Philosophy in the Hindu Religion

Hey, everyone!

I suppose that what struck me most about our most recent reading assignment was the repeated emphasis on philosophy (especially the "atman") within the Hindu religion and Upanisads specifically.

Out of our most recent reading assignments, I particularly enjoyed the explanation of the "atman" presented in the excerpt from Jonardon Ganeri's The Concealed Art of The Soul. Before reading this excerpt (or any of the previous excerpts), I had believed Hinduism and sacred texts in general to be largely ritual-based works that centered solely on ways to honor various deities. The Vedas, as I have learned, do include some of these elements - yet, a large part of the Vedas, particularly the Upanisads, seem to focus on philosophical topics, such as how one can find the "atman," or "inner-self."

The atman, as discussed in the excerpt from Ganeri, was not a concept I was familiar with. Atman seems to represent one's "inner-self" - an intangible and vaguely defined idea. Yet, according to the Upanisads, achieving understanding of one's "atman" can be - or, perhaps more accurately, would be - the most rewarding and defining experience in one's life. In achieving atman, one frees one's self from all desires - thus, one would "transcend" normal human experience.

Yet, the "inner self" of the Upanisads is vaguely defined. In some sections of Ganeri's text, the atman is the "essence" of the human body/spirit. In other sections, it is revealed that some believed the atman to be the same for all humans. The atman, for the most part, is something that cannot be perceived - yet, much of the Upanisads focuses on how to perceive and achieve understanding of the atman.

So, how does a person - or a religious text, as a whole - teach one to perceive and achieve something so vaguely defined? To begin, it seems as if finding one's "atman" is a deeply personal journey/challenge - thus, there can be no one "defined" formula for finding it. Thus, the Hindu texts focus on methods that instigate introspective questioning and thought about the atman, such as in the tale of Indra and Prajapati - Prajapati repeatedly tells Indra incorrect facts as to how to find the atman or what the atman is, so that Indra will think about these facts, realize they are not true, and thus, perhaps through his error, learn something that is "true" about the atman or come one step closer to understanding it.

I found the philosophy inherit in the concept of atman and in the Hindu sacred texts to be quite intriguing. From what I have read, I gather that such philosophical thought is just as important to Hindu tradition as ritual.

On a side note, the "freedom from desires" necessarily in order to "achieve" atman seems to remind me of Buddhist tradition - isn't freedom from desires central in it, as well? Interesting parallel.

- Anne Reynolds