
non-violence (ahimsa), self enquiry (atma vicharam), living with nature (buta
yagnyam), human life duties (dharma artha kama moksha), respect for elders
(athithi devo bhava), respect for women (matru devo bhava), learning from
scriptures (brahma yagnya) etc are strong pillars for the human race that preserve
and protect our lives. Such values are not limited by any boundaries like caste,
religion, sex, region or time. These are applicable today as they were thousands of
years in the past.
The philosophy of Hinduism is based on holy scriptures called Vedas , The word
Veda is derived from the Sanskrit word Vid which means revealed or making
known. Veda also means knowledge. It is believed that the Gods or the creators
of the Universe revealed all knowledge about the universe, and all its entities or
creations (such as humans, animals, trees and plants, the rivers, the mountains
etc), to select group of saints when they meditated on the divine. With all divine
revelations, the saints carried out lot of research and meditation for thousands of
years, on the divine concepts and created the Vedas. Vedas are therefore the
doctrine of the Hindu philosophy. It is not one mans efforts, it is contemplation of
the unknown by thousands of saints and their disciples over thousands of years To
a Hindu Vedas are APOURUSHA meaning not by men or super human indicating
that it is a divine direction
Max Muller, the great German philologist once said that the greatest and strongest
ever creation in the universe is the Vedas and the whole universe is greatly
indebted to the saints and rishis of India.
The Four Vedas
With several thousands of saints in meditation and building the Veda base, it
became necessary to group their knowledge and index them to avoid clash of
purpose. The sage by name Krishna Dwaipayana took it on himself to divide and
classify all the material appropriately and index them He divided the knowledge
and scripts into four groups which became known as Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama
Veda and Atharva Veda. Since he divided and indexed the Vedas , the sage is
respectfully referred to as Veda Vyasa (divider of Vedas)
Vedas comprise four components called Samhita, Brahmana Aranyaka and
Upanishads. The Samhita section contains mostly textual scriptures the glory of the
Gods, hymns, mantras and benediction, The Brahmanas define the procedures
associated with the rituals and worship of the Gods. The Aranyaka details the
philosophical background and knowledge of the rituals. The Upanishads are the
material covering philosophy and spiritual knowledge. The Vedas are also called
SRUTI - meaning the revealed. The Srutis are well supported by smrutis
(meaning remembered ) that form the slokas. ; ithihasa and puranas stories
narrating several spiritual ad religious events ; Sastra and sampradaya meaning
guidelines, procedures and practices.
The larger body of Vedic literature is divided into two parts with the Samhitas and
their Brahmanas making up the Karmakanda defining the procedures of the rituals
and the Aranyakas and the Upanishads, forming the Gyanakanda defining the
philosophical knowledge of the rituals.
The Rig Veda is the oldest of the Vedas and it is estimated that it was first created
in 1600 BC and perfected over the next few centuries. It is the mother of all Vedas.
The samhita of the Yajur Veda has two sections and so in the last centuries The Yajur
Veda was split into two divisions Krishna Yajur Veda and Sukla yjur Veda. While
the Rig and Yajur Veda use verbal intonations in 3 to 5 scales, the Sama Veda is set
with musical intonations that range into seven scales. These seven scales are the
basis of the structure of the Classical Indian music.were
The mode of communication of the Veda verses mostly oral. Since most of the
samhitas and mantras are short sets of syllables set to specific meter and
intonation scales, the disciples learnt them from their gurus thru repeated chanting
and memorizing them. The well-defined intonation , made it easy for them to
memorize and retain in memory for long. In the later periods, the scripts were
written in palm leaves using an indelible ink with sharp writing instruments like the
bronze stylus or wing feathers
Vedanga
Vedaanga (anga limbs) are limbs of the veda. As the name implies, the Vedanga
are like limbs of the veda to support the study, preservation and protection of the
vedas There are six supportive Vedangas listed with the Vedas
Siksha - a formal learning process of the Vedas and the various elements including
the scale and intonation
Chandus - rhyme and meter
Vyakarna - Grammar, structure of words
Nrukta - Meaning and context
Jyotisha - astrology
Kalpa - moral and ethical procedural percepts of performing rituals
Together the vedangas play an important role in maintaining the purity and
integrity of the vedic tradition
Sastras
Besides the vedanga, the vedas are also supported by sastras, the guiding
principles. There are two sastras that form part of the vedas - Mimamsa sastra and
Tarka sastra that are very popular. Tarka sastra is a guideline on logic and debate
and Mimamsa is the guideline on dharma (righteousness) and Karma (actions)
UPANISHADS
The Upanishads are a collection of texts that contain some of the central
philosophical concepts and principles of Hinduism, Generally referred to as Vedanta,
the Upanishads are interpreted to mean the highest essence of the Veda. The
Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse
traditions and the central ideas of the Upanishads are at the spiritual core of
Hindus.. Of the Vedic corpus, Upanishads are widely known to people as compared
to Vedas themselves,

