Section 1.2: Founders and Leaders (2)

Question 1

Who is Rama?

Answer 1

Rama the Prince is the seventh avatar of Vishnu.

Question 2

What is an avatar?

Answer 2

Avatars are ‘incarnations’ of the the gods, who come to Earth to guide humanity.

Question 3

In what Hindu epic is the story of Rama told?

Answer 3

The story of Rama is chronicled in the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

Question 4

Who are the two most important Hindu avatars?

Answer 4

The two most important avatars are Rama and Krishna.

Question 5

What is the Ramayana?

Answer 5

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic which follows Prince Rama’s quest to rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravanna with the help of an army of monkeys.

Question 6

Is the Ramayana a shruti or smriti text?

Answer 6

The Ramayana is a smriti text - it was written by man.

Question 7

When is the Ramayana retold?

Answer 7

The Ramayana is retold during the festival of Diwali.

Question 8

What themes does the Ramayana touch upon?

Answer 8

The Ramayana contains themes of good overcoming darkness and the restoration of the peace and happiness on Earth after times of battle.

Question 9

Who is Sita?

Answer 9

Sita is Rama’s wife.

Question 10

Who is Lakshamana?

Answer 10

Lakshamana is Rama’s brother.

Question 11

Who is Ravanna?

Answer 11

Ravanna is the demon king of Sri Lanka who rules the Earth.

Question 12

Who is Hanuman?

Answer 12

Hanuman is the monkey god.

Question 13

Why is Rama admired by Hindus?

Answer 13

Rama is admired by Hindus as he is seen to uphold the highest standards of obedience, devotion, duty, affection, courage and magnanimity. These qualities are regarded by Hindus as the chief human virtues. As such, he is upholding his dharma.

Question 14

How is Lakshamana portrayed in the Ramayana?

Answer 14

Lakshamana is portrayed as the model of affection.

Question 15

How is Sita portrayed in the Ramayana?

Answer 15

Sita is seen as the model of fidelity.

Question 16

How does Hanuman play a role in the Ramayana?

Answer 16

Hanuman acts as a messenger of Rama and rescues Sita from captivity in Sri Lanka with his ability to jump huge distances. He is portrayed carrying a mace, which is a symbol of authority, and his strength leads him to being prayed to by sportsmen and soldiers. Like Rama, he is synonymous with his devotion to duty due to the loyalty he displays.

Question 17

What happens at the end of the Ramayana? What does this show?

Answer 17

Towards the end of the story, Rama abandons Sita after the suspicions of her infidelity are placed in his mind by some of his new subjects. Sita denies this and Rama’s abandonment of his wife is the sour note of the story. This shows that Rama is just as flawed as other humans, despite his success elsewhere, further enabling Hindus to relate to him.

Question 18

Who is seen as the hero of the Ramayana? Why?

Answer 18

Sita may be seen as the hero of this tale as she too follows her dharma. She follows Rama into the forest, resists the advances of Ravanna, she remains captive to allow Rama to save her and lives a virtuous life.

Question 19

How is the Ramayana relevant today?

Answer 19

In India, many rooms were cleaned and television sets garlanded with flowers ahead of episodes of the Ramayana when it is shown on network channels. The serials last for 56 episodes and allow families to come together to share cultural and religious experience that unites them together, as well as communities across the country and globe. If the religious meaning is lost on some, then there is still cultural value in the experience.

Question 20

Which reasons support the fact that the Ramayana is still relevant today?

Answer 20

The story recognises essential aspects of human characteristics as well as promoting virtues and values that are still relevant in today’s world. Many religious Hindus will still uphold Rama and Sita as the model couple; loyalty and fidelity remain at the heart of any marriage.

Question 21

Which reasons support the fact that the Ramayana is, in fact, irrelevant today?

Answer 21

Rama and Sita’s relationship is arguably unhelpful to modern society: some accuse the focus on their relationship as presenting an unrealistic model of marriage to Hindu couples as Sita is seen as passive and Rama’s behaviour can be seen as unloving. Unwavering devotion to a spouse plays into the stereotype of a dominant husband and a passive wife, demeaning any modern advances in gender equality across the world.

Question 22

Who is Krishna?

Answer 22

Krishna, from the Sanskrit term for ‘dark’, is the eighth, and most well-known avatar of Vishnu. He is worshipped as a popular deity across the globe.

Question 23

How is Krishna portrayed?

Answer 23

Krishna is portrayed with dark blue skin, which represents the infinity of the divine nature as one of Vishnu’s avatars and he wears yellow robes that represent the Earth.

Question 24

In which story is Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna recorded?

Answer 24

His teachings to Arjuna are contained within the Bhagavad Gita.

Question 25

What role does Krishna play in the Bhagavad Gita?

