For Hindus the notion of the self as the primordial being permeates their everyday life and is internalized through spiritual concepts and practices including Brahman, non-attachment, dharma, and reincarnation. In Hindu tradition two texts which provide revealed knowledge about how to understand and achieve the above ideas are the Upanisads and the Bhagavad-Gita. Predating the Bible by centuries, both sacred works give humankind possible answers to the questions of How? and Why? we are here and explain that one can grasp their inner-divinity through self-mastery and by infusing the quest for truth with holy significance.

Since the dawn of time human beings have sought appropriate means to express their wonderment toward life's initiator and have often found their search to be illusive at best. Hindus call this unknowable, unimaginable essence Brahman and maintain that all things bestowed with breath, including humans, derive from, exist in, and return to its source. Hindus have over 999,000 gods and goddesses which are considered to be manifestations of Brahman, or the higher self, and by worshipping a specific deity, a Hindu is actually celebrating an aspect of his own being.

Know that through lucid knowledge
one sees in all creatures
a single, unchanging existence,
undivided within its divisions (Bhagavad Gita, p. 146).

Westerners who try to fathom a world without God often find themselves veering close to infantilism as the mind goes blank. However, Hindus believe that this state of unknowing is actually a first step into the world of understanding Brahman.

Seeing the lord standing
the same everywhere,
the self cannot injure itself
and goes the highest way (Bhagavad Gita, p. 118).

Brahman is the single breath, spirit, and psychology of living entities which infinitely manifests itself into positive and negative forces in an effort to comprehend who she/he is. Human beings' eternal quest for self-knowledge is the microcosm within Brahman's macrocosm. Based upon this tenet in conjunction with the belief that each of our Atmans, souls, is Brahman incarnate, Hindus explain that humankind's purpose is to harness the ego through self-mastery in order to pursue truth found through self-awareness.

I am the beginning, the middle,
and the end of creation, Arjuna;
of sciences, I am the science of the self (Bhagavad Gita, p. 93).

According to writers of both the Upanisads and the Bhagavad-Gita, Brahman resides in the heart which is possessed by all living beings and is necessary for survival. We know this organ as both a physical and ethereal presence inspiring authors to write of it as the home of the cosmos where the soul, or the Atman as Brahman, resides:

Verily, that self is (abides) in the heart. Of it the etymological explanation is this. This one is in the heart, thereof it is the heart. He who knows this goes day by day into the heavenly world (Upanisads, p. 496).

Arjuna, the lord resides
in the heart of all creatures,
making them reel magically
as if a machine moved them (Bhagavad Gita, p. 151).

The first road to Brahman lies on the path of self-sacrifice in its literal sense: the offering of something precious (the soul) to a deity (oneself) (Bhagavad Gita, p. 52). Through non-attachment to emotions and material items that create maya, or delusionment, we can focus on Brahman. Personified as Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, our soul (Atman and Brahman) is to be treated as the object of sacred devotion understood through meditation and relinquishment of desire.

Acting only for me, intent one me,
free from attachment,
hostile to no creature, Arjuna,
a man of devotion comes to me (Bhagavad Gita, p. 109).

Human beings' instinctive, animal natures often lead to passionate, self-destructive behavior and it seems the author of the Bhagavad-Gita is trying to communicate the need for us to be warriors battling to overcome these drives (Bhagavad Gita, p. 47). However, it is tremendously difficult to consciously surrender our personalities to anything, especially when called upon to give up illusion, or maya, because it comforts us in a world of suffering. The weapons used by Hindu philosophers to defeat the pain caused by exposing the ego are non-attachment and discipline.

The self which is free from evil, free from old age, free from death, free from grief, free from hunger and thirst, whose desire is the real, whose thought is the real, he should be sought, him one should desire to understand. He who has found out and who understands that self, he obtains all worlds and desires (Upanisads, p. 501).

Renunciation is difficult to attain
without discipline;
a sage armed with discipline
soon reaches the infinite spirit (Bhagavad Gita, p. 61).

Discipline provides the mind the ability to focus on the present thereby unmuddying the psychic waters and relinquishing feelings that bring sadness or confusion. Hindus explain that practiced with devotion, meditation, either contemplative or active, and yoga assist one in focusing his/her thoughts and allows self-awareness, Brahman, to be reached.

