Basic Tenets and Doctrines of Traditional Hindu Society

Basic Tenets and Doctrines of 

Traditional Hindu Society

 

Hindu View of Life: Karma and Dharma:

Hindu view of life in the Vedic thought, was that man is altogether composed of de­sires (kama). As are his desires, so is his discretion/insight (kratu); as is his discretion, so are his deeds, as are his deeds, so is his destiny.

Hence, if a man has left any desires in him while he lives, he takes birth again, but if no desires are left in him, he becomes one with Brahma (God). Under the circumstances, one must eradicate discretion (kratu) in order to destroy his desires. It is desire that binds a man to this world and makes him liable to birth and death. Karma (deed) is, thus, only a connecting link between desires and rebirth. Hence, on getting rid of desires, the mortal becomes immortal and attains salvation (moksha).

It will be wrong to hold that this is the only view of the Hindu phi­losophy. In fact, the Hindu literature presents varied approaches to ultimate reality. One approach was made at a later stage in the Gita to the problem of dispensing with desires. The Gita presents a new philosophy of life—the philosophy of karma. The Gita insisted on sublimation rather than on eradication of desires and that was to be done by knowing the true nature of karma.

The Hindu philosophy believes in the continuity of the present with the past in which it is rooted, and its projection into the future. The Hindu respect for tradition has a purpose. It seeks to achieve homogene­ity and harmony of thought. The different phases merely represent differences in emphasis in different historical periods. For example, truth is dharma in Satyayuga, yajna (sacrifice) in Tratayuga, jnana (knowledge) in Dvaparayuga, and dana (alms) in Kaliyuga. The Hindu philosophy also believes in certain theological ideas such as papa, punya, dharma, etc. We will discuss these ideas as basic tenets of Hinduism.

Basic Tenets of Hinduism:

Focusing on the basic tenets and the normative principles of Hinduism, it may be said that Hinduism believes in equality karma and rebirth ideas, moksha (salvation) as the ultimate goal of life, toleration as individual character, non-violence as important feature of social life, and the merger of individual soul into the ultimate soul?

Singh is of the opinion that the normative principles of Hinduism are based on beliefs, ideals, and logic of permissiveness (permission that it shall be done), liberalism (gen­erous and free views, opinions and principles), being and becoming, creation and destruction, hedonism (belief that pleasure is the chief goal), utilitarianism, and spiritual transcendence (outside the range of human ex­perience, reason and description, etc.)

Broadly speaking, the basic tenets of Hinduism may be described as below:

Theological Ideas:

Hinduism believes in certain theological ideas (a series of theories about the nature of God and of the foundations of religious belief) such as punarjanma (rebirth), immortality of atma (soul), papa (sin), punya (merit), karma (deeds), dharma (morality), and moksha (salvation). The idea of karma teaches a Hindu that he is born into a particular social group (caste/family) because of his deeds he performed in his previous life (purva janma).

The idea of dharma tells him that if he follows good deeds in the present birth, he will be born in a high social group in the next birth. The idea of moksha reminds him that his papa and punya will deter­mine the release of his soul from the chain of birth and death.

Pollution and Purity:

The ideas of pollution and purity are equally important in Hinduism. Though the rules of pollution and purity vary from region to region, yet they cover a large sector of life everywhere. They are important in commensally relations, in touching or maintaining physical distance from the members of other group, in inter-caste marriages, and in personal life of an individual on occasions like birth, marriage, menstruation, death, of­fering prayers, etc. The concept of pollution is related to birth and not to cleanliness. A person has to undergo a purificatory rite, simple or elabo­rate, according to the seriousness of the violation of rules of purity. In such matters, it is the caste council that takes the necessary disciplinary ac­tion.

Hierarchy:

Hierarchy in Hinduism exists in terms of:

(a) A division in varnas and castes;

(b) In charismatic qualities (guna) of individuals (the highest and most virtuous being sattva, that is, virtues associated with sages and the Brahmins, followed by rajas, that is, commitment to action and power as attributed to kings and Kshatriyas, and tamas, the lowest in hierarchy, as­sociated with dullness and profane inclinations); and

(c) In values regarding life-goals, like kama (that is, pursuit of sex and material goals of sensory enjoyments), artha (that is, achieving wealth), dharma (that is, moral obligations in social, religious and cultural realms), and moksha (that is, pursuit of salvation from the chain of birth and rebirth).

Idol-Worship:

The most noticeable common feature of Hindu religion is its belief in idol-worship. The worshipped idol is not uniform but it varies according to the sect. Each sect keeps its idol (Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Ganesh, Hanuman, etc.), in a separate temple and worships it on specific occasions. The idea of not allowing Malecchas (including Muslims and untouchables) in these temples was more in the nature of protecting the temple from pollu­tion rather than confrontation with another religion.