More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first 13 or so are the oldest and
most important and are referred to as the principal or main mukhya Upanishads.
These mukhy Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part of the Brahmanas
and Aranyakas of the Vedas. and were, for centuries, memorized by each
generation and passed down.

Along with the Bhagavd Gita and Brahma Sutra, the mukhya Upanishads collectively
called Prasthana Trayi (the three ways to attain understanding of the divine)
provide the basis for the various Vedantic concepts. Brahma Sutras are primarily
about the nature of human existence and universe, and ideas about the
metaphysical concept of Ultimate Reality called Brahman. The Bhagavad Gita
presents a synthesis of the concepst of Dharma, Bhakti, Karma, Yoga, Moksha and
Gnyana The essence of Vedanta was so overwhelming that many westerners who
were attracted to the study of Upanishads called it the production of the highest
human wisdom
Muktikya Upanishd, one of the popular Upanishads, lists 108 Upanishads in terms of
their relative time frame of their creation It lists Brahadaryanka Upanishad and the
Chandokya Upanishad as the oldest among the Upanishads.
All Upanishads are associated with one of the five Vedas. Over the centuries the
Upanishads were detached from the Vedas themselves and were formed into
separate anthologies of Upanishads. In later indexing the Upanishads, they were
further classified as :
Veda Upanishads (Part of Veda) or Mukhya Upanishds totaling 13
Yoga Upanishads (covering Yoga) totaling 20
Sanyasa Upanishads ( covering renunciation) totaling 19
Saakta Upanishads(covering Goddess worship ) totaling 08
Saiva Upanishads (covering worship of Lord Siva) totaling 13
Vaishnava Upanishads (Covering worship of Lord Vishnu) totaling 14
Saamanya Upanishads (covering General principles) totaling 21
There are new Upanishads being identified periodically
Mukhya (Principal)Upanishads
Upanishads associated with each Veda are as follows
Rig Veda: 2 Mukhya Upanishads - Aitreya, Kaushitaki - in a total of 10 Upanishads
Sama Veda: 2 Mukhya Upanishads - Chandokya, Kena - in atotal of 16 Upanishads
Sukla Yajur Veda: 2 Mukhya Upanishads - Brahadaranyaka, Isa Vasa - in a total of
19 Upanishads
Krishna Yajur Veda: 4 Mukhya Upanishads - Taitriya, Kena, Maitrayani , Svetasvatara
- in a total of 32 Upanishads
Atharva Veda: - 3 Mukhya Upanishads- Maunduky, Mundaka, Prasna - in a total of
31 Upanishads
Upa Vedas
There are four important supportive vedas that enjoy the same level of importance
as the principal vedas
a. Dhanur Veda part of the Rig Veda deals with archery
b. Sthapatva Veda part of Yajur Veda deals with architecture and construction
c. Gandharva Veda part of Sama Veda deals with music
d. Ayur Veda part of Atharva Veda deals with medicine and health care
There are several other scriptures that qualify to be Upavedas supporting the
Vedas that were part of the vedic time living.
Foot note on Vedas
Vedas are not just spiritual scriptures but a whole mature knowledge base covering
Science and advanced scientific principles, Advanced engineering, architecture,
Medicine and health care, advanced management principles, law and legal courses,
Archery, warfare, communication, governance, education, country planning,
aviation etc, etc. Each of the upa Vedas is a treasure of knowledge and procedures
that were as applicable in todays context as it were during the vedic time. The
various temples and old archeological excavations are standing proof of the rick
technological, engineering and planning skills prevailed in those years and derived
right from the Vedas. The perfection is the astronomical predictions their precise
mathematical calculations that were derived from the up Vedas are even today used
extensively alongside the modern technologies. The Ayur Veda , the medical and
health care component of the Vedas was so advanced that the first ever known
surgery on a human body was done thru AyurVeda.
The Yoga satra and Ayur Veda are the most significant contributions of the vedic
times. These have no space time limitations and are used even today very
effectively throughout the world. There are several advanced and intriguing
concepts in human anatomy propounded by these vedas that are yet to be
understood by modern day medicine and technologies.
It is the Vedas that brought forth the concept that body and mind are inter-related
and that a positive mind contributes to better and positive health and vice-versa.
Modern medical practices are formulating their treatment based on this concept.
Yoga sastra lists out several chronic ailments that can be cured using the yogic
exercises. It has become so popular and is included in the daily exercise routines in
several countries. What is more great deal of research is being done to cure the so-
called modern diseases of the current day.

