Yes, this will happen every time I do my homework. [now with 400% more appropriate icon!]
Sorry, flist. Hinduism = interesting to me.
I'll preface this post by saying the following: I am learning about Vedic Hinduism at the moment. That means we're still sacrificing horses and shunning menstruating women and finding newborn babies woefully unclean for the first three days of their life. Modern Hinduism is just that - MODERN. And while many philosophical beliefs are the same, there are some very big differences. And while some Hindu people still do the baby thing, it really does have some genuine health benefits and they totally don't hold it against the baby anyway...
FIRST OFF, caste system goes as follows:
Brahmans - technically the priest class, as they are the most pure reincarnation and the most likely to finally manage moksha, aka getting out of that pesky reincarnation cycle (which is everyone's goal. Yes, your goal in life is to FINALLY die. It makes sense, I swear). Also, brahman also means something similar to holy universal soul, so if I go into that I'll try to differentiate somehow.
Kshatriyas - the warrior and government class, as Brahmans are too shiny to kill things.
Vaishyas - normal people! \o/ You're still twice-born, but...still not that good. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME?
Shudra - lowest class, also known as the "untouchables" to some. NOT twice-born.
Twice-born = it's at least your second time around. Interestingly enough, one of the popular Hindu wedding rituals (which is seen at Apu's wedding in The Simpsons!) where a couple is tied together and walks around a fire together seven times is a reference to them being...you know. Tied together for seven lifecycles. Which really sucks if one of them manages moksha...
NOW. Purity/Impurity/Purification. The first thing you really need to understand is that the (vedic) Hindu beliefs do NOT do penance. If you do something wrong, you're either screwed or have to do the right ritual to get yourself pure again. There is no divine forgiveness or worth in self-flagellation (although there is in asceticism, which I'll get to later).
Purity means that you're obeying the rules, your soul is shiny and clean and awesome, and you're devoting yourself to the things any good Hindu is supposed to be devoting themself to. Impurity? You fucked up. According to some of the rules in the Manavadharmasatra, this isn't hard to do. Pointing out a rainbow is naughty. So is hanging out with a girl on their period. No, I'm not making this up. So you're impure? Eh, they'll just shun you for the allotted time period before you go through a purification ritual, which 75% of the time is related to bathing.
But what's that got to do with karma? Karma's that whole storing-up-luck thing, isn't it?
Nnnope.
Karma is literally action. Think of karma a bit like confused Newtonian physics. For every action, there is an equal reaction. It may come back to you in this life or the next, or you could even have some reaction happening to you in this life from a previous one, but if you do something, you will feel it later. This is why purity is so important. The more pure you are, the more likely your karma will be GOOD karma. You'll do good things if you're obeying the rules, considering the precepts are there to ensure your actions are good and to, hopefully, get you to moksha faster. If you're impure, you already messed up and you're waiting for the reaction. Luckily, purification is another positive action, so while you're going to get that bad reaction no matter what you do, you'll at least get some good to improve your life afterwards.
I like my Hinduism class. It's actually a joint undergrad/graduate-level course, and I'm really liking the way it's taught because of that. The least survey-ish survey course ever. It's fantastic.
Also, as I learned in my O Hay Look, Jesuit Missionaries In Late Ming Dynasty China! class, Chinese Is Hard To Read, Especially The Older Type. That was totally worth devoting 100 minutes of class to learning. AT LEAST I KNOW THE CHARACTER FOR WOOD NOW?
I'll preface this post by saying the following: I am learning about Vedic Hinduism at the moment. That means we're still sacrificing horses and shunning menstruating women and finding newborn babies woefully unclean for the first three days of their life. Modern Hinduism is just that - MODERN. And while many philosophical beliefs are the same, there are some very big differences. And while some Hindu people still do the baby thing, it really does have some genuine health benefits and they totally don't hold it against the baby anyway...
FIRST OFF, caste system goes as follows:
Brahmans - technically the priest class, as they are the most pure reincarnation and the most likely to finally manage moksha, aka getting out of that pesky reincarnation cycle (which is everyone's goal. Yes, your goal in life is to FINALLY die. It makes sense, I swear). Also, brahman also means something similar to holy universal soul, so if I go into that I'll try to differentiate somehow.
Kshatriyas - the warrior and government class, as Brahmans are too shiny to kill things.
Vaishyas - normal people! \o/ You're still twice-born, but...still not that good. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME?
Shudra - lowest class, also known as the "untouchables" to some. NOT twice-born.
Twice-born = it's at least your second time around. Interestingly enough, one of the popular Hindu wedding rituals (which is seen at Apu's wedding in The Simpsons!) where a couple is tied together and walks around a fire together seven times is a reference to them being...you know. Tied together for seven lifecycles. Which really sucks if one of them manages moksha...
NOW. Purity/Impurity/Purification. The first thing you really need to understand is that the (vedic) Hindu beliefs do NOT do penance. If you do something wrong, you're either screwed or have to do the right ritual to get yourself pure again. There is no divine forgiveness or worth in self-flagellation (although there is in asceticism, which I'll get to later).
Purity means that you're obeying the rules, your soul is shiny and clean and awesome, and you're devoting yourself to the things any good Hindu is supposed to be devoting themself to. Impurity? You fucked up. According to some of the rules in the Manavadharmasatra, this isn't hard to do. Pointing out a rainbow is naughty. So is hanging out with a girl on their period. No, I'm not making this up. So you're impure? Eh, they'll just shun you for the allotted time period before you go through a purification ritual, which 75% of the time is related to bathing.
But what's that got to do with karma? Karma's that whole storing-up-luck thing, isn't it?
Nnnope.
Karma is literally action. Think of karma a bit like confused Newtonian physics. For every action, there is an equal reaction. It may come back to you in this life or the next, or you could even have some reaction happening to you in this life from a previous one, but if you do something, you will feel it later. This is why purity is so important. The more pure you are, the more likely your karma will be GOOD karma. You'll do good things if you're obeying the rules, considering the precepts are there to ensure your actions are good and to, hopefully, get you to moksha faster. If you're impure, you already messed up and you're waiting for the reaction. Luckily, purification is another positive action, so while you're going to get that bad reaction no matter what you do, you'll at least get some good to improve your life afterwards.
I like my Hinduism class. It's actually a joint undergrad/graduate-level course, and I'm really liking the way it's taught because of that. The least survey-ish survey course ever. It's fantastic.
Also, as I learned in my O Hay Look, Jesuit Missionaries In Late Ming Dynasty China! class, Chinese Is Hard To Read, Especially The Older Type. That was totally worth devoting 100 minutes of class to learning. AT LEAST I KNOW THE CHARACTER FOR WOOD NOW?