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THE ROAR LEARNING GUIDE SERIES

Sto. Niño Academy of Bamban, Inc.
Rizal Ave., San Nicolas, Bamban, Tarlac

Learning Guide No. 6 Lesson Title: Hindu Dharma: Origins, Sacred

Subject: Introduction to World Religions and Texts, Doctrine
Belief System_ Grade Level: 12
Coverage: Week Four
Name: _________________________________________Section: ____________________________

“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.”

I. Prayer

Loving Father, come be with us today. Fill our hearts with joy. Fill our minds with learning. Fill
our lessons with fun. Fill our friendships with kindness. Fill our school with love. Help us grow in love with
the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in kindness to be more like Jesus every day. Amen.
II. Objectives
a. Content Standard: The learner demonstrates understanding of the elements of Hindi
Dharma: Founders, Sacred Texts, Doctrines, God, Sects, Issues
b. Performance Standard: The learner stimulates a particular yoga and writes a
reflection paper on his/ her insights.
c. Formation Standard:
 Analyze the brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and
related issues of Hinduism.
III. Meaning-making / Method
Young people today love to say “YOLO!” [which means “You Only Live Once!”]. Sadly, some
even use this as an excuse to act irresponsibly. But, is it true that human beings live once only?
What if we did have the opportunity to live more than once? Did you know that as early as three
thousand years ago, people believed that each person lives through a series of lifetimes? What is
popularly called reincarnation is one of the fundamental beliefs of t he ancient religious
worldview known as Hindu Dharma.
IV. Most Essential Learning Competencies
 Analyze the brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related
issues of Hinduism.
V. Activities / To-do list
Lesson 6: Hindu Dharma
(Refer to pages 29-59 of “Pilgrimage to Sacred Spaces: An Introduction to World Religion” for
the discussion)
The Beginnings
The term Hindu is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Sindhu, “of the Indus (river valley).” It
was first used by the Muslim conquerors of India to refer to its inhabitants who refused to adopt Islam
and was later also used by British Imperialists.
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Those who follow the ancient religious of India rarely refer to it as Hinduism; many prefer to
simply call it Dharma or, as we will refer it, Hindu Dharma. Some refer to it as Sanatama Dharma,
the timeless universal Dharma.
Geographical Setting
The Indian subcontinent found in south Asia can be described as a land that chiefly agricultural,
and is also isolated from its neighbors. The rich alluvial soil in Indian valleys, made fertile by
abundant drinkable water from rivers, supports a large population, which tends to personify nature as a
generously nurturing but sometimes moody mother. The persistent anxieties of farmers experiencing
alternating abundant harvest with catastrophic droughts influence this religious outlook. Thus, water is
given great importance in Indian worship. “To a great degree, the worship of the gods can be seen to
be an effort to live successfully amid the awesome nonhuman forces of the natural world.”
Origins
The roots of the Hindu Dharma tradition may be found in the dark-skinned Dravidian people of
India who belonged to what is termed the Indus Valley civilization, which existed at about the same
time as the civilizations of ancient Egypt along the river Nile in the northwest Africa and of
Mesopotamia, and along the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers in the Middle East.
Around 1750-1200 BCE, warlike nomadic tribes of the light skinned people known as the
Aryans began migrating into India from the present-day Iran (“land of the Aryan”). In their own
language, Sanskrit, which will become the language of Hindu Dharma, the term Aryan mean “noble”.
The Aryans tribes were led by chieftains called Rajas. They began to settle in the cities of the
Indus Valley around 500BCE, eventually subjugating the Dravidians who were of a different Varna
(Sanskrit “color”, later “caste”).
There were three basic classes in Aryan society, those considered “twice born”:
 Kshatriya- rulers and warriors
 Brahmin- priests
 Vaishya- commoners such as farmers, artisan, and merchant
At the service of these Aryans classes were the Shudra, slaves doing manual labor and likely
taken from the subjugated darker-skinned Dravidians. From this Arya social stratification would
originate the later systems of varnas or castes described in the Law of Manu.
Sacred Texts
The sacred writings of Hindu Dharma may be categorized as either;
 Shruti- (Sanskrit “heard”) are sacred writings containing eternal truth “heard” from
the gods, i.e, divine revelation.
 Smirti.- (Sankrit “remembered”) are lesser sacred writings with privileged knowledge
as “remembered” and handed on by ancient human sages.
Shruti
The Vedas were oral traditions passed among generations that were later transcribed in the Vedic
language, an early form of Sanskrit. The Vedas are the oldest sacred books in Hindu Dharma and are
the basic source of its worldview. They contain descriptions and mythologies of pre-Aryan and
Aryan deities. The Vedas have four books or collections; Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and
Atharva-Veda.
 The Rig-Veda is a collection of over a thousand mantras or hymns to Aryan gods
accompanied by mythology and used by Hindu Dharma priests officiating sacrifices. Its
name comes from the Sanskrit ric “Praise stanza”, a unit component of a mantra.
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 The Yajur-Veda (Sanskrit “incantation”) is a guide for Brahmins assisting at ritual

