Hinduism
Hinduism is a word derived from the name of the Indus River Valley in what is now Pakistan (formerly a part of northern India). The Hindu term for this religion is Sanatana Dharma--"eternal religion." This form of religion represents the extremes of religious practice, from extreme sensuality to extreme asceticism, from the idea that the Divine has countless faces to metaphysical proclamations that behind the material world exists a Oneness. As with most religious traditions, there is no monolithic "Hinduism" with a set of orthodox doctrines. Rather Hinduism represents a shared historical and religious patrimony that has blossomed into a multitude of spiritual disciplines. In the Hindu tradition, there are many pathways to God (Ultimate Reality), none preferred, none excluded.
Indigenous Religion of the Indian Sub-continent
* Many Hindu practices originate in the pre Indo-European Dravidic peoples of the Indus river valley. These people were agricultural and built settlements--Harappa and Mohenjodaro--that had indoor plumbing, latrines, and drains, indicating that they placed a great emphasis, perhaps religious, on hygiene and/or ritual purification. They venerated life-giving power, symbolized in images with sexual content. They venerated the lingam, a phallic pillar that was set onto a yoni, a stone base in the form of female genitalia.
* Priests performed puja (rituals; from the Sanskrit word for "anointing") in which the lingam was anointed with ghee (clarified butter) and milk, and stroked.
* Stone altars were also placed before sacred trees (feminine power). Early seal stones depict bulls (masculine power). Nagas (dragon-serpents), were honored as carriers of primordial energy spiraling upward from the earth, or as guardian spirits of the waters.
Vedic Religion and Society
Sometime c. 2000 BCE Indo-Europeans (Aryans) entered into northern India. Although illiterate, they brought with them a rich oral tradition of religious hymns and sagas. They organized themselves into patriarchal tribes worshiping natural principles such as fire and sky, and were advanced in war technologies, primarily horse-drawn chariots.
* The Vedas are the oldest of these scriptures, perhaps the oldest sacred literature of the world. The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, praises and implores the blessings of the Devas (the "shining ones"; cf. Zoroastrian Daevas), the controlling forces in the cosmos. Also mentioned are the Asuras, evil powers that bring harm to humans. The Vedas were written in an ancient Indo-European language called Sanskrit. Like much ancient literature, the Vedas are shruti--writings that are heard.
* The Fire Sacrifice is an early ritual in which people gathered around a fire and offered grains, flowers, seeds, ghee, and sometimes animals to the god Agni, the fire god. In the Vedas hymns to Agni dwell upon the power of Light over Darkness. Fire is believed to be the first emanation from the Godhead.
* Soma (cf. haoma of Zoroastrianism) refers to both a god and the alcoholic / hallucinogenic beverage drunk at these rituals, made from honey produced (perhaps) from rhododendron nectar (thus the toxicity), and mixed with milk (cf. nectar drunk by the Olympian Gods of Greece). It may have also been offered to the gods.
* The Vedas are said to be the mystical contemplations of the primordial sound--AUM (sometimes transcribed as OM) by rishi ("seers" or "shaman") under the influence of soma. These mystical, vocalic chants are called mantras.
* The Vedas present a reality in which humankind experiences the world with joy and wonder. A symbiosis exists between gods and humans (not a gulf). The gods require sacrificial offerings; in return they offer humans their supernatural powers to maintain cosmic order, personified as Varuna, the Vedic god of thunder, the heavens, and cosmic order (cf. Zeus in Greek religion). Indra, the great warrior god, battles the serpent-demon Vritra, to order the primordial chaos. Mitra is the god of oaths and contracts, a necessary component of tribal society.
* From the primordial chaos of creation arose three gods (trimurti) of the cosmic order: Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; and Shiva, the Destroyer whose destruction initiates (re)creation.
* Vedic worship was sacrificial; sacrifice became a metaphor of the original personal sacrifice of Purusha, the primal Being, by whose ritual dismemberment by the gods the universe was created. From his mind comes the moon, his eyes the sun, his breath the wind; his mouth, arms, thighs and feet the four castes.
a.
Brahmins, the priests-philosophers who over time created the Brahmanas, ritual texts of Vedic worship.
b. Kshatriyas, the feudal nobility--kings, warriors, and vassals whose function was to guard and preserve society.
c. Vaishyas, the economic specialists--merchants and land owners.
d. Shudra, the day laborers.
e. Outcastes ("Untouchables"), non-Aryan peoples (mostly Dravidic) who performed tasks such as street-sweeping, corpse removal, and working with animal products (such as making leather shoes).