CHAPTER II

THE PRINCIPLE OF GOD

Brahman and Atman
Brahman and Atman are two unique concepts in the Vedas. These define the Macro-
cosmic and micro-cosmic nature of the Universe.
Brahman is the supreme Universal self the Lord of the (Macrocosm) of the universe
indestructible, all pervading, eternal both manifested and non-manifested, both
being and non-being. He is not worshipped in temples but is worshipped as every
aspect of the universe, the whole Universe.
Atman is the internal self, present in the human body, (Lord of microcosm in the
body) he is immortal transcendental, imperishable and not affected by the body, its
senses or the mind He is worshipped only thru meditation and concentration
In other words, Brahman is the Universe and the Atman is part of the Universe and
hence the Brahman Himself perceived in a micro-cosmic form. The word God is
synonymous with Brahman and the humans are synonymous with Gods creation
The principle of Gods
The single most important concept in Hinduism is the Brahman or God. Being Divine
directed, the Vedas define the Gods as omnipotent and omnipresent. There is a
replication of God in every creation human animals, nature, etc. In other words,
God replicated Himself in every one of His creations and in that respect He is
omnipresent Further all actions and activities in the Universe happen at His will
and His direction and in that respect He is omnipotent. .
The strength of Hinduism to survive the times and external invasions are the human
values protected and preserved by its doctrine. Such principles and values are
elegantly depicted thru an array of Gods and their incarnations and that is more the
reason why we worship and pray to our Gods. Hinduism enlists a million Gods that
are ready to help humans in distress. Each one of our deities stand for such
powerful principles and life values, that are our guiding spirits. The adaptation of
these principles does not just lie in doing a ceremonial worship or a ritual but in
understanding the core philosophy and following it with our heart and mind
The Hindu philosophy

While there are several practices and several variations in the practices of the
Hindus, they all are centered around one fact or one faith that everything in this
universe and cosmos are divine (Isa vasyam sarvam itham ISA VASYA
UPANISHAD). All its entities like the humans, animals, mountains, plants, earth,
water air, space fire etc are all parts of divine and they are established to support
and help each other in their survival. The humans are part of Divine and are
DIVINE. Everything that we see and do in our daily life like breathing, sleeping,
eating, working, walking running etc are strictly divine and divine directed. No
entities (humans or otherwise) can act on their own and any action requires divine
intervention or blessing. In other words, we cannot do anything see, speak, hear
and so on without divine will. This is the essence of Vedanta - the essence of all
Vedas.
One of the important teachings of our learned saints is that all the creations in the
Universe ARE ALL derived from the same source appearing differently in different
forms. This philosophy is called ADVAITAM. Advaitam means no duality This is a
very powerful declaration by the saints meaning man and the creator-Gods are
one. Everything in the world is God and the source for everything in this universe is
God. . An important statement from the Vedas is AHAM BRAHMASMI (Aham
means I; Brahma means god and asmi means am) This is called maha vakya
a very sacred statement and is revered by all saints This means every one of us is
God and we should treat everyone else as GOD.
There are two other schools of vedic contentions named DWAITAM and
VISHISHTADVAITAM. Dwaitam principle declares a duality among various elements
in the Universe more particularly between God and human being. In principle it
opposes the concept of Advaitam declaring that God and Manking are two different
entities and not one and the same. While this contention may lead to conflict in
understanding the true nature of the ultimate reality, these philosophies ultimately
converge at a higher level when mankind attains Godliness or moksha. Per
dwaitam, God and Mankind are two independent forms of Divinity. And that God is
supreme form and mankind is created to serve the Gods.
The vishishtdvaitam principle, as a qualified non-duality philosophy, idefines a
relationship between universal forms more so a relationship between God and
mankind. While GOD and Mankind are individual forms of Divinity, there is a closer
relationship between God and mankind. Mankind in its spiritual progression, can
aspire to become a God.
In simple terms,
Dwaitam philosophy states GOD and Mankind are independent. No relationship is
attributed. Mankind is created to serve the God
Adwaitam philosophy states God and mankind are derived from the same source
and that both God and mankind are one and the same.
Vishishtatwaidam states God and mankind are independent but there is a close
relationship between God and mankind and that mankind can aspire to become
God.
While these principles are open to everyone who practices Hinduism, Advaitam is
practiced predominantly by followers of Lord Siva and dwaitam and
vishishtadvaitam are followed by followers of Lord Vishnu
Branches in Hindu faith: - Shad Darshana

