Show:
Key Terms
Key Concepts
Caste System
Stages of Life
Gods
100
A spiritual practice meant to strip away the layers of false self
What is yoga?
100
The moral law of cause and effect of actions
What is karma?
100
Kshatriyas
Who are warriors?
100
Stage of life that involves leaving society on a spiritual quest to find the meaning of life
What is a forest-dweller?
100
Worship of many gods; in the Hindu faith, as many as 330 gods and goddesses
What is polytheism?
200
Hinduism’s oldest sacred text
What are the Vedas?
200
Ethical duty based on the divine order of reality
What is dharma?
200
Brahmins
Who are priests?
200
Stage of life that involves returning to society, yet remaining detached from its attractions
What is a wandering ascetic (sannyasin)?
200
God of Creation
Who is Brahma?
300

Hinduism’s most popular sacred text; a small section of the epic poem Mahabharata

What is the Bhagavad-Gita?

300
The wheel of rebirth
What is samsara?
300
Shudras
Who are laborers and servants?
300
Stage of life with a period of intense study and discipline
What is a student?
300
God of destruction
Who is Shiva?
400
Ancient philosophical commentary on the Vedas that form the basis of Hindu doctrines
What is the Upanishads?
400

A river is most important in Hindu Culture

What is the Ganges?

400
Vaishyas
Who are merchants and artisans?
400
Stage of life where one begins a family and focuses on a career
What is householder?
400
God of preservation, who sustains everything
Who is Vishnu?
500
A system of Hindu philosophy whereby people seek ultimate reality through self-knowledge and self-discipline
What is Vedanta?
500
A system of Hindu philosophy holding that all reality is essentially Brahman
What is Monism?
500
The "eternal self, or individual soul," which each person possesses regardless of caste level
What is the atman?
500
The ultimate goal of moksha results in becoming reunited with this 'eternal essence of reality'
What is Brahman?
500
An incarnation of a deity
What is an avatar?