Hinduism Introduction: Core ideas of Brahman, Atman, Samsara and Moksha | History | Khan Academy
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhTpJxlJi2I

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0:00 - [Instructor] We're now going to talk about Hinduism which is one of the largest religions on Earth,
0:05 practiced by over a billion people. And, it's interesting for several reasons.
0:10 First, it is considered to be one of the oldest religions that is still practiced.
0:15 Some historians would place the origins of Hinduism at 5,000 years into the past.
0:21 It has elements that may have been practiced in the Indus Valley civilization.
0:26 You also have significant elements that come from the Vedic Period.
0:29 In fact, the Vedas, for which the Vedic Period is named really form the root of Hinduism as it is practiced today.
0:38 It is believed that the Vedas come from an Indo-Aryan people that many historians
0:43 believe came from Central Asia and were related to many of the people who colonized Europe.
0:49 Now, the other thing that is fascinating about Hinduism, and I really just referred
0:53 to some of it, it is a combination of many cultures that really merged over thousands of years.
1:01 And, they merged around the Indian subcontinent. As you will see there are many traditions,
1:06 many cultures, many different ways that one can, and many different ways that people do practice Hinduism.
1:13 But, there are also core beliefs that we wanna get to the heart of in this video.
1:17 And, we'll discuss more in future videos. Now, what's also interesting is where the name
1:22 Hinduism or Hindu comes from, a Hindu being someone who practices Hinduism.
1:28 The name for what we now call the Indus River in Sanskrit was Sindhu, and Sindh is still a region
1:36 in the Indian subcontinent. The version that the Persians said was Hindus
1:41 and this got converted to Indus in Latin. So really, Hinduism is the term for the cultural
1:49 and religious practices of people beyond the Indus River. The India really comes from this same root.
1:57 Indus is where India comes from, but Indus comes from Hindus, which comes from Sindhu and these are all
2:03 related to the word Hindu. And, you can see that very clearly in the Persian version.
2:08 Now, as I mentioned, there's many different practices in Hinduism, many different traditions, many different
2:14 rituals in Hinduism, but I'm going to try to focus in on what could be considered the spiritual core.
2:21 And, a lot of this comes out of the Vedas. They're a collection of hymns, rituals,
2:27 but also philosophy. And, the subset of the Vedas that are very concerned
2:32 with the spiritual and the philosophical are known as the Upanishads, which means sitting down
2:38 or coming near to. Some people say coming near to God,
2:41 some people say coming near to the actual reality, or coming near to a teacher as in sitting down
2:48 to get a lesson or to have a dialog. Now, the central idea in Hinduism
2:54 is the idea of Brahman. And Brahman should not be confused with the god Brahma.
3:03 Brahma is sometimes, you could view, as a aspect of a Brahman, but Brahman is viewed as the true
3:10 reality of things. It is shapeless, genderless, bodiless,
3:14 it cannot be described. It can only be experienced.
3:19 Now, according to Hindu belief we are all part of Brahman.
3:25 And, what we perceive as our individuality is really, you can consider to be a quasi-illusion.
3:32 So, this might be one individual right over here and then we might have another individual right over here.
3:41 And, this separateness, the illusion of the reality that we see around us this is referred to as Maya.
3:49 And, Maya is not just the illusion or the quasi-illusion created by our senses it is even notions
3:55 like our ego, our identity. And, within that context that inner self, the thing
4:01 that is even within our, that is even deeper than our sense of identity.
4:06 This is referred to as Atman. And, as you can see they way it's been diagrammed here,
4:12 the way we've drawn it out Atman is essentially the same thing as Brahman.
4:17 And, oftentimes you will see it referred to as Atman-Brahman, they're really the same thing
4:25 but it's really, it's an illusion that there is this separateness of our reality.
4:31 Now, according to Hindu belief in each life you have this core part of yourself which is Atman,
4:39 which is part of Brahman. And, when you die it doesn't disappear,
4:44 but it will take on or it will subjugate itself to another reality.
4:55 So, after death this individual or this perceived individual might take on another identity
5:01 in another reality. They would perceive it as another life.
5:06 And, this notion of one life after another, one reality after another is sometimes
5:11 referred to as transmigration of the soul, sometimes referred to reincarnation,
5:18 or this notion of Samsara, which is this endless cycle of birth and rebirth.
5:25 It really comes from this notion of same flowing, this thing, this pattern that goes on and on and on.
5:31 And, according to Hindu belief what that next life is, what that next reality is is based on your actions
5:39 in this life. Karma, literally is referring to actions,
5:44 but it's really actions driving consequences not only in this reality but in the next reality.
5:51 Now, there's another notion of Dharma. Dharma is based on what is the role you should play
5:57 given the reality, given the life that you are in. So, in a very simplified way you could say,
6:04 "Well, Dharma is the rightful role, the rightful actions, "your duty depending on your role,
6:10 "depending on your reality." Karma is how that action translates into consequences
6:17 which is going to drive what happens in this endless cycle. Now, a core idea of Hinduism is to try to escape
6:23 from this cycle, to awaken to the true reality, awaken from this quasi-reality.
6:30 And, this is really one of the central ideas of the Upanishads that eventually if you can awaken,
6:37 so let's say that this is an awakening, this entity, this Atman, this self right over here,
6:43 this perceived individual has now awoken and can see through, pierces the veil of that Maya.
6:50 Now, they have rejoined Brahman and they've recognized that Atman and Brahman are the same.
6:57 And, this freeing from Samsara, from this birth death cycle, this is
7:03 referred to as Moksha. Now, to make this idea a little bit clearer
7:11 let's look at some quotes from the actual Upanishads. So, this is two versions from the Isha Upanishad
7:20 and the reason why I like to show it is because it shows that if you're translating from Sanskrit
7:27 into English or really from any one language into another there's gonna be some room for interpretation
7:31 but we can see it here. So, this is from the Isha Upanishad which is considered
7:35 one of most important ones. It's a subset, it's a section of the Yajurveda,
7:40 one of the four early Vedas. And, they write, and this is an English translation,
7:44 "The wise man beholds all beings in the self, or the Atman, "and the self in all beings, for that reason
7:52 "he does not hate anyone. "To the seer all things have verily become the self.
7:57 "What delusion, what sorrow can there be for him "who beholds that oneness?"
8:02 This is another version of the same verses from the Isha Upanishad.
8:07 "He who sees all beings in the self and the self "in all beings he never turns away from it, the self.
8:14 "For, he who percieves all beings as the self "how can there be delusion or grief
8:19 "when he sees this oneness everywhere." So, I might be getting into an argument with someone
8:25 but deep down if I recognize that both myself and that individual that we are part of this same Brahman
8:33 that he is me and I am it, or I am he, well then that anger seems a little bit misguided.
8:40 Now, to get a little bit more context on this notion of oneness here's another verse
8:46 from Chandogya Upanishad, which is also considered one of the significant Upanishads.
8:51 And, it's part of the Sama Veda. "As the rivers flowing east and west merge in the sea
8:59 "and become one with it, forgetting they were separate "rivers, so do all creatures lose their separateness
9:06 "when they merge at last into pure Being," into Brahman. "There's nothing that does not come from him."
9:15 And, the use of the word him is really an anthropomorphism of this notion that has
9:20 really no gender or body or form. "Of everything he is the inmost Self.
9:27 "He is the truth, he is the Self supreme. "You are that Shvetaketu, you are that."
9:34 And, this last verse is referring it's in this Chandogya Upanishad it's a conversation between
9:40 the teacher and his son. And, the son is Shvetaketu,
9:45 my apologies for pronunciation. So, what's he's saying is that these rivers is an analogy
9:50 for you and I and we might see ourselves as different but at some point we will flow
9:56 and become one with the ocean. And, he's pointing out to his son, you are not different
10:01 from that, you are self, you are Ahtman. It is Brahman, it is one and the same.