The Thoughtful Traveller: Eye on Hinduism

Over the next few weeks I will be doing a series of short essays covering basic aspects of the major world religions - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. This is a good way for me to provide my readers with some reasonably solid information on major world religions, as well allowing me to brush up on some of the general and specific aspects of religions that it behoves me to remember.

For this week I will concentrate on aspects of the eclectic religious movements that make up ,what we know in the West, as the religion of Hinduism:

The sacred word, "Om", symbolising the infinite Brahman and

believed to represent the primal sound of creation.

The Vedic Period

The Vedic period of Hinduism is usually equated with a period after an Aryan invasion of India in around 1500 BCE - the proto-historic "early Vedic period". By traditional chronology, the "early Vedic period" lasted until the 5^thcentury BCE and the Classical period of Hinduism. Vedism was a polytheistic sacrificial religion typical of the Classical world and thus in many ways very different from its successor - the eclectic religiosity of Indian religions called Hinduism. Vedic ceremonies were held, for which the hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed, that involved offering the ritual sacrifice of animals to a sacred fire and the imbibing of a sacred drink called soma. This fire was deified as the god Agni, because Agni was equated with the fire that consumed offerings made to the gods, he was seen as the mediator between heaven and earth.

The fire god, Agni

Yajna or sacrifice is the essence of Vedic times. Ritual was understood to be the link between the human and the Divine and a vehicle towards liberation. Vedic culture developed on the basis that yajna had the primary purpose of creating harmony, but also more immediately for goals such as good crops, healthy cattle, helpful weather, children, health, and happiness. The fire sacrifice (shrauta) was particularly important to the upkeep of rita or harmony in the land because of the mediating role of the fire god Agni. Particular attention was given to how the actions were to be performed or how the participants had to behave during the time of ritualistic activities. The fire sacrifice was overseen by priests who were in charge of putting into the sacrifice nourishments (annahoma) like cereals and fruits. The central figure of the fire sacrifice was the adhvaryu priest - he would measure the sacrificial ground and build all that was necessary to preparing the materials being used. He also lit the fire for expected offerings. The adhvaryu priest’s skills in performing his duties were thus of utmost importance for the rituals of fire sacrifice. The success of Yajna was dependant on having things set-up in the right way so as to be pleasing to the gods. The fire sacrifice or shrauta rite was seen as a personal affair between the supplicant and the god that could give to the supplicant their desires, but the idea of not having the presence of priests or the proper materials and long rituals would not have been considered in early Vedic times. The power of fire sacrifice was seen as transitory, its bounty would come about only after a certain period of time, thus it needed to be a daily part of the life of the country.

This was to change however. The internalization of fire sacrifice into the privacy of the home began during the Classical period of Hinduism with the integration of Vedic ritual into the Jnana Kanda or knowledge based teaching of the Upanisads. This period emphasized knowledge as the way reach the divine and even to obtain the blessings that had previously been procured through the shrauta or fire sacrifice ritual. Thus, during the Aranyaka and especially the Upanishad periods of Vedic times, the elaborate shrauta rite lost its dominance, in so doing a new kind of approach to Vedic rituals took the front stage.

This new approach was one where the gods and even priests became analogous with the functions of the human body. For example the speech of the supplicant is looked upon as analogous to Agni - the god of fire[1], the eye of the supplicant is looked upon as analogous to Aditya, the sun,[2] and the mind of the supplicant is looked upon as analogous to Candra, the moon.[3] Even the Vedic priests became less important – their roles were also internalized so that the individual could perform the same rituals privately. In essence one could look at this as the development of finding the divine within - the central figure becomes the human being in other words. The gods and their expressions in the outer form of yajna were found to be in the human body itself. The Upanishads particularly point out that whatever manifests as Divine expression in the external world could be found in the internal world of a practitioner of yajna.

Thus the nature and role of Vedic rituals became integrated into what we now know as the present religious practices in India. The importance of yajna remains but is now practiced in private ceremonies in Hindu households. In small low-key rituals to honor Agni, one may observe Hindus today facing their small fires in a proper direction for each purpose. When facing east, the fire is used for sacrifices to the gods; when facing south, the fire is used for sacrifices to the spirits of the dead, for just plain cooking fires face west. Thus Vedic rituals have become part of the daily life of Hindu’s, part of the righteous path of Dharma.

Contemporary Agni fire sacrifice

(See: http://www.himalayanacademy.com/taka/past/2003/June/June_09_2003/)

"O Lord almighty, enkindled on the altar, confer upon us your treasures you who gather all things into one, even what comes from the stranger! Gather together, converse together! Your minds be of one accord, just as in harmony the Gods of old took their ritual shares of oblation! United be your counsel, united your assembly, united your spirit and thoughts! A single plan do I lay before you; a single oblation do I offer! United your resolve, united your hearts, may your spirits be at one, that you may long together dwell in unity and concord!" Rig Veda, 10.191.1-4

Sources Used:

· Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Survey of Hinduism. University of New York Press, Albany, 1994.

· Krishnamacharya E. Book of Rituals, The World Teacher Trust, Geneva-20, 1990.

· Mahadevananda, Giri, Swami. Vedic Culture, University of Calcutta, 1947.

· Zaehner, R.C. Hinduism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1962.