Doctrine Of Atman-Brahman

Hindus believe in an uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, and all-embracing principle, which, “comprising in itself being and non-being,” is the sole reality, the ultimate cause and foundation, source, and goal of all existence. This ultimate reality is called Brahman.

As the all, Brahman causes the universe and all beings to emanate from itself, transforms itself into the universe, or assumes its appearance. Brahman is in all things and is the Self (atman) of all living beings. Brahman is the creator, preserver, or transformer and reabsorber of everything. Although it is Being in itself, without attributes and qualities and hence impersonal, it may also be conceived of as a personal high God, usually as Vishnu or Shiva.

Ahimsa: non-injury

A further characteristic of Hinduism is the ideal of ahimsa. Ahimsa, or the absence of the desire to harm, is regarded by Indian thinkers as one of the keystones of their ethics. Historically, ahimsa is unrelated to vegetarianism; in ancient India, killing people in war or in capital punishment and killing animals in Vedic sacrifices were acceptable to many people who for other reasons refrained from eating meat.

However, the tow movements, reinforced one another through the common concept of the disinclination to kill and eat animals, and together they contributed to the growing importance of the protection and veneration of the cow, which gives food without having to be killed.

Neither ahimsa nor vegetarianism ever found full acceptance. Even today, many Hindus eat beef, and nonviolence has never been a notable characteristic of Hindu behaviour.

Three Margas: Paths To Salvation

Hindus disagree about the way (marga) to final emancipation (moksha). Three paths to salvation are presented in an extremely influential religious text, the Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord; c. 200 BC), according to which it is not the acts themselves but the desire for their results that produces karma and thus attachment.

These three ways to salvation are:

1. The karma-marga (“the path of duties”) – the disinterested discharge of ritual and social obligations.
2. The jnana- marga (“the path of knowledge”) – the use of meditative concentration preceded by a long and systematic ethical and contemplative training, yoga, to gain a supra-intellectual insight into one’s identity with Brahman;
3. The bhakti- marga (“the path of devotion”) – the devotion to a personal God.

Although the search for moksha has never been the goal of more than a small minority of Hindus, liberation was a religious ideal that affected all lives…

For the ordinary Hindu, the main aim of worldly life lies in conforming to social and ritual duties, to the traditional rules of conduct for one’s caste, family, and profession. Such requirements constitute an individual’s dharma (law and duties), one’s own part of the broader stability, law, order and fundamental equilibrium in the cosmos, nature, and society.

According to Hindu monist philosophers, humankind’s purpose is the realization of their divinity and – following a path (marga) to emancipation (moksha) from the wheel of rebirth – the reabsorbtion of the human soul (atman) into the ultimate reality, Brahman.

For those following the bhakti path, the purpose is to love God because God created humankind to “enjoy a relationship – as a father enjoys his children”(Srimad Bhagwatam). For the ordinary Hindu, the main aim of worldly life lies in conforming to social and ritual duties, to the traditional rules of conduct for one’s caste – the karma path.