Post 4 - Hinduism

Since I currently don’t believe in a personal, anthropomorphic God I think that if I were Hindu I would follow the concept of Brahman as the impersonal reality from which we all spring. I personally enjoy this idea of a cosmic order that is everything and is in everything including myself whose goal is to become one with this ultimate reality. From my understanding, most Hindu families have a personal deity that they worship as a facet of Brahman. If I had to choose a deity to represent Brahman I would choose Lakshmi because she is the goddess of both material and spiritual wealth and prosperity. It is also my personal predisposition towards a female God because I like the feminine qualities represented. Overall, however, I would focus more on Brahman and on eventually becoming one with Brahman who is the ultimate truth and reality.

I am torn as to which yoga I would follow. My desire is to say I would follow Raja yoga, the path of meditation. It would be quite difficult, however, for me to follow this path because I do not have much discipline in the religion and at times I am too lax with myself. However, I like the idea of reaching enlightenment by meditating on my inner self and attempting to transcend by body and reach the ultimate reality. Some of the 8 steps to achieve this goal would be quite difficult for me, such as Niyama, which require internal control, calmness and equanimity. I think that with time I would be able to master this yoga. If I was discourage by this yoga, I think I would try my hand at Jnana yoga because it is less strenuous on my internal self to immediately master itself but instead is taken in 3 stages of hearing, thinking and then identifying my Self that is identical to Brahman. The first part of this yoga requires me to listen to people much wiser than I to learn and understand and it also requires me to understand the scriptures.  This would be a much more practical yoga for me to follow, despite my desires to realize enlightenment mostly on my own.

Aurobindo is one of my favorite teachers, along with Gandhi, because he taught the world is very much real and also because he has a pluralistic view on the world. Aurobindo taught that Hindu is the eternal religion because it accommodates and integrates all religions into itself while other religions that have a narrow scope and purpose are thusly limited. I agree with this idea wholeheartedly, because it’s hard for me to believe that only one religion is correct when there are so many cultures and truths that seem to change as time goes by.  Hinduism seems to overcome this problem and is more than likely one of the main reasons that Hinduism has lasted for such a long time. I also like his teachings that all deities are simply different forms of the one main deity, Brahman. Thinking on Aurobindo’s new integral yoga, which focus on the integrating the emotional, spiritual, and physical, mental and psychic aspects to create a harmonized whole being.

I want to read all the scriptures of Hinduism! I enjoy reading scripture and if I were an adherent to a religion I would do my best to learn all of the scriptures to understand my religions and myself. To begin with I would read the Upanishads because these scriptures contain the core philosophical teachings of Hinduism. My first desire would be to learn as much as I can about Brahman and atman, or my soul. The Upanishads teach that the soul can become immortal when we realize that the soul is one with all things, and that one is Brahman. After I finished learning the Upanishads I would read the Bhagavad Gita which covers the theological aspects of God and life.

My daily life as a Hindu would be first to rise wash and then perform my ablutions. I would then spend about 10 minutes meditating and focusing on becoming one with the greater reality. I don’t think I would keep strict adherence to the daily rituals, I would find it especially difficult to rise at sunrise every day, especially after a late night of homework! However, I would do my best to keep my routine. I also think it would be difficult to prepare breakfast and offer some to my family deity, which would be Lakshmi, because I don’t often eat a breakfast. As a Hindu I would focus each day on doing all my tasks with devotion, honesty and sincerity. Hindu rituals also include eating dinner and offering the family deity again as well as a family prayer. I would also be expected to observe all holy days and festivals, as well as respect my elders and give to charity. Since I have chosen to follow Raja yoga, I would also devote more time to meditation to slowly reach Moksha.