Examples Of Sacrifice In The Upanishads

In the early text of the Hindu tradition, the Veda, everything evolved around sacrifice. As a means of acquiring something, the elite class would make sacrifices to their gods in order to obtain the things they so desperately needed. An example of this would be the slaughtering of an animal to the gods in exchange for a sufficient rainy season during harvest time. The essence of what it is to be a human being in the Hindu tradition comes from a later text known as the Upanishads. This text did not focus on sacrifice rituals, but instead focused on the quest for knowledge. In the Upanishads the life of the Hindu is a spiritual pursuit that prepares one for the cycle of rebirth known as samsara. Hindus consider the body to be only a place to

This is partly because of the way Hindus began to look at the human being. In the Upanishads texts the human being is seen as the most pure thing in the world and the goal is to enhance the purity of the soul by acting in an ethical manner in every aspect of life. As explained by professor Anne Monius, “every human being has an internal, immutable, and undying aspect to themselves, which is known as the atman” (Monius 2009). In the Upanishads, what the Hindus focus on is the quest for knowledge; this is the ‘new’ activity that human beings should pursue during their lifetime. This knowledge refers to the comprehension of the true notion, the ultimate reality (brahman) which is the awareness of the atman. To better demonstrate the statement above, I will refer to an example used by Kim Knott in her book, regarding the true essence of the self. Shvetaketu, a young Hindu man is struggling to comprehend what his teacher, who is also his father, Uddalaka, means by asserting that “the same essence is in everything” (Knott, 1998). Uddalaka uses the example of the salt to illustrate his statment and to teach his son the true nature of reality. The experiment conducted by the father consisted of his son putting salt in a glass of water and taking a sip. After tasting the water, Shvetaketu realized that even though he could not see it, the salt was still in the water. Uddalaka told him “You, of course, did not see it

On the one hand, there are the Brahmins which are the highest caste of the Hindu tradition. On the other hand there are the Dalit, the lowest caste. These two groups have different moral and social duties in life, and the things that could pollute one are not the same that could pollute the other. In regards to the stage of life Hindus also have different duties. A person, who is in the householder (grihasta) stage of life, is not expected to develop the same duties as a person who is in the ‘renouncer’ (sannyasa) stage of life. Even though, the social and religious duties change among caste and stage of life Hindus are always working towards the liberation of their soul and finally end the cycle of rebirth