Monolithic Character:

The major characteristic of Hinduism is that it is not a uniform mono­lithic (single God) religion, but a juxtaposition (placing side by side) of flexible religious sects. This flexibility is its strength, allowing the exist­ence even of non-caste, anti-Vedic groups, denying approval of the injunctions of the Dharmashastras.

Tolerance:

Tolerating opinions, beliefs, customs, behaviour, etc. of other religions, castes is an important feature of Hindu religion. But is Hinduism really tolerant? One view is that Hinduism is a secular and tolerant philosophy as it embraces within its fold different cults and sects, even as all Hindus swear by the common (Hindu) divinities. The segregation of communi­ties and the relatively distinct religious identity of these led to the possibility of each group leading a comparatively separate existence. The clash could only come in the competition for patronage. This explains the notion of tolerance in Hindu religion.

But there is also a group of scholars which refers to religious intoler­ance of Hinduism. It refers to sectarian rivalries and conflicts. Initially, the Shaiva sect persecuted Buddhists and Jains. Buddhist monasteries were destroyed and monks were killed by Mihirakula and Shashanka in the northern India in mid-first millennium A.D. The rewriting of texts from Vaisnava perspective was another form of religious intolerance because it was done only to correct the Jaina perspective. Even among the ascetic groups, hostility was known to exist between the Dasnamis and Bairagis over the question of precedence at the Kumbh Mela. Such antagonism was not that of the ‘Hindu’ against another religion but that of a particu­lar sect towards other sects.

Segregation:

Yet another characteristic of Hindu religion is that it supports the segre­gation of castes in social relations, worship and religious beliefs. The nature of segregation depends on the status of varnas/castes which were created from the body of purusha (Brahmins from his mouth, Kshatriyas from his arms, Vaishyas from his thighs, and Sudras from his feet).

The argument given against this is that it was only certain sects and certain prominent Brahmins, the most prominent being Shankaracharya, which believed in such segregation. But this argument is not correct because all Hindus believe that membership in a particular group is determined by birth and not merit. However, it is said that various sects in Hinduism could not have flourished and would have decayed if intellectual positions had been entirely determined by birth in a particular group.

Non-violence:

Hinduism is characterised by non-violence. However, a question is raised: Does Hinduism really believe in non-violence? One school accepts that Hindus are non-violent people, but other school maintains that religious violence is not alien to Hinduism. The message given in the Gita is surely not non-violent. The emphasis on sacrifices is surely not based on the ideal of non-violence. But then Bhakti cult, predominant through the sub­continent by the seventeenth century, surely was against the use of violence.

It may be said that non-violence was characterised in Hinduism only after devotional and ritual aspect of Hinduism was emphasised, or Vaisnavism and Saivism cults emerged after the twelfth century A.D., or devotional-liberal traditions grew in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D. with the emergence of saints (bhaktas) like Kabir and Tulsidas in Uttar Pradesh, Guru Nanak in Punjab, Chaitanya in Bengal, Meera Bai in Rajasthan, and Tukaram and Ramdas in Maharashtra. These saints not only carried religious beliefs to the people in their own languages but they also changed the ritual-ridden religious beliefs into simple humanis­tic values, criticising orthodoxy.

Purushartha: Values of Hindu Culture:

Hindu culture centres round four values: kama, artha, dharma and moksha. This four-fold value order is based on the understanding that the human personality has many needs. Man needs food and sex, power and property, and human society and relations with the universe, i.e., human society. The satisfaction of bodily needs is kama. The satisfaction of needs of power and property is artha. The satisfaction of needs of social order is dharma. The satisfaction of needs of oneness with the universe is moksha.

Kama, in its general sense, means the desire for pleasurable experi­ences through the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell under the guidance of the mind. The question may be raised: Is seeking the pleasures of body good? The answer is that pain and suffering is in it­self bad. Today, just as we are all agreed that misery and poverty of the masses be removed by preventing and treating their diseases, improving their economic lot, providing them housing and recreational etc., facili­ties, similarly body pleasures also reduce man’s sufferings.

For example, tasty food gives pleasure but if it causes indigestion and becomes injurious to health, we have pain of ill-health. To achieve pleasure of health, we stop raking spicy food. Thus, pain caused by one pleasure is removed by another pleasure through the principle of selection between competing pleasures.

