Cultish: Hinduism - A Comprehensive Overview

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A few people laughed, a few people cried.

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Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the

01:38

Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the

01:49

Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him, takes on his multi -armed form and says, now

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I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that one way or another.

02:12

All right. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen to Coltish. This episode is going to be somewhat of a glossary index.

02:21

There'll be a study guide and a help to add to the series. We are back with Sandeep.

02:28

You've come from New Jersey. Appreciate you coming on for this little glossary index summary.

02:35

So people can kind of have this as a point of reference. Good to have you back, man. Yeah, yeah, good. As always, I'm back with Andrew.

02:42

What's up, man? I'm excited for this as well. This this is going to be very helpful for all of our our listeners to reference back to, especially in terms of being able to think with a biblical worldview and witness and preach the gospel to a

02:55

Hindu that they may know or Hare Krishna that they may know or someone even in the new age. I think it's helpful altogether. Yes.

03:01

And so what you just heard there, it's just a prime example of kind of the influence on the West regarding Hinduism.

03:09

That was a quote action audio clip from J. Robert Oppenheimer that was depicted by Kelly Murphy in the recent film, a

03:16

Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer, about the person who created the scientist who helped develop, create the atomic bomb, the end of World War Two, at least with the war in Japan.

03:25

I haven't seen the film, but what's been very interesting is that is one of the biggest grossing movies this past summer.

03:32

And because of that, you know, people were just, you know, you look for information surrounding this historical character and people are finding this quote.

03:39

And all of a sudden there's actually you can look at the comment section on YouTube. A lot of people are taking the sort of new interest in the

03:46

Bhagavad Gita and the Hindu God, who the story of worlds. That sounds kind of cool. What's that all about? But it's always good to know sometimes even in Hollywood that things can get sensationalized.

03:57

Things can be historically inaccurate. So you told me what's what something's off about what he was saying in that clip.

04:04

What was that? So when I first saw that clip, I was like, I first saw it, you know, especially the

04:12

Hare Krishnas. They especially share that a lot and that clip and they take a huge pride.

04:17

OK, he's quoting the Bhagavad Gita. When I saw that clip, I was like,

04:23

OK, wow, open eyed man. OK, let me listen. And he says that in the

04:28

Bhagavad Gita, he sees Vishnu. There's no Vishnu in Bhagavad Gita.

04:35

That's the most funniest part. I stopped. I remember when I first watched that first time when I watched that clip,

04:41

I paused it. I was laughing. I was like, there's no Vishnu in the entire Bhagavad Gita. There is

04:46

Krishna. Yes, again, all are same. Obviously, the Hindus say, but Krishna is an entirely different person.

04:55

He was not known as Vishnu, you know, in the Bhagavad Gita. There is no

05:00

Vishnu name mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. It's the Krishna. And obviously, Krishna says that I am

05:07

Shiva, I am Kamadeva, I am everything. But Krishna is Krishna. So I think

05:13

Oppenheimer got wrong in that place. Maybe he didn't read nicely.

05:19

Or he was paraphrasing. One person cannot know everything. That's the point, you know. But they take pride in the fact that it's mentioned.

05:27

They take a lot of pride, like Muslims take pride that Muhammad was the last prophet. Again, we see

05:34

Muhammad's life is like someone you can't just follow. So it's like Oppenheimer, he was maybe good in physics, in building atomic bomb, but he shouldn't have done that.

05:45

I mean, if that's true, like, obviously, I read like he was very fascinated about the

05:50

Bhagavad Gita, actually, and about Hinduism. Yeah. But whoever he followed, he never read the scriptures.

05:57

Bhagavad Gita doesn't, there's no Vishnu, there's Krishna. Yeah.

06:03

Well, just before we kind of jump into kind of our glossary terms of index, defining terms, and we'll have timestamps and everything, too, when we drop this series.

06:11

But it's even the fact that they take pride in this, when I look at this is that I know the story is that he did have a lot of regret towards the end of his life about his creation of this, because it was he was responsible for a weapon that killed millions and millions of people.