Answer 25

In the Bhagavad Gita, he is the charioteer for Arjuna and supports him on the eve of the great Bharata War.

Question 26

In which story is Krishna’s life told?

Answer 26

His life is told in one of the Puranas.

Question 27

How was Krishna raised?

Answer 27

Krishna was born in a prison cell. The state was ruled by Krishna’s tyrannical uncle, Kamsa, who had usurped the throne from Krishna’s parents. After being rescued, Krishna was brought up by peasants, named Yashoda and Nandi, who would act as his foster parents.

Question 28

How did Krishna’s divine nature become apparent?

Answer 28

Krishna’s divine nature only became apparent gradually, often through childish pranks. On one occasion, he was told off for eating mud. His parents looked into his mouth to remove the mud but ended up seeing the entirety of the universe.

Question 29

How was Krishna’s ability to overcome evil made apparent?

Answer 29

Krishna’s ability to overcome evil was made apparent through his destruction of the dragon, Kaliya. The dragon had been tormenting a local village by poisoning the water supply from the nearest river. Krishna defeated Kaliya by dancing on its back and crushing it into submission with the weight of the universe.

Question 30

What is Krishna associated with?

Answer 30

Krishna is associated with music.

Question 31

How is Krishna associated with music in Hindu imagery?

Answer 31

Krishna is seen playing a flute. The music form the flute was said to be so enchanting that the gopis (milkmaids) of Vindabran danced around Krishna and the peacocks opened their feathers. When he had disappeared, the gopis would recite Krishna’s name and would sing devotional hymns in his memory until he returned to dance with them.

Question 32

Who was Radha and what did her relationship with Krishna represent?

Answer 32

One of the gopis, Radha, was Krishna’s favourite, and they became another couple viewed by Hindus as a model of devotion. Together, their love represented the love that God has for all worshippers.

Question 33

How is Krishna worshipped?

Answer 33

Images of Krishna and Radha have adorned temples and shrines and Vrindravan has become a place of pilgrimage for devotees.

Question 34

Which type of worship is associated with Krishna?

Answer 34

Devotional worship (bhakti) is associated with Krishna and he has become one of the most well-known Hindu gods in the western world.

Question 35

What is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness?

Answer 35

ISKCON is an international movement which teaches that devotion to Krishna is the only way to moksha. Founded by the Hindu saint, Chaitanya, who was an adherent of bhakti yoga, the movement spread across the western world, having been popularised by Swami Prabhupada.

Question 36

What does ISKCON promote?

Answer 36

Members of the movement follow the bramacharya ashrama (‘the student stage’). Purity of mind and body is promoted, extensively through prayer and meditation. Music, particularly chanting, is their form of bhakti yoga, and sights of them walking down streets singing are fairly commonplace. ISKCON also has an extensive community outreach programme, running food kitchens, cow-protection farms and a vegan food relief organisation.

Question 37

How was George Harrison related to the ISKCON movement?

Answer 37

George Harrison - one of The Beatles - was a devotee of the Hare Krishna movement, with his song ‘My Sweet Lord’ resulting from this. The Beatles helped to popularise Hinduism in the western world, when they embraced transcendental meditation and associated with the Maharishi Manesh Yogi.

Question 38

What is ISKCON doing today?

Answer 38

Today, ISKCON run 850 temples, ecovillages and centres around the world and have over one million congregational members. It has experienced a large increase in membership in India over the past few years.

Question 39

What is Vedanta?

Answer 39

Vedanta is a contemporary school of thought in Hindu philosophy. All the schools try to engage with the questions about who we area and what our purposes are or should be.

Question 40

What does the Dvaita teach?

Answer 40

Dvaita (or dualistic Vedanta) defines God as essentially different from the individual soul. The individual soul strives to love and serve God, thus forming an eternal loving relationship with God. Individual souls, God and nature are all recognised as everlasting yet distinct from each other.

Question 41

What does the Vishisht-Advaita teach?

Answer 41

Vishisht-Advaita (qualified non-dualism) teaches that the individual soul and God have a closer link. The individual soul is like a spark and God is like the fire, meaning that they are similar but not the same.

Question 42

What does the Advaita teach?

Answer 42

Advaita (or non-dualistic Vedanta) promotes the idea that there cannot be more than one ultimate category. If there were more than one such ultimate category, they would act to limit each other. Advaita Vedanta concludes that the essential nature of God, mean and the universe is the same - it is the spirit. The distinctions we experience are confirmed to the outer manifestations of the spirit. The strength of Advaita is that it offers the best link between science and religion.

Question 43

What is the difference between dualism and monism?

Answer 43

Monism believes that the soul and the body are one whilst dualism is the thought that the soul exist separately, existing hand-in-hand.

Question 44

Who is Shankaracharya?

Answer 44

Shankaracharya, or Adi Shankara, is the Hindu figure associated with the Advaita Vedanta.

