Course: Eastern Religious Traditions
Bonus Lectures:
Extinct Archaic Religions -- Examples
Aztecs and Mayas
Both Aztec and Maya distinguish between ancient gods and "younger" gods. The god of fire is invariably, and ancient god as is the god of merchants, probably because the ancestors of these merchants belonged to an indigenous population group.
With the Maya the original nature and agrarian deities were the ancient gods, whereas the gods they adopted from the Toltecs, like Quetzalcoatl (plumed serpent), were younger ones, who were more involved in the cosmic and socio-cultural aspects of their society.
In the religious as well as social concept of the universe held by all Central America peoples there was direct associations between space, time and color, which have similar structures, but show slight variations from people to people.
Taking earth as the center, they distinguished six cosmic directions: The four quarters of space, above (heaven) below (the underworld). So inclusive of the center (the earth), there were seven divisions in cosmic space.
Each religious and social system in central America is found to have an order that is a complicated elaboration of this system of four horizontal directions and the three vertical directions (the 3 cosmos layers).
This principle was connected with a dualistic world view based on the man--woman opposition.
Their organizational groups of deities, chiefs, priests, military leaders and other dignitaries were arranged in 3's or 4's to coincide with their cosmological views.
Each horizontal direction was associated with different colors.
The combination of space and color was associated with time, and time was closely connected with the gods, especially among the Maya.
The universe and consequently life on earth was successively controlled by a particular combination of direction, time, and gods.
The Toltecs and Aztecs called the cosmic ages determined in this way ‘suns’. This concept also existed among the Maya, and like the Toltecs they distinguished four such cosmic ages, each determined by one of the quarters and the gods belonging to it.
These existed both simultaneously and in sequence since time to them was a relative concept. Each ‘sun’ was dominated by one particular combination, which after a certain length of time had to surrender its ascendency to another combination.
The Toltecs, Aztecs, and Maya divided heaven into thirteen parts, adding one step to the pyramid of heaven by subdividing the older topmost heaven of the Maya and Olmecs into five heavens.
Every Human has a counterpart
A fundamental conception in Central American thinking is the existence of so-called 'counterparts in disguise".
Every human being was thought to have one 'counterparts", mostly disguised as animals, whose fates were linked to that of the human being in a manner conditioned by cosmic forces.
The day was divided into 13 periods, each ruled by one of the gods, while the night had 9 periods while the sun passed thru the 9 spheres of the underworld.
Every human possessed from the moment of birth a personal combination of these periods, which to a great extent determined his or her fate. This was shared with an animal counterpart. This used to be and still is the principle underlying many acts of magic in this cultural area.
By doing harm to or destroying a counterpart one can kill or make a person ill. By strengthening a sick person's animal counterpart one cures him or her.
History is divided into 5 suns in which evolution of life took place. Catastrophe could interfere. Within each sum only those forms of earthly life could flourish that were organized according to the principles governing the order at that time.
The relation between people and their gods were governed by the principle of reciprocity.
People were obliged to feed and strengthen their gods. The extreme consequence of this being the human sacrifices, which were constantly performed by the Aztecs.
Before the 11th century the Aztec tribe united with the tribe of Mexitin into one religious, social and administrative organization. The less civilized Mexitin tribe eventually gained control of the religious system.
The political as well as religious ambitions of the Aztec-Mexica implied the control or at least the regulation of War as an instrument to gain and exercise power, and the unification of all the peoples on earth into one social, religious and administrative organization to guarantee the harmonious preservation of the human race.
The Aztec-Mexica people considered themselves to be in charge of the regulation of all earthly matters during the fifth cosmic age.
They were highly tolerant in religious and cultural matters.
A system of ritual battles with a limited number of warriors fighting on pre-determined battlefields became the standard way of waging war.
The main religious purpose was the capturing of prisoners of war who could at some later time be sacrificed to one or more deities.
The social purpose was to enable the sons of noble families, officers and brave warriors of low descent to win honor and fame and thus rise on the social ladder.
Ideologically, wars of flowers might be regarded as an attempt to prevent decadence.
Pantheon
Highest god was Tezcatlipoca (it causes the black mirror to shine, the god of the nocturnal sky) was considered a real teotl, that is permanent, powerful. It lived everywhere, in hell, on earth and in heaven. Pantheistic concept of the supreme god. He or it appears in more forms than any other god and under more names than any other.
The unique thing about their concept of divinity is the association of particular gods with particular social groups within a nation, or with entire tribes or nations.
One of the fundamentals of the Aztec concepts of divinity and religion in general was the cosmic interrelationship between all phenomena.
