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aims of life
- Kama – sexual pleasure
- Artha – worldly success
- Dharma – Family
- Moksha– oneness with Brahman
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Major Yoga systems
- Raja – Eight limbs and extremely difficult from PAtanjali
- Karma – work and action
- Jnana – reflection and knowledge
- Bhakti – love and devotion (most popular and dualistic)
- Hatha – yoga of the body (taught worldwide)
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Atman
world soul of all living things
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Nirguna Brahman
- pure Brahman without characteristics (Pantheism –
- everything is God)
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Saguna Brahman
dualistic view of Brahman with has a form
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karma
what you sow is what you reap
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Castes
- Brahmins – Hindu priests
- Kshatriya – warriors, nobles, military, business execs, politicians
- Vaishyas – artisans, farms and skilled workers
- Shudra– unskilled workers
- (dalits or untouchables) – unclean and shunned people
- Jatis are subcastes based on jobs
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stages of life
- Student – 8-12 years old, learn the Vedic literature and study
- Householder – marriage and raising a family, most important stage
- Withdrawal – turn inward to study for Moksha
- Renunciation (Sannyasin) – deprived of worldly pleasures
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three major deities
- Brahma – god of creation, reshapes world
- Vishnu – god of loving preservation, watches over world, 10 earthly
- incarnations called avatars, Vashnavism
- Shiva – god of destruction, sexuality and regeneration, yoga
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Shiva
- Destruction – no new life unless in place of old
- Sexual regeneration – lingams (phallic symbols) representative of Shiva
- Yoga – meditative and peaceful
- Shaivism – similar to Vashnavism in that one god is creator, preserver
- and destroyer
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shaktis
female consorts or embodiments of the gods
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universe
- eternal
- for sport
- living in maya - illusion
- 7 layers of heaven
- 28 layers of hell
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time cycles
- 4 yugas
- 1.7 1.3 865G 430g (current - Kali Yuga)
- all that withing a Mahayuga
- a day brahma=1 mahayuga
- 1 year of brahma = 1.5 tril
- 1 lifetime of brahma = 155 tril
- reshaped after that
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human nature
ego, psycho-physical organism, subconscious mind, personality. Diamond pure Atman
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rituals
- 5 pujas
- god, ancestors, holy men, animals, strangers
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holiest city and river and animal and festival
- Banares (Varanasi)
- River Ganges
- cow
- Kumbh Mela
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Vedas
- Vedas - written in Sanskrit between 1200 and 500 bc
- Rig-Veda, or Hymns of Praise
- Sama-Veda, or Knowledge of Melodies
- Yajur-Veda, or Sacrificial Formulas
- Atharva-Veda, or Magical Formulas
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veda parts
- Mantras (ritual chanting)
- Brahmanas (rituals for priests)
- Aranyakas (forest texts)
- Upanishads (philosophical texts)
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puranas
collection of indian myths explaining origins
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epics
tales of interactions between gods and humans
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