Hinduism is a broad and encompassing religion. Due to such, the study and answer of any specific question in this religion is difficult. In order to adjust for this, I am going to look at the gunas, the various life goals, life stages, and social castes and see the specific impact that each of these have on morality and ethics in Hinduism.
Before I look at each of the specific aspects though, the question arises: “How can one be moral?” By definition, to be moral is to be concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong. Expanding on this is the principle of ethics. This is simply a system of moral principles. At first glance this information may seem trivial, however, it is to the contrary.
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This brings me to the first topic that I am going to evaluate and that is the gunas. The gunas may be interpreted generally as the qualities, tendencies, or states of active consciousness (Widget, 232). In other words, the gunas are concerned with the inner and psychological measures of conduct. There are three different gunas and these are: tamasik-tendency to cause disorganization and confusion; rajasik- egotism or anything that is individualizing; and sattwik- tendencies to order and harmony (Widgery, 233-234). These three conditions are rarely all one or the other, but instead can be seen as a combination of the three. Conduct that is tamasik or tamsik-rajasik is seen as bad, while conduct that is seen as sattwik or sattwik-rajasik is seen as good (Widgery, 234). This leaves a goal of striving for sattwik conduct, demonstrating how a religion can influence the morals of its …show more content…
There are four categories and these are: dharma-loosely defined as religious duty; artha-career and prosperity; kama-pleasure; and moksha-freedom from cycle of samsara (Crawford, 14-15). Dharma in this case in seen as the most important towards achieving moksha, however, without a life of wealth (artha) or pleasure (kama) one will not be able to lead a life of renunciation that leads to Moksha. This highlights the differences between Hinduism and other religions. Several religions, such as Catholicism, preach against aspects such as kama. For example, one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism is gluttony (Sanders, Web). In contrast, Hinduism preaches that life should be enjoyed and pleasurable experiences, even ones which are sexual in nature, should be sought out. This further demonstrates how the beliefs of a religions, can shape its followers views of
From the beginning of humankind, people have constantly had to deal with inner battles. Many of these issues cease to exist as time goes on, while new ones arise to take their place. There is one issue, however, that has remained consistent throughout time – morality. For centuries, humans have fought against the outside world and themselves to keep their morals properly aligned. The issue of morality is so dominant that it is still plays a vital role in today’s society. This can be seen in wars, law systems, codes of conduct, and religious texts. An example of a religious text where this can be seen is in pages 185 - 188 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna, also referred to as “The Blessed One”, guides Arjuna through his inner struggles between
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
In our generation, there is so much ability and freedom to do what appeals to each person as an individual. With all this freedom, we often forget to stop before acting, and question if our choices are ethical. What exactly are ethics? Ethics are according to Oxford Dictionary "Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity." Taken down to its essence, to be an ethical person, one must have morals. What are morals? Again, pulling from Oxford Dictionary "Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior." With these definitions given, morality becomes subjective. But really
In this term paper I will be comparing and contrasting Buddhism and Hinduism. Comparing both Hinduism belief, sacred text and overall view of how the world SHOULD be. Hinduism and Buddhism are two of the most influential and complex religions around the world. Both religions have similar philosophies and originated in India before 500 B.C. Both are among the top five major religions being practiced in today’s world. Hinduism ranks as the third most popular organized religion and is much older than Buddhism. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or Lord Buddha, who considered himself a Hindu before being called to his path and attaining enlightenment, and therefore given this fact, it follows that Buddhism share many similarities and some very distinct differences in certain doctrinal sacred texts, ideals, practices, and beliefs of Hinduism.
The Indian interpretation of development is grounded in the assertion of dharma with implications and systematizations that constitute unique and distinct definition of social living. Authentic expressions and experiences of life and the upholding of the moral and physical order as enunciated by rita is central to the dharmic vision of life and the exposition of the same differs in every culture. These perceptions are based on and rely upon a shared history, cumulative tradition, myths, symbols, behavioral patterns and thus religion as a whole. The experience of the Ultimate and the realization of the Ultimate create values which accentuate the notion of life. The dharmic assertion always expounds the notion of righteous
As we studied in class, early Indian culture and society in 300 C.E., the Hindu society was dominated by the caste system, which influenced almost every aspect of life. Each caste had its own particular dharma, carrying with rights, obligations and restrictions. Beyond this was a generalized dharma applicable to all: deference to the Brahmins, devotion to the gods, and reverence for the Ganges and for sacred cattle (Connections, Pg. 58). Procreation too, was considered a sacred duty: large families were seen as blessings from the gods, and any attempt to limit family size was frowned upon (Connections, Pg. 58). Since reproduction was essential to reincarnation, for most people marriage and parenthood were moral obligations.
