Things have moved too fast, I cant grasp many ideas.
The very notion of too many ideas is problematic. Many of us typically
confuse names of gods, texts, and rituals with the broad picture of ideas. The underlying ideas behind Upanishadic thought, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism and Confucianism are fairly close. So, if you grasp two fundamental ideas you have basically understood all these religions. I deliberately used the term ideas because we often misunderstand it. First of all remember that these religions are non-dual, and second they are all about letting the self or the ego go away, and compassion is at the core of everything. I have already explained non-duality to you. There is no supreme god, neither is there a defined notion of demon. If you look at the lectures on malevolence and evil I have mentioned how each of these religions view evil. The lecture on Axial Age was about this idea of compassion. If you are asked to define what it means to be humane, these were the first thought processes that transformed the human to humane. Keep in mind monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam came long after these religions, and they too talk about similar values. If you think of the religion of the early Greeks or even the Vedic gods, it is not essentially ethics and value based. Gods were supreme, and you worshipped them, they had command over the forces of nature, and their representatives looked after the world in forms of rulers and heads of temples. But with the coming of the Upanishadic thought these barriers were dissolved. The quest was not about simply surviving in a hierarchical set up, but to value compassion, kindness and make sure every creature was treated with equal dignity and respect. None of the religions mentioned here has a supreme creator. Jainism puts non-violence over everything else, Buddhism has the idea of skandas or aggregates that make us and the ultimate goal is reaching nothingness or shunyata which unites us all, Confucianism believes in love that spreads in concentric circles- loving family-happy neighborhood-happy city-happy state-happy nation, Daoism is about achieving balance, the balance being one with the Dao an idea very similar to that of Brahman in Upanishadic thoughts. So, two ideas and religions have numerous ways of accessing it. Once you understand this, everything else is remembering names and terms. Each religion also has their unique approaches of achieving this. Buddhism is very interested in psychology and meditation, so for them the mind and cognition is important. Jainism does it through control of food, and other very practical measures. Confucianism stresses on education, merit and good governance to achieve this. The Upanishads (Brahma, Brahmin and Brahman) The key to understanding the three terms Brahma, Brahmin and Brahman is to go back to the slides and see the pictures. In this case pictures indeed speak 1000 words. But the term Brahman is confusing.
Also, the diversity in Hinduism is baffling. How can one religion be so
diverse? Let us approach this from a perspective that most of you are familiar with. Christianity very clearly is a religion where love, peace and compassion are the basic premise. Yet several crusades have been fought and justified repeatedly in the name of Christ. While we can answer this as historians and study this as a socio-political outcome, can we understand it as a Christian value? You see, every religion is fraught with differences and diversity. Even with one god, one major text there are so many different sects and diversity. Yet they are all Christians. So, why will Hinduism be any different? Why cant Hinduism be diverse and still be Hinduism? I have repeatedly mentioned that several traditions were brought together under the same umbrella by the British and called Hinduism. They used it for convenience. Unlike many other religions the earliest traces of Hinduism remains alive, therefore the diversity shows layers of cultural changes that also happened. For example, the caste system shows the hierarchical nature of early religions. But you also see the birth of the idea of compassion that was going to form the backbone of compassion. Brahman is the idea that really shapes the concept of oneness and the basis of the Axial Age. It says we are all born out of this cosmic orb, its a life-emanating orb where all life comes out from and goes back. The moment this orb takes a shape it becomes atman (soul), the orb may take any form. So, everyone comes out of the same source. Upanishads are philosophical texts. But it revolutionized how we look at the world. It dethroned god, ego, and hierarchy. If the concept of Brahman did not exist there would be no Buddhism, Jainism or even Sikhism which borrows a lot from these ideas. Brahman like the Dao simply cant be translated, you can only feel it and be one with it. The Buddhists refer to that as Shunyata.