Hindu leadership

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Hinduism is an umbrella term for various religious traditions that originated in India, and now are practiced all around the world. The third largest organized religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam, Hinduism is based on an ancient religion, the Veda, that was brought to India around 1500 B.C.E. by the Aryans. The social stratification of the Aryan society also influenced India, and along with Hinduism, a number of social classes, called castes, simultaneously developed after the Aryans' arrival.

Just as Hinduism includes a variety of religious traditions, the religious leaders in Hinduism include a variety of different hierarchies. According to the strict interpretation of the caste system, all priests must come from the highest, or Brahman caste. Generally a person was compelled to remain in the same caste into which he was born, and could how to be born into a higher caste at his next reincarnation. This means that in most cases, the priesthood was hereditary. Besides Priests, Hinduism also has monastic orders, referred to as Sannyasa. A third category of religious leaders in Hinduism are referred to as gurus, or teachers.

Since Hinduism includes a variety of gods, religious practices, and religious leaders, each person's faith is an individual matter, and each will choose a guru that suits the goals and nature of his faith. All of these religious leaders have a responsibility to guide those who follow them and look to them as examples, to live and teach an upright and holy life.


The Brahman, or priestly caste in Hinduism

A Hindu priest performing Shivapuja, a worship of Shiva


The various religious traditions practiced in India and refered to as Hinduism have their roots in an ancient religion, the Veda, brought to India by the invading Aryans around 1500 B.C.E. One aspect of Hinduism that is based on Aryan society is the caste system, a hierarchy of socioeconomic categories called varnas (colours), made up of priests, warriors and commoners as recorded in the Rigveda.

The Rigveda describes four varna:

  • Brahmans, the priests and religious officals, teachers of the sacred knowledge of the veda.
  • Rajanyas, composed of rulers and warriors.
  • Vaishyas, who were farmers, merchants, traders and craftmen

These three varnas has the possibility to be reborn into a higher caste and become Hindu.

  • Shudras, the lowest caste, were not permitted to study the vedas, and had their own religion and priests.

Later another caste was added:

  • Untouchables, who performed tasks too dirty for others.

The name for the priestly or Brahman caste, appears to have originally denoted the prayers of the priests, but was eventually adopted to designate the priests themselves. Brahman is often spelled Brahmin to distinguish it from another meaning of Brahman, a term referring to the Hindu concept of ultimate reality, or universal soul.

The Brahman caste has been instructed by the Hindu scriptures to devote themselves to studying the scriptures, pure conduct and spiritual growth. Although the Brahman caste is ranked the highest in the varna system, they are not the richest class. Very often members of the Rajanya caste of rulers and warriors have are wealthier. Originally the Brahman caste was instructed to subsist mainly on alms from the rest of society. In addition to studying the scriptures, Brahmans serve the Hindu society as priests, fulfilling a variety of social and religious functions.

In the Hindu concept of rebirth, the final steps toward Moksha or salvation, can only be made by members of the Brahman class. Certain members of the Brahman class join spiritual orders called Sannyasa and pursue an ascetic life of spiritual pursuit.

Still other members of the Brahman caste find spiritually calling as Gurus, or teachers. Sucessful Gurus may gather large followings, and even form new branches of Hinduism.

Hindu priests

Hindu priest placing garlands of fresh flowers on the head of a massive statue of the god Shiva's bull Nandi.

http://www.hindupriest.org.uk/index.html

Hindu priests take care of the temples, lead devotions in worship of Hinduism's many dieties, prepare offerings, tend to holy fires, and conduct a number of rituals and ceremonies, many of them rooted deeply in the Vedic tradition. These include rituals and ceremonies pertaining to:

  • Birth: Ceremonies the well-being of the mother during pregnancy to provide for the healthy development of her child, as well as ceremonies for a safe birth, and for bestowing the child's name.
  • Birthdays, including special ceremonies for a child's first birthday, and coming of age.
  • Marriage, including rituals that the priest performs at the family home the day before the wedding ceremony.
  • Purification ceremonies for removing negative influences of newly purchased homes or other properties.
  • Death: Last rites ceremonies, and other rituals to help the deceased to pass over peacefully.[1]

Sannyasa, the final stage of the varna system

Sannyasa performing a fire ritual

Hindus who have taken vows to follow spiritual pursuits are referred to as Sannyasa, (Devanagari: संन्यास) sannyāsa and are members of the renounced order of life within Hinduism. This is considered the topmost and final stage of the varna and ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to dedicate their entire life towards spiritual pursuits. One within the sannyasa order is known as a sannyasi or sannyasin.