06:28

And so he's the context, he's viewing this in retrospect. And he's kind of like, I've I've kind of at least

06:35

I interpret it as him saying I've become the destroyer of worlds. But he's not necessarily saying that. I've invented death.

06:41

He's not he's not bragging about it. He's like, he's got this heaviness about him, like I've the weight of millions of people are dead, a war is over, but millions of people are dead because of me in Nagasaki, Hiroshima.

06:54

So it just it's a fascinating clip. I appreciate that insight on it. So that being said, let's let's before we kind of jump in, one of the things you want to say is just like why this conversation is so important.

07:05

You said, for example, some things going on as far as the advancement in New York, as far as in the

07:11

West regarding Hinduism. Tell us about you said there's like mandatory meditation classes, some other examples.

07:17

Yes. So, you know, I so I live now in New Jersey, you know, New York is just across the Hudson River. The other side is

07:23

New York and the other side is New Jersey. So in New York, a new thing came out, a new law, which is soon maybe

07:31

I don't know, maybe within a few months or by the next year, meditation is becoming the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams.

07:40

So he's making a meditation as compulsory in the schools till the 12th grade.

07:49

So, you know, all of these kids who were will be going to the schools around New York City or in New York, you know,

07:56

I think New York City, they will be having a mandatory meditation class. And so when

08:02

I read that, I was like, wow, I mean, wish someone could do same thing for Christians back in India, you know, like some

08:11

Jesus class, you know, like, you know, equal freedom in the state like Uttar Pradesh, no anti -conversion law for Christians.

08:19

You know, everyone has their own freedom and that's how it should be, you know. But all these kids who will grow up,

08:24

I believe in next 12 years, 15 years, they will, I mean, out of 10 people, for example, 10 of these kids,

08:33

I mean, six, seven kids would have a soft corner for Hinduism, would be maybe halfway to Hinduism, you know, and that's really sad, you know, because this mayor doesn't know anything or all these gurus, they don't know what meditation is all about, you know.

08:50

Yeah, yeah, no, that would be one example of that. No, it's almost, man, it's almost like neutrality is a myth.

08:57

Like, well, you know, because anybody, anybody who does that, you know, any anybody who, hold on, someone texted me late,

09:06

I'll just, I'll just, can I ask a question about it real quick? Yeah, just go ahead. Three, two, one, go.

09:12

So, Cindy, with regards to the mandatory meditation class, it appears it's two to five minutes of mindful breathing work each day from kindergarten to being a senior.

09:24

And the way they pose it is, if you look it up, it says, giving NYC kids time to breathe.

09:30

Why is that such a bad thing, Cindy? Yeah. So why that is like, when

09:37

I read that first, I was like, because so meditation doesn't exist without Hindu scriptures, simple as that.

09:46

You take the Hindu scriptures out, no one knows anything about meditation. Straight, I mean, it doesn't exist with the

09:52

Hinduism. So again, when the teacher who will be teaching, you know, the first meditation class to these kids, say of grade five, you know, this kid doesn't know how to do meditation, right?

10:08

Maybe he's doing for the first time. So the teacher would tell the kid, all right, you have to first sit in a

10:14

Padmasana position, the lotus position, you know, keep your hands like, you know, like this, you know, you make all those certain pose at first.

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And then the teacher would say the kid, stop thinking about everything, you know, and nothing.

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Don't think about anything, you know, start thinking who you are, what you did the entire day.

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And it's so much connected to the Hindu philosophy, the Vedanta philosophy.

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And when these teachers will teach meditation to these kids, for sure they will, they will teach real meditation, you know, like how

10:52

Hindus do, you know, and that will open doors for the demonic spirits, actually, you know, you're just opening the doors, you know, and not every kid will be trapped, maybe, and I hope not, but many will fall, you know, and that's the future for the

11:07

Western world, actually. It's not just happening in New York City, NYC, it's happening all around the Europe. Europe is in more bad condition, actually.

11:16

So that's the future of the West, you know, meditation. At the same time, Christians will,

11:22

I see Christians, they're losing their rights in many cases, you know, same freedom.

11:28

There's no same freedom for Christians back in India. Yeah, no, it definitely makes sense, you know, as the saying goes, an open mind is like an open mouth that has to bite down on something.

