RELS 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Radha Krishna, Aghasura, Atharvaveda

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 131
• Professor: Aditi Sen- Chowdhury

Document Summary

January 9,2015: rels 131: week 2: lecture 3. The four vedas (need to know the names of the four vedas) The problematic tenth book of the rig veda. Difference between brahma, brahmanas, brahmin, and brahman. Aranakyas means texts created by foresters: called the foresters lifestyle (give up material culture and renounce the world, system of renunciation is called sanyasa. Upanishads belong to this tradition of forester texts: central underlying concept: brahman and atman, brahman: cosmic orb from which all life emanates. There is no life, no death: brahman can take any form (lion, cat, bug, people just a continuous emanation. These texts are a reaction to the vedas. When brahman manifests is different life forms it is called atman. Purpose of life is to escape the cycle and being one with the brahman. Ways of escaping the cycle: the day you realize that you are at one with the brahman allows you to escape the cycle.