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Flip to reveal answersHow does the guide explain where Hindu doctrines came from?
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All 10 Flashcards — Authority and schools
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Question
How does the guide explain where Hindu doctrines came from?
Answer
As the layering of beliefs and practices in India over thousands of years — original teachings probably Dravidian, layered over by Aryan migration — noting that few original Aryan gods are now significant.
Question
Name the four sources of authority the guide gives for Hinduism.
Answer
The Vedas, the Brahmins, the Upanishads and the gurus.
Question
What can Brahmin authority not reach?
Answer
Domestic worship, which is where most Hindu worship happens and which is very often led by women.
Question
Name the six darshanas in their pairs.
Answer
Nyaya and Vaishesika (logic and categories); Samkya and Yoga (consciousness and matter, with Patanjali); Mimamsa and Vedanta (Vedic ritual, and the Upanishads).
Question
Which three darshanas does the guide ask you to focus on?
Answer
Samkya, Yoga and Vedanta — their influence in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
Question
What three yogas does the Bhagavad Gita teach?
Answer
Bhakti yoga (devotion), jnana yoga (knowledge) and karma yoga (ethical action) — three sufficient means to moksha.
Question
What does accepting the Vedas mark?
Answer
Roughly, the boundary of the orthodox schools — it distinguishes the darshanas from traditions that grew alongside Hinduism, such as Buddhism and Jainism.
Question
Why is there no Hindu equivalent of heresy?
Answer
Because authority is distributed and nothing can rule between readings, so a new reading becomes a sampradaya rather than a schism.
Question
What else does the guide name alongside the darshanas?
Answer
The tantric tradition, and Samkya's influence on Buddhism and Jainism — the subcontinent's schools developed in conversation with each other.
Question
Distinguish how Brahmin and guru authority arise.
Answer
A Brahmin's comes by birth into the priestly varna and belongs to a group; a guru's comes by recognition as a teacher and is personal, earned in each generation.
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Topic 2.3 hub
Doctrines and beliefs
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