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Punya (Hinduism)
Punya (), also rendered punyam () is a concept in Hinduism with various definitions. It generally refers to virtue or merit, and the activities that allow one to acquire this attribute, in order to achieve liberation from samsara, the cycle of birth and death in the material world. A single act of vertue which creates a bundle of vertues at a time is called Mahapunya means Mega-vertue. Definitions ''Punya'' is referred to as good ''karma'' or a virtue that contributes benefits in this and the next birth and can be acquired by appropriate means and also accumulated. In Vedanta terms ''punya'' is the invisible wealth, a part of ''dharma'', the first of four human goals; the other three goals being ''artha,'' ''kama, and moksha''. ''Punya'' and '' pāpa'' are the seeds of future pleasure and pain, the former, which sows merits, exhausts itself only through pleasure and the latter, which sows demerits, exhausts itself only through pain; but '' jivan mukti'' ends all karmic debts cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya (, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST:) is a Hindu Vedic sage prominently mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE) and Taittiriya Upanishad, ''Tattiriya Upanishad''., Quote: "Yajnavalkya, a Vedic sage, taught..."Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), ''A comparative history of world philosophy: from the Upanishads to Kant'', Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 9-11 Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysics, metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemology, epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the Brahman, universal Self and Ātman (Hinduism), Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the ''Yajnavalkya Smriti'', ''Yoga Yajnavalkya'' and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in the ''Mahabharata'' as well as various Puranas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas. Name The name Yajnavalkya is derived from ''yajna'', whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chandrasekhara Bharati III
Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati (born Narasimha Sastri; 1892–1954) was the Jagadguru Sankaracarya of Sringeri Sharada Peetham in 1912–1954. He was one of the well known spiritual figures in Hinduism during the 20th century. He is considered a Jivanmukta (Sanskrit for one liberated while alive).''Sages of Sringeri'', A Tattvaloka Publication, Shri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri, 2005. Biography Narasimha Sastri, who became Jagadguru Shankaraachaarya Swami Chandrashekhara Bharati was born to Gopala Sastri and Lakshmamma in Sringeri on Ashvayuja krishna Ekadashi (the eleventh day of the fortnight in the month of Ashvayuja) in the Hindu lunar year Nandana (corresponding to October 16, 1892). He was the last of his parents' twelve children and the only one who survived past infancy. A noted feature of his life was that his birth, upanayanam, sannyasa and videha mukti (death), all happened on Sundays. Childhood days The childhood days of Narasimha Sastri were passed in Sringeri. An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hinduism, Hindu religion and Hindu culture, culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various Hindu denominations, sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism) with the introduction of the form of Puja (Hinduism), worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism, Third Edition, State University of New York Press, , p. 40 While he is often revered as the most important Indian philosophy, Indian philosoph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manusmṛti
The ''Manusmṛti'' (), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or the Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitutions among the many ' of Hinduism. Over fifty manuscripts of the ''Manusmriti'' are now known, but the earliest discovered, most translated, and presumed authentic version since the 18th century is the "Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and that the various manuscripts of ''Manusmriti'' discovered in India are inconsistent with each other. The metrical text is in Sanskrit, is dated to the 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE, and presents itself as a discourse given by Manu (Svayambhuva) and Bhrigu on dharma topics such as duties, rights, laws, conduct, and virtues. The text's influence had historically spread outside India, influencing Hindu kingdoms in modern Cambodia and Indonesia. In 1776, ''Manusmriti'' became one of the first Sanskrit texts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit Literature
Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit. Literature in the older language begins during the Vedic period with the composition of the Ṛg·veda between about 1500 and 1000 BCE, followed by other Vedic works right up to the time of the grammarian Pāṇini around 6th or 4th century BCE (after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm). Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the extensive liturgical works of the Vedic religion, while Classical Sanskrit is the language of many of the prominent texts associated with the major Indian religions, especially Hinduism and the Hindu texts, but also Buddhism, and Jainism. Some Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chandogya Upanishad
The ''Chandogya Upanishad'' (Sanskrit: , IAST: ''Chāndogyopaniṣad'') is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism.Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanishads'', Oxford University Press; , pp. 166-169 It is one of the oldest Upanishads. In the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads, it is listed as the ninth. The Upanishad belongs to the ''Tandya'' school of the Samaveda. Like ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'', the Chandogya is an anthology of texts that must have pre-existed as separate texts, and were edited into a larger text by one or more ancient Indian scholars. The precise chronology of ''Chandogya Upanishad'' is uncertain, and it is variously dated to have been composed by the 8th to 6th century BCE in India. As one of the most extensive Upanishadic compilations, it comprises eight ''Prapathakas'' (literally 'lectures' or 'chapters'), each divided into multiple sections containing numerous verses. The volumes include a diverse array of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mantra
A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers. Feuerstein, Georg (2003), ''The Deeper Dimension of Yoga''. Shambala Publications, Boston, MA Some mantras have a syntactic structure and a literal meaning, while others do not. ꣽ, ॐ (Aum, Om) serves as an important mantra in various Indian religions. Specifically, it is an example of a seed syllable mantra ( bijamantra). It is believed to be the first sound in Hinduism and as the sonic essence of the absolute divine reality. Longer mantras are phrases with several syllables, names and words. These phrases may have spiritual interpretations such as a name of a deity, a longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and action. Examples of lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rig Veda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Shakala Shakha, Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Most scholars believe that the sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted with precision since the 2nd millennium BCE, through Indian mathematics#Styles of memorisation, methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, though the dates are not confirmed and remain contentious till concrete evidence surfaces. Philolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dāna
(Devanagari: , IAST: ) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms, in Indian religions and philosophies. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is the practice of cultivating generosity. It can take the form of giving to an individual in distress or need, or of philanthropic public projects that empower and help many. is an ancient practice in Indian traditions, tracing back to Vedic traditions. Hinduism (Sanskrit: ) means giving, often in the context of donation and charity. In other contexts, such as rituals, it can simply refer to the act of giving something. is related to and mentioned in ancient texts along with concepts of () which means benevolent deed, helping others; () which means fee one can afford; and (), which means alms. is defined in traditional texts as any action of relinquishing the ownership of what one considered or identified as one's own, and investing the same in a recipient without ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