11:38

And in this case, you know, it's empty minded meditation, you have to match it with a spirituality to match the open mindedness or the empty mindedness.

11:46

And that's where you see Hinduism play in. So, yeah, let's just jump into defining terms. So start at the very beginning.

11:53

You know, we made a huge emphasis on the Hindu scriptures. So if anyone wants to know, you know, the things you're referring to.

11:59

So in the hierarchy of the Hindu scriptures, the number one is the is the Vedas.

12:04

The Vedas. And what is in the Vedas? In the Vedas, you have how you can do rituals.

12:11

There are different parts of Vedas. Again, among the Vedas, the most supreme one, the most superior one is the

12:19

Rig Veda. Rig Veda, like if anyone wants to study about the caste system, you know, you go straight to the

12:29

Rig Veda, the oldest, you know, scripture for Hindus, believed by all

12:35

Hindus almost in India is the Rig Veda. You open the book 10 and you start studying the entire book 10.

12:42

You get to see how caste system actually came in India from Vishnu's mouth, the

12:47

Brahmins, and then from the feet, the Shudras, you know, came out. So and then there are so many other scriptures about the caste system, the

12:56

Bhagavad Gita, you know, in book 18. If you read the book 18, you'll get to see that no one lives their duties.

13:05

You have to follow the duties, you know. So you get to see caste system right over there.

13:12

And then there after the Vedas, I would say the Bhagavad Gita, obviously, is a part of Mahabharata.

13:20

So you get to you get to see caste system over there. And also the reincarnation cycle.

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If anyone wants to see that, really, are we not free of any reincarnation cycle or like does our rebirth, you know, like if anyone is a

13:41

Hindu, the rebirth depends on your karma, past karma, and that comes from the

13:46

Chandogya Upanishad in book five. Actually, it talks about how someone who is a

13:54

Brahmin, it's actually because in his previous birth, he did something really good. So that's why he was born in a top caste.

14:01

Someone who is a snake or an earthworm, you know, you see any earthworm around you, you should believe that maybe, you know, it was a person who did something bad.

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So he he's now an earthworm. Chandogya Upanishad, book five. These are

14:18

Vedas, by the way, the earliest of all, the most important. Beating a woman,

14:24

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, over there you get to see if a woman is not submitting to the person who is calling her, you know, to to sleep, even by giving gifts, the person can, the man can hit the woman actually and forcefully take her in.

14:45

So you get to see this in Upanishads, you know. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's the Super Sleuth coming at you with the sponsor for this episode, which is

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Talk to you later, guys. Yeah. And so in the Vedas, then you're really seeing a lot of sort of the espousing like worldview, theology, and ritual, specifically, and also talking about reincarnation, past lives.

16:22

Like a lot of that is sort of the core foundation, as far as like the Vedas goes. The whole idea of the self actually comes from the

16:30

Vedanta, which are the parts of the Upanishads, the Chandogya Upanishad, the

16:37

Aitreya Upanishad, all of these Upanishads, basically, especially the

16:42

Chandogya Upanishad, it talks about the entire Vedanta philosophy. Vivekananda Hindu, the popular

16:48

Hindu monk, he often quoted Chandogya Upanishad, the Vedanta. He followed the

16:53

Vedanta philosophy, which is Advaita, Dvaita. Dvaita is like, you are that one, you know, you're the self.

17:01

This comes from the Vedas. Right. And you would say most people who are Westerners, who are into these like type of practices and rituals, which come from Hinduism, they've probably have never read, like they're just not familiar with the

17:12

Vedas. Absolutely not. I come from New Jersey, I live there. And I see every day, every single day,

17:19

I see people with, you know, Om tattoo, you know, some kind of Hindu, Eastern style tattoo on their back or on their shoulder or on the arm.

17:30

And I just question to myself, what do you know about Om? Do you know anything about Om? I have met people, you know, saying, you know,

17:38

India is so old, it's the ancient civilization, it's the oldest of all.

17:44

And then I, you know, I try to ask, you know, I don't be silent, so I ask, what makes you think that?

