Reflections Essay

“It is simply freedom. Not freedom in any political or individualistic sense but inner freedom from everything that circumscribes or conditions the sense of infinity one has within, that is, freedom from all relation to the cause and effect of karma within or without” (55). Hinduism is not really a religion, per se, but more of a way of living. Karma is what happens to people because of something they have done, whether it is good karma or bad karma. Dharma is “basically… understood as the social order of human civilization when it is righteous, that is, in accord with the order…and it is the rites of the priests that sustain both” (53). “Dharma means regarding life as ritual” (53). This basically is the word used when talking about a Hindu’s lifestyle in regards to their religiousness and moral behaviors. Dharma doesn’t really have an exact meaning but it has to do with how a person upholds the order of things in a positive way. Therefore to each person dharma is perceived a little differently depending on their place in life and in the religion. Hinduism has four stages of a human life, which consist of student, householder, hermit of forest dweller, and renunciant. These are also called ashramas. There are also The Four Ends of Human Life which are pleasure (kama), gain (artha), righteousness (dharma), and liberation (moksha). Brahman is what Hinduism refers to when talking about the one holy being…they believe that there is a god for many of the things they need (god of water, god of the weather, etc) but all of those gods are a manifestation of the one single god, which is Brahman. It did not come from a particular founder like other religions, but it came from traditions that were influenced by the Vedas and other teachings from later on; for example, the Laws of Manu. The Laws of Manu are based on the caste system, which is the division of society. There are many texts for Hinduism but the most fundamental official scriptures are the Vedas. “The oldest and