Question 45

What were Shankaracharya’s main ideas?

Answer 45

His philosophy argued that the atman (soul) is but one with Brahman and that the atman is unchanging. Shankaracharya’s thinking was that a jivanmukta (‘one liberated during the course of his lifetime’) would be struck with the realisation of the oneness of the atman and Brahman. He also taught that moksha could not be achieved by yoga alone and that Hindus must study the Upanishads in depth. Another key theme was that the world is real but is recognised to be an illusion upon perception of Brahman.

Question 46

How did Shankaracharya influence Hindu philosophy?

Answer 46

His influence on Hindu philosophy was immense. He argued that deities were different forms of the one God and while others had argued this previously, Shankaracharya was the first to create a systematic Advaita tradition.

Question 47

Who is Madhavacharya?

Answer 47

Madhavacharya is the Hindu figure associated with Dvaita.

Question 48

Who is Ramanuja?

Answer 48

Ramanuja, or Ramanujacharya, is the Hindu figure associated with the Vishisht-Advaita Vedanta. He was said to have learnt the Vedas at the age of eight.

Question 49

What did Ramanuja hold?

Answer 49

Ramanuja advocated a qualified monism position, stating that our atman is like a spark, whereas God is the fire. He acknowledged the importance of both Dvaita and Advaita schools, using the entirety of the Vedas. His work gave an intellectual support for bhakti and made it the central aspect of the philosophy.

Question 50

How was Mahatma Gandhi raised?

Answer 50

Born on 2 October 1869, Gandhi was the son of the Prime Minister of Porbandar. His parents were worshippers of Vishnu and Gandhi married Kasturba, his wife, at the age of 13. Two years later, his father fell ill to the point of death; Gandhi was in the next room with his wife when his father died and he felt a deep and lasting guilt for having deserted his father at the moment of death - an experience which influenced his later actions.

Question 51

What did Gandhi do during his adulthood?

Answer 51

He was sent to England, where he studied law, practising his work in India. Then, for 20 years, he worked as a lawyer in South Africa; it was here, where he was fighting for the rights of Indians who had settled in the country, that he first put to test his theory of Satyagraha (insistence upon truth).

Question 52

Did Gandhi totally reject the caste system?

Answer 52

No, Gandhi accepted the caste system, but opposed the privileges which high-caste Hindus claimed because of their position in the hierarchy. He fell victim to child marriage, strongly opposing it when he realised its dangers. His inflexible opposition to untouchability provided him with an objective to fight social justice in the area. As a high-caste Hindu, he boldly undertook the dirty job of cleaning latrines, which the Dalits (‘untouchables’) were condemned to do; he later went on to give them a new name, Harijans (‘children of God’).

Question 53

What were Gandhi’s religious beliefs?

Answer 53

His ideals were dharma (duty), satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence) and moksha (spiritual liberation).

Question 54

What is satyagraha and how was it formed?

Answer 54

Gandhi’s life-long search for truth, which he equated to God, was coupled with non-violence when he formed his idea of satyagraha (‘truth force’). Here, truth was the objective and non-violence was the means to gain that objective.

Question 55

What was Gandhi’s interpretation of Krishna’s advice to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita?

Answer 55

His interpretation was that Krishna’s advice to Arjuna implied that Arjuna’s fight was a spiritual conflict only; Krishna was speaking of the conflict between good and evil which every person experiences. According to Gandhi, the central teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is anasakti (non-attachment) and nishkama karma (selfless action).

Question 56

What were the four religious elements of satyagraha?

Answer 56

Essentially, the four religious elements of the concept are truth, non-violence, self-control and penance/sacrifice.

Question 57

Where did Gandhi experiment with satyagraha?

Answer 57

Gandhi’s most effective experiment was launched in April 1930, as a protest against the Indian Government’s salt monopoly. Gandhi argued that salt was essential to the poor, since they could not afford any spices, and that people should be able to make their own salt from sea water. He continued to portray his word in a non-violent manner, with the intention of bringing equality in India.

Question 58

Who is Swami Amma?

Answer 58

Mata Amritanandamayi (‘Amma’) is a female guru and an influential Hindu figure in the modern world.

Question 59

What has Swami Amma done to help others?

Answer 59

She travels the world spreading a message of love and demonstrates this by hugging people. She has undertaken humanitarian work, such as organising houses for the homeless, food and healthcare programmes, establishing the Amrita University and helping with disaster relief.

Question 60

What does Swami Amma teach?

Answer 60

She teaches that faith is very important and that leading a religious lifestyle is the only way to live. Amma also explains how science and religion come hand-in-hand, stating that ‘spirituality starts where science ends’. Her main teaching is that love and compassion are central values in the religion, which can be enacted and achieved through many different paths.