Study Questions to Chapter 2 - Upanishadic Hinduism

Prepared by Dr. Jan Garrett

Last modification date: June 11, 2009

THEORY OF UNIVERSE

1. According to the Great Teachings, how should we understand the world of multiplicity (=many different things)? What is the ultimate foundation of things? (28)

2. According to the GT, with what is brahman identified? Is it entirely manifest (present to our senses or consciousness)? How many gods are there? What is the "one god's" name? (29)

3. With what modern theory of creation does the author compare the creation story of the GT? Why does duality come into being? How is it characterized? What is the next phase of creation? Are things now entirely loose and separate from one another? Explain. (30)

4. What are the two aspects of brahman? How should we understand the way the unified brahman pervades the multiplicity of forms? (30-31)

5. What seems to be meant by the GT when it says that brahman is "not this, not that"? What seems to be meant when the text says, "he's made of this, he's made of that"? (31)

THEORY OF HUMAN NATURE

6. Many Western views regard humans as superior to and detached from nonhuman life. What does the GT think about this issue? To what is the atman [the true self] connected? (What analogy does the text use to express this?) (32)

7. What is the self as ego (ahamkara) and how is it distinguished from the atman? Is ahamkara mortal? the atman ? (32) Is the atman ultimately distinct from brahman? (32-33)

8. What is "the most notable characterization of the atman," according to the text? What difference does the author note here between Upanishadic Hinduism and early Buddhism? (33)

9. Do the Upanishads endorse the doctrine of reincarnation? Explain. (33)

10. What two paths does The Great Teachings outline for the self after death? (34) What is moksha in the second path? Which of the two paths puts more stress upon attaining a very special kind of knowledge? (34)

DIAGNOSIS

11. Of what important thing are most people ignorant? Why is this extremely hard to know? (34-35)

12. What personal and interpersonal problems arise from this ignorance? (35)

13. What is karma, according to the Great Teachings? Why is free action normally impossible for human beings? (35)

PRESCRIPTION

14. What in general, according to the Upanishads, is needed if we are to attain freedom? What is probably meant by conventional knowledge? What seems to be recommended instead?

DIVERGENT INTERPRETATIONS--SHANKARA

15. For what does Shankara's philosophy constitute a rational defense? What is his attitude toward diversity (i.e., multiplicity of things, qualities, actions, etc.)?

16. What, for him, is the sole reality? The highest realization of Brahman? Is there a distinction between subject and object (consciousness and what consciousness is conscious of)? What does he conclude? (37-38)

17. Where do apparent distinctions come from? What is meant by maya? Why can't it be explained how maya operates and produces avidya? (38 top)

18. How do our senses mislead us? In what way do external things like a pillar, a wall, a pot, or a cloth exist? (38)

19. What is the point of Shankara's example of the "snake" and the rope? (38-39)

20. How does S. define God? What is God finally declared to be? (39) Why is worship of a personal God beneficial? What sort of transition does this worship make possible? (39)

21. What is Shankara's view on the individual soul (jiva)? What is the true self, and why is it not the same as the jiva? How does the true self relate to Brahman? What happens to the individual soul at the highest level of realization? (39) What is S's favored metaphor for the ultimate experience? Explain the metaphor. (40)

22. Explain the connections, for Shankara, between these items: desire, renunciation, meditative practice, withdrawal from society, retreat from the data of the senses. Who are the Dashanamis and in what sense are they followers of Shankara? (40)

DIVERGENT INTERPRETATIONS--RAMANUJA

23. How does R's understanding of Brahman differ from Shankara's? (40-41) How does he differ with S. on the issue of whether it has qualities? (41)

24. How does R describe the kind of experience at which we should aim? Explain the difference between becoming sugar and tasting sugar, both terms understood metaphorically. (41)

25. For R, how was the world created? Is it illusion? Is multiplicity something to be overcome? Explain. What does maya mean for R?

26. What is brahman's relation to the universe? (42)

27. What is R's view of the individual soul? How does it relate to God/Brahman? How does R. understand the true self? What is it in its highest state? (42)

28. According to R., do religious acts properly aim at some desired result? How does R. understand God? How does this illuminate our proper attitude toward our actions? (42-43) In what sorts of actions should we engage? (43) How does R. criticize Shankara on t these issues?

29. What sort of religious acts would R. likely approve? What is the goal of devotional acts? Does the soul dissolve into undifferentiated union with the divine? (43-44)

CRITICAL DISCUSSION

30. On what basis would many Western philosophers criticize Shankara and Ramanuja? (44)

31. Do these views have much to say about ethics or politics? What do they seem to say about human interaction? (44-45)

32. What issues relating to fairness along class and gender lines might be raised about these Hindu views? (45)