Concepts in

Hinduism

By Lance Sunshine and Matthew Mason


Color Fonts:
Significance of Text Colors
Red: purity and sensuality
Orange: most sacred color
Yellow: knowledge and peace,
meditation and competence
Green: happiness and life
Blue: the Creator and deities
Purple: royalty and supremacy
White: comprised of elements
of each colors associated
qualities
Atman

Atman is the truest, deepest Self within a person, their spirit

or soul. The Self is believed to be eternal, enduring through
reincarnations of worldly bodies and remaining the essence of
each new being with that same Self. It is closely associated
with God, and seen as an eternal servant of God or a piece of
God imbued into human life. As it is ones innermost
existence, there is a strong connection between Atman and
asceticism and detachment from this world.
Brahman And God

Brahman and God are similar, but not identical, ideas in

Hinduism. Brahman is transcendent of the material universe,
but upholds and permeates everything in existence. Most
Hindus believe in God, but relate to God in their own ideal
image of him: their ishta devata. Many Hindus believe that the
various deities in their religion are aspects of the one
Supreme God. Hindus have two main views of God: one where
he is a being with love and compassion for the creatures he
oversees, and one where the soul is ultimately identical to
God, and liberation is achieved through this realization.
Dharma

In Hinduism, dharma means duty, virtue, morality, and

even religion itself. It upholds society and the functions of
the universe, and is believed to be the power that gives
humans the ability to act morally according to the obligations
of their class, gender, and other groupings. Acting against
ones dharma is wrong and called adharma, but acting with it is
seen as right and service to humanity and to God.
Guru

Gurus are masters of a tradition that teach through example

and impart their knowledge, experiences, and wisdom to their
disciples. With those assets, disciples may become gurus
themselves, and one or more may replace their own guru
when they pass away. Gurus are highly revered in Hindu
society and become objects of devotion in some traditions.
Karma and Samsara

Karma literally means action, and refers to the replication of

ones actions by the universe; actions in accordance with
dharma are responded to with rewards, while actions against
dharma are met with punishment or ill consequences. These
results may occur immediately, in the future, or in new lives.
The reincarnation cycle itself is samsara, and is a balancing of
death in one life with a rebirth of the same Self in another life.
Liberation from the reincarnation cycle, or moksha, is one of
the major goals of Hinduism.
Purushartha

Purushartha are the objectives of following Hinduism, the

goals that are unique to oneself but appropriate to ones age,
gender, and social class. They are categorized into dharma,
worldly success, worldly pleasures and desires, and moksha,
the aforementioned liberation from the reincarnation cycle.
The balanced pursuit of each conveys an understanding of the
entire human nature.
Varna

Varna refers specifically to ones particular responsibilities due to the

social class in which one resides. The four classes are Brahmins, the
intellectual and priestly class; Kshatriya, the warriors and nobles;
Vaishyas, the commoners or merchants; and Shudras, the workers,
laborers, and servants. The males in the top three classes are twice
born, once from the womb, and once through an initiation ceremony.
They go through the four stages of life: Brahmacarya, where studies
are emphasized, Grihastha, where purushartha is experienced,
Vanaprastha, where one removes himself from worldly life and
performs religious observances, and Samnyasa, the renunciation of
the world and when one dons a saffron robe to seek moksha.
Work Cited
Annac, Wes. Atman. Psychedelic Adventure, www.psychedelicadventure.net/2015/06/
. atman-understanding-sacred-self.html.

Color Symbolism in Hinduism. www.wou.edu/wp/exhibits/files/2015/07/hinduism.pdf.

Epified. Aims and Purposes. YouTube, 10 October 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=D2t8DsOYh_0.

Flood, Gavin. Hindu concepts. BBC, 24 August 2009, www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/

. hinduism/concepts/concepts_1.shtml.

Gambetta, Vern. Guru. EliteTrack, 16 August 2016, elitetrack.com/guru-coach-want-learn/.

Samsara. elearning, elearning.la.psu.edu/asia/100/lesson-4/print_view.

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