17:51

Like, Hinduism is the oldest. No clue. It's the Google research, Wikipedia. Yeah. You don't study

17:58

Wikipedia. You don't go to Wikipedia. You quote scriptures. You quote, OK, here is the ancient source, primary sources.

18:04

Yes. The primary sources, the papyrus, you know, like we have for the Book of John, I believe, you know,

18:10

P52, you know, you quote, OK, this is in this library. You go and check. And I don't quote

18:16

Wikipedia or what dot com says. Oh, for sure. For sure. Andrew, do you want to go ahead,

18:23

Andrew? Yeah. So thinking in terms of man, like anthropology, who, who is

18:29

God and who is man? Like, how do we define those terms within Hinduism?

18:35

Because I know there's the plurality of gods, but what about the one above all of that?

18:40

Is that even, how do you define that God? And then what is man and what is the purpose of man within Hinduism?

18:48

Yeah. So, so there is obviously a difference in Hinduism between God and the human beings.

18:57

But if you go to the earliest sources in Hinduism, the Vedas, basically you get to see that the self, the

19:06

Atman, that the soul is basically, so there is a cosmic, there is a supreme

19:13

God above everyone. All right. That's called the Brahman. You get to see Brahman in Chandogya Upanishad, book one.

19:20

If anyone opens up, you get to see Om, the oldest, is the sound of the

19:26

God. You know, when people do yoga, they say Om, they chant this mantra, you know, any, any mantra, the beginning is always

19:34

Om. And again, in all the Vedas, we don't get to see Om in the earliest mantras.

19:41

There is no mention of Om. Almost later, so Hinduism developed over time, over time, you know, all the gods who are mentioned in Vedas, the

19:50

Rig Veda, they are not worshipped. Indra, there is no temple in India for Indra, no temple. Like maybe there is one in sub -corner, but Indra, there is no temple.

19:59

Shiva, there is temple. So anyway, so, so the whole concept of Vedanta philosophy, the

20:06

Vedic, I am talking about the earliest philosophy from the Hindu texts, the Vedas.

20:13

Over there, you believe that when you meditate, you are getting connected with something, a cosmic

20:20

God called Brahman. And that Brahman is the supreme of all.

20:26

That's the ultimate reality. That's what the Buddha achieved. That what a lot of Hindu gods and goddesses achieved to get rid of the death cycle, the samsara cycle, the reincarnation cycle.

20:44

We see in Hatha Yoga Pratapika, right in the beginning, first book from the first verse to, you know, the first book over there, first to fifth verses over there, it says that even

20:57

Shiva did yoga because he wanted to defeat death. So the whole concept is you do meditation and then your

21:04

Atman becomes equal or gets aligned with the Brahman, the cosmic

21:10

God. And that is no other than yourself. Yeah. So that's the whole end, actually.

21:17

All the gurus, they believe, you know, they're burning their karmas, actually, by doing meditation, yoga, dhyan.

21:25

It's called, you know, dhyan is like you meditate. In Sanskrit, it's called dhyan.

21:31

In English, it's meditation. So you dhyan, you know, and until the time you feel like you have achieved moksha.

21:40

Yeah. And so just in cliff, so that's a cliff note summary of the Vedas. And this would be good for people who are going to get a foundation.

21:46

This is really the primary book of authority that all sects and castes of Hinduism would adhere to.

21:52

Now then, what's the next one? The next one I would say is the Bhagavad Gita. Yeah. So obviously Oppenheimer quotes that in that quote that we opened up at the episode.

22:01

But talk about that. It's a book with a lot of war and violence. What's a brief summary of it?

22:07

The brief story, if anyone reads Bhagavad Gita, this book is full of war.

22:13

Mahabharata is basically, it's a part of Mahabharata. The book six is the Bhagavad Gita. There are 18 books in Mahabharata.

22:21

And among the 18 books, the sixth one is the Bhagavad Gita, which is seen as a little book, you know, but it's a part of Mahabharata.

22:29

So it's basically in brief, it's a war to win over a kingdom called

22:34

Hastinapur. You know, who will win over this kingdom? Who will become the next king? So the cousins and the brothers are fighting within each other.