The Upanishads
* The Vedic books were over time organized into four parts. The last, the Upanishads, are mystical texts concerned with the quest for ultimate truth (as opposed to the early Vedas that focus on pragmatic goals such as bountiful crops, fertility, wealth, progeny, etc. through ritual and sacrifice).
* The word "Upanishad" conveys the sense of a devoted disciple (chela) sitting at the side of a teacher (guru) to receive private instruction about the highest reality.
* In the Upanishads, disciplined meditation leads one to discover Brahman (the neuter form of Brahma), the Unknowable as Ultimate Reality and that the principle of Brahman resides in all the multitudinous Selves as Atman, both of which are eternal. This awareness obliterates Yama, Death, which comes only to corporeal matter.
* Upon bodily death, the Atman is reincarnated into another corporeal being. But the Atman does not desire this. Rather it desires moksha ("release") from samsara (the vicissitudes of time and space). Rebirth into the world is the result of one's karma ("action") in the world.
* Traditional belief says that only men can achieve release; to be born a woman is the result of karma. Women can engage in sati (immolation upon death of a husband) to ensure a favorable (male) rebirth.
* Release (moksha) is gained through many types of rigorous spiritual disciplines--sadhanas, originally afforded to the Brahmin caste. The Brahmin undergoes the initiation of becoming "twice-born." Upon reaching maturity he is to marry and support a family. Embracing kama (pleasures of the flesh) and artha (material prosperity) are encouraged in this stage, and not looked at with any sense of shame or 'sin.' At middle-age, supported by his children, he enters into semi-retirement in order to devote time to spiritual training. The desire is to prepare for the final stage of life, to become a sannyasin--one who renounces the world entirely, living either in an ashram (monastery) or becoming a wandering hermit.
All the stages of life are attended by rites of passage--in Sanskrit Samskaras ("sacraments")--that bind the individual to the family and to the community.
Hindu Sadhanas: Pathways to Liberation
The ideas expressed in the Upanishads coalesced over time into three major classifications of philosophical thought: Sankhya, Yoga, and Advaita Vedanta.
1. Sankhya is a dualistic philosophy that puts forward two states of reality: Purusha, the self which is eternally wise, beyond change or cause and Prakriti, the cause of the material universe. This discipline stresses asceticism, the practice of self-denial and all things worldly. This system is attributed to Kapila (c. 800 BCE).
2. Yoga is a psychological philosophy that recognizes the duality in the world and tries to experience the Absolute by disciplining the body. Yoga postures (samhanas) are attributed to a yogi named Patanjali (c. 200 BCE) who articulated yogic ideas in 196 aphorisms called sutras (threads). Over time four types of yoga emerged:
a. raja yoga: "the way of meditation"--sustained physical positions (asanas) in which, through the control of breathing, one can control the flow of life energy (prana) through the energy centers along the spine (chakras) and reach a state of super-consciousness (samadhi) which is unity with the Absolute. Yogis often focus on a picture or image (yantra) as an aid to meditation. The goal is to liberate the soul from the body. The most important yantra is AUM--
b. jnana yoga: "the way of wisdom"--the use of mental/psychic exercises to discover the Absolute (not to be confused with western philosophy). This path is ascetic and contemplative. The goal is to liberate the mind from ignorance.
c. karma yoga: "the way of non-attached action"--selfless acts, duty, and deeds of giving that emanate from the Absolute. Krishna talks of this kind of yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita 5.3. The goal is nonattachment to self and attachment to duty of caste and the social order.
d. bhakti yoga: "the way of devotion" in the service of a personal deity--the rapturous surrender that transcends all material "love." The goal is detachment from the world and attachment to God.
3. Advaita Vedanta is a nondualistic system (Advaita means "not two") based on the Upanishads (Vedanta means "the end of the Vedas") attributed to Vyasa (an incarnation of Vishnu who "writes" the Vedas) but set forth later by Shankara (c. 800 CE). Ultimate reality is Brahman that has no beginning or end. Maya represents the power by which the Absolute veils itself in illusion; therefore the material world is not really a reality. Ignorance (avidya) keeps individuals from seeing the reality of Brahman.
