Paths To Salvation In Bhagavad Gita Religion Essay

Paths To Salvation In Bhagavad Gita Religion Essay This essay is about the paths to salvation in Bhagavad-Gita. Others religion such as: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism have one path to salvation. This path to salvation means complete devotion to god. In the Bhagavad-Gita, there are three paths to salvation. They are Bhakti, Janna and Karma yoga, also kwon as the yoga of knowledge, the joga of devotation and the joya of action. Those paths have the same goal. This goal is to achieve salvation. The first path, Bhakti, also known as the Goya of devotion, means loves and blisss goal. The way to attain Morsha is through devotion for god. Keep me in your mind and devotion, sacrifice to me, bow to me, discipline your self toward, and you will reach me![ 1]. In the Vaishavana pantheon, this path has five forms: Santa, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalva and Madhura. The first of them is calm devotion for god. The other four involve emotional attachment with god. For example Sakhya is treating god as a friend. Dasya is serving god. Madhuara is treating god as husband. Vatsalya is treating god as a child. In Bhagavad-Gita, there are nine acts of devotion: Sravana, which is hearing of god, Kirtana which is praising god, Sharama, which is remembering god, Padasevana, which is service in general, Arcana, which is worshiping, Vandana which is bowing, Dasya, which is serving like a servant, Sakhaya which is befriending god and athanivedana, which is making total surrender. The salvation and moksha are achieved through complete devotion to krisha. The second path, Janna is also known as the yoga of knowledge. When ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, then, like the sun, knowledge illumines ultimate reality.[ 2]. This path allows people to discover the way of wisdom, to discover what truth is, what is eternal, and what is not eternal. Knowledge leads to the achievement salvation. With the knowledge, people find spiritual peace, which means salvation. With the knowledge, people can break the barrier of the ignorance that trapped the person. Knowledge is like the sunlight that illuminates the dark path. With the knowledge people can find the union with god. Sravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana are the three means in Janna. The first one is learning from or listening to a teacher. The second one is to remember and reflect on the teaching, and the third one is to meditate on the truth spoken. These means in Janna lead to the discovery of truth. The third path, Karma is also known as the Yoga of action. Be intent on action, not on the fruits of actions, avoid attraction to the fruit and attachment to inaction[3]. This path teaches that the people should act in good faith, which should help other people without anything in return, to act without rancor, without malice, without hate, and to act selflessly. Doing these acts is the only way to find the truth of Brahman that leads to salvation. In conclusion, I would say that the three paths lead to salvation. Gita is considered the most important because require a total and unconditional surrender to god. This path is the devotion of Yoga. This essay is about the central elements of Vedic religion. During this time, there were written sacred scripture. Those scriptures talk about the religion practices that occurred in this time. Those scriptures are known as the four Vedas: Rig Veda, Althar Veda, Sama Veda, and Yagur Veda. Those texts contains hymns and chants that describe this particular moment .During this period, the priests who represent the highest and well educated class in the society were responsible for the rituals and read of the text. Performing rituals became an important part of their daily life. One common ritual was the sacrifice of animals. Also, chanting and prayer were common religious practices too. The rig Veda is considering the most important of the four Vedas. It Contains 1028 hymns, those are divided into eight or ten books. Those hymns contain some wonderful pieces of poetry and were used in rituals. The rituals were performed by the priests, who were responsible for everything. I would say that those rituals were for some noblemen and for the wealthy. In these rituals people prayed for rain, prayed for their family, for the long life and for their harvest. Jajna was an important method of sacrifice. This means building an altar. The performance was around the altar. Fire and offering were thrown into it. The offering included things like butters, milk, meat, cooked grain, intoxicating drink, and other items. The priests invoke gods to seek their blessing. These rites were performed during various interval of the year. Many purposes were associated with this sacrifice. For example they did it during sowing period, during harvest time, and for some social events. The sacrifice of horse was performed in this period only by the kings. This sacrifice was made in order to prove their influence and valor. In this period, there was no scientific explanation for natural phenomena such as rain, wind, and thunder. People feared them and thus worshipped them. This mean that people worshipped different forms of nature as god like earth, moon, sun, rain, sun and other natural phenomena. They believe that the priest posses supernatural power and could control adverse forces by magical means. In conclusion, I would say that during this period the power of the priest increased and animal sacrifice also increased in the name of the religion. Rituals and hymns became common practices of their daily life. The evolution of this religion gave raise to new beliefs and new gods. This essay assignment is about comparing and contrasting both Hinduism and Buddhism religion. Both the Hindus and Buddhist believe in reincarnation or what happens after the life, both follow the same path in order to achieved salvation. Another point they have in common is that both religions were originated in India. There are differences between both religions. For example, Hinduism believes in the caste system and it has three main gods. Buddhism does not believe in the caste system and does not believe in god. Another difference is that Buddhism spread into others countries and Hinduism stayed in India. One similarity is that both the Hindus and Buddhist religion believe in reincarnation that means freedom or release from the cycle of birth and death. Both believe that there are two places that you could go after the death, either you could go to heaven or you could go to hell. Another point that it has in common is that both Hinduism and Buddhism follow the same path to achieve salvation. A further dissimilarity is that both religions were originated in India. One difference is that Hinduism has many gods that govern different aspects of their life. For example, there are three main gods called Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu, who is the preserver, is represented by water. Brahma, who is the creator, is represented by earth, and Shiva, who is the destroyer, is represented by fire. Those gods were believed to control the forces of the nature. Sacred animals are used in Hinduism in order to invoke gods and seek their blessings. Buddhism is a religion that does not believe in god and follows the four noble truths, which are: suffering, origin of the suffering, selflessness and truth of the Path. The eight fold path describes the ways in which every person must live and also advocates the pursuit of many goals in ones life including wealth, prosperity, happiness and love. Another difference is that salvation in Hinduism is known as morksha. This mean release or freedom from the cycle of birth and death. In Buddhism, salvation is known as nirv ana. This means release from this world and the suffering of the human condition. Another difference is that Hinduism believed in the caste system, which means that the society is divided in four classes; those are Brahmins, which were the highest and well educated class represented by the priests. Kshatriyas , which were responsible for the society. Merriments, which were represented by the merchants and Sudras, which were represented by the lowest class and excluded from the religion. Buddhist religion does not believe in caste system. Another difference is that Buddhism spread into many other countries and Hinduism stayed in India. Hinduism is more understable and comprehendible than Hinduism. Buddhist accepted everybody openly and Hinduism accepted people who were born into the caste system. In conclusion, I would like to say that both religions have differences and similarities. The most common similarities is that both religions have the same goal. This goal is to achieve salvation after the death. Both religions prescribe different ways in order to achieved freedom. One religion believes in god and in the caste system, and the other one does not believe in god and does not believe in the caste system.