The Aztecs considered the supra-individual unity of a group of far greater importance than most Europeans do.
The cosmic relationship embodied in the constellation of the gods belonging to the 5th sun gave every individual person as well as every group of persons is or her own predestined fate.
Considerable differences existed between the gods. But all Aztec deities had this in common, that they existed longer than man, for they were thought to exist in any case as long as the constellation of the fifth Sun. Since their existence was comparatively permanent, they were all gods.
Sacrifice
Every person in every class in the Aztec society sacrificed some of his own blood to one or more of the gods, usually, piercing tongue or earlobes with a reed, causing considerable suffering.
Those in high positions often brought valuable offerings as well. Military conquerors offered their war captives. Their hearts were torn out by the priests and offered, still beating, to the god.
Every 20 days, i.e. 18 times a year, great religious festivals were held. Each social group brought offerings. The nation that brought the largest number of human offerings enjoyed the greatest prestige.
Three fundamental principles of Aztec ideology
The special duty to be fulfilled Huitzilopochtli, the chief god during the 5th sun, and his followers.
The readiness to participate in the wars of the flowers and/or to bring ritual offerings and do penance for the purpose of preventing decadence.
The principle of reciprocity in the relations between the people and the gods.
Aztec youth, both male and female were indoctrinated with these principles and other values in school from their 7th to their 20th year.
Schools were run by priests at scientific-religious boarding schools, or by army officers at the less strict military and vocational schools.
Besides Aztec dogma, they were taught to think and works left of pupils are evidence of this.
The need for sacrifice made the Aztec religion a harsh one, but it was also a source of order and discipline within the society.
Maya
The concept of Time was the center of Maya religious interest.
They are more metaphysical in nature than the Aztec religion
The ‘animal counterparts' played a more important part and each animal counterpart was assumed to be connected with a thirteenfold 'soul' which was shared by the animal and the person whose counterpart it was.
The present Nahua as well as Maya tribes have lost most of the intricate arrangement of the gods of heaven.
But the ancient nature gods, the sun-god and the rain-god, the goddess of the earth and the maize-gods, still play a major part in the daily life of the tribes sometimes in the disguise of Christian saints.
The ancient concepts of ‘animal counterparts' has been preserved nearly everywhere, and the acts of magic are still being performed within the framework of these concepts.
Mayan calendar
Based on the same principle as the Aztec but was even more important to the Mayans.
Like the Aztecs, the Maya reckoned with the ritual time unit of 260 days, divided into 13 x 20 days and called tzolkin.
They regarded these days as 260 different pairs of combinations of the gods of the 13 numbers with 20 gods of the day-signs.
14 divinities were associated with the numbers 0 and 1-13.
The Maya, like the Aztec, has a solar year of 365 days divided into 18 periods of 20 days, plus five remaining days.
The Maya are the first people on earth known to have developed the concept of the number 0, many centuries before the Hindus.
Every 52 years was a crucial time as the idea that the 5th sun might be destroyed was possible. At this time all fires in the country had to be extinguished. Old furniture and other household implements, pottery, images of gods, etc. were replaced by new ones. At the moment the Pleiades rose above the mountain of Colhuacan new fire was made by the high priest upon the breast of a sacrificed victim and distributed among all the temples and homes in the country.
For the Maya the Katun, which was a period of 7,200 days was the most important time unit with regard to religious matters.
The Maya were continually correcting their calendar, with the result that theirs was the most accurate calendar ever developed
Tribal Religions in India & The Vedic period on Indra
Anthropological observation among those living primitive peoples who have never progressed beyond the hunting and gathering stage gives a good idea of the kind of religious ideas and practices which are compatible with the style of life of nomadic food-gatherers.
It has become evident that there is no human group, however primitive, which lacks all ideas of supernatural beings or entities. We can't discover how much their beliefs resemble concepts and practices of pre-historic times but it can be assumed that these tribes do preserve some of the features of archaic religious systems which crystallized at a time when humankinds whole economy was based on hunting and gathering.
Primitive tribes of forest nomads are found in peninsular India, The Andaman Islands, in Malaya, in Sumatra and the Philippines. In all these regions they are still maintaining their ethnic and cultural identity.
Deities of Indian Forest Nomads
Chenchus--a Dravidian-speaking tribe of jungle nomads in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
They are familiar with farming but have chosen to remain in the forest and subsist on wild roots, hunting, etc.
Principle social unit is a group of families possessing hereditary rights to a tract of land within which boundaries they may hunt and collect food.