Popular Religion and Devotional Literature
Whereas the Vedas are shruti--books to be heard, smriti--books to be remembered. Their purpose is to spread Hindu teachings to the laity by popularizing the abstract truths of the Vedas. The stories are theistic; they represent Ultimate Reality as a hero or deity.
1. The Ramayana is the epic of good and evil, symbolized in the many battles of human incarnations of Vishnu. It was composed c. 100 or 200 BCE. In the story Vishnu incarnates as the virtuous prince Rama in order to kill Ravana, the ten-headed demon king of Sri Lanka. Sita, his wife who dies tragically, is the perfect wife of devotion.
2. The Mahabharata is a long epic poem that tells of a battle between two families, the Pandavas and Kauravas, over control of a kingdom of what is now Delhi. Lessons in the story are the importance of sons, the duties of kingship, the benefits of ascetic practice and righteous actions, and the qualities of the gods.
3. The Bhagavad Gita is a story of war set within a larger story of war, the Mahabharata. The war of the Mahabharata is real and external, the war in the Gita is internal and symbolic. In the Gita Krishna appears as the charioteer of Arjuna, who is preparing to fight a battle that will pit brother against brother. Arjuna hesitates; Krishna appears and instructs Arjuna about the nature of faith and devotion (bhakti) and duty (karma) to one's true Self. Krishna reveals this great knowledge (jnana) to Arjuna--and thus to the reader.
Dr. William Stockton's essay on the Gita.
4. The Puranas is a later work, c. 8th or 9th CE, but is believed to have been written by Vyasa. In the Puranas, Krishna is the object of bhakti--the way of devotion. It is a pathway to God through total love and devotion to Lord Krishna. All things done are done in honor and remembrance of Him.
Theistic Sects
Devotional worship toward a personal deity as a manifestation of the Absolute takes the form of three major groupings:
1. Vaishnavites--those who worship the Divine as Vishnu, who is beloved, tender and merciful. Vishnu is often linked with his consort Lakshmi, a radiant woman sitting/standing on a water-born lotus flower. Lord Krishna appears as the incarnation of Vishnu. Both are redeemers of the world; Vishnu as Divine Love, Krishna as the Divine Child.
2. Saivites--those who worship the Divine as Shiva, who is depicted dancing above the body of the demon he has just killed. Shiva is often shown meditating on Mt. Kailas clad only in a tiger skin.
3. Saktas--those who worship female creative power in various forms. Durga is represented as a beautiful woman wit+h a gentle face but has ten arms holding weapons she uses to vanquish demons. She rides a tiger. In one hand she holds a sword; in another a severed head (cf. Medusa in Greek mythology). Kali is depicted dripping with blood and skulls symbolizing her Destroyer aspect. Parvati is kind and gentle. All are often consorts of Shiva.
Saktas have their own sacred texts, the Tantras, that instruct worshipers how to honor the Divine Feminine. "Right-handed" tantrism is mainstream; "left-handed" is secretive, including ritual sexual intercourse and sacramental use of otherwise forbidden foods to inflame the passions. The Kama Sutra is a tantric text.
Contemporary Hinduism
India is a region in which many peoples and religious traditions have influenced each other: Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Christianity. The Mughals ruled after the Arabs; then the British. As a result many people drifted away from Sanatana Dharma, told by Christian and Muslim overlords that Hinduism was "intellectually incoherent and ethically unsound."
* In the 19th century Ramakrishna (1836-1886) preached a message of love, and of the oneness of God that underlies the apparent plurality of forms. He practiced tantric disciplines and bhavanas--types of loving relationships. Ramakrishna worshiped Islam and Christianity as well, finding the One in them all. He served as the model for the Ramakrishna Movement, or the Vedanta Society, founded by Swami Vivekananda, and for more contemporary inter-faith movements.
* Mohandas K. Ghandi (d. 1948), the Mahatma ("Great Soul"), encouraged grassroots nationalism and showed his people the spiritual truth in Sanatana Dharma. Of Ramakrishna Ghandi said his "life enables one to see God face-to-face." Influenced by Jain concepts of nonviolence, he led protests against the social injustice of British rule that eventually led to Indian independence in 1947. His model of nonviolent protest was later adopted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the US to bring about social justice for African-Americans and an end to institutional racism.
