The philosophy of India has always been of particular interest. It is considered one of the most ancient on earth. The religion of India has the largest distribution and counts a huge number of followers. Periodization is based on various sources of thought, most of which have been known to the world since antiquity. Consider further some concepts of Hinduism.
Stages of development
The philosophy of India has gone through several stages in its development. They are:
- XV-VI c. BC e. This stage is called the Vedic period - the stage of orthodox philosophy.
- VI-II centuries. BC e. This stage is called the epic period. At this stage, the epics "Ramayana" and "Mahabharta" were created. They touched on many problems of the era. At this stage, Jainism and Buddhism appear.
- II c. BC e. – 7th century n. e. In this period, short treatises were created - sutras, considering specific problems of the era.
Key Features
They are listed in the work of Datta and Chatterji "Advaita Vedanta". The main features are:
- Practical orientation of thought. It does not serve to satisfy idle curiosity, but is aimed at improving human life.
- The source of thought is anxiety for a person. It is expressed in the desire to warn people against mistakes that lead to suffering.
- Faith in "ritu" - the moral eternal world order that exists in the universe.
- The idea of ignorance as a source of human torment, the understanding that only knowledge can become a condition for saving people.
- Viewing the universe as an arena for moral deeds.
- The idea of continuous conscious concentration as the source of all knowledge.
- Understanding the need for subjugation of passions and self-control. They are seen as the only way to salvation
- Faith in the possibility of liberation.
Treatises
Initially, thoughts received their canonical, orthodox expression in the form of collections. They numbered more than a thousand hymns, which included approximately 10 thousand verses. The sacred books were based on the traditions of the Aryans and were issued in the middle of the 2nd century BC. BC e. But the first 4 collections were subsequently united under the general name "Vedas". Literally, the name means "knowledge". The Vedas are religious and philosophical treatises. They were created by the Aryan tribes who came to India after the 15th century. before. e. from the Volga region, Iran, Cf. Asia. Usually treatises consisted of:
- "Holy Scripture", religious hymns (samhitas).
- Descriptions of the rituals composed by the priests and used by them in performing rituals.
- Books of forest hermits (Aranyakov).
- Comments on treatises (Upanishads).
Currently there are 4 collections:
- "Rig Veda". This is the fundamental, oldest collection. It was designed around 1200 BC. e.
- "Sama Veda". It contains songs and sacred spells.
- "Yajurveda". This collection contains sacrificial spell formulas.
- "Atharvaveda". It contains magical formulas and spells that have been preserved since pre-Aryan times.
Researchers are most interested in the comments that philosophy contains. The Upanishad literally translates as "sitting at the teacher's feet." The comments provide an interpretation of the content of the collections.
Brahman
Monotheistic religions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, under the concept of God mean a certain creative force. At the same time, they consider the Creator as an inexpressible, to some extent, anthropomorphic entity. He acts as an object for prayer and spiritual communication. In this regard, the thinking of the Hindus is fundamentally different from the worldview of representatives of other faiths. At the public (exoteric) level of consciousness, there are thousands of goddesses and gods. The classical pantheon has 330million. All of them have a certain sphere of influence, geographical affiliation or patronize a certain type of activity. For example, it is believed that the elephant-headed god - Ganesha - promotes success and brings good luck in scientific research. In this regard, scientists treat him with awe and respect. A special place is given to the triad in the pantheon. It is represented by three gods in functional and ontological unity: the creator of the world is Brahma, the keeper is Vishnu, the destroyer is Shiva. The crown of the triad is the concept of Brahman. It expresses Absolute Reality. By it they mean the whole fullness (emptiness) of the universe with the whole multitude of goddesses and gods. Brahman is seen as the unmanifested reality of all that exists. Minor gods represent only functionally limited and minor aspects of it. The purpose of life is to unite with the universe, since his spiritual essence has all the properties that Brahman also has. Thus, the identity of man and the creator of the world is proclaimed.
Atman
In philosophy, this is exactly that internal in a person that has the properties of Brahman. However, it is not some kind of mystical chimera. The Atman is a quite accessible, obvious experience of one's presence at a given moment in time. It is a psychic reality, a feeling of being. In its purest form, it is experienced in the form of boundless freedom. Thinkers use this word to refer to the Higher Self. It represents the personality aspect. Atman is what one experiencesright now, the moment in which there is life. The clearer the connection with him, the stronger the sense of reality.
