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Flip to reveal answersWhat does the guide say determines Hindu moral principles and conduct?
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All 9 Flashcards — Ethical authority
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Question
What does the guide say determines Hindu moral principles and conduct?
Answer
Fulfilling one's role and duties as determined by caste — the varnashramadharma.
Question
What is sva-dharma?
Answer
A person's own duty — what is theirs to do, shaped by varna, jati and stage of life. The first question in Hindu ethics is whose duty this is.
Question
Name the Three Objectives.
Answer
Dharma (religious and moral duty), artha (prosperity and the means of life), kama (pleasure). Moksha stands beyond all three.
Question
What is surprising about the Three Objectives?
Answer
That wealth and pleasure appear as objectives rather than concessions — placed inside the religious life and pursued within dharma.
Question
Name the Three Debts.
Answer
To learn and recite the Vedas; to give puja to the gods; and to have a son, who traditionally performs the funeral rites.
Question
Why is the third Debt contested?
Answer
Because it names a son specifically, resting on the tradition that a son performs the funeral rites, and Hindus debate it in view of its social consequences.
Question
Name four sources of authority in Hindu ethics.
Answer
Sva-dharma, the texts (especially the Gita and the Laws of Manu), ahimsa as a cross-tradition principle, and the judgement of a guru and community.
Question
What is dharma yuddha?
Answer
Righteous war in defence of the sanatana dharma, defended in the Bhagavad Gita — the qualification that shows ahimsa functions as a weighty principle rather than an absolute.
Question
Which life stage carries most of the Objectives and the Debts?
Answer
Grihastha, the householder stage — which is part of why marriage is the central samskara for most Hindus.
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Ethics and moral conduct
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