Further Hindus follow 6 different branches of Hindu denomination Followers of

Lord Siva are called Saivites; followers of Lord Vishnu are called vaishnavites;
followers of Lord Ganesa are called Ganapathyas; followers of Lord Muruga
(Karthikeya or Kumara) are called Kowmaras; followers of Lord Surya are called
Souras and followers of Goddess Devi are called saakthas or devi upasakas.
Followers of Siva worship the god in the form of a ellipsoid called Lingam. This
shape of Lingam is of special significance that (the word Lim means coming out
and gam means going in ) meaning that everything of the universe has come out
of the divine and they all ultimately go back to the divine.
Devi worshippers believe that the Sakthi, (power, energy; compassion and
benevolence) behind the GODS are provided by the devis (goddesses) and so the
devis are called Sakthis and the denomination as Saaktam.
Gods behind every action:
As mentioned earlier, every action of all creations in the universe are controlled by
Gods. but they all give us a feeling that we are in control of things and we are
actually doing all our actions. This is what is called maya. In fact every micro
second of our life is controlled by the maya
When Gods are behind our every action, every action of ours become divine and
when we submit our actions to the divine all our actions would have positive
outcome.
Nature of God and human
The nature of God is Sat Chit Ananda (everlasting bliss) Sat (satyam) means Truth;
Chit (Chitta) means knowledge and Ananada means Bliss. This is the divine effect
of Gods an everlasting bliss brought forth by Truth and Knowledge. While human
nature is similar (Sat Chit and Ananada), we have different degrees of fulfillment of
these divine qualities and hence we do not enjoy the bliss and we go thru the
suffering. While Gods have extended all these qualities to men, He has also given us
an individuality and faculty to understand the nature of Universe and perform our
actions and duties and progress in our lives. It is the individuality that creates a
difference in our life.
Why we need to pray to Gods
An important question that comes up when we look at ourselves as divine is that If
we are divine, then why do we pray to God for what we want? Why is the prayer
necessary?
Because we need Godly support in every step of the way in our pursuits as God is
behind every action. We can draw a perspective of this need from a scientific
understanding. We know geometry governs the word we see geometry in
everything in every shape and in every form that we come across. The simplest
entity in geometry is a straight line. Our individual efforts are analogous to straight
line starts at some pint and ends at another point. The individuals life, efforts,
knowledge, achievements and happiness are represented by the geometry of the
line. The line is flexible, can bend, stretch, extend or shorten in length Likewise
the humans are flexible can bend towards good or bad and can achieve things on
their own (stretch) and can be happy or sorrowful (extend or shorten). In the
geometry parlance the straight line is not a very stable configuration. Likewise
individuals, irrespective of their achievements may not enjoy the bliss or stability in
life.
When a straight line is supported by another line touching it, it forms a different
geometrical configuration where the lines together are not as flexible to bend. In
geometry when the lines touch each other, they create an angle between them
(from 0 to 360). The angle of inclination between them defines the extent of
support between them This geometric configuration is more stable than the simple
straight line. In the human comparison, the support line represents the support
system such as parents, siblings, teachers, friends etc. or a combination of all of
them. In other words, the individual gets the support of the family, friends and
community. The angle defines again the extent of support the individual receives
from the support group. The individual is more stable than the simple straight line
and achieves more. This is the basic reason why a family and community systems
are necessary to support the individual effort.
In the above configuration we looked at two lines touching each other at some
point. It is an irony that sometimes we conceive two lines parallel to each other
(not touching at all) as another geometric configuration where it is only as good or
as bad as the individual achievements
