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Hinduism Introduction: Core ideas of Brahman, Atman, Samsara and Moksha | History | Khan Academy

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  1. - [Instructor] We're now going to talk about Hinduism which is one of the largest religions on Earth,
  2. practiced by over a billion people. And, it's interesting for several reasons.
  3. First, it is considered to be one of the oldest religions that is still practiced.
  4. Some historians would place the origins of Hinduism at 5,000 years into the past.
  5. It has elements that may have been practiced in the Indus Valley civilization.
  6. You also have significant elements that come from the Vedic Period.
  7. In fact, the Vedas, for which the Vedic Period is named really form the root of Hinduism as it is practiced today.
  8. It is believed that the Vedas come from an Indo-Aryan people that many historians
  9. believe came from Central Asia and were related to many of the people who colonized Europe.
  10. Now, the other thing that is fascinating about Hinduism, and I really just referred
  11. to some of it, it is a combination of many cultures that really merged over thousands of years.
  12. And, they merged around the Indian subcontinent. As you will see there are many traditions,
  13. many cultures, many different ways that one can, and many different ways that people do practice Hinduism.
  14. But, there are also core beliefs that we wanna get to the heart of in this video.
  15. And, we'll discuss more in future videos. Now, what's also interesting is where the name
  16. Hinduism or Hindu comes from, a Hindu being someone who practices Hinduism.
  17. The name for what we now call the Indus River in Sanskrit was Sindhu, and Sindh is still a region
  18. in the Indian subcontinent. The version that the Persians said was Hindus
  19. and this got converted to Indus in Latin. So really, Hinduism is the term for the cultural
  20. and religious practices of people beyond the Indus River. The India really comes from this same root.
  21. Indus is where India comes from, but Indus comes from Hindus, which comes from Sindhu and these are all
  22. related to the word Hindu. And, you can see that very clearly in the Persian version.
  23. Now, as I mentioned, there's many different practices in Hinduism, many different traditions, many different
  24. rituals in Hinduism, but I'm going to try to focus in on what could be considered the spiritual core.
  25. And, a lot of this comes out of the Vedas. They're a collection of hymns, rituals,
  26. but also philosophy. And, the subset of the Vedas that are very concerned
  27. with the spiritual and the philosophical are known as the Upanishads, which means sitting down
  28. or coming near to. Some people say coming near to God,
  29. some people say coming near to the actual reality, or coming near to a teacher as in sitting down
  30. to get a lesson or to have a dialog. Now, the central idea in Hinduism
  31. is the idea of Brahman. And Brahman should not be confused with the god Brahma.
  32. Brahma is sometimes, you could view, as a aspect of a Brahman, but Brahman is viewed as the true
  33. reality of things. It is shapeless, genderless, bodiless,
  34. it cannot be described. It can only be experienced.
  35. Now, according to Hindu belief we are all part of Brahman.
  36. And, what we perceive as our individuality is really, you can consider to be a quasi-illusion.
  37. So, this might be one individual right over here and then we might have another individual right over here.
  38. And, this separateness, the illusion of the reality that we see around us this is referred to as Maya.
  39. And, Maya is not just the illusion or the quasi-illusion created by our senses it is even notions
  40. like our ego, our identity. And, within that context that inner self, the thing
  41. that is even within our, that is even deeper than our sense of identity.
  42. This is referred to as Atman. And, as you can see they way it's been diagrammed here,
  43. the way we've drawn it out Atman is essentially the same thing as Brahman.
  44. And, oftentimes you will see it referred to as Atman-Brahman, they're really the same thing
  45. but it's really, it's an illusion that there is this separateness of our reality.
  46. Now, according to Hindu belief in each life you have this core part of yourself which is Atman,
  47. which is part of Brahman. And, when you die it doesn't disappear,
  48. but it will take on or it will subjugate itself to another reality.
  49. So, after death this individual or this perceived individual might take on another identity
  50. in another reality. They would perceive it as another life.
  51. And, this notion of one life after another, one reality after another is sometimes
  52. referred to as transmigration of the soul, sometimes referred to reincarnation,
  53. or this notion of Samsara, which is this endless cycle of birth and rebirth.
  54. It really comes from this notion of same flowing, this thing, this pattern that goes on and on and on.
  55. And, according to Hindu belief what that next life is, what that next reality is is based on your actions
  56. in this life. Karma, literally is referring to actions,
  57. but it's really actions driving consequences not only in this reality but in the next reality.
  58. Now, there's another notion of Dharma. Dharma is based on what is the role you should play
  59. given the reality, given the life that you are in. So, in a very simplified way you could say,
  60. "Well, Dharma is the rightful role, the rightful actions, "your duty depending on your role,
  61. "depending on your reality." Karma is how that action translates into consequences
  62. which is going to drive what happens in this endless cycle. Now, a core idea of Hinduism is to try to escape
  63. from this cycle, to awaken to the true reality, awaken from this quasi-reality.
  64. And, this is really one of the central ideas of the Upanishads that eventually if you can awaken,
  65. so let's say that this is an awakening, this entity, this Atman, this self right over here,
  66. this perceived individual has now awoken and can see through, pierces the veil of that Maya.
  67. Now, they have rejoined Brahman and they've recognized that Atman and Brahman are the same.
  68. And, this freeing from Samsara, from this birth death cycle, this is
  69. referred to as Moksha. Now, to make this idea a little bit clearer
  70. let's look at some quotes from the actual Upanishads. So, this is two versions from the Isha Upanishad
  71. and the reason why I like to show it is because it shows that if you're translating from Sanskrit
  72. into English or really from any one language into another there's gonna be some room for interpretation
  73. but we can see it here. So, this is from the Isha Upanishad which is considered
  74. one of most important ones. It's a subset, it's a section of the Yajurveda,
  75. one of the four early Vedas. And, they write, and this is an English translation,
  76. "The wise man beholds all beings in the self, or the Atman, "and the self in all beings, for that reason
  77. "he does not hate anyone. "To the seer all things have verily become the self.
  78. "What delusion, what sorrow can there be for him "who beholds that oneness?"
  79. This is another version of the same verses from the Isha Upanishad.
  80. "He who sees all beings in the self and the self "in all beings he never turns away from it, the self.
  81. "For, he who percieves all beings as the self "how can there be delusion or grief
  82. "when he sees this oneness everywhere." So, I might be getting into an argument with someone
  83. but deep down if I recognize that both myself and that individual that we are part of this same Brahman
  84. that he is me and I am it, or I am he, well then that anger seems a little bit misguided.
  85. Now, to get a little bit more context on this notion of oneness here's another verse
  86. from Chandogya Upanishad, which is also considered one of the significant Upanishads.
  87. And, it's part of the Sama Veda. "As the rivers flowing east and west merge in the sea
  88. "and become one with it, forgetting they were separate "rivers, so do all creatures lose their separateness
  89. "when they merge at last into pure Being," into Brahman. "There's nothing that does not come from him."
  90. And, the use of the word him is really an anthropomorphism of this notion that has
  91. really no gender or body or form. "Of everything he is the inmost Self.
  92. "He is the truth, he is the Self supreme. "You are that Shvetaketu, you are that."
  93. And, this last verse is referring it's in this Chandogya Upanishad it's a conversation between
  94. the teacher and his son. And, the son is Shvetaketu,
  95. my apologies for pronunciation. So, what's he's saying is that these rivers is an analogy
  96. for you and I and we might see ourselves as different but at some point we will flow
  97. and become one with the ocean. And, he's pointing out to his son, you are not different
  98. from that, you are self, you are Ahtman. It is Brahman, it is one and the same.