1. Primary Eastern Religions
Eastern religions originate in east, south, and southeast Asia. They can be sub-divided into two categories:
Indian Religions
East Asian Religions
Hinduism (1,500 BCE)
Jainism (6th BCE)
Buddhism (6th BCE)
Sikhism (15th CE)
Taoism (6th BCE)
Shinto (6th BCE)
Confucianism (6th-5th BCE)
East Asian Buddhism
(1st BCE-1 CE)

2. Indian Religions
Like eastern religions in general, Indian religions exhibit a diversity of belief and practice. For example, not all Indian religions accept the existence of God (in the western sense) – a supreme personal being.
“In Indian religion, you do have God. The idea of God is incredibly prevalent. At the same time, India has significant forms of religion in which there is no God.” – Nick Sutton
This is true of Indian religions, and the Hindu or Vedic traditions in particular.

3. Hinduism
Sanatana Dharma
“The Eternal Law”

4. It was coined in the first millennium BCE.
The term “Hindu” is Persian, derived from the Sanskrit term Sindu, for the Indus River.
It was coined in the first millennium BCE.
Muslims would later use the term in a way that excluded Muslims living in these regions, and the British who governed India in the 18th and 19th centuries also used it to refer to the non-Christian and in some cases non-Muslim population of India.

5. The term originally designated the Indo-Aryans who lived in the Indian subcontinent east of the Sindu River.
Muslims would later use the term in a way that excluded Muslims living in these regions, and the British who governed India in the 18th and 19th centuries also used it to refer to the non-Christian and in some cases non-Muslim population of India.

6. In contemporary scholarship “Hindu” refers to a person who follows one of the indigenous religious traditions of India, where this includes the acceptance of the sacred scriptures known as the Vedas (circa BCE).
A Hindu is thus not a Christian or Muslim, or Buddhist or Jainest.
Veda = knowledge

7. Hinduism has nothing resembling an ecclesiastical or church structure
“Hinduism” designates a set of religious ideas originating in a particular geographical region, but it has no structure similar to the western religious traditions.
Hinduism has no specific founder or date of origin, though the earliest texts date to the second millennium BCE.
Hinduism has nothing resembling an ecclesiastical or church structure

8. Hinduism is not properly speaking a particular religion at all.
“Hinduism” is an umbrella term that designates a variety of different religions that share certain features, but their differences in belief and practices are significant.
Hinduism includes the religions of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism.
See Steven Rosen, Essential Hinduism, chapter 2.

9. Theistic vs. Non-Theistic Hindu Traditions
Theistic Traditions:
Devotion to a Supreme Personal Being (God)
Non-Theistic Traditions: Devotion to Self-Inquiry
and Self-Knowledge
Vaishnavism (worship of Vishnu or Krishna)
Shavism (worship of Shiva)
Shaktism (worship of the Goddess)
Smartism (worship of one’s “chosen deity”)
Sankhya
Mimamsaka
Yoga (Patanjali’s Yoga)
Advaita Vedanta

10. The Evolution of Hinduism
Judaism
Buddhism
Christianity
Islam
1750
800
500
200
700
1200
1700
Vedic Period
Pre-Epic Period
Epic Period
Medieval Renaissance
Modern Period
Common Era
Vedas
Bhagavad Gita
Vedanta Philosophy
Upanishads

11. The Vedas

12. Composed in Sanskrit beginning as early as 1,750 – 1,500 BCE
Veda – Knowledge
Hymns and mantras to various deities viewed as controlling forces of nature
Directions for sacred rituals, especially sacrifices to the gods
Outline of moral codes

13. The Concept of God in the Rig Veda
Rig Veda is the earliest of the Vedas.

14. The Rig Veda depicts the divine in several different ways.
Monism (one absolute, impersonal being)
Monotheism (one single personal supreme being)
Henotheism (many gods, but some central deity)
Naturalistic Polytheism (many gods = forces of nature)
Naturalistic polytheism: there are many gods; they represent the forces and processes of nature.
The divine is sometimes represented as a particular personal deity and at other times as an impersonal absolute being, the Supreme God.

15. These differences may reflect the historical development of the idea of God in India.
The movement towards monotheism and monism may have been motivated in part by the concept of rita (law or order).
Diversity in the universe
Many gods
Unity in the universe
One God

16. Ekam vipra sat bahudha vadanti
Polytheistic and monistic/monotheistic elements are preserved together within portions of text that date from the same time period.
Harmonized?
Ekam vipra sat bahudha vadanti
“That which exists is One: sages call it by different names.”
~ Rig-Veda I

17. The Upanishads Composed between 600-300 BCE by various rishis (seers)
Added as the final sections of the divisions of Vedas. (Vedanta = end of the vedas)
Upanishads are classified as sruti (“that which is heard”) and are authoritative.
Philosophical commentary on the early portions of the Vedas, but is grounded in the direct experiences of the rishis.

18. Upanishad (Sitting Near the Teacher)
upa- (near) + ni- (down) + sad (to sit)
Transmission of knowledge by way of a guru or teacher.

19. Influence of the Upanishads
Authority for all Hindu or Vedic traditions, especially Vedanta philosophy and many Vaishnava devotional traditions.
Upanishads have influenced Jainism and Buddhism (in the east), and Islam and Christianity in the west.
There are similarities between the Upanishads and Neoplatonism in western philosophy.