Hinduism / Christopher Hamby

What is the human condition? What is the solution to this condition? How do we move from problem to solution? How best to live the solution in our own lives?
The human condition in Hinduism is that everyone is the same. We are all god and everything we are experiencing is a part of our journey to experience moksha and ultimately, find nirvana. Throughout our lives, we experience joy, pain, happiness, sadness and fear. What you must uncover and understand is that none of this is really real. This is all part of the human condition and that our bodies are simply vessels carrying our spirit until it finally reaches that final peace. We must be liberated and realize that this is just a game. So, enjoy it while you can and play around. It is easy for someone to see life in a miserable way, to think that nothing good can come out of all of this. But that is what the experience is all about. Humans must learn that the cause of all these problems is from karma, and the only way to receive the good and feel happy is to reciprocate with good karma. It’s what people have always said, “What goes around, comes around,” again and again and again. Just do good actions and when it comes back around to you, it’ll be good as well. Once you have discovered the problems and have finally found the solution, or moksha, you may then just enjoy your life in the human body you have now. Once you finally die, you are free. Unless, of course, you do something wrong right before you die and it’s time to take another step down. But let’s hope that doesn’t happen!

Personal Reflection
To be honest, before this class, I truly had no idea what Hinduism was all about. I knew it was a religion practiced by a large body of people out in the far-east, or somewhere, and that’s all. After spending only a few classes discussing it, and reading Huston Smith’s text on the religious tradition, I realized my concept of Hinduism is quite distorted.
The most fascinating aspects of Hinduism, that I have learned so far, are the practice of yoga, including the four different paths of yoga leading to nirvana, or moksha. Before this class, yoga was simply a form of exercise that focused on stretching and bending different parts of the human body. That is no longer the case. Each form of yoga is unique to each individual, where one kind of yoga may suit one person, may not suit the next person. Learning this, I wanted to understand and decide for myself which yoga would be best for me. Raja yoga, or as Huston Smith puts it, “the way to God through psychophysical experiments,” interested me the most. I have spent the majority of my life as what I would call a secularist, or really someone who has always leaned toward science over faith. I’m not saying I do not believe in anything at all, I just simply don’t really know what to believe and because of this, I just accept what I understand. Raja yoga and its methods of proving the existence of God immediately interested me. Its ways of physically becoming into contact with the infinite through different forms of meditation and breathing exercises is very fascinating and I knew I would have to give it a try.
During one of your lectures, we discussed Pranayama, and the “breath of fire.” Intrigued by this, I went home later that evening and decided to practice this breathing technique myself. I started out by simply taking deep breathes, inhaling through one nostril and then exhaling through the other. I did this for about twenty minutes, and then began rapidly inhaling and exhaling as fast as possible, then took one last deep breath and slowly exhaled. It is difficult to describe the sensation, most people at least have an idea of what it feels like when you over-oxygenize your brain. But this was more than that. I felt very calm, relaxed and at peace with everything happening. I then remained in the position I was in, and stayed that way for about another ten minutes. There really isn’t any way to explain what I experienced. You just have to try it for yourself.
I know that this is only the first religion that we have tackled, so far, but Hinduism really interests me and I plan on furthering my understanding of its tradition. I really enjoy that it is more focused on the individual and the freedom it allows each person. There is no heaven or hell, no one text to live by and no sinning! I think some people might hear that and think that is crazy or absurd, but it is not. It makes sense. Hinduism isn’t about unconditional faith toward one deity and one way of life and one school of thought. It allows people to bring everything together, as long as you understand the big picture. Hinduism is truly more of a lifestyle than it is what a lot of people would consider religion, and that is what I like about it. Now, I just need to make sure I do good karma and hopefully, not return as a tree stump or something.