4 branches of dharma - Sanatana,Bouddha,Jain,Sikhi
Four core concepts of sanatana -
1.Atman/individual soul fragment)-Brahman/supreme reality or soul(either dualistic interpretation of their relationship by dwaita vedanta philosophy of madhavacharya,or non dual advaita vedanta of adi shankara,or qualified non duality/vishistavedanta of ramanuja)
2.Samsara(cycle of death and rebirth and transmigration of souls).Universe is also cyclic.Creation-destruction-recreation and so on.Not one linear creation like in abrahamic religions.
3.Karma(cause and effect chain,and the ledger of deeds accross births)
4.Moksha(the ultimate goal,union of atman with brahman after running the gauntlet of samsara)
Ways to achieve moksha as stated by krishna in gita -
1.Gyanyoga(meditation and contemplation,study - mostly for sages and ascetics)
2.Bhaktiyoga - Devotion(chanting god's name repeatedly,dancing etc)
3.Karmayoga - Good deeds( standard path).Karma is mandatory for moksha,even if you are a great devotee if your karma is bad it wont save you..As was case with ravana who was devotee of shiva.
Satguna-Nirguna aspects of god.
Important to understand that hindus believe in 2 levels of truth(as in quantum mechanics where a particle can exist in both places at once or light existing as both particle and wave).Nirguna brahman/paramishwara/paramatman/bhagwan.This is god without attributes ,without personality- cant be described because there is no comparable entity.The supreme reality that includes within it all reality but is also beyond it.
Satguna brahman - Manifestation of brahman with attrubutes for functioning.3 main manifestations are brahma the creator,vishnu(that which pervades) the preserver and shiva(that which is not) the destroyer.Brahma is generally considered an offshoot of vishnu or shiva depending on whether the devotee is shaivite or vaishnav.Shaktas consider durga bhawani/adishakti(primordial energy) as the supreme mother goddess.Ultimately they are all aspects of the one supreme nirguna brahman but vaishnavs, shaivites, shaktas each consider their ishtadeva(personal god) as the supreme form of satguna brahman and the vehicle through which they reach the abstract nirguna.
There are also kuladevas(family dieties) or regional dieties which are either related(as sons/daughter or consorts of the big 3 and shakti) or are aspects of them such as laxmi,saraswati,ganesha,murugan-karthikeya/skanda,ayappa,meenakshi,kali,jagdamba,hanuman.
Under them are the aditya devas which are similar to demigods or lesser gods each representing an aspect.These are old indo european gods like indra,varuna,agni,mitra,dyaus pita/zeus pater/jupiter,yama.These names can be found amongst the iranians,the hittites in the middle east,even in greece.They were more prominent in the rigvedic era but lost significance as man mastered nature and the sages developed more sophisticated cosmic concepts as well as advent of avatars ram and krishna.
In total there are 33 types of these lesser gods.NOT 330 million gods.33 koti means in sanskrit 33 types not 330 million number.
10 schools of thought in Hindu philosophy -
There are 6 astika(theist) schools and 4 nastika(atheist) schools of hindu philosophy.
Astika philosophy accepts authority of vedas and existence of atman(individual soul).Nastika schools accepts neither.However in hinduism if your karma is good even if you don't believe in god,you can still reach god .So atheism is not a problem.
Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference), Upamāṇa (comparison and analogy), Arthāpatti (postulation), Anupalabdhi (non-perception, cognitive proof) and Śabda (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts) are considered the means by which knowledge can be proved.These following philosophies can accept any number of these,either all 6 or 1 in case of charvaka or some number in between depending on basis and nature of the philosophy.
6 astika schools -
Samkhya - Dualism between purusha(soul) and prakriti(nature).Focus on meditation.Oldest school founded by sage kapil.Doesnt accept god as a personality.Basis of later and more sophisticated vedanta.
Nyaya - Somehwat dogmatic philosophy accepting only knowledge to be gained and proven through 5 senses
Rational approach,somewhat similar to scientific method concept.Relies on pramana(proof) that is verifiable.Founder- sage gautama.
Yoga - Self -realization through discipline -mental and physical.More practical than theoretical.Founder- Sage patanjali.
Vaisheshikha - Conception of the universe and all matter in it being reducable to atoms/paramanu 3000 years before british scientist dalton actually proved atomic theory.Brahman gives consciousness to these paramanu.Founder - Sage kanada.
Purva Mimansa - Focus on yagnas and mantras ,and vedic orthodoxy.
Vedanta(conclusion of the vedas) - The current basis of santana dharma.Pretty much all knowledgable hindus today follow vedanta.Divided primarily into advaita of shankara,vishistaadviata of ramanuja or dwaita of madhava,as well as other viewpoints such as those of chaitanya and ballavacharya.This is the most important school and one all serious readers have to study.
Of the 4 nastika schools -
Charvaka - Material pursuit and joyful living.With death all ends.Rejects vedas as man made,rejects afterlife or soul.Founder - Brihaspati/ajita.
Ajivika - Fatalism.Everything is predecided by fate.
The other 2 quasi-nastika schools which styarted as protest movements against orthodoxy became seperate religions - jainism and buddhism.(buddha however is considered 9th avatar of vishnu by many)
Tantra is both astika as well as nastika since its mysticism/occult more than philosophy.
Ajnana is both .Its is radical skepticism and refuses to take any concrete position.Suspension of judgement.
Most Important texts of sanatana-
4 vedas
Bhagavad Gita
10 revered upanishads.
Puranas are biased towards the god that particular text is devoted to,contradictary and not dependable.
Manusmriti corrupted by power hungry brahmins over time and british and defunct,as well as unusable in modern world.
Modes of worship -
Mediation and contemplation with mantras or without.
Chanting of mantras and hymns before a fire(early vedic mode)
Bhakti.Chanting gods' name,dancing,surrender and ecstasy.
Yagnas and rituals.
Moorti puja/'Idol' worship.
No worship needed,just good karma.
None of the above are compuslory,but karma applies to everyone.
Unlike in abrahamic religions where god is external to creation ,in dharmic faiths brahman is everything that is creation.The idol doesnt have a soul,but it is part of brahman and as long as the devotee directs his devotion at it,its is considered god.Symbolism plays a part here too as for simpler people without access to high philosophy this and the stories of the epics is how god stays in their consciousness.Think the national flag as a symbol and not just a cloth.
Temples provide a focus for worship and tradition,a community gathering of the faithful,provides livelihood for priests and legitimacy for political patrons and protectors/rulers.Thus its win-win for all classes.Otherwise temples too are not mandatory in sanatana dharma.
Other differences with abrahamic faiths -
Rejection of christian doctrine of justification by faith alone -
Karma can't be washed away by blind faith,yes it can be redeemed through faith and good actions.But hinduism gives preferance to deeds over belief/faith.So waging holy war,killing innocents in name of faith will not wash away your crimes.
Rejection of one life doctrine -
The one life and then judgement doctrine has several problems.Every year millions of disabled children are born and die early without any human sin causing their suffering.How can a god who claims to be good and just put one through such suffering,how can he judge them for anything when they havent even had the chance to do anything in life.This suffering cant be explained by one life theory.There are 3 possible explanations -
God doesnt exist
God exists but doesnt care/know(too insignificant) about human suffering.
God is impersonal in the sense he doesnt micromanage the process.He set the cycle in motion,but it runs by itself.The karmic cycle takes its own course,and 1 life is not the end.
No heaven,no hell -
Heaven and hell are simply temporary experiences after each death(even that is debated) that men enjoy rather than permanent destinations in hinduism.They are at a lower level(same level as demigods)And you don't definitatively enjoy one place only.Even yudhisthira had to visit narak/hell for a few seconds for his breach of dharma in kurukshetra and with regards to draupadi.The ultimate goal is moksha.Many hindus dont believe in the concept of heaven/hell at all.(even in its reduced form)
No concept of satan or a fundamental evil.Rejection of original sin.We are not born sinners.We are born pure,but become entrapped in maya through the six enemies of the mind(pride/mada,greed/lobha,lust/kama,envy/matsarya,anger/krodha and moha /indordinate fascination)
Don't assign attributes to supreme nirguna brahman like god is good,god is just etc.Do not assign gender to supreme god.All abrahamic religions talk of holy father,but there is no mention of mother of the universe.In sanatana at satguna level there is no shiva without shakti,brahma is paired with saraswati,vishnu with laxmi,rama with sita,krishna with radha.And brahman is both father,mother and neither.
Belief in evolution -
Hinduism has no problem with evolutionary theory unlike creationists of abrahamic faiths who believe mankind began with adam 100 generations before jesus just 4000-5000 years ago.
Less emphasis to divine legalism -
Strict divine instructions are not as important like sharia or ten commandments.There are guidelines,but much looser.