Newcomer to Practitioner
The Core Ideas
The Foundations Journey
The complete home of the Essentials: every core-concept and orientation reading on the site, from the self and karma to māyā, the guṇas, and the goal.
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Where it all rests
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Understanding Hinduism
The caste system: what Hinduism saysHinduism and Buddhism: the differenceIshvara, Bhagavan and Brahman: How Hinduism Conceives GodIs Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic?The Four Streams of HinduismThe Vedic Gods: Indra, Agni, and the world of the RigvedaWhat is a gotra?
Going further · optional reading
Who was allowed to learn Sanskrit?Research A Jain logician was expelled for twelve years for wanting the scriptures in Sanskrit. Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin: what's the difference?Myth-busting Three near-identical words that mean three completely different things: the Absolute, a god, and a class… 3
Core Concepts
Dharma, Karma and RebirthHindu cosmology: the fourteen worlds and the ages of the universeSat-Chit-Ananda: Being, Consciousness, BlissThe Antahkarana: The Fourfold Inner InstrumentThe Four Ashramas: the stages of lifeThe Four Aims of Life (Purusharthas)The Four Yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and KaliThe Three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas)The Three Paths to Liberation: Karma, Bhakti and JnanaWhat happens after death in Hinduism?What is Ayurveda?Lila: The World as Divine PlayWhat is Maya? The World as AppearanceWhat is Moksha?Rita: The Cosmic Order at the Root of DharmaWhat is Shakti?Why do Hindus cremate their dead?
Going further · optional reading
Nachiketas and the god of deathCommentary A boy is given away to Death by his own angry father, waits three nights at the door of Yama, and asks… Reincarnation: is there any real evidence?Essay For sixty years a University of Virginia psychiatrist and his successor documented thousands of young… 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. + 2 more in this area →