sacrifices who need to recite prayers to ensure a successful offering.
 The Sama-Veda is used by ritual singers assisting in sacrifices and consists of chants/
holy songs”, verses condensed from priestly hymns in the Rig-Veda.
 The Atharva-Veda is named after the Atharvan, a separate class of Hindu Dharma priest-
shamans, it comprises domestic rituals, popular prayers, and magic spells to ward off
evil.
Four Sections of the Vedas
 Mantras: hymns of religious poetry addressed to the deities.
 Brahmanas: (Sankrit “explanation of sacrifices”), ceremonial guidelines ensuring the
proper execution of rituals, arising from the belief that the efficacy of ritual sacrifices
results not from divine intervention, but from proper ritual execution by Brahmins.
 Aranyakas: (Sanskrit “forest treaties”), material for ascetic hermits; considered later
parts of the Bhramanas.
 Upanishads: (Sanskrit “sittings near teachers”), Brahmin philosophical commentaries on
Vedic teaching.
Smirti
The Laws of Manu, written around 200BCE, are believed to have come from the first human being and are
considered the most accepted code of ideal behavior. These contain the justification for the caste (varna)
system and four stages (ashrama) in the life of Hindus.
The Ramayana (Sanskrit “the journey of Rama”) is an epic of almost 20,000 verses narrating he love story
of Rama the seventh avatar or incarnation of the god Vishnu, and his wife Sita, an avatar of the goddess
Lakshmi. It deals with some fundamental themes of human life. It explores the essential concept of dharma
in relation to human endeavor.
The Mahabarata (Sanskrit “the great story of the descendant of Bharata”) consists of almost 2 million
words in a hundred thousand verses. In the story Krishna’s discourse to Arjuna is known as the Bhagavad-
Gita, the most popular part which is described as containing the essence of the Vedas. Krishna is considered
the eight avatar or incarnation of the god Vishnu.
CREED
Conceptions of Ultimate Reality
The worship deities are means of coping with natural, moral, and military insecurity. The gods and
goddesses respond to human need with health and fertility, social stability, and invincible force.
Hindu Dharma has often been described as polytheistic, worshipping as many as 33 million gods and
goddesses with particular functions and powers. It acknowledges the polarities of energy, expressed in a
male principle accompanied by a female principle manifested in the pairing of Hindu gods and goddesses.
Death follows life, as creation is balanced by destruction, expressed in the god Shiva who is represented
both by male and female sex organs and destructive trident. In a balance of forces is peace. The world is thus
perceived as both good and bad.
Brahman
There is reality that makes everything that can be experienced possible but which cannot be perceived by the
senses. The Upanishads name this ultimate reality (sat), Ultimate consciousness (sit), and Ultimate bliss
(anada) as Brahman (Sanskrit “ever-growing”). It can be understood both as impersonal and without
attributes (nirguna Brahman), or having person-like qualities (saguna Brahman).
Unlike the anthropomorphic god of Abrahamic religions, nirguna Brahman is neither a bearded elderly man
in the sky; nor one having emotions or one who play favorites. Brahman is formless and changeless, infinite
and eternal, neither male or female, and beyond space and time. Being the all-knowing source of
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consciousness, it is itself Being Existence and Knowledge. In Aristotelian, Brahman according to Hindu
Dharma, is both the efficient cause and the material cause of all reality, as well as its final cause.
Since the human mind needs concrete forms to approach incomprehensible ultimate reality, the majority of
the adherents of Hindu Dharma choose to worship one particular deity, saguna Brahman, with whom they
can feel direct personal connection.
Trimurti
Saguna Brahman- Brahman with person like attributes- commonly takes the form of Trimurti, “three
images” representing the three primary natures of Brahman, Vishnu, and Shiva. This personified trimurti
correspond to the three phases in the cycle of the universe: creation, preservation of order, and destruction
prior to recreation.
The eighteen Puranas are the source of explanatory beliefs in the Hindu trimurti of Brahman.
The god Brahma is the uncreated creator, usually known as red with four bearded faces and four arms- four
being a significant number in Hindu Dharma. The number four is a symbolic representation of santana
dharma which is the traditional name for Hinduism.
The god Vishnu, is known as the playful lover, is the preserver of the universe. What human beings call
“reality”, including their existence, is simply the dream of Vishnu.
The god Shiva is the destroyer and dancer, usually represented with a trident and by erect lingam and yoni
(male and female sex organs).
Brahman may also choose to take on flesh in a knowable form, or avatar (incartion), to uphold dharma and
restore balance to the world. For instance, Vishnu has incarnated himself in ten avatars, including Rama
(seventh); Krishna (eight) of the Bhagavad-Gita; and Siddharta Gautama a.k.a the Buddha (ninth).
BASIC DOCTRINES
Samsara
In Hindu Dharma, the human being is seen as a soul who wears a series of physical bodies like many
different costumes. Translated by R.J. Zwi Werblowsky as “what turns round forever,” samsara is course or
succession of states of existence, where the indestructible atman survives the death of ne physical body and
is later reborn in another one – more popularity known as the doctrine of reincarnation or transmigration of
souls. Like the material universe, the human being undergoes a series of successive life-cycles until it finally
attains moksha, or liberation from samsara or the wheel or cycle of rebirth.
Moksha
Moksha is freedom from the wheel of Samsara attained by the reconciliation of the individual atman,
one’s innermost self, with Brahman. The atman is the essence of Brahman present in the individual human
beings. While the atman is imprisoned, as it were, in the individual’s physical body, it is subject to the law
of Karma and Samsara and is perceived as separate from Brahman. In speaking, Brahman and atman appear
to be different; but in reality, they are essentially one, since what appears to humans as ultimately different is
ultimately the same. The perception of Brahman and atman as different is based on Maya (Sanskrit “illusion/
false knowledge).
One gains insight into one’s own identity when one recognizes that Brahman and atman are one and
the same and consequently seeks the communion of one’s atman with Brahman- it is seeking to be one with
itself. Moksha results from the obliteration of the distinction between Brahman and atman, usually when the
physical body releases atman.
Karma
The law of Karma may be regarded as the most important doctrine of Hindu Dharma, that every
thought or deed has a consequence. It is analogous to the modern scientific principle, “For every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It emphasizes that human beings get exactly what they deserve.
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One’s present condition in life including one’s varna or social class, is exactly the lifetime status
most appropriate to one, a consequence of the karma one has accumulated through thoughts and actions in
previous lifetimes. The choices one has made in the past directly affect one’s present condition, and the
choices made today and thereafter will have consequences of past decisions, one is free to change one’s
present thoughts and actions in order to improve one’s future status. Hence, a person is responsible for
his/her own present and future condition in life. Such an understanding can lead one to right choices, deeds,
thoughts, and desires, without need for any external commandments. Karma, therefore, is not the same as
fate or predestination, nor does it take away one’s free will; it challenges us to properly exercise our freedom
and to take responsibility for our thoughts and actions.