Morality is the set of principles concerning the distinction between what is right and what is wrong. All moralities are relative, depending on the circumstances immoral act can be committed for a moral good, certain moralities apply to one set of people and not another because of religion, culture, etc. A simple example of a relative moral is lying; During their childhood, Children are taught that lying is wrong—immoral— but as they gain more life experiences some learn that lying isn’t always wrong, in some situations it helps more than telling the truth, the morality and immorality of lying it is relative to certain situations that different people experience. Since morality is relative, the line between what is right and wrong is blurred;
The concept of Dharma emphasizes sacrifice, obligations, and self-denial, providing the right values for resolving social disputes such as the one mentioned above in the case study. The Hindu society is one based on a caste structure and Dharma constitutes the religious and moral doctrine of rights and duties of each individual in their individual caste. What an individual should or should not do is based on the context of the situation and virtues and transgressions are dependent on contextual issues. One of these contexts is that truth is relative and one must be tolerant of the truth of others. (Glenn, Ch
Why be moral? This is a question that I’ve asked myself for many weeks since the beginning of this class. I wanted to know why is being moral so important to some people myself included. This also lead me to another question, which is why is it easier for some people and harder for others to be moral? First, let 's understand what it is to be moral. One definition of moral is concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. Another definition is a person 's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. From both of these definitions, we get that being moral concerns right and wrong and being able to differentiation from both of those and having your actions reflect what you believe is right and wrong.
The teachings on ethical issues from a religious perspective vary greatly in their approach for each faith tradition. The nature of the teachings on ethical issues within the Buddhist faith enables them to be open to discussion and interpretation. In this essay, I will discuss what the teachings that govern the Buddhist position on abortion are, what the Buddhist teachings on when human life begins are, what the prescriptions and prohibitions in relation to abortion in Buddhism are and how these compare and contrast to the position within denominations in the Christian tradition and finally, what is the relevance of this topic to the Religious Education senior cycle syllabus.
1Sivananda s.s, (1999). All about hinduism. 7th ed. P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192 Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, Himalayas, India.: A divine life society publication.
Out of the many different South Asian religions there are in today’s living. Each has a dharmic world view that differentiates them and compares them to each other. Each of the religions forms their own unique beliefs and practices based on the history that revolves around them. However out of the different concepts that form the dharmic world view of a religion, like authority, cosmology, family, life cycle and morality. Both authority and morality influence in each of the different South Asian religions similarly. Helping in the understanding and learning about the different beliefs and practices, each religion has. Also, these two dharmic world view concepts that are authority and morality bring in the recognition of what are the values and main points of what the religion is to be. In examining the dharmic world view concepts of authority and morality in the different south Asian religions that are Tribal, Buddhism, Sikhism,
...the concept of what should we do or what we ought to do. Ethics is design to help one receive the life they want and live it with purpose. In certain situations it’s unclear as to consider it moral or immoral as ethics comes to play alongside morality. Some would argue the concept of what can be define as moral as immoral in conjunction with ethics by means of feelings, religion, law, culture, and science. Although they prove good standings they cannot be accounted for as those rationales are more so that of opinion that are altered daily depending of that of the individual. For this reason any act can be considered moral as we can use descriptive education depicting that of ethics, in which we live a life seeking how things should be and that it depends on the individual. So who is to say what’s right and what’s wrong. If it exists in the universe it can be moral.
In schools, the teachers use various ways to educate the children on spiritual matters in consideration of the children's diverse cultures (Geyer and Roy 9). This way they get to learn about morality and religion. Also at the national level, some spiritual virtues are normally used to stop misleading behaviors among youth. For example, abuse of drugs can be regarded to be wrong in community with a religious background, and this can be constitutionalized to improve morality in society. In line with that, bad behaviors among the young ones can be stopped by reinforcement of moral virtues in an institution; this helps to curb regretful results such as murder (Geyer and Roy 9). Logically, everyone loves being treated well and with respect because this brings out internal peace and a sense of fulfillment. This being the pillars of religion, it as well applies in morality was disrespecting and hating another person is regarded as improper. When religion is ignored, morality cannot be upheld, leading to high rate of law breaking behaviors such as robbery, shop lifting, and rape cases (Jagodzinski