Hinduism — Beliefs and Teachings
What's covered
Key facts
Atman — The Self
In Advaita Vedanta the atman is identical with Brahman.
Sources of Wisdom and Authority — Key Quotes
The Bhagavad Gita describes the atman as never born and never dying.
Brahman — Ultimate Reality
Brahman is beyond human description (the Upanishadic "neti, neti" — "not this, not that").
Dharma — Meaning and Types
Krishna teaches Arjuna about his svadharma as a warrior.
Matter, Qualities, Illusion (Maya), Cosmology
Hindu cosmology is cyclical: creation, preservation, destruction.
Moksha and Types of Liberation
Advaita Vedanta of Shankara sees moksha as union with Brahman.
Personal Virtues — Ahimsa, Humility, Empathy
Ahimsa is non-violence to all beings.
Samsara and Karma
Agami / kriyamana karma is karma being created right now.
The Four Aims of Life — Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha
Artha is the appropriate pursuit of the householder — the second of the four life stages — not of the student or renunciant stages.
Three Features of the Divine
Antaryamin literally means "inner controller".
Sample questions
A taste of the 109 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What is the atman?
- ✓Eternal individual self
- •The cycle of death and rebirth
- •The moral duty of each person
- •The ultimate formless reality
What is Brahman?
- •Cosmic moral order governing all life
- •Eternal individual self
- •The cycle of reincarnation
- ✓Ultimate, formless reality
What does dharma mean?
- •Devotion and loving surrender to God
- •Liberation from the cycle of rebirth
- ✓Religious duty and right order
- •The soul's journey through many lives
Name the three gunas (qualities).
- •Ahimsa, karma, moksha
- •Brahman, atman, antaryamin
- •Dharma, artha, kama
- ✓Sattva, rajas, tamas
What is jivanmukti?
- •Freedom from karma through devotion
- •Liberation after bodily death
- ✓Liberation while still living
- •Release from dharmic obligations
Why is humility valued in Hinduism?
- •Earns merit for a better rebirth
- •Pleases the gods directly
- ✓Reduces ego, opens to truth
- •Wins respect from one's community
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