CODE
Dharma
Dharma is a rich and complex term that can be translated in English in a variety of ways: duty, obligation,
law, virtue, and ethic.
In addition to the natural processes, dharma, as a principle of right action, can also refer to rules governing
human activity. Hindu Dharma: acknowledges a vital connection between nature and humanity: when
human beings fail to live according to their dharma, the cosmic order is threatened and the material world
slides toward disintegration. The essence of Hindu Dharma is to discover and live out one’s dharma.
There are two main types of Dharma: Vishesha dharma and Sadharana Dharma. Underlying a worldview
wherein each member of society contributes something of value to the whole;
 Vishesha Dharma concerns particular socio-religious obligations determined according to one’s
gender, social class (varna), and life stage (ashrama). It is the dharma of the Brahmin to teach
 Sadharana Dharma is where the ethical foundation of Hindu Dharma lies. It concerns over universal
moral norms applicable to all human beings regardless of religious affiliation and historical-cultural
context: “one should not behave toward others in a way that is disagreeable to oneself. This is the
essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire”.

The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali identifies ten virtues- Five negative (yamas) and five positive (niyamas).

1. Ahimsa : avoidance of violent thought and action.

2. Satya : avoidance of dishonesty and betrayal
3. Asteya : avoidance of theft and covetousness
4. Brachmacariya : avoidance of lust, drunkenness, and bad company.
5. Aparigraha : avoidance of greed and desire
6. Saucha : purity of body, mind, and speech.
7. Santosha : contentment with one’s possessions.
8. Tapaha : endurance and perseverance.
9. Svadhyaya : scriptural study and quest for wisdom
10. Ishvarapranidhana : devotion, worship, and meditation

Four Yogas/ Margas/ Ways of Salvation

To attain Moksha, Hindu Dharma proposes four disciplines (yogas) or ways (margas) of salvation:
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1. Karma Yoga, “the yoke of action/work,”

2. Jnana Yoga, “the yoke of knowledge/wisdom,”
3. Raja Yoga, “the royal yoke” of physical discipline, and the
4. Bhakti Yoga, “the yoke of love/devotion.”

Activity #1
1. Why are certain texts of Hindi Dharma considered shruti, while others are smirti? Answer in your
own words.
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2. In your own words briefly describe each collection of the Vedas (not the sections).
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Activity #2
1. Briefly explain the law of Karma. What is its significance for Hindu Dharma?
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2. Why do most followers of Hindu Dharma choose to worship deities with person-like qualities?
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VI. Suggested Resources
 Manaloto, Christian B., Rapadas, Maria Teresita R., “Pilgrimage to Sacred Spaces: An Introduction
to World Religions”, 2016.

VII. Parent’s/Guardian’s Comments and Suggestions

VIII. Teacher’s Feedback

Prepared by: Noted by:

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LUIGI CHRISTIAN R. BRACAMONTE RONALD D. DAVID

Subject Teacher OIC – Office of the Principal