Hinduism and Humanity

Hinduism is one of the major religions of India, practiced by 80% of its population. Unfortunately, I personally feel that a majority of the people, including me, do not completely understand the core concepts. So I thought about writing a brief article on Hinduism and Humanity. Here, I will briefly introduce some of the concepts of Hinduism, such as human life and death. A more detailed analysis on some of the terms and concepts described below will be covered extensively in later posts.

So, what is Hinduism or the Sanatana Dharma? Many scholars describe it as a way of life. Indeed, it is. Hinduism explains how one must behave and what path one must follow in order to attain Moksha, where the Atma (soul) re-unites with the ParamAtma (The Supreme Soul, The One Supreme God, The Absolute), and becomes free from the cycle of life and death.

Human Life:

In Hinduism, the human form is considered to be one of the most important and superior forms, which even the Devas (Gods) desire to seek. The soul has to travel through animals, reptiles, plants, and various other forms until it becomes eligible for the human form. This is the ONLY form in which one can perform karma (deeds/action) and attain moksha to reunite with The Absolute. All the other species such as animals, plants, etc, are completely controlled by their nature and thus cannot perform karma.  It is believed that only in the human form, you have the opportunity to express free will. So it is a person's dharma (duty/responsibility) to perform the right karma. For example, if you see your dearest one commit a murder, it is your duty to report it to the cops. You must not try to protect him or help him cover up his crimes, just because the person is close to you.

It is said that the human senses and emotions are controlled by the mann (mind), which is an intermediate between the body and the JivAtma (reflection of Atma within an individual, see references). The mind always gets distracted from it's duties by indulging in relationships and worldly pleasures; thus it gets diverted from the path of moksha. However, when the JivAtma is awakened, one can control his mind and focus it towards the ultimate aim of attaining moksha. In Bhagawad Geeta, Sri Krishna has described several ways in which one can control his mind and attain moksha even while leading a normal life. (I will talk about Karma, Moksha and the ways described by Sri Krishna and in the Vedas in detail, in my later posts).

After Death:

When a person dies, the JivAtma leaves his body. Depending on the persons karma, the JivAtma has to spend time in both the Deva-loka (The Heaven) and the Narka-loka (The Hell). The amount of time that one has to spend in these lokas (worlds) is decided by the amount of good and bad karma that he has performed in his life. In the Deva-loka, the JivAtma manifests itself in the form of a Deva (God), Gandharva (the guardians of the divine drink or the Soma) or Kinnera (The musicians of the heaven) and enjoys the fruits of his good karma. Then it manifests in the narka-loka to answer to it's sins. Any good/bad acts done during these manifestations don't earn any results towards the attainment of moksha. Only the deeds done in the human form work towards this. Once the JivAtma completes it's journey of these lokas, it is sent back to the Mrityu-loka (The Earth) to perform karma. The form attained by the JivAtma depends on the karma performed in it's previous birth. For example, a person who was lazy and unhygienic throughout his life may take rebirth as a pig in his next life. Again the Jivatma has to work towards the attainment of the human form to perform it's karmic duties. This cycle continues until the JivAtma attains moksha, and the Atma re-unites with The Absolute.

To summarize, the ultimate goal of the Atma is to reunite with the ParamAtma, by attaining moksha, thereby ending all the sufferings involved in the cycle of life and death; and this can only be achieved by performing karma in the human form. This is the core of Hindu philosophy.

References:
Bhagawad Geeta, ISKON
Atma Paramatma and Jivatma Differences: http://www.chakras.net/yoga-principles/7-jivatma-atma-and-paramatma

Swami B.V. Tripurari's comments on "Do animals have karma?" - Beleifnet
Sri Krishna by Ramanand Sagar, (which is primarily based on Srimad Bhagavatam)

Some articles on Wikipedia