Newcomer to Practitioner Ready for the deep water. Continue to Advanced — the schools that argue it all out. ↓
Intermediate — How It All Works
Level 2 · Intermediate
You have the shape of the tradition. Now the working parts: how the self relates to the Absolute, what the world is made of, what the scriptures actually contain, and how any of it is practised.
By the end you will understand ātman and Brahman, prakṛti and the guṇas, the epics and the Veda, the three paths, and the basics of worship and yoga.
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1
Soul and the Absolute
2
What reality is made of
3
The many faces of the divine
↳ Meet the Deities · sacred symbols → Going further · optional reading
When will Kalki come, and what will he look like?Myth-busting Every generation produces a Kalki, a god-man or an internet prophet who says the tenth avatar has come. Does Hinduism have a Devil or a Satan?Myth-busting No single figure in Hinduism matches the Devil: no fallen angel, no ruler of hell, no eternal enemy of… 4
Death, the body, the stages of life
Going further · optional reading
What 'karma' doesn't meanMyth-busting In English, karma came to mean cosmic payback. 5
What scripture is
Shruti and Smriti: what counts as Hindu scripture?What are the Vedas?What are the Upanishads?What is the Bhagavad Gita?
↳ Read the Source Texts (the Vedas, epics and how to read them) → Going further · optional reading
The Nasadiya Sukta: the hymn that ends in doubtCommentary At the root of the oldest scripture in living use sits a creation hymn that refuses to claim certainty. Why Hinduism has no founder, and why it mattersEssay Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism each begin with a person and a moment. Reading the Bhagavad Gita in the modern worldCommentary What a battlefield dialogue still asks of anyone trying to act well under pressure. + 1 more in this area → 6
The three paths, and the play
7
Living it: worship
↳ full pillar: Worship & the Sacred Year (all 9) → Going further · optional reading
Is manifestation the same as Hindu sankalpa?Myth-busting The internet keeps calling sankalpa the ancient version of manifestation. Why Hindus touch elders' feet (charan sparsh)Essay At an airport gate, a grown woman bends and touches her mother's feet, and a stranger watching finds it… Why is a coconut broken in Hindu ceremonies?Myth-busting It is smashed before a new car, a foundation stone, a temple threshold. + 2 more in this area →