Term
| Name the collections of Vedic scriptures and describe their contents |
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Definition
1. Sama-Veda-contains priestly mantras and chants
2. Yajur-Veda-contains prayers and ritual instructions for the performance oc sacrifices
3. Atharva_Veda-consists of blessings, curses, magical chants and prayers
4. Rig-Veda-oldest collection of one thousand hymns dedicated to nature deities |
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Term
| What are the two views of reality from the perspective of Brahman? |
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Definition
1. purusha-free from causal relations and time. Its permanent and unchanging.
2. prakriti-the world of matter, change, time, and space
purusha is the supreme reality, whereas prakriti is the inferior reality
human suffering and misery come from thinking that prakriti is real |
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Term
| describe the connection between karma and samsara |
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Definition
1. samsara-is the endless cycle of existences--a series of births, death, and rebirth--that result from reincarnation and keep Hindus from moksha
2. karma-is a causal-moral principle that determines the status, station, and fortunes of present life and future existences on the basis of the action of your previous existences. Karma is an individual soul remains caught in samsara and is reborn as a celestial being, a human, an animal, a plant, or an insect. Good karma results in a higher station in life and bad karma results in a demotion in the hierarchy of being |
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Term
| What are the different forms of yoga? |
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Definition
1. raja yoga-for meditative types of people
2. jnana yoga-way of knowledge (insight) is suitable for rational types of people
3.karma yoga-requires that the worshipper always act as if he or she is serving God
4. Bhakti yoga-goal is to attain union with deity though worship and commitment |
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