Hinduism is a word derived from the name of the Indus River Valley in what is now Pakistan (formerly a part of northern India). The Hindu term for this religion is Sanatana Dharma--"eternal religion." This form of religion represents the extremes of religious practice, from extreme sensuality to extreme asceticism, from the idea that the Divine has countless faces to metaphysical proclamations that behind the material world exists a Oneness. As with most religious traditions, there is no monolithic "Hinduism" with a set of orthodox doctrines. Rather Hinduism represents a shared historical and religious patrimony that has blossomed into a multitude of spiritual disciplines. In the Hindu tradition, there are many pathways to God (Ultimate Reality), none preferred, none excluded.
Indigenous Religion of the Indian Sub-continent
* Many Hindu practices originate in the pre Indo-European Dravidic peoples of the Indus river valley. These people were agricultural and built settlements--Harappa and Mohenjodaro--that had indoor plumbing, latrines, and drains, indicating that they placed a great emphasis, perhaps religious, on hygiene and/or ritual purification. They venerated life-giving power, symbolized in images with sexual content. They venerated the lingam, a phallic pillar that was set onto a yoni, a stone base in the form of female genitalia.
* Priests performed puja (rituals; from the Sanskrit word for "anointing") in which the lingam was anointed with ghee (clarified butter) and milk, and stroked.
* Stone altars were also placed before sacred trees (feminine power). Early seal stones depict bulls (masculine power). Nagas (dragon-serpents), were honored as carriers of primordial energy spiraling upward from the earth, or as guardian spirits of the waters.
Vedic Religion and Society
Sometime c. 2000 BCE Indo-Europeans (Aryans) entered into northern India. Although illiterate, they brought with them a rich oral tradition of religious hymns and sagas. They organized themselves into patriarchal tribes worshiping natural principles such as fire and sky, and were advanced in war technologies, primarily horse-drawn chariots.
* The Vedas are the oldest of these scriptures, perhaps the oldest sacred literature of the world. The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, praises and implores the blessings of the Devas (the "shining ones"; cf. Zoroastrian Daevas), the controlling forces in the cosmos. Also mentioned are the Asuras, evil powers that bring harm to humans. The Vedas were written in an ancient Indo-European language called Sanskrit. Like much ancient literature, the Vedas are shruti--writings that are heard.
* The Fire Sacrifice is an early ritual in which people gathered around a fire and offered grains, flowers, seeds, ghee, and sometimes animals to the god Agni, the fire god. In the Vedas hymns to Agni dwell upon the power of Light over Darkness. Fire is believed to be the first emanation from the Godhead.
* Soma (cf. haoma of Zoroastrianism) refers to both a god and the alcoholic / hallucinogenic beverage drunk at these rituals, made from honey produced (perhaps) from rhododendron nectar (thus the toxicity), and mixed with milk (cf. nectar drunk by the Olympian Gods of Greece). It may have also been offered to the gods.
* The Vedas are said to be the mystical contemplations of the primordial sound--AUM (sometimes transcribed as OM) by rishi ("seers" or "shaman") under the influence of soma. These mystical, vocalic chants are called mantras.
* The Vedas present a reality in which humankind experiences the world with joy and wonder. A symbiosis exists between gods and humans (not a gulf). The gods require sacrificial offerings; in return they offer humans their supernatural powers to maintain cosmic order, personified as Varuna, the Vedic god of thunder, the heavens, and cosmic order (cf. Zeus in Greek religion). Indra, the great warrior god, battles the serpent-demon Vritra, to order the primordial chaos. Mitra is the god of oaths and contracts, a necessary component of tribal society.
* From the primordial chaos of creation arose three gods (trimurti) of the cosmic order: Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; and Shiva, the Destroyer whose destruction initiates (re)creation.
* Vedic worship was sacrificial; sacrifice became a metaphor of the original personal sacrifice of Purusha, the primal Being, by whose ritual dismemberment by the gods the universe was created. From his mind comes the moon, his eyes the sun, his breath the wind; his mouth, arms, thighs and feet the four castes.
a.
Brahmins, the priests-philosophers who over time created the Brahmanas, ritual texts of Vedic worship.
b. Kshatriyas, the feudal nobility--kings, warriors, and vassals whose function was to guard and preserve society.
c. Vaishyas, the economic specialists--merchants and land owners.
d. Shudra, the day laborers.
e. Outcastes ("Untouchables"), non-Aryan peoples (mostly Dravidic) who performed tasks such as street-sweeping, corpse removal, and working with animal products (such as making leather shoes).