22:42

You know, they are all relatives. You know, they know each other, Kauravas and the Pandavas, you know, five brothers and a hundred brothers.

22:50

They fight and Krishna is actually leading the war. You know, Arjuna was from the

22:55

Pandava side and Krishna is just trying to tell Arjuna, you have to fight, that's your dharma, that's your duty, that is what you should do, whoever doesn't do that should be judged, you know, actually.

23:12

And like I quoted before, Bhagavata Purana, book six, chapter 10, if anyone opens over there, it's written at the end that the most noble way to die is you die in a battlefield or you chant the

23:29

Vedas while you are dying. You know, so Arjuna is not ready to fight because it's a bloodshed.

23:35

You know, it's a war. It's not a good thing, actually. No war has ever been good throughout the history.

23:40

It's a bloodshed. People die, people lose families, you know, and Arjuna is on this, what do you call, chariot and he's looking at this, you know, this whole crowd.

23:53

And there's so many animals even who will die. You know, back in those days, people used to fight with animals even, you know.

24:00

So a lot of animal, you know, people who love animals, you know, they should also know this, that the

24:06

Bhagavad Gita doesn't support the rights of animals because they fought with animals. So Arjuna is not ready to fight.

24:14

He's ready to forgive. He just doesn't want to fight. And then you get to see

24:19

Krishna, I think in, I believe in book two, if anyone reads the book two,

24:26

Krishna is just trying to convince again and again to Arjuna that you should fight. And yes, the war happened.

24:33

The Kauravas lost the war. Many were dead, but still they ended up in heaven.

24:38

Wow. Even though Krishna was on the other side. Yeah. So fascinating. I know there's a lot more you could do on that and just to name the, what are the other two, other couple of books that are just sort of looked to?

24:48

After Vedas, sorry, after the Vedas and then the Bhagavad Gita, next I would say the

24:53

Puranas or I'll say the Ramayana, you know, there's still a, you know, like fight between Ramayana.

25:03

I would say the Ramayana is a story of Rama, you know, because the Hare Krishna, you get Rama, the whole thing.

25:09

So it's more of a story, not necessarily like a step -by -step guide for ritual? It's not like after Vedas, you have to go there, you know,

25:18

Hare Krishna, they don't follow, by the way, Vedas. Okay. They don't follow the Puranas. I mean, they can, they will obviously accept that Vedas is a sacred scripture, but if you go to Hare Krishna temple, they would say, have this

25:30

Gita, buy our Gita and buy the Bhagavata Puran. So every, actually every sect in Hinduism, not the caste, the followers for Krishna, they have different books for Shiva.

25:42

They have Shiva Puran. So after Gita, I would say the Ramayana, which is the life story of Hindu God Rama, you know, how he, like how he goes to the forest and he's with his wife and his brother

25:56

Lakshman and then someone kidnaps his wife

26:03

Sita and Sita, you know, is kidnapped by the king called

26:08

Ravana. But anyway, Sita later on gets free and she comes back to her husband

26:15

Rama, but Rama is not ready to accept Sita and no one is understanding why Rama is behaving like this.

26:21

And Sita is seen as also a goddess kind of in, for Hindus, you know, every Hindu woman, they try to be like Sita because she is believed to be the purest and someone who can do no mistake, like a holiest.

26:36

But Rama doubts that Sita slept with the king Ravana and Sita is crying, you know, crying and crying like Sita is like, you are my husband, you are doubting me.

26:48

And Rama says, get out from my sight, you know, don't stand near me, go with other men, go with the monkeys or the other animals, don't stand near me.

26:57

So you get to see, Sita is pregnant and Rama actually says, you have to do, you know what, if you have to prove your chastity, you have to go through this fire.

27:07

It's called Agni Pariksha. Hindus will understand what I'm trying to say. Agni Pariksha is like you,

27:13

Rama asks Sita that you walk over this fire and if the fire doesn't consume you, it proves that you were,

27:20

I mean, nothing happened between you and Ravana, the king who kidnapped her. And Sita was pregnant at that time.

27:27

We get to see that in Ramayana. So these are the stories, you know.

27:34

And after Ramