Darshanas: Schools

Different philosophical views of understanding Sanaatan Dharma 

From olden times, sages have founded different systems of deriving knowledge from the Vedas known as ‘Darshanas’ or views. Six primary ones are Vaiseshika by Sage Kannada focussing on atomic matter and nature, Sankhya by Sage Kapila categorising and differentiating twenty five types of existence created from the cosmic energy,  Nyaya by Sage Gautama following a logical reasoning approach, Yoga by Sage Patanjali emphasizing meditation and control, Mimansa by Sage Jaimini concentrating on the rituals, powerful chants, words in the Vedas and Vedanta by Sage Vyasa/Bhadrayana attaching most significance to the Upanishads and Aranyakas of the Vedas. These six schools are classed as ‘Astika’ (orthodox) due to their belief in the Vedas as the primary Sruti scriptures. Buddhism and Jainism are considered as the Naastik religions (heterodox, not based on the Vedas) although their philosophies are said to have many common threads with the Sankhya philosophy and in some cases Buddhism is likened to Advaita Vedanta.

Advaita Vedanta: Whilst some of these views were more suitable to past ages, the Vedanta school is most popular in today’s scientific age of reason. Vedanta has further evolved into schools of Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita philosophies referring to non-duality, qualified non duality and duality in reference to existence of God and the world with life in it respectively. Thus Advaita Vedanta believes that there is only one absolute reality of God which manifests itself in various forms in the world but ultimately these manifestations are illusory compared to the singular truth of the eternal Atman (God). Atman is said to be consciousness without any attributes. The Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita sub schools have subtle but significant differences in terms of whether God is one with the soul in human life. However some Vedanta followers view these three schools of Dualism, qualified non dualism and non dualism as simply the ‘starting point’, the ‘middle’ and the ‘end’ of the same journey and seek to highlight the key similarities upon which they are based.

Smarta Tradition: In modern times many Hindus are followers of Advaita Vedanta and often belong to the ‘Smarta’ tradition of Hinduism which accepts six manifestations of God as Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Kartikeya (also known as Murugan/Skanda) and Surya who are all considered to equally personify the Supreme God Brahman.  Smarta devotees also believe and promote the ‘Smritis’ which are scriptures derived from the Vedas.

The Smarta lineage however includes followers of all six views (‘shad darshanas’) based on the Vedas and not just Advaita Vedanta. Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism are the other three major Hindu sects which worship Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti respectively as the Supreme Being.  Vaishnav devotees pray to one or other incarnation of Lord Vishnu such as Lord Krishna or Lord Rama. The Shaiva school is one of the oldest in Hinduism. Further sub systems of faith also exist since ancient times within the ‘Shaiva’ philosophy (including the ‘Pashupata, Siddhanta, Kashmiri Shaivism, Lingayat’ sub schools which have some philosophical differences).  Followers of the’Shrauta’ tradition attach importance to strictly conducting rituals as per the Vedic texts. 

This philosophy of Advaita Vedanta accepting all the main five or six deities as promoted by ‘Adi Shankaracharya’ influences my study recorded in this blog although this is in no way aimed at negating other beliefs and thought systems. 

Smriti Scriptures

Hindu scriptures developed over thousands of years ago by Sages are classed as Smriti knowledge.  These include:

Upa Vedas such as Aayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharva veda and Stapathya Sastra referring to the science of medicine, science of battle, arts such as music and dance and the science of mechanics and construction respectively.  

Vedangas are another important part including Siksha (phonetics), Kalpa (rites), Vyakarana (Grammar), Nirukta (Vedic Glossary), Chhandas (Prosody), Jyotisha  (Astronomy & Astrology). These are vital to understand and learn the scriptures especially as the Vedas originally existed only by word of mouth in sound form for many centuries. 

Dharma Smritis do not have divine origin but consolidate the wisdom of Sages over generations to provide guidelines on how to lead a ‘Dharmic life’. The Manu Smriti by Sage Manu is the most well known among eighteen others.

Puranas narrate stories about religion, traditions, history of the earth including creation and destruction in order to deliver the same philosophical concepts using mythological tales as aids for easier understanding by the common man. Puranas provide continuity from prehistoric times and help to identify with all our history and our ancient ancestors. There are eighteen most important ‘Maha Puranas’ and another forty six auxiliary ‘Upa Puranas’. 

Itihasas are a record of history focussed around human lives with a message of upholding religious values. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two Itihasas composed as epics by Sage Valmiki and Sage Vyasa and very much part of the Hindu Smriti scriptures.

Other scriptural texts include ‘Agamas’, ‘Nibandhas’, ‘Subhashitas’, ‘Kavyas’, ‘Alankaras’, ‘Natakas’ and all this literature makes Sanaatan Dharma more and more accessible to the common people in comparatively recent generations of human life. 

Scriptures: Srutis

Vedas: are the scriptures known as ‘Srutis’ considered to be directly received from God by ancient Rishis through transcendental meditation rather than by inference or derivation. The origin of the Vedas is said to be hundreds of thousands of years old when great seers experienced God as the supreme consciousness and recited the hymns that were revealed to them during their meditation. Since very ancient times these Vedas have been chanted orally and passed on from one generation to the next in this way although it is said that many thousands of hymns got lost too from the original single compilation of Vedas that had grown out of the revelations heard and passed on by sages by word of mouth. 

A few thousand years ago the Vedas are said to have been arranged into four namely Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda by Sage Ved Vyasa. Their content relates to praising ancient Vedic practices, informing sacrifices and rituals, detailing poetically the ancient practices and specifying magical spells for healing and correcting errors during the rituals of prayer respectively. Each of the Vedas contain three portions that is the mantras or ‘Samhitas’, the ritualistic portions or ‘Brahmanas’  and the philosophical portions called ‘Aranyakas’ also known as ‘Jnana Kanda’. Samhitas and Brahmanas together are called the ‘Karma Kanda’

Upanishads:  The Upanishads mainly occur within the Aranyakas or reflective portions of the Vedas.  There are said to be 21 Upanishads in the Rig Veda, 108 in Yajur Veda, 1000 in the Sama Veda and 50 in the Atharva Veda totalling up to 1179. Traditionally 108 of these are considered most important of which the twelve or so principal Upanishads that Acharya Adi Shankara has written commentaries on are called Chandogya, Kena, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Katha, Mundaka, Taitriyaka, Brihadaranyaka, Svetasvatara, Isa, Prasna, Mandukya and also Maha-Narayana. The Upanishads contain the most profound complex details of the Sanaatan thought promoting virtues, wisdom and a quest for emancipation through understanding the one single reality of God.

Vedanta: is the philosophical meaning derived from the Upanishads. Vedanta literally means the end of the Vedas i.e. a summary or the essence of the Vedas.  Thus Vedanta is a summation of all the contemplative knowledge from the Upanishads but also from the rest of the Vedas.  

In order to understand Vedanta, that is to encapsulate the fundamental philosophy of the Sanaatan Dharma, the study of three canonical texts is recommended. These three sources (or ‘three starting points’ called ‘Prasthanatrayi’ in Sanskrit) are the Upanishads (‘Sruti Prasthana’ or the revealed knowledge as the starting point), the Brahma Sutras (‘Nyaya/Yukti Prasthana’ or logical reasoning as a starting point) and the Bhagwad Gita (‘Smriti/Sadhana Prasthana’ or traditional practical knowledge given by Lord Krishna in the epic ‘Mahabharata’)

The ‘Brahma Sutras’ provide a systematic logical approach for us humans to understand Vedanta perhaps by classifying, contextualising and ordering the philosophical knowledge of the Vedas (mainly in the Upanishads parts) as well as the more detailed practical elucidation of this knowledge in the Bhagwad Gita.  The Brahma Sutras are said to consist of 555 aphorisms composed by Sage Veda Vyasa  although some attribute the Brahma Sutras to Sage Badarayana.  

Bhagwad Gita: (Song of ‘Bhagwan’) is Lord Krishna’s advice to prince Arjuna in response to his doubts. The importance of doing one’s duty without attachment or expectation with the knowledge and faith in the supreme God is emphasised in the context of the Great War in Mahabharata. Lord Krishna expounds upon the paths of ‘Bhakti Yoga’ (devotion), ‘Karma Yoga’ (selfless action) and ‘Jnana Yoga’ (Knowledge) to understand God and describes three stages of self-realization of the divine. These are the supreme ‘Brahman’ as universal energy, ‘Paramatma’ the divine soul omnipresent within every person and ‘Bhagwan’ the God’s incarnation with a transcendental form.

About Sanaatan Dharma

Sanaatan Dharma is the eternal most ancient religion and way of life based on the fundamental law of ‘Dharma’ which may be described as promoting inherent harmony or balance, duty, virtue, righteousness and universal justice.

Scriptures: Vedas are the scriptures which form the foundation for Sanaatan Dharma commonly referred to as Hinduism. The Vedas are a source of all knowledge of life and beyond for all time which was received by ancient Seers and Rishis during their sublime experience of the supreme reality of God. In addition to these ‘God revealed’ Srutis, the scriptures also include ‘man realized’ ‘Smritis’ that inform the practice of Sanaatan Dharma too.

Philosophy: The Hindu Philosophy provides many answers to our as yet unanswered (or not fully answered) primary questions such as ‘who we are’, ‘what to make of the world around us’ and ‘who created the world and us’. Exploring the philosophy behind these concepts of ‘jiva’, ‘jagat’ and ‘Ishwara’ can shed some light. Perhaps everyone wonders about essential questions regarding ‘what the goal of life is’, ‘why we suffer’, ‘why life does not seem fair’ and ‘what is the role of destiny vs. free will in life’.  The stages of life based on the principal doctrines of ‘Dharma, Artha, Kaam, Moksha’ as well as principles of Karma and reincarnation which form a key part of the Sanaatan Dharma go some way towards illuminating our way.

Practice: The practice of Sanaatan Dharma begins with explaining the paths to reach God through increasing awareness and knowledge, devotion and selfless action i.e. ‘jnana, bhakti and karma’.  In Hinduism the role of a ‘Guru’ is highlighted as crucial to understanding and reaching God. Hindus must also navigate through the fascinating world of rites and rituals and further more try to understand the reasoning and meaning behind them. The numerous deities that are worshipped by Hindus are the Devas not to be confused with the one supreme divine God that is ‘Atman’. Also known as ‘Devtas’, these divine entities are referred to as Gods in the modern language and it is interesting to understand each of their natures and relevance for human life on earth. All the stories about these Devas that form the mythology around Hindu religion help to understand the key values of Sanaatan Dharma of truth, justice, non violence, kindness, mercy, faith, peace and tolerance and many more. 

Introduction to my blog

Have you sometimes wondered about being a ‘Hindu’?

The feeling of knowing everything about it, having grown up within the religion which extended into a social, cultural, devotional sphere amidst festivals, temple gatherings and prayers and yet not quite knowing everything or even knowing enough about anything that makes Hinduism?

In my experience I often find that Hindus usually have the faith but cannot quite articulate what exactly they believe in or harder still what they do not believe. They cannot always completely or accurately answer questions thrown at them by others and then choose to simply make things up as they go along rather than confess to being unaware regarding ‘what Hinduism is all about’. For example how many different answers have we all heard when an explanation is demanded about ‘idol worship’ or ‘creation’, or simply ‘God’?

Hindus are proud that they do not usually thrust their beliefs upon anyone. They celebrate their religion and it naturally becomes a way of life no matter how modern a lifestyle Hindus may lead. On auspicious days religion becomes important and fun so that everyone can be greeted, blessed, celebrated with whereas on some other days it can become part of a ‘let’s not go there zone’ or at least a ‘private affair’. There is a definite reluctance to excessively attach with our religion owing to a fear of being labelled a fanatic or a fundamentalist etc which arises out of and leads to our ignorance of Hinduism itself like a vicious cycle. It must be right to strike a moderate’s balance but surely it does not serve as an excuse to be unaware? Some theorists claim that as Indian Hindus get more prosperous their interest in religion will be renewed and they will devote more time and resources to learn more about this oldest religion of all which is perhaps their greatest wealth to treasure without necessarily or naturally resulting in greater aggression or conflict as is feared.

In fact none of us can ever resist a jolly good debate about anything and especially so about all things related to religion. What amazes me is how we all jump into the ring with whatever little we know and start.. um. fighting. Oh yes we do ‘do God’.  Therefore it is almost incumbent upon all of us believers and non believers to try and learn a little bit more about the subject at hand, to know Hinduism as it really is before we wax eloquent. We proudly follow the rituals and happily reap the fruits or the Prasad. How can we then justify not following up on it whilst calling ourselves modern men of reason and not try to learn the wisdom behind that worshipping?

My journey aims just to dust off this same web of ignorance so that the next time I say, “yes I believe”, I do not have to stop there and can say some more. However I do not intend to use this blog to promote my views or worse still push them upon others at the expense of their religious beliefs, nor do I wish to score any major points in making claims about the vast all encompassing nature of the Hindu religion and my association with this great religion. This blog simply records my personal journey in trying to understand what my religion is all about and may not be viewed as a scholarly source of religious knowledge.

This simple stated aim of mine is a hugely challenging task! Precisely because Hinduism or ‘Sanaatan Dharma’ as it is known is so very ancient that some truths have become obscure or some misconceptions have crept in. The scriptures which form the basis of our religion for most believers are written in a Vedic Sanskrit that even the most learned scholars struggle to accurately decipher. Those learned ones who are kind enough to teach and preach help to decode the Shastras but these contain a vast amount of information which seems complex and sometimes contradictory. Moreover we learn differently in this modern world than how ancient people used to ‘learn’ from their Gurus. So we do not even have the process or path to get to the truth of Sanaatan Dharma much less the precious knowledge itself. Nevertheless let us try to uncover what we can and then inevitably to an extent each one will find his or her meaning. Fortunately this flexibility is embedded within our faith and so we can all find something meaningful and a practical message to apply to our current life.

Naturally the content of my blog is not so much my ‘original work’ but rather a consolidation of the study of what various eminent scholars have written about Sanaatan Dharma. I am creating this blog as per what I interpret and understand by reading their books or sites on Hinduism and its various aspects. This means that the speciality of this blog might be seen in the format followed by referencing various sources to elucidate religious concepts with sequential continuity in response to fundamental questions I have and possibly others have too. Also I will try to lay out my understanding of each concept in byte sized chunks (followed by my own instinctive thoughts about the concept) which may be useful as well.

Once I have interpreted the fundamentals or ‘key concepts’ about the ‘Sanaatan Dharma’ to my satisfaction then thereafter I am going to build on this foundation to find practical teachings and values that can regularly cast a positive impact on daily life. The ‘Smriti’ scriptures contain a vast treasure of knowledge imparted through interesting mythological and historical stories which I would love to learn more about and record here. I aspire also to use this blog as a journey of learning about the deities, the temples, the festivals, the celebrations which have grown to make my religion so colourful, accessible and beautiful over so many years.

Please take in what you find useful and leave the rest. I do not wish to dispute anyone else’s versions and do not claim that I will make no mistakes at all in this blog as understanding and writing about religion after all is a complicated task. I would just like to ask you therefore to please bear with me.