As the mountain depths
of the ocean
are unmoved when waters
rush into it,
so the man unmoved
when desires enter him
attains a peace that eludes
the man of many desires (Bhagavad Gita, p. 38).

Supported by non-attachment is the Hindu concept of dharma meaning sacred duty which seems to have evolved from their uncrossable, rigid caste system. Once born into Hindu society people must accept their predestined roles regardless of how distasteful or meaningless they may appear. The tenet of dharma helps the Hindu embrace even the most undesirable position by infusing it with divine importance; inspiring reverence and commitment; and alleviating unhappiness or tedium.

Embodied man cannot refrain from action, he cannot escape that life imposed on him by his embodiment. The way of true freedom is not abstention from action but conversion of spirit (Upanisads, p. 569).

Through non-attachment to negative emotions associated with frustrating or degrading occupations one is able to do whatever it takes ultimately knowing that in the end all that will truly matter is union with Brahman, the self.

No effort in this world
is lost or wasted;
a fragment of sacred duty
saves you from great fear (Bhagavad Gita, p. 35).

Better to do one's own duty imperfectly
than to do another man's well;
doing action intrinsic to his being,
a man avoids guilt (Bhagavad Gita, p. 149).

The Hindu concept of karma is directly related to dharma and consists of the idea that all actions and thoughts leave a positive or negative residue attached to the Atman, soul, which is reincarnated at death. Once a follower has learned the necessary life lessons, shed him/herself of negative karma, and sacrificed the ego for the attainment of knowledge, reincarnation ceases and nirvana is reached in Brahman which is also Atman.

Reincarnation includes the understanding that through dharma and karma one becomes completely responsible for herself and cannot rely on a supernatural force. For Hindus reincarnation is not a nebulous, abstract thing, instead it is an active participant in their daily lives destroying their fear of death.

Death is certain for anyone born,
and birth is certain for the dead;
since the cycle is inevitable,
you have no cause to grieve (Bhagavad Gita, p. 33)!

In the final hour, one should take refuge in these three (thoughts). Thou art the indestructible; thou art the unshaken, thou art the very essence of life (Upanisads, p. 397).

Because reincarnation eradicates the need for Hindus to worry about dying, their life missions become focused on the present moment and mastering the self. In order to accomplish this worthy task, the roles of dharma, karma, and non-attachment must be synthesized.

Austerities, self-control and work are its support; the Vedas are all its units; truth is its abode( Upanisads, p. 592).

Through one's own self one gains power and through wisdom one gains immortality (Upanisads, p. 586).

Trying to steady the self in a chaotic world in order to reach Brahman is a full-time job providing purpose to Hindus' existence.

Verily, this whole world is Brahman, from which he comes forth, without which he will be dissolved and in which he breathes. Tranquil, one should meditate on it. Now verily, a person consists of purpose. According to the purpose a person has in this world, so does he become on departing hence (Upanisads, p. 391).

Hindus marry themselves mentally, physically, and spirituality to their belief system knowing that their behavior directly influences the rest of the universe because all things are connected through Brahman. By steeping themselves in this philosophy Hindus live in a manner that most people only imagine through flashes of sacred understanding. Hindus become awash in lucidity and serenity through which they internalize their connection to the cosmos.

Of this Universal Self, the head indeed is the good light, the eye is the universal form, breath is (the air) of varied courses, the body is the full, the bladder is wealth, the feet are the earth, the chest indeed is the sacrificial area, the hair is the sacred grass, the heart is the gauhapatya fire, the mind is the anvaharya- pacana fire and the mouth is the ahavaniya fire (Upanisads, p. 441).

Aside from being some of the most powerful revealed knowledge ever inspired, Hindu philosophy is a practical answer for solving the planet's psychological and physical ills. The Hindu belief system alleviates the neuroses which plague our Western world by eliminating self-destructive tendencies and rewarding disciplined behavior. Believing that we are part of the earth, heavens, and one another alights the fires of intuition, altruism, and deep love. By appreciating the presence of Brahman, the self, in all things, one is compelled to celebrate all living things as vessels of one eternal soul.

© Copyright Paula Vaughan
Not to be reprinted without permission.

References

The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War by Barbara Stoler Miller, Bantam Books, 1986.

The Principal Upanishads, edited, introduced and translated by S. Radhakrishnan, HarperSanFrancisco, New Ed edition 1997.

Resources for further study

Hinduism

Brahman

Reincarnation