Hinduism: A Primer
  1. 4 Goals of Life
    2.
    1. Pleasure (private)
    2. Worldly Success (public; social)
      1. Wealth
      2. Fame
      3. Power
    3. Communal Service (duty)
    4. Liberation (MOKSHA, freedom)
      1. Immortality
      2. Eternal Bliss
      3. Omniscience

    Since the greater-self (BRAHMAN) is reflected in the hidden-self (ATMAN), we already possess MOKSHA. All we have to do is realize it. But there are strictures to this realization, therefore we must take a path best suited for us to overcome these strictures.

  2. 4 Paths to the Goal: 4 HATHA (Authentic) YOGA (desciplined training to lead to union). All 4 paths begin with moral preliminaries. Cultivation of such habits as:
    • non-injury
    • truthfulness
    • non-stealing
    • self-control
    • cleanliness
    • contentment
    • self-discipline
    • a compelling desire to reach the goal

    1. GYANA (Knowledge) YOGA, for the Reflective:
      the path to oneness with the Godhead through knowledge
      1. observe one's history with detachment
      2. think in 3rd person
        1. drives a wedge between one's self-identification & one's surface self
        2. forces this self-identification to a deeper level until at last, through a knowledge itentical with being, one becomes in full what one always was at heart
    2. BHAKTI (Devotional) YOGA, for the Emotional:
      unconditionally direct toward God the love that lies at the base of every heart
      1. JAPAM: repeating God's name
      2. loving God by using the different modes of love (ie. protectiveness, dependence, friendship, conjugal, etc.)
      3. worship of God in the form of one's chosen ideal (ie. Ram, Krishna, Buddha, etc.)
    3. KARMA (Work) YOGA, for the Active:
      path to God through work. Can be practiced in 2 modes: GYANA or BHAKTI
    4. RAJA (Kingly) YOGA, for the Experimentally inclined:
      the way to God through psychophysical exercises (8 Steps)
      1. 5 Abstentions:
        1. injury
        2. lying
        3. stealing
        4. sensuality
        5. greed
      2. 5 Observances:
        1. cleanliness
        2. contentment
        3. self-control
        4. studiousness
        5. contemplation of the divine
      3. ASANAS: 84 postures; 5 important for meditation, balance & ease, alert & still (ie. lotus)
      4. The mastery of Respiration: slowing the breath, evening it & reducing the amount of air required; breath suspension (ie. 16 count inhale, 64 hold, 32 exhale)
      5. Close the doors of Perception: turning attention away from the external world to the internal world
      6. Concentration: relaxing the mind, exorcise thoughts & concentrate on one thing (ie. image)
      7. Losing self-consciousness
      8. SAMADHI: mind "together with God"; the mind continues to think but of no thing
  1. 4 Stages of Life
    2.
    1. Student
      2.
      1. begins between 8-12 years old
      2. lasts for 12 years
      3. prime responsibility: to learn
        1. factual information
        2. cultivate habit
        3. acquire character
    2. Housholder
      3.
      1. begins at marriage
      2. responsibility: family, vocation, community
      3. satisfy the 1st 3 goals
        1. pleasure, through marriage & family primarily
        2. success, through vocation
        3. duty, through civic participation
    3. Retiree
      4.
      1. begins after the arrival of the 1st grandchild
      2. responsibility: self-discovery
        It is the time for working out a philosophy, & then working that philosophy into a way of life; a time for transcending the senses to find, & dwell with, the reality that underlies this natural world.
    4. SANNYASIN (one who neither hates nor loves anything)

  2. 4 Stations of Life
    3.
    1. BRAHMINS, or seers
      1. intellectuals, artists
    2. KSHATRIYAS, administrators
      1. rulers, warriors
    3. VAISHYAS, or producers
      1. farmers, artisans
    4. SHUDRAS, or followers
      1. servants, unskilled laborers


Source: The World's Religions by Huston Smith
Chapter 2: Hinduism, p12-p81
This is an outline of p13-p59.