Etymology
Saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit means "renunciation," "abandonment." It is a tripartite compound of saṃ- has "collective" meaning, ni- means "down" and āsa is from the root as, meaning "to throw" or "to put," so a literal translation would be "laying it all down." In dravidian languages, "sanyasi" is pronounced as "sannasi."


Danda as spiritual attribute
In the Varnashrama System or Dharma of Sanatana Dharma, the 'danda', a holy staff, (Sanskrit; Devanagari: दंड, lit. stick) is a spiritual attribute and axis mundi of certain deities such as Bṛhaspati, and holy people such as sadhu carry the danda as an austerity and marker of their station as a mendicant renunciate or sannyasin.


Categories of sannyasi

Sri Ananta Das Babaji Maharaja, a leading Hindu religious figure in the contemporary Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

There are a number of types of sannyasi in accordance with socio-religious context. Traditionally there were four types with different stages of dedication. In recent times, sannyasi are more likely to be divided into two distinct orders: "ekadanda" (literally single stick) and "tridanda' (triple rod or stick) monks. The former are part of the Sankaracarya tradition, and the second is the sannyasa discipline followed by various vaishnava traditions and introduced to the west by followers of the reformer Siddhanta Sarasvati. The two orders each have their own traditions of austerities, attributes, and expectations.


Lifestyle and goals
The sannyasi lives a celibate life without possessions, practises yoga meditation — or in other traditions, bhakti, or devotional meditation, with prayers to their chosen deity or God. The goal of the Hindu Sannsyasin is moksha (liberation), the conception of which also varies. For the devotion oriented traditions, liberation consists of union with the Divine, while for Yoga oriented traditions, liberation is the experience of the highest samadhi (enlightenment). For the Advaita tradition, liberation is the removal of all ignorance and realising oneself as one with the Supreme Brahman. Of the 108 Upanishads of the Muktika, 23 are considered Sannyasa Upanishads.

Within the Bhagavad Gita, sannyasa is described by Krishna as follows:

"The giving up of activities that are based on material desire is what great learned men call the renounced order of life [sannyasa]. And giving up the results of all activities is what the wise call renunciation [tyaga]." (18.2)[2]

The term is generally used to denote a particular phase of life. In this phase of life, the person develops vairāgya, or a state of determination and detachment from material life. He renounces all worldly thoughts and desires, and spends the rest of his life in spiritual contemplation. It is the last in the four phases of a man, namely, brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and finally sannyasa, as prescribed by Manusmriti for the Dwija castes, in the Hindu system of life. However, these four stages are not necessarily sequential, but on the other hand can not be reversed, in other sense they are progressive phases, one can skip one, two or three ashrams, but can never revert back to an earlier ashrama or phase. Various Hindu traditions allow for a man to renounce the material world from any of the first three stages of life.


Monasticism
Unlike monks in the Western world, whose lives are regulated by a monastery or an abbey and its rules, some Hindu sannyasin are loners and wanderers (parivrājaka). Hindu monasteries (mathas) never have a huge number of monks living under one roof. The monasteries exist primarily for educational purposes and have become centers of pilgrimage for the lay population. Ordination into any Hindu monastic order is purely at the discretion of the individual guru, or teacher, who should himself be an ordained sannyasi within that order. Most traditional Hindu orders do not have women sannyasis, but this situation is undergoing changes in recent times.