Explanations
During the day, a person is awake, doing some kind of routine activity. At the same time, he is relatively conscious. Meanwhile, if a person is asked to retell what happened to him throughout the day, including mental activity, movements, feelings and all sensations of the organs of perception, he will not be able to remember even a fraction of a percent. People remember only the main moments that he needs in the future. They are connected with projections of their small "I". The rest of the memory goes into the unconscious. It follows from this that everyday awareness of a person is a relative phenomenon. During sleep, its level drops even more. After waking up, a person can remember only very little, only the brightest moments of sleep, and most often nothing. In this state, the sense of reality is greatly reduced. As a result, it is practically not fixed in any way. In contrast to sleep, there is a superconscious state. In comparison, even daytime wakefulness can seem like a lack of life and a dream.
Perceptual Goal
Why do you need the realization of the Higher Self? The layman is almost unaware of his existence. He perceives everything through certain indirect experiences. So, a person fixes certain objects with his mind and draws conclusions that he really is, because otherwise there would be no one to perceive this world. Questions about the practical value of awareness of psychic realityan entity firmly attached to the mind. Attention in this case is not able to break away from the mind and go into the depth, the cause, the essence of the processes taking place at the moment. When questions arise about the practical value of awareness, the following paradox needs to be addressed. At the moment of their appearance, the questioner himself is absent. What is the point of asking about the consequences if there is no understanding of the original cause of the phenomenon? What is the essence of the secondary manifestations of "I", if a person is not aware of it at all?
Difficulties
Atman is the clear awareness of presence. People in ordinary life have vague sensations of soft, tasty, hard, boring, important, certain pictures, feelings, a lot of superficial thoughts. But where is the Atman among all this? This is a question that makes you break away from the ordinary things and look into the depths of consciousness. A person can, of course, calm himself down. For example, he may accept as true that I am the totality of everything. In this case, where is the line that separates presence from absence? If a person understands his self, then it turns out that there are two of them. One is watching the other, or they are both watching each other. In this case, a third self arises. It oversees the activities of the other two. Etc. All these concepts are mind games.
Enlightenment
Spirit (soul) for a person is considered a transcendent reality. She is God. Even a momentary awareness of this connection gives joy and awareness of freedom, which does not depend on anything. Atman is life in its absoluteaspect, the invisible background is the true essence of man. In esoteric teaching, the acceptance of psychic reality is called enlightenment. "Advaita Vedanta" speaks of awareness as one who really, truly is. In yoga, acceptance of one's presence is described as Purush. It is characterized as subtle, beginningless, knowing, conscious, eternal, transcendent, contemplative, tasting, spotless, inactive, not generating anything.
The process of awareness
To open the Atman there is no need to do something, strive for something, strain in some way. At first, this happens in the form of natural relaxation. The state is similar to falling into a dream, but at the same time the person is awake. After that, the individual reality opens up, it opens to what exists, always existed and always will be. At this moment, a person realizes that there was nothing else and could not be. This is life itself, naturalness, an unchanging spiritual essence, which nothing can prevent. It just is, it contains different moments. But at the same time, nothing can affect her. At a conscious level, a person understands that energy has neither beginning nor end. Reality cannot increase or decrease. There is no attachment to something, rejection of something, because everything that happens is a spontaneous river, in the contemplation of which everything is accepted as it is, without distorting the Truth and even interpreting it. Man only enjoys the voice of the stream, gives himself to it. The only thing you need is to trust life. Everything is flowingnaturally, happens by itself.
Doubts
They are an illusion. Doubts chain a person to mental activity, to limited private knowledge. They make you worry and fear, give rise to dissatisfaction, instability. Trust in life will make the consciousness tasting, penetrating, will give illuminating intuitive thinking. It is a manifestation of the connection of the relative and paradoxical world, man and the higher "I".
Conclusion
Individuality - what a person considers himself - happens inside him, but it is not himself. Personality and name - this is the hero, the character of the game. It acts in the world along with other forms. Reality is only what exists against the background of the higher "I". Surrounding people are different parts of human consciousness. Reality exists, it just is. It is the true abode of man. Selecting certain objects in order to give them full attention is comparable to choosing one point in infinity in order to devote oneself to it. It has no meaning against the background of real, absolute existence. Reality will tear a person away from it to an infinite distance. But he, afraid of loss, will rush to her. This is what a person does when he has given himself up to identification with the passing forms. He misses something immeasurably more important, majestic, all-encompassing - life itself. The existence of being as such, of any form, is an inexplicable miracle. For the layman, this realization may seem meaningless and complicated. ForHindu followers understand the existence of being and their presence in the world is natural.