When another straight line is introduced in the two line structure above with the
condition that they should all touch each other, we get a very stable and beautiful
structure namely the TRIANGLE. The third straight line which gives the stability to
the structure is the DIVINE BLESSINGS line. This is not only a stable structure, it
also encloses an area contained or covered by the three lines. The area in the
triangle which is computed as ( *b*h) defines the individuals achievements,
happiness and bliss quotient.
The term b represents base the individual effort and h represents the height of
the triangle which depends on how the lines are connected (the three angles). It is
interesting to observe that with base b (the individual efforts) remaining the same,
with higher inclinations of the two sides (family support and divine blessings), the
area of the triangle (happiness and bliss) increases.
Hence the blessings of the family and that of Divinity are very important to achieve
ones happiness and goals. So it is important to pay our respects to elders and
community as also the GODS Thats the reason for our prayers.
Turning to geometry, we will observe that no other configurations such as squares
or pentagons etc meet the criteria that the sides should touch each other.
Why we suffer then?
Another question we always face is ; If gods are so compassionate benevolent and
powerful and control our every action, why do we go thru all the sufferings we go
thru? Or are gods not so compassionate or benevolent as the saints have made us
believe?
The saints have anticipated the problems our generation would face and
contemplated on cause and remedy for our sufferings. This is the most important
teaching of our Vedas
It is the inference of the saints that all our sufferings are our own making namely
prarabda karma unspent bad karmas of our previous lives. As per our scriptures,
each human being, goes thru 8.4 million lives (birth and deaths) before it is
retired. In each of the lives, one commits lots of good and bad acts (karmas) The
net of bad and good acts in each life is carried to the next life and so at any current
life one holds some karma balance which may be good or bad. Depending on the
balance (good or bad) one enjoys the life or suffers in the life. Nobody is free from
the effects of their past actions. This is the reason why our Vedas advise good and
noble acts in this life so that one does not suffer in the next. The individuality
mentioned earlier is the effect of the prarabda.
Per our scriptures, our learned saints and gurus, there are three major woes or
miseries humans suffer as a result of their prarabda karmas of their previous lives.
These are: Daaridriyam (Poverty) Dukkam (Sorrow) and Bhayam (Fear). These
create unsurmountable sufferings and these woes coupled with the arishadvargas
(the six self made enemies ) namely : Kama (lust) Krodha (Anger) Lobha (greed)
Moha (Attachment) Mada ( ego/ ahankaram) Matsarya (Jealousy) they prevent one
from realizing the bliss and salvation..
As a divine creation, the nature of human shall be bliss like the vastness of the blue
sky. It is all pervading and pleasantly blue. Unfortunately we are not able to enjoy
the blueness of the sky due to the floating clouds. The floating clouds are our woes
caused by our vasanas. What is important to realize is that the floating clouds are
dynamic and constantly moving and relatively low heights as compared to the skies.
We are not able to enjoy our bliss due to sufferings which are short-lived and
constantly changing. These are tenets of the kaliyuga and one has to constantly
wage a losing battle against these negative forces. These vices can be overcome
only thru renunciation and devotion to divinity
Our Vedas prescribe several remedial measures to appease the sufferings. These
are the rituals that are also called karmas. Vedas have outlined an elaborate list of
rituals as prayers to the divine. These karmas are classified into 5 categories

Nitya karma meaning rituals to be performed every day (nitya is everyday

Naimittika karma meaning rituals to be performed on specific occasions
Kamyarta karma rituals for specific purpose
Prayaschita karma rituals performed to mellow the effects of a bad action
Yagnyas rituals that are performed to pay our respects to Divinity, parents,
universal elements, nature, fellow humans
Each of the above karmas have several sub categories and elaborate procedures
have been prescribed for each of the sub categories.