Reflective Essay ERH 211X-02

Steven Trayer

ERH 211X-02

Help Received: See References

Looking back on distinctive traits that make up Indian culture seen through the eyes of Hinduism and Buddhism in this Comparative Religion course, I found a list of defining traits which we mentioned in class. The list stated that Indian culture had the following traits: humanity, tolerance, unity through diversity, secularism, close nit social groups, and arranged marriages. Since one of the main focuses of the reflective essay is ‘what makes this culture unique?’ Well, I believe that every one of those traits could have been applied to any of the religions we have studied thus far, and that all of the traits previously listed do not adequately describe the uniqueness of Indian culture. Therefore, I came up with a new trait that I believe is both distinctly Indian and sums up their religious traditions well. I think the most defining feature of Indian culture is its cyclic nature. This is expressed in their concept of Karma as shown in my Prothero Hinduism Summary and Bhagavad Gita Summary artifacts, their idea of time as shown in my Zimmer Summary artifact, and the rituals they perform in relation to their perspective of time as shown in my Hindu Video Summary artifact. All the artifacts are part of my e-portfolio for my ERH-211WX course. I will start by expressing the concept of Karma, then describing their sense of time, and lastly their relation to rituals regarding time.

Most people are familiar with the term Karma and it is usually one of the few concepts of Hinduism that people know about. Simply put it is: what goes around comes around. That model of going around and coming back around describes a circle; one’s actions in this life determine what will happen to an individual in the next one. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is described as samsara. Samsara is considered the problem and Hindus are seeking a release – moksha – from the problem of the cycle. The only way to be released from this cycle is to live in such good karma that eventually you will be perfect and reunite with the gods and finally die. I was first exposed to these teachings when I read the Prothero Hinduism chapter and subsequently wrote the artifact, Prothero Hinduism Summary. Within the first few pages Prothero describes the situation the Hindu is faced with and the many ways he can go about seeking, and eventually receiving moksha. The problem after reading Prothero was it did not elucidate which path to moksha is the best. I was left wondering, surely seeking wisdom moksha (jhana) cannot be the same nor yield the same results as seeking devotion to their god (bhakti). Reading and summarizing the Bhagavad Gita in my Bhagavad Gita Summary artifact showed me a more commanding way to break the cyclical nature of Hinduism’s reincarnation. Krishna tells Arjuna that he must take the path of action, that if one has to choose between taking a path of renunciation of action or that of selfless action, the latter option is preferable (Bhagavad Gita Summary). This, along with Prothero Hinduism Summary, showed me that the best way to achieve moksha from samsara via your karma is through karma yoga, through disciplined action. I found these teachings reassuring because rather than rejecting the outside world as some people internpret Hinduism, it embraces its worldliness; as a Hindu I would find this to be soothing since it would be less stressful that trying to not live in a world (by rejecting it) that you live in. This calmness that I would gain would allow me to fulfill my dharma and not have to worry about my placement on the cycle of reincarnation. In a way, it will allow me to just live a just life and not have to worry about the future. Although, Hinduism believes that you cannot achieve moksha in this life time, you will likely only be placed higher on the ‘wheel’ of reincarnation.

Reincarnation is not the only idea in the Indian religious traditions that uses the symbol of the wheel; another example of a ‘wheel’ or cyclical idea in Indian tradition is their idea of time. Their idea of time is briefly alluded to whenever Hindus mention Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer, and Shiva the destroyer. I even mention their cyclic nature in my Hindu Video Summary, one God leads directly to the next; in this way, the Gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are all the same and it is just different facets of the same God, and that God is Brahman. For Hindus there is a beginning to time, its maintenance, its end, and then it begins again; this would mean that for the Hindu tradition, time is going in a circle. My artifact Zimmer Summary goes into this idea the most; in Zimmer Summary, the story of Indra and the boy manifestation of Vishnu is told. Indra who is king of the Gods is proud of his defeat of the dragon and builds an ever more elaborate castle. To stomp out his pride, the boy Vishnu tells Indra that to him, Shiva, and Brahma, Indra’s life if like that of an ant, they have seen a million go by and they will see a million more. Thus Indra realizes it is useless building proud castles when they do not matter and takes up a balanced life. Once I heard this story of the endless cycle of Indras and the endless cycle of reincarnations, my interest in the cyclic nature of Indian religious tradition began to grow immensely, I began to see it in my previous work, and then I realized how different the Hindu perception of time is from our linear perception of time. I also felt a little depressed after hearing this story, if Vishnu told Indra that his life is like that of an ant, that means I am ant-like to an ant. Talk about an existential crisis. When their idea of time is a cycle in the mid-quadrillions, how insignificant are you? This aspect is defining of Indian tradition because Christians – such as myself – can say that ‘Right here! At this time! Is when Christ came’. In Judaism, Jews can say ‘Right here in Egypt at this time is when the Exodus occurred!’ The Chinese traditions say at this time in the past Confucius lived. In these ways time is considered linear; this point happened in the past and can never happen again. Any reenactment of a past event is just that, a reenactment; the aforementioned traditions are remembering past events but a man in the Indian tradition is actively participating in his world by returning spiritually to the past.

This was demonstrated in my artifact Hindu Video Summary when the villagers performed the fire ritual and spoke to the clay goddess. When the villagers perform the fire ritual they are appealing to Shiva and are recreating the cosmos; by going back spiritually, by actively participating with his religious traditions, this averts disaster for the village. The priests’ spiritual return is when they chant and release the endless sound unto the land for its protection. This cycle of departure to the spiritual past and return to present demonstrates the cyclical nature of rituals in the Indian tradition. The second example of ritual creation and return is shown when the villagers make the clay goddess. When she is present they speak to her, feed her, and clothe her as if she was actually there. Once the festival of the goddess is over, the people parade her around town so everyone can say goodbye and then they throw her into the lake. So is the goddess’s cycle from clay deity back to just clay; for dust she is and dust she shall return. Of all the things that I saw when creating my artifacts I found the situation with the clay goddess the most interesting. If I went into a church and tried doing something similar to the cross I am pretty sure I would be shot. I had real trouble understanding the nature of clay goddess until I was able to put it in the perspective of cyclic rituals and time. By stating that all things move in a cycle, it really helped me see that the sacredness of the goddess does not depreciate when she becomes clay again because their gods can be seen in all instances in all things; the clay goddess is still with the villagers but the clay idol was just a lightning rod to channel the divine to the villagers during her festival.

This class and all of my writings about Indian religious tradition ended up showing me that there is a completely different worldview out there. I have tended to think that when an event occurs, it has occurred under its own special circumstances, but the Indian tradition – shown by Zimmer Summary – really puts a new meaning and life into the saying, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. It has also shown me that I may be missing something in my weekly church services, my daily prayers; this is shown in Hindu Video Summary. I am not actively participating in my rituals, I am merely remembering them. How can I have such an intimate relationship with my God as those who perform the fire ritual do? Lastly, regarding karma, I may not believe that such a thing exists but I can respect and see the wisdom in having discipline in action in everything you do, such discipline would be life changing as Vishnu intends and it is demonstrated well in the artifacts Bhagavad Gita Summary and Prothero Hinduism Chapter.

Word Count 1610

 References

Trayer, Steven. Bhagavad Gita Summary. 2015. Unpublished.

Trayer, Steven. Hindu Video Summary. 2015. Unpublished.

Trayer, Steven. Prothero Hinduism Chapter. 2015. Unpublished.

Trayer, Steven. Zimmer Summary. 2015. Unpublished.