Their World view is based on the feeling of human dependence on invisible beings conceived in anthropomorphic terms. this world of invisible beings and humans are part of the natural order, They don't know where all came from, but accept it as fact. Their attitude towards the gods is sober and free of emotional involvement.
The main deity is a female called Garelamaisama who is closely linked with the chase and the collection of edible plants.
She has power over animals and is therefore important to hunting luck. Male animals alone were killed since it angered the goddess if females were killed.
If accidently one was the hunter had to ask forgiveness. She is given a piece of meat roasted by the hunter after Success as an offering also. She is believed to influence human behavior also and is invoked to keep people from quarreling.
Bhagavantaru the god of thunder and rain is another prominent deity.
Neither of these deities are thought to concern themselves with human morality.
The Chenchus idea of people's fate after death is vague and there is not a concept that what is done in this life determines the next.
Besides these two deities, the Chenchus worship a number of minor deities associated with specific localities or clans. They are propitiated by offerings, but these acts of worship are emotionally neutral appeals to supernatural powers.
Unlike many of the more advanced tribes, the Chenchus are not haunted by a fear of evil spirits or anxious about the effects of black magic.
There are no priests or other religious experts. Any adult male can make offerings. It is a religion of extreme simplicity. Humans and gods are believed to operate within a single sphere, and every individual has direct and immediate access to deities who, the invisible, appear to the Chenchus as part of the natural world.
Gond tribes
A population of some 3,000,000 strong extending over the hill regions of Madhya Pradesh and northern Andhra Pradesh.
More economically advanced they have developed religious patterns of great complexity and their relations with the supernatural world are channeled into elaborate ceremonies conducted by ritual specialists.
Unlike the Chenchus, they are involved in myths of origin and aetiology (the beginning) of things.
Myth and ritual are elaborately tied together. At each of the major annual feasts they recite the appropriate myths or legends and thereby keep the tradition alive.
Bhagavan is the deity who resides over the world. Has at times been equated with Shiva. Gods and people turn to him for advice and assistance in difficulties but communicates with mortals indirectly. He does not figure big in rituals or offerings.
Clan deities the cult of which is central to Gond religion and includes the sacrifice of goats and sheep is their main worship.
Most of these deities were once clan members who now are guardians of their original clan. Their nature is complicated. Most of them represent an amalgam of a female and a male figure, conceived of as mother and son yet afterwards often referred to as a single deity.
Three ritual functionaries are responsible for the worship of each set of clan deities. This is done twice a year for several days each. Newly dead are introduced to the deities.
The cult of clan-deities is one side of Gond worship, the other is worship of local and village deities.
In every village there is a shrine of the village mother and a sanctuary of the village guardian represented by a pointed wooden post.
The Earth mother is worshipped by Gond farmers just before sowing and at the harvest. All the female deities are not benevolent as some threaten the village with smallpox and cholera. and have to be placated with animal sacrifice.
No one except a member of the lineage of clan-priests may function at the rites in honor of the clan-deities, and the cult of village mother and village guardian is a prerogative which belongs exclusively to the lineage of the village founder.
Seers can be anybody, these are ones who fall into a trance and speak for the gods.
The soul-concepts of the Gonds and many other Middle Indian tribes are based on the belief that the impersonal life-substance (jiv) which animates a person from birth to death is different from the personality which continues to exist after death and joins the ancestors in the land of the dead. Bhagavan at death recalls the life substance and brings death. When recalled the jiv is added to a pool of such substances available for reincarnation.
The personality of the deceased survives after death in the form of a spirit referred to as sanal or literally the departed.
There is no connection between people's moral conduct in this life and their fate in the land of the dead. Nor do the gods concern themselves with human morality.
To the Gond, religion is not personal relationship by a system of rites and sacrifices by means of which a community achieves the integration of human actions with the influence of the gods and spirits.
The idea of a battle between good and evil forces is foreign to the Gond's view of the world.
Hinduism
First of all. Indians don't think of themselves as HINDUS. But Rather by the god they have chosen to worship. i.e., those who worship Vishnu (northern India) call themselves Vaishnavites while those who follow Shiva, Shaivites. The word "Hindu" was given to those along the Indus river by the Muslims in the 12th century.
A great civilization was in the Indus valley as early as 2500 BCE. They worshipped a mother goddess as well as other spirits.
In about 1500 BCE the great influx of Indo-European speaking peoples began coming in from the Iranian Plateau, not only to India but Greece, the middle east, etc.
They brought with them a very patriarchal system, their own priesthood, and almost exclusively male deities. Because they had chariots and Iron technology, they were able to conquer the more civilized areas they invaded.
