How do Hindus explain the nastiness of life?
 

So I finally got the message that the New Age teachings are far removed from Hinduism.

My curiosity has been sparked. I would like to know more about Hinduism. (Can anyone recommend any books?)

But the question I have right now is how does Hinduism explain the nastiness of life? In the West it is explained as a 'fall from grace'. What is it in the East?

Namaste, Honza.

The whole of existence is divided into four time periods called Yugas.

Each of these Yugas has its own characteristics.

The first Yuga is called Satya Yuga or the "Golden Age" and is characterised by Dharma, righteousness, truth, benevolence, the revealing of sacred teachings, the building of temples, the glorification of the Divine, constant communion with the Divine, everybody has ascended, everybody is in 5D, nobody has any karma to work through etc etc

Then comes the next Age called Treta Yuga (Silver Age) which has slightly less of those characteristics than Satya Yuga.

Then comes Dwapara Yuga (Bronze Age), which has less of those qualities than Treta Yuga.

Finally there is Kali Yuga (Iron Age) which has less of those qualities than Dwapara Yuga.

Guess which one we are in now? Kali Yuga...right in the middle of it!

Kali Yuga (Iron Age) is characterised by everything we see going on around us in the world at the moment...wars, injustice, adharma (immorality), lying, stealing, greed, desire, man forgetting his true nature, raping natural resources, polluting the planet, living in 3D etc etc

On and on this will go into an entropic collapse..into a downward spiral until God pulls the plug and either Lord Shiva or Bhagavan Kalki does His little dance and dissolves it all back into Himself to rest before the whole process starts all over again.

This grand dissolution at the end of the 4 yugas is called the Pralaya (Armageddon).

Each Yuga lasts for about a million years..exactly how long, I cannot recall off the top of my head right now..

Here is a link which explains the Yugas:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga

In addition to us living in Kali Yuga where these nasty things are prone to happen, there is also individual, collective and planetary Karma which dictates the way it does and how it unfolds.

For example, Hindus believe in reincarnation...The endless cycle of death and rebirth until Moksha or Enlightenment (Samadhi) is obtained...which is harder to do in Kali Yuga with all of the distractions.

The Hare Krishna people believe that the easiest way to get salvation in Kali Yuga is through Divine Grace and to receive it, Divine Invocations and supplications must be made by chanting the Holy Names:

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

TRANSLATION
" 'For spiritual progress in this Age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative to the holy name, the holy name, the holy name of the Lord.'

This is called "Mantra Yoga"

With the laws of Karma, can you imagine what would happen to Adolph Hitler if he were to be reincarnated as a human again? He would need to be reincarnated a million times over, Being murdered by all those people he put to death...

This is why the world is, like it is.

As for learning about Hinduism, there are two things I always recommend to newcomers to the faith.

The first is a book by Swami Sivananda Saraswati from the Divine Life Society called "All About Hinduism".

You will have to get the link yourself because it just downloads the whole PDF when I go to just get the link...A Google search will show the free PDF at the top.

The second thing I recommend, is Amar Chitra Katha comics in English, if you can get them. This is how an Indian child learns about his/her religion...and how I also learned:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Chitra_Katha

For more information about the Yugas and Time Cycles, there is a nice documentary on YouTube called "The Great Year" narrated by James Earl Jones (Daarth Vader):

https://youtu.be/I3ZDcj0kF_0

There we go...that should keep you busy for a while and I hope you find this helpful.

Aum Namah Shivaya

With respect, SD, is this a viewpoint you want to give to someone who has stated that some things are intimidating, as Honza sometimes mentions?

Namaste,

JL

This is the only way that I know how to explain it, as "intimidating" as it may perceptually seem to another, but I am just going on scripture, teachings and experience.

If you would prefer it, I could always say "I don't know" because I cannot explain it any other way OR hope that another will do the question asked some justice because I cannot, OR just give the link to the book recommendation and leave it there?

However and with all due respect, this is the whole REASON why I hold back and do not expose or express my true, authentic self...because OTHERS find it to be WAY too harsh and intimidating and they just cannot accept it...now, whose problem is that? Mine or theirs?

