Dharma
and Moksha. Central beliefs in Hindu traditions cluster around two
concepts: dharma and moksha. Each idea
concerns the direction of human destiny.
1.
Definition: The
word dharma refers to (a) the cosmic and social order and (b) the rules
pertaining to it.
a.
Early Vedas – rta. Principles of cosmic order. Efforts to insure constant fertility and well
being of the world via sacred rituals meant to nourish gods an other powers
that sustain the world – all in accordance with rta.
2.
Dharma is
gradually destabilized over the great and cyclical course of time
a.
Hindu notion of
time as cyclical (cf. Vishnu and the lotus stem)
b.
Yugas and the decline in virtue (cf. the mythical cow)
i.
Krita: 1,728,000;
Treta: 1,296,000; Dvapara: 864,000; Kali: 432,000
ii.
1 cycle =
4,320,000 years = 1 mahayuga (then minor dissolution of the world for 1
mahayuga)
iii.
1000 mahayugas =
4,320,000,000 years = 1 kalpa = one day in the life of Brahma, followed
by return to cosmic nondifferentiation for 1 kalpa of time
c.
Brahma lives for
100 Brahma years of Brahma days and Brahma nights 315 trillion, 360 billion
years (315,360,000,000,000 years), after which nothing exists, including
Brahma, but primal substance. Then the
cycle begins again and continues endlessly.
i.
Individual,
society, history = insignificant. Even
the gods are trapped in the cycle and eventually fall.
3.
This notion of
time provides the backdrop to an understanding of human life as characterized
primarily by suffering
a.
The authors of
the Upanishads provide a new way of understanding the divine, the human being,
and the means and ultimate ends of religious life.