The Brahmins, or priestly caste established the caste system which still, though illegal, exists today.
THE VEDAS are the first written scriptures in the world that we know of. The word means "knowledge" in Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, i.e. sacred knowledge.
Over a period of some 1000 years, from about 1400 to 300 BCE various parts were written, becoming more mystical, and more pessimistic with the passage of time.
In the west, it is the Upanishads written from 600-300 BCE that are best known. There were hundreds, but there are 10 or so that are principle ones.
From the early Vedas, where the problem was not a long enough life, wealth, health, etc. the Upanishads (which means to sit nearby devotedly) consider that ignorance is the problem and knowledge is the solution. That is, knowledge of the fact that observances and activities or philosophical meditation as it implies divine grace.
Lower bhakti is imperfect because it is motivated by worldly concerns such as sickness or the desire for something. there are 81 degrees of lower bhakti listed.
Higher bhakti is completely selfless and involves single-hearted attachment to God. It is not the result of human striving but of pure grace. It is not the means of liberation, it is liberation.
There are approximately 15 million gods in India today, but I want to talk about a few major bhakti groups which are the most popular.
KRISHNA BHAKTI
The origin of devotion to Krishna is not known but one of the two great epics of India the MAHABHARATA written between 400 BCE and 400 CE makes him a human hero.
The BHAGAVAD GITA, written around 200 BCE, which forms only a small part of the entire epic (which is 3 1/2 times the length of the Bible) presents Krishna as the Supreme God who, if made an object of devotion, will save humans.
The Gita takes place on the battlefield where Krishna is a chariot driver for Arjuna. Arjuna is not happy about killing people who are related in this war but Krishna teaches that this is inevitable and that action or DHARMA done in a non-attached manner, without concern for the fruits of the action, is the most adequate path to liberation. Those who die will be reborn.
In the climax of the Gita, chap. 11 Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna as the Lord of all and that devotion to him will save one from samsara. Krishna is the support of Brachman in the Gita
QUALIFIED NON-DUEL is the view of the Gita, i.e., it sees god as both personal and impersonal, beyond all distinctions of that our soul (atman) is identical with the one absolute, Brachman. I.e. Our true self or soul is God.
REINCARNATION is a key notion. The idea developed in the 11th thru 9th century BCE when the Brahmin priests and the warrior class the Kaishtyra were in a power struggle. The Brahmins doctrine was meant to show that they were superior and that thru the process of re-birth and re-death which was based on the law of KARMA you are born where you are supposed to be.
KARMA is the notion that action will determine what will happen in your next reincarnation. your karma from past lives determines what is happening to you now. The only hope is enough good karma to get out of the cycle of rebirth and re-death called
SAMSARA This is the name of the cycle which will continue until you either break it by gaining knowledge or eliminate all your bad karma. When this happens you reach
MOKSHA which means liberation or freedom, salvation, in which one comes to know Brachman, the ultimate reality -- no duality.
There are four characteristics of the experience of Moksha: it intuitive, immediate, self-authenticating and self-satisfying.
BHAKTI MOVEMENTS
The bhakti or devotional religions of India are what I will stress now for these are the religions of about 90% of Indians today.
The term Bhakti is translated as devotion, but includes faith, love, surrender and devotional attachment to god.
This devotion is expressed in PUJA. which means adoration or worship on the theoretical level, or offering of fruit or flowers to the deity on the concrete level.
Both terms imply a personal relationship and an attitude of reverence and dependence. Bhakti is higher than external kind. The true self is always attached to Krishna and thru meditation and devotion one can come to know him.
Even Women and untouchables (shudras) could be saved thru devotion to Krishna, that is not be re-born. There have been some through Indian History that have been considered to be an incarnation of Krishna.
RAMA BHAKTI
The second and only other great epic of India is the RAMAYANA. which was essentially complete as early as the 4th century BC. It has 7 chapters. Two thru six were about Rama the hero but the first and 7th were added about the 2nd century BCE making Rama an incarnation of Vishnu.
The RAMAYANA centers around how Rama won the hand of Sita in an archery contest but were banished to life in the forest where the demon king Ravana came and carried Sita away in his ariel car.
Rama and his brother sought her w/o success until HANUMAN the brave leader of the monkeys aided them. When sita was recovered her purity was questioned and she went thru several ordeals to prove her innocence. Finally, she called on Mother Earth to swallow her if she was chaste, and she was swallowed.
Shrines have been built to Hanuman. Rama and his brother and Rama and Sita, who are seen as the ideal divine couple by their followers.
Tulsi Das, a poet of the 16th century did more to spread worship of Rama than anyone else. He emphasizes Rama's grace towards anyone seeking him.
