PRACTICES RITUALS SYMBOLS FESTIVALS How Hindus worship Personal

PRACTICES, RITUALS, SYMBOLS, FESTIVALS

How Hindus worship • Personal experience that can take on many different forms • 4 goals in life – 1. Dharma: conducting yourself with compassion, purity, goodness; without cruelty, jealousy or greed 2. Artha: earning money honestly 3. Kama: love/physical pleasure to balance life, marriage 4. Moksha: leading the soul to salvation

Paths to Salvation Personal pathway, dependant on a person’s nature or personality To achieve salvation, the person must be sincere! Yoga – methods that can help people live spiritually. It is a union between the person and the divine

Types of yoga Bhakti yoga: devotion Ø Devoting yourself to a specific god Ø Popular because it allows the worshipper to approach Brahman as a concrete idea Ø Involves chants, food offerings, anointing of statues, revering one’s guru

Karma yoga: action Ø All useful work can lead to perfection Ø Acts must be done in an unselfish way, for unselfish purposes

Jnana yoga: wisdom/knowledge Ø Requires the direction of a guru to study the teachings of the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita Ø Goal is to understand the relationship between Brahman and atman

• Raja yoga: royal Ø Promotes meditation: deep breathing while sitting quietly, which promotes destressing and peace Ø Chanting of om/mantras: represents the essence of Brahman, contains the secrets of the universe

Hatha yoga: force Ø Excercises performed that help with meditation Ø Involve breating and stretching

Worship at home Puja: offerings of thanks to a specific deity. This special event involves offerings being made at a home shrine Ø Flowers Ø Fruits Ø Incense Ø Water Ø Milk Ø lamps

Worship at temple Visited for festivals or special occasions Diwali Oct-Nov Festival of lights: can last 5 days (1 day in Canada). Involves fireworks, decorating with lights, celebrate good/knowledge over evil/ignorance Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) is celebrated Holi March A spring festival: fire is burned, representing the burning of evil – represents a legend representing the triumph of good over evil. Mahashivaratri Feb Event dedicated to devotion of Shiva: worship, 24 hr fast Navaratri Spring/autumn Festival of Nine Nights: worship of Durga for 3 nights, then offer puja to Lakshmi. Final 3 nights worship Saraswati. Last night followers worship Vijayadasami (Day of Victory)

Pilgrimages: journeys to a holy place Varanasi: a holy city located on the Ganges River Contains 1500 temples Belief that every step of the city represents the energy of Shiva Birthplace of a Jainist teacher , place of Buddha’s first sermon