You can't expect me to remain true to myself and NOT tell the truth, no matter how "intimidating" it is because, my dear friend, this is who I AM...and I have held it inside and held it back for WAY too long, because my "Authentic Self" has the habit of scaring the pants off others...which is not my bad.

We are done here. I wish you all the best on your journey and may God bless you with happiness and prosperity.

Aum Batuk Bhairavaye Namah

For many millennia..thousands and thousands of years, humankind has been unable to accept the Vedas...The raw, brutal truth of the Dharma.

They want it watered down, diluted, sugar coated and mixed with chocolate ice cream to make it more "palatable" and "less dramatic" for their fragile, sensitive egos...like Jack Nicholson said "they want the truth, but they cannot handle the truth" and so, Satya (which means truth) becomes stylised, personalised and made more "socially acceptable"...thus the descent into Kali Yuga begins...and THIS is also what differentiates the New Age Movement from Hinduism (Santana Dharma) as the former is just a contemporary Western version OF it, like a "spin-off series" created by Swamis Yogananda and Vivekananda, who were both masters of the "sugar coat".

Now, Janielee...in as much as I don't like saying this, you are in the Hindu Forum here and playing in my "Ball Park" telling me how hard to hit the ball when you know nothing about baseball and this particularly annoys me.

Oh yes, I am also an Aghori and I HAVE been "holding back", even when I am at my most intimidating...then again, the staff here have been pretty lenient with me up until now and I have pushed the envelope as far as I can go in that regard and they have been understanding of my "spiritual ways" and for that I am grateful and appreciative.

Aum Namah Shivaya

That is very interesting. Thank you Shivani. In many ways Hinduism is just as severe as Christianity with all it's talk of hell. Yes life is hard and it is interesting to see how various religions interpret it.

I would not worry janielee, I would rather be told the truth of the matter than have it obscured. My intimidation needs to be addressed so that I can accept 'truth'...

Firstly, Hinduism isn't a single belief system, but a collection of a rather diverse systems. Therefore, no two Hindus will give you the same answers or recommendations for reading. We Hindus vary a lot, and it's folly to think one of us speaks for all. Same does for temples and culture associated with Sanatana Dharma.

I can only give you my personal take. As for books, I'd recommend 'What is Hinduism?" by Himalayan Academy as a starting point as it summarises all the viewpoints, and commonalities in a fairly simple way. (free ebook)

As to your question, I look at it as over a very long time period, many lifetimes, and not singular episodes. Every soul will spend some time in pain, in pleasure, in joy, etc, as we (I mean souls here, not this one lifetime thing) evolve back to the source. It's the very nature of God's emanation, to have particles from Himself (souls) go through all that over many lifetimes. There's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just the way it is, and everyone goes through it. He is all and in all. All part of His eternal dance. The answer can get more detailed of course, but that's the essence. Again, just from my particular POV.

I haven't read through the thread so as not to be influenced by others' answers - ask 1 billion Hindus 1 questions, get 2 billion answers - so this is my take.

The problem of evil, nastiness in life, the hardships in life, etc. cannot be ascribed to God's doings or the absence of God's intervention. Hinduism does not believe in a God that controls, judges, commands, punishes, as in the Abrahamic religions. Though He or She will occasionally grant special rewards to someone particularly worthy. The puranas are crawling with stories of humans and non-humans who've earned some kind of boon after performing austerities to please a God/dess.

The problems and joys we experience in life are attributable to our karma. Because everything is a manifestation of Brahman, often erroneously called "God" as an analogue to the Abrahamic God, to attribute evil, injustice, suffering to God "... would lead to the possibility of partiality and cruelty. For it can be reasonably concluded that God has passion and hatred like some ignoble persons... Hence there will be a nullification of God's nature of extreme purity, (unchangeability), etc., [...] And owing to infliction of misery and destruction on all creatures, God will be open to the charge of pitilessness and extreme cruelty, abhorred even by a villain. Thus on account of the possibility of partiality and cruelty, God is not an agent." — Adi Shankara

So, to ascribe control of these things to God is completely untenable.