VAISNAVAS OR VISHNU BHAKTI
Vishnu was a minor solar deity in the early Vedas but came into prominence between 1000 and 800 BCE. By the 4th century BCE he and Shiva were the most popular deities.
The so called HINDU TRINITY is a western projection. However, it consists of BRAHMA the creator (to whom no temples aro dedicated in all of India), VISHNU the preserver and SHIVA the destroyer.
However, those who worship any of these ignore the other two.
SHIVA
Shiva meaning "auspicious' is a nickname for Rudra, a god found in the early Vedas. His meditation high on the slopes of the Himalayan Mt. Kailasa maintains the world. He is also Lord of the animals and Lord of the Dance, who supports the rhythm of the universe.
He is worshipped most often in the form of the Linga (a representation of the Male organ). In his shrines, his mount, Nandi the Bull. is seen lying before his lignum.
He has not taken on avatars like Vishnu. He is the guru par exhalant whose grace illuminates the intellect when one submits to the teachings of his human gurus.
There are three paths of service, worship and meditation out all are to be animated by bhakti. This makes the soul open to Shiva's grace which makes union with him possible.
Liberation is union with Shiva. Shiva is bliss itself.
SHAKTI BHAKTI
Goddesses of fertility have been worshipped in India since the beginning of the Neolithic age (agriculture begins) and their cult forms an important part of the non-Indo-European background
From the 5th century CE on to the present her worship has flourished. The 80% of Indians who live in rural areas look to the goddess, not Vishnu or Shiva, for she is in charge of fertility, disease and pestilence.
She can be either beautiful or bloodthirsty. As KALI she demands animal sacrifice and at times, human sacrifice. she waylays travelers and is the patron saint of robbers.
BRAHMANIZATION
Is a process by which the Brahmin priests tried (and try) to control the theistic sects growing up outside their influence by either indicating that the local deity was really Vishnu under a different name or that he was an avatar, or incarnation of Vishnu.
Vishnu has a traditional list of ten incarnations though some list over 20. (do these only if time.)
These are:
1. the FISH who saved Manu and his family from a world flood by tying his ship to his horn.
2. the TORTOISE who took this form to retrieve some things lost in the flood, both values and deities.
3. the BOAR stems from a tribal totem. He killed a demon and put the Earth back where it belonged.
4. The MAN-LION -- a demon couldn't be killed by man or beast. in sun or dark so he killed him at sunset as a man and beast.
5. the DWARF appeared to a demon as a dwarf. He told him he would take over all the cosmos he could tread in 3 steps. Then he turned into a giant and took back all heaven and Earth. He left Dali in control of the infernal regions.
6. RAMA with the Ax -- took the form of a Brahmin priest and destroyed the kshatriya because of their arrogance.
7. RAMA of the Ramayana. Vishnu took this form to destroy the demon Ravana (the one who kidnapped Sita)
8. KRISHNA Vishnu took this form to kill the demon Kamsa
9. BUDDHA Vishnu became the Buddha in order to delude the wicked by leading them to deny the Vedas and the efficacy of the sacrifices, thereby assuring their damnation.
10. KALKI the avatar of the future at the end of the present age of Kali, Kalkin will come, mounted on a white horse. He will judge the wicked, reward the good and set up a new age.
VAISHNAVAS
Comprise the largest group of Indian devotees, but one has to realize that by far the largest number of these are devotees of Krishna and Rama. These devotees do not think of their God as an incarnation of Vishnu. This is the Brahmins idea
PHILOSOPHICALLY the great goddess is the active (shakti) power of Shiva, who represents the opposite pole of maleness consciousness and rest.
without his shakti power of action personified in his spouse, a make god is unable to do anything. She is the active principle who creates the world and provides grace and liberation.
KALI is the favorite and is particularly worshipped in Bengal and Calcutta. The British outlawed human sacrifice but had a real struggle to do so. Kali manifests both the powers of destruction and grace. All the pleasures of the world are transient, while only Kali is permanent and can grant happiness. She is usually shown as black because she is the ultimate energy.
CONCLUSION
The important thing to understand is the very different view of reality these people have. They see life as cyclic, rebirth and re-death with getting out because of devotion (higher bhakti) or knowledge. Thus, when Christians approach them about believing in Jesus so they can have "eternal life" it is an incredibly negative response.
What is important is to understand their sense of duty or DHARMA and the ethic that goes with it but karma plays a big role meaning that when one sees a person in a bad way, to them they are just living out their karma and to interfere means perhaps giving them more bad karma or even earning it yourself.