The Upanishads
* The Vedic books were over time organized into four parts. The last, the Upanishads, are mystical texts concerned with the quest for ultimate truth (as opposed to the early Vedas that focus on pragmatic goals such as bountiful crops, fertility, wealth, progeny, etc. through ritual and sacrifice).
* The word "Upanishad" conveys the sense of a devoted disciple (chela) sitting at the side of a teacher (guru) to receive private instruction about the highest reality.
* In the Upanishads, disciplined meditation leads one to discover Brahman (the neuter form of Brahma), the Unknowable as Ultimate Reality and that the principle of Brahman resides in all the multitudinous Selves as Atman, both of which are eternal. This awareness obliterates Yama, Death, which comes only to corporeal matter.
* Upon bodily death, the Atman is reincarnated into another corporeal being. But the Atman does not desire this. Rather it desires moksha ("release") from samsara (the vicissitudes of time and space). Rebirth into the world is the result of one's karma ("action") in the world.
* Traditional belief says that only men can achieve release; to be born a woman is the result of karma. Women can engage in sati (immolation upon death of a husband) to ensure a favorable (male) rebirth.
* Release (moksha) is gained through many types of rigorous spiritual disciplines--sadhanas, originally afforded to the Brahmin caste. The Brahmin undergoes the initiation of becoming "twice-born." Upon reaching maturity he is to marry and support a family. Embracing kama (pleasures of the flesh) and artha (material prosperity) are encouraged in this stage, and not looked at with any sense of shame or 'sin.' At middle-age, supported by his children, he enters into semi-retirement in order to devote time to spiritual training. The desire is to prepare for the final stage of life, to become a sannyasin--one who renounces the world entirely, living either in an ashram (monastery) or becoming a wandering hermit.
All the stages of life are attended by rites of passage--in Sanskrit Samskaras ("sacraments")--that bind the individual to the family and to the community.
Hindu Sadhanas: Pathways to Liberation
The ideas expressed in the Upanishads coalesced over time into three major classifications of philosophical thought: Sankhya, Yoga, and Advaita Vedanta.
1. Sankhya is a dualistic philosophy that puts forward two states of reality: Purusha, the self which is eternally wise, beyond change or cause and Prakriti, the cause of the material universe. This discipline stresses asceticism, the practice of self-denial and all things worldly. This system is attributed to Kapila (c. 800 BCE).
2. Yoga is a psychological philosophy that recognizes the duality in the world and tries to experience the Absolute by disciplining the body. Yoga postures (samhanas) are attributed to a yogi named Patanjali (c. 200 BCE) who articulated yogic ideas in 196 aphorisms called sutras (threads). Over time four types of yoga emerged:
a. raja yoga: "the way of meditation"--sustained physical positions (asanas) in which, through the control of breathing, one can control the flow of life energy (prana) through the energy centers along the spine (chakras) and reach a state of super-consciousness (samadhi) which is unity with the Absolute. Yogis often focus on a picture or image (yantra) as an aid to meditation. The goal is to liberate the soul from the body. The most important yantra is AUM--
b. jnana yoga: "the way of wisdom"--the use of mental/psychic exercises to discover the Absolute (not to be confused with western philosophy). This path is ascetic and contemplative. The goal is to liberate the mind from ignorance.
c. karma yoga: "the way of non-attached action"--selfless acts, duty, and deeds of giving that emanate from the Absolute. Krishna talks of this kind of yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita 5.3. The goal is nonattachment to self and attachment to duty of caste and the social order.
d. bhakti yoga: "the way of devotion" in the service of a personal deity--the rapturous surrender that transcends all material "love." The goal is detachment from the world and attachment to God.
3. Advaita Vedanta is a nondualistic system (Advaita means "not two") based on the Upanishads (Vedanta means "the end of the Vedas") attributed to Vyasa (an incarnation of Vishnu who "writes" the Vedas) but set forth later by Shankara (c. 800 CE). Ultimate reality is Brahman that has no beginning or end. Maya represents the power by which the Absolute veils itself in illusion; therefore the material world is not really a reality. Ignorance (avidya) keeps individuals from seeing the reality of Brahman.
