1. The Anthropology of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion
It’s Getting Better All the Time

2. The Hindu Trimurthi

3. Central Concepts of Hinduism (substantive beliefs)
dharma – “duty”, “what you must do”
karma – a universal law of cause and effect
all beings are born and reborn in positions
that are at least partially determined by the
results of their past actions

4. Central Concepts of Hinduism (substantive beliefs)
māyā – etymologically related to “measure”
(root mā – “to measure, lay out,
produce, create, display”)
māyā is existence

5. Central Concepts of Hinduism (pantheon)
Brahman – a term used to refer to the one, indivisible, ultimate reality, of which māyā is the manifestation
Ātman – the manifestation of Brahman within the individual (approximates the English term “soul”)

6. Central Concepts of Hinduism (substantive beliefs)
The aim of Indian thought is to learn that māyā exists and to cut through its webs of deception. In doing so, a person attains a reality which truly is reality:
moksha – the liberation that results when a person understands the nature of the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth

7. In Hinduism
That which cannot be comprehended by mind but by which the mind is comprehended – know that alone to be supreme being and not this or that god whom people ordinarily worship
Kenopanishad – P.1.5
(ca. 600 B.C.E.)
unreality = all that is ever- changing, transitory, elusive, and ever-returning reality = that which is changeless, imperishable, steadfast, and eternal

8. What drives the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth?
ignorance
desire
attachment
The Wheel of Life (Contemporary Tibetan Thangka)

9. treta dvapara kali Hinduism a cyclical view of the world
cycles embedded in cycles
each world cycle has four world ages (yuga)
krita
treta
dvapara
kali

10. krita yuga (the “four-quartered” yuga)
dharma stands on four legs, like the sacred cow
all beings follow their dharma of their own accord, all are virtuous
lasts for 1,728,000 years

11. treta yuga (the “three-quartered” yuga)
the power of dharma stands on three legs
order is loosing ground
the observance of duty is no longer automatic, but must be learned
lasts for 1,296,000 years

12. dvapara yuga (the “two-quartered” yuga)
dharma stands on two legs
a dangerous balance between perfection and imperfection, dark and light
knowledge of the divine is increasingly lost
true spirituality is disappearing, and can only be attained through fasting, vows, devotion, etc.
lasts for 864,000 years

13. kali yuga (the “one-quartered” yuga)
only ¼ of the original dharma is being observed
egotism, blind and reckless qualities prevail
humans and the world of humans are at their worst
lasts for 432,000 years

14. kali yuga began on Friday, February 18, 3102 B.C.E.
over 427,000 years remain in the current yuga

15. maha yuga (the “great” yuga)
krita yuga 1,728,000 years
treta yuga 1,296,000 years
dvapara yuga ,000 years
kali yuga ,000 years
_____________
maha yuga 4,320,000 years

16. Cycles of Existence 1 maha yuga = 4,320,000 years
1 kalpa (day of Brahma) = 1000 maga yuga
= 4,320,000,000 years
each kalpa consists of 14 manvantaras (intervals of Manu), each of which ends in a great flood
we are currently in the 7th manvantara of the present day of Brahma

17. Cycles of Existence
at the dawn of each kalpa, Brahma reemerges from a lotus which grows from the navel of Vishnu
at night, Brahma and all within him disappear for a period as long as one Brahma day

18. Cycles of Existence
after 100 years of Brahma days and nights, all is dissolved.
The three visible worlds (earth, heaven, and the space between) disappear, as do all the spheres of being
all is reabsorbed into the divine primeval substance

19. = 311,040,000,000,000 years Cycles of Existence
this state lasts as long as one life of Brahma (a century of Brahma)
= 311,040,000,000,000 years