Where the sense satisfactions are not guided by the mind, it is not kama at human level. Human society has developed the objects of sense satisfaction. We have developed cookery, fashions, picnic sites, gar­dens, music, art, and so forth. All these developments are progress in the satisfaction of kama. Kama includes sex pleasure too since it is a bodily pleasure. Freud has also held that all bodily pleasures mature into sex pleasures. Thus, kama is a value which refers to satisfactions through the senses.

Artha is the need of human personality to acquire power over nature and man. The conquest of Everest and control on floods, famines and epi­demics is an expression of a desire for power over nature. Science is an expression of a desire for power over nature while wealth is a form of power over nature and men. Today we speak of power politics.

The ideals of dictators like Mussolini and Hitler were not sense pleasures but power over the globe. The declaration of five nuclear powers (America, Russia, Britain, China, and France) in 1998 that they will not destroy their nu­clear weapons and asking India (which had conducted Pokhran tests in May 1998 purely for national security reasons) to sign the CTBT was the expression of a desire of power over the globe. Indian culture views such desires as artha.

Artha is both a desire for power over nature and man and also a desire for wealth. Is this desire valuable? If yes, why do we condemn capitalism and power politics? Artha becomes evil when it spurns all other demands of human nature, when it is not controlled by righteousness, i.e., by con­sideration of others’ rights or others’ needs of personality.

The modern progress of America, Russia, Europe, etc. in science and industry is due to artha. We call their civilizations materialistic because they are engrossed in conquest over nature and man. If artha is allowed unrestricted play, it may destroy its own achievements and lead mankind to final extinction. The ethical principles of dharma must control the sensuous, economic and political cravings of man.

Dharma stands for the principle of integration that works through the entire gamut of life in the individual, in the community, and in the world at large. Anything that breaks up the integrity of the individual and society is adharma. Dharma, thus, refers to duties which individuals must fulfill if society is not to disorganise. Just as a college/university has rules for teachers (taking classes, completing courses within a specific pe­riod, etc.) for students (attending classes, paying fees, taking examinations, etc.), and for administrative and ministerial staff (maintaining records, conducting examinations, and so on), and, adherence to rules by all the elements keeps the system stable and any deviation leads to collapse of the entire system, in the same way all individuals in society have duties to perform. What guide these duties are customs, conventions and laws. Thinkers like Manu, Ramanuja, etc., have talked of these duties in Dharmshastras to regulate human relations and have considered them valuable for our existence, enjoyment and evolution.

In Indian culture, what underlines these duties, according to Kanal (1955) are:

(a) Vamashram dharmas or vishesha dharmas

(b) Sadharan dharmas or samanya dharmas.

The vamashram duties are divided in four stages of life: student life, family life, retired life, and life of renunciation. These are also related to professional roles. Sadharan dharma refers to common duties not attached to one stage of life or professional role, e.g., refraining from theft (asteya), restraint of anger (akrodha), forgiveness (kshama), re­fraining from injury to living-beings (ahimsa), cleanliness (shoucha), and truth (satya). These (samanya) duties are duties of man to man.

Dharma also includes virtues (duties and virtues are different). ‘Duty’ refers to action and ‘virtue’ refers to inner disposition of mind. For exam­ple, preventing a person from indulging in illicit sexual acts is a duty and being free from sexual thoughts is a virtue. Since virtue is purity of mind, virtuous life is higher than performance of duty. To be good is better than to do good. Duties are performed without much thought about what makes them good.

Virtue leads to reflection over right and wrong. Duties represent conventional morality and virtues represent reflective morality. There is a difference between a son who loves his parents and a son who just provides economic support to his parents. The latter does what the society prescribes as his duties towards his parents while the former per­forms many acts of kindness which are not prescribed by the society. Virtues are dynamic whereas duties are static. But duties lead to virtues. Dharma helps to keep society together, virtues create integrity in our minds.

Moksha refers to a state of liberation or freedom. Shankara distin­guishes between Mukhya Proyojanas or ultimate ends and Gouna Proyojanas or secondary ends. Desiring anything for itself is called Muk­hya Proyojana but achieving some for Mukhya Proyojana is Gouna Proyojana. Pleasure is a case of Mukhya Proyojana while training for a job, and earning of money are Gouna Proyojana. Shankara holds that pleasure is of two kinds empirical pleasure and transcendental pleasure. The for­mer comes through the medium of our body while the latter is spiritual pleasure. Moksha consists in the realisation of the identity of the soul with the or total reality.

Hindu culture prescribes two stages in attaining moksha (liberation):

Pravrtti Marg and Nivrtti Marg:

The former is a stage of regularised satis­faction of bodily needs and consists in the enjoyment of desirable objects of the world, while the latter consists in developing vairagya or detach­ment from things of the world. The two stages are continuous, one leading to the other.