The Guru in Hinduism

Sant Ajaib Singh (1926-1997), a Master in Sant Mat tradition, a sect of Hinduism opposed to the caste system
Swami Vivekananda Jaipur, an Indian Hindu sage of the 19th century

The nearest word in English for guru is "great." Related words in Sanskrit are Guruttar and Garishth, which have meanings similar to greater and greatest. Hinduism emphasizes the importance of finding a guru who can impart transcendental knowledge, or (vidyā). One of the main Hindu texts, the Bhagavad Gita, is a dialogue between God in the form of Krishna and his friend Arjuna, a Kshatriya prince who accepts Krishna as his guru on the battlefield, prior to a large battle. Not only does this dialogue outline many of the ideals of Hinduism, but their relationship is considered an ideal one of Guru-Shishya. In the Gita, Krishna speaks to Arjuna of the importance of finding a guru:

Acquire the transcendental knowledge from a Self-realized master by humble reverence, by sincere inquiry, and by service. The wise ones who have realized the Truth will impart the Knowledge to you. [3]

In the sense mentioned above, guru is used more or less interchangeably with satguru (literally: true teacher) and satpurusha. Compare also Swami. The disciple of a guru is called a śiṣya or chela. Often a guru lives in an ashram or in a gurukula (the guru's household), together with his disciples. The lineage of a guru, spread by disciples who carry on the guru's message, is known as the guru parampara, or disciplic succession.

Some Hindu denominations like BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha hold that a personal relationship with a living guru, revered as the embodiment of God, is essential in seeking moksha. The guru is the one who guides his or her disciple to become jivanmukta, the liberated soul able to achieve salvation in his or her lifetime.

The role of the guru continues in the original sense of the word in such Hindu traditions as the Vedānta, yoga, tantra and bhakti schools. Indeed, it is now a standard part of Hinduism that a guru is one's spiritual guide on earth. In some more mystical traditions it is believed that the guru could awaken dormant spiritual knowledge within the pupil. The act of doing this is known as shaktipat.

In Hinduism, the guru is considered a respected person with saintly qualities who enlightens the mind of his or her disciple, an educator from whom one receives the initiatory mantra, and one who instructs in rituals and religious ceremonies. The Vishnu Smriti and Manu Smriti regard the teacher and the mother and father as the most venerable influences on an individual.

Some influential gurus in the Hindu tradition were Adi Shankaracharya, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Shri Ramakrishna. Other gurus who continued the yogic tradition into the 20th century include: Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, Shri Ramana Maharshi, Sathya Sai Baba, Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati (The Sage of Kanchi), Swami Sivananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Vivekananda and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

In Indian culture, a person without a guru or a teacher (acharya) was once looked down on as an orphan or unfortunate one. The word anatha in Sanskrit means "the one without a teacher." An acharya is the giver of gyan (knowledge) in the form of shiksha (instruction). A guru also gives diksha initiation which is the spiritual awakening of the disciple by the grace of the guru. Diksha is also considered to be the procedure of bestowing the divine powers of a guru upon the disciple, through which the disciple progresses continuously along the path to divinity.

The concept of the "guru" can be traced as far back as the early Upanishads, where the idea of the Divine Teacher on earth first manifested from its early Brahmin associations. Although gurus may have traditionally come from the Brahman class, some gurus from lower castes, including Guru Ravidass, have appeared and have become renowned teachers with many followers. [4]

Gallery

See also

Notes

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Case, Margaret H. Seeing Krishna: the religious world of a Brahman family in Vrindaban. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 9780195130119
  • Jagannātha Dīkṣita Cipol̲aṇakara, and H. G. Ranade. Brahmatva-mañjarī = Brahmatva-mañjarī : role of the Brahman priest in the Vedic ritual. Ranade publication series, no. 3. Poona: H.G. Ranade, 1984. OCLC: 15487624
  • Barnes, Michael, Margaret Hebblethwaite, and Peter Hebblethwaite. Traditions of spiritual guidance: the guru in Hinduism. London: The Way, 1984. OCLC: 128292184
  • Pechilis, Karen. The graceful guru: Hindu female gurus in India and the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 9780195145380
  • Thekkudan, Anto P. Sannyasa And Spiritual Formation in Hinduism. Alwaye, India: St. Thomas Academy for Research, 1988.
  • Abhishiktananda. The further shore: Sannyasa and the Upanishads, an introduction : two essays. Delhi: I.S.P.C.K., 1975, OCLC: 2929851

External links

All links retrieved October 7, 2008.

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