A Brief Introduction to and Overview of Classical Religious Hinduism

Presentation of the course

There are many different spiritual pathways that were born in the Indian sub-continent: Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, for example, and others that came to India such as Christian and Muslim. Hindu spirituality which represents the spiritual quest of the vast majority of the people of India is rooted in the relentless and uninterrupted search of the seers from the Indian sub-continent, rooted in the Vedas, for a mārga (path or way) to rise above the changing, transient realities of this world and saṃsara (the cycle of repeated rebirths) caused by the fruits of action (karma) which shackle one in the unreality of existential ignorance (māyā), and thereby attain mōkṣa (liberation which is a stable, contemplative oneness with the Absolute, Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, the One (ekam) behind the many. The earnest prayer of the Indian sages of old expresses this yearning:

Table of Contents

1. General Introduction to Classical religious Hinduism: Some Terms
2. An Overview of the Sacred Writings of Classical Religious Hinduism
3. The Supreme Being (Brahman) and the Main gods of Classical Religious Hinduism
4. The Human Person (Man) in Classical Religious Hinduism
5. Conclusion