HINDUISM -The Gist of Hinduism

The Soul or that which is responsible for being alive: The Hindu religion says that the Physic and Soul are two different entities. Soul is imperishable. Its ultimate goal is to attain God’s status and be one with God. This is called ‘MUTHTHI’ status/ or attaining MUTHTHI. Until the soul becomes eligible for that through experience and knowledge thus got, it will take many births with many forms. What form or physic the soul would get depends on what it is eligible for. Since the body so acquired by the soul has mind and intellect, with the help of these it must seek ways of merging with god or acquiring God’s characteristics. This takes place through the four steps of hearing about or getting to know about God’s state, critically thinking or analyzing about it, arriving at a conclusion and then standing stead fast with that conclusion and adopting fixed spiritual attitude and appropriate behaviour. Generally the conclusion which you arrive at after analysis is like a hypothesis. Your view or concept (this hypothesis) is revised after each spiritual experience. Analysis or critical thinking and further enlightenment are a cyclic process. You seek inwards continuously for answers. Firm spiritual attitude and unshakable behaviour at the end of such process leads you to the path to liberation. Death is only for the physic. The final destination of the soul is to be one with God. The soul has three states. After being born when it is with the body it is called ‘sakalam’ or having all. After death it is called ‘kevalam’ or standing bare. When it is one with God it is called ‘suththam’ or pure state. There is no birth for the soul after ‘suththa’ state. The soul in our body is one which will ultimately attain divinity. The Hindu religion says that the soul and the body in which it is present must be regarded as holy and kept so.

The outer physic as temple The inner self as God form The one who is in wholeness everywhere Is the purity of his grace Namachchivaaya

This is the revelation of GuruYogaswamikal, one of the hierarchical wise prophets of Ceylon. The saint AathiShankar had in similar fashion disclosed this as a mantra ‘Thathvamasi’ meaning ‘that art thou’ – -it is there in you and you are that. The gist of all this is that we should regard the soul and our body where it is as holy and keep it pure. It is based on this concept of regarding our body as holy; the great art of ‘Yoga’ was developed by saints. Yoga is a great art that helps keep the body and all biological functions inside in optimal state. Great Yogis can even feel all that happening inside your body. The practice of Yoga can help you uplift to a state of meditation which is the start of search towards knowing the Soul and God. Paasam or bonds: It is that which prevents the soul from realizing God and elevating to high spiritual state. Paasam constitutes of three aspects. They are,

  • Aanavam or combination of ego and pride of possession.
  • Kanmam or fate incurred by the good and bad deeds in previous births
  • Maayai or apparent existent beings and materials

All these are present in us without our awareness of them. Only if and when these are got rid of, mergence with God is possible. Since these are to be expelled they are referred to as ‘malangal’ meaning excreta. The three together as ‘mummalangal’- -tri-excreta’ Aanavam could be interpreted as the concept of ‘I’; the idea about the self. Whatever we consider as our action, our thoughts, our capabilities our materials and wealth is our pride of self esteem. This state of a fixed idea of what we are prevents us from transcending above to our true pure form which is the bliss state of Godliness. This concept we have of our self distinguishes and differentiates our self from God. When we define our self to a lower position, that state is a barrier against our elevation to a ‘spiritually’ high state. The irony is that we really don’t know such an aspect is with us. It is very difficult for us to realize it or describe it. Aanavam is like darkness in that both hide things, but the difference is darkness will hide things in it but will reveal itself where as Aanavam not only hides what is in it but also does not show itself out. Umapathichchivaachchariar in his ‘Thiruvarudpayan’ has described thus

Darkness which hides things in it, shows its form This (Aanavam) shows neither

Liberating from the state of being with Aanava is the last barrier for the soul to elevate to Godliness state and be one with it. In other words the last step towards ‘MUTHTHI’ is the riddance of Aanava. When one is born, the soul is with Aanavam and it manifests itself. Kanma and Maaya get attached to it. This is called the ‘SAKALA’ state. After death; the casting off of this physic, Aanava is there in a hidden state. Kanma and Maaya are not attached to the soul. It is called the ‘KEVALA’ state. After many births, in the ‘MUTHTHI’ state much after the shedding off of Kanma and Maaya, Aanava too is ridden. Kannma is the good and bad deeds of earlier births. It may also be called the ‘fate’. Kanma is the cause for what we get/inherit or what we involve in without ourselves making any effort. It is this that decides our position in the society, our health, wealth, education and putting effort to come up and acquire these and all other virtues. Holy Guru Yogaswamikal mentions this state of affaires as “Long concluded matter” Kanma causes rebirths according to the good and bad deeds we do in this birth and so it stands as a block against the soul coming in union with God. If we carry out our duties as a token of devotion to God without attaching any stigma to it as good or bad then we will not incur any Kanma. Token of devotion to God means we should regard God as being in every person and carry out our duties as an offering to God and not in the expectation of benefit to the self. The Geetha says

you have the power only to act you do not have the power to influence the result therefore you must act without the anticipation of the result without succumbing to inaction

This behavioural attitude is called the ‘Karma Yoga’. By Karma Yoga kanma can be excluded.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.