Popular Religion and Devotional Literature
Whereas the Vedas are shruti--books to be heard, smriti--books to be remembered. Their purpose is to spread Hindu teachings to the laity by popularizing the abstract truths of the Vedas. The stories are theistic; they represent Ultimate Reality as a hero or deity.
1. The Ramayana is the epic of good and evil, symbolized in the many battles of human incarnations of Vishnu. It was composed c. 100 or 200 BCE. In the story Vishnu incarnates as the virtuous prince Rama in order to kill Ravana, the ten-headed demon king of Sri Lanka. Sita, his wife who dies tragically, is the perfect wife of devotion.
2. The Mahabharata is a long epic poem that tells of a battle between two families, the Pandavas and Kauravas, over control of a kingdom of what is now Delhi. Lessons in the story are the importance of sons, the duties of kingship, the benefits of ascetic practice and righteous actions, and the qualities of the gods.
3. The Bhagavad Gita is a story of war set within a larger story of war, the Mahabharata. The war of the Mahabharata is real and external, the war in the Gita is internal and symbolic. In the Gita Krishna appears as the charioteer of Arjuna, who is preparing to fight a battle that will pit brother against brother. Arjuna hesitates; Krishna appears and instructs Arjuna about the nature of faith and devotion (bhakti) and duty (karma) to one's true Self. Krishna reveals this great knowledge (jnana) to Arjuna--and thus to the reader.
Dr. William Stockton's essay on the Gita.
4. The Puranas is a later work, c. 8th or 9th CE, but is believed to have been written by Vyasa. In the Puranas, Krishna is the object of bhakti--the way of devotion. It is a pathway to God through total love and devotion to Lord Krishna. All things done are done in honor and remembrance of Him.
Theistic Sects
Devotional worship toward a personal deity as a manifestation of the Absolute takes the form of three major groupings:
1. Vaishnavites--those who worship the Divine as Vishnu, who is beloved, tender and merciful. Vishnu is often linked with his consort Lakshmi, a radiant woman sitting/standing on a water-born lotus flower. Lord Krishna appears as the incarnation of Vishnu. Both are redeemers of the world; Vishnu as Divine Love, Krishna as the Divine Child.
2. Saivites--those who worship the Divine as Shiva, who is depicted dancing above the body of the demon he has just killed. Shiva is often shown meditating on Mt. Kailas clad only in a tiger skin.
3. Saktas--those who worship female creative power in various forms. Durga is represented as a beautiful woman wit+h a gentle face but has ten arms holding weapons she uses to vanquish demons. She rides a tiger. In one hand she holds a sword; in another a severed head (cf. Medusa in Greek mythology). Kali is depicted dripping with blood and skulls symbolizing her Destroyer aspect. Parvati is kind and gentle. All are often consorts of Shiva.
Saktas have their own sacred texts, the Tantras, that instruct worshipers how to honor the Divine Feminine. "Right-handed" tantrism is mainstream; "left-handed" is secretive, including ritual sexual intercourse and sacramental use of otherwise forbidden foods to inflame the passions. The Kama Sutra is a tantric text.
Contemporary Hinduism
India is a region in which many peoples and religious traditions have influenced each other: Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Christianity. The Mughals ruled after the Arabs; then the British. As a result many people drifted away from Sanatana Dharma, told by Christian and Muslim overlords that Hinduism was "intellectually incoherent and ethically unsound."
* In the 19th century Ramakrishna (1836-1886) preached a message of love, and of the oneness of God that underlies the apparent plurality of forms. He practiced tantric disciplines and bhavanas--types of loving relationships. Ramakrishna worshiped Islam and Christianity as well, finding the One in them all. He served as the model for the Ramakrishna Movement, or the Vedanta Society, founded by Swami Vivekananda, and for more contemporary inter-faith movements.
* Mohandas K. Ghandi (d. 1948), the Mahatma ("Great Soul"), encouraged grassroots nationalism and showed his people the spiritual truth in Sanatana Dharma. Of Ramakrishna Ghandi said his "life enables one to see God face-to-face." Influenced by Jain concepts of nonviolence, he led protests against the social injustice of British rule that eventually led to Indian independence in 1947. His model of nonviolent protest was later adopted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the US to bring about social justice for African-Americans and an end to institutional racism.
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