ONE REALITY
The eternal essence of reality and the source of the universe, impersonal and reached only through contemplation.
What is Brahman?
The technical term for four broad classes of Hindu society, commonly called the caste system.
What are the varnas?
The term for the "wheel of rebirth," in which the self passes from one life-form to another.
What is samsara?
The word for a path to liberation. There are three of them, and they are not mutually exclusive.
What is a marga?
Hinduism's most popular sacred text, in which a charioteer counsels a hesitating warrior.
What is the Bhagavad-Gita?
The eternal Self within a person, which turns out to be identical to Brahman.
What is Atman?
The highest of the four classes in the caste system, made up of priests.
What is the Brahmin?
The moral law of cause and effect, whose consequences may not arrive until a future lifetime.
What is karma?
Worship before the image of a deity that engages all five senses: bells, lamps, chanted prayers, and offered food.
What is puja?
This archer hesitates before a battle, and this charioteer tells him to fight because it is his sacred duty.
Who are Arjuna and Krishna?
The teaching that all reality shares a single common essence. It answers how many things exist, not how many gods.
What is monism?
Warriors and administrators, and the class Arjuna from the Bhagavad-Gita belongs to.
What is the Kshatriya class?
Release from the limited realm of existence into infinite being, awareness, and bliss. The goal of nearly all Hindus.
What is moksha?
The path of devotion, suited to the person for whom emotional attachment comes naturally.
What is bhakti marga?
The three deities in whom many theistic Hindus believe ultimate reality is embodied.
Who are Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi?
The changing, temporary world taken as though it were finally real; a cosmic appearance that conceals what is true.
What is maya?
Servants and laborers, the lowest of the four classes in the caste system.
What is the Shudra?
Ethical duty grounded in the divine order of reality, determined for each person by gender, caste, and stage of life.
What is dharma?
The path of works: acting according to dharma because it is right, without attachment to what the action earns.
What is karma marga?
The Bhagavad-Gita is one section of this much longer Hindu epic.
What is the Mahabharata?
The term for devotion to one deity as supreme while still believing in and worshipping others.
What is henotheism?
Farmers, merchants, and artisans belong to this class of producers, including Gandhi.
What is the Vaishya class?
Krishna compares this to taking off your clothes at night and putting on a different set in the morning.
What is reincarnation?
An incarnation of a deity, generally Vishnu, sent to earth for a divine purpose. Krishna and Rama are two of them.
What is an avatar?
An avatar of Vishnu and the central figure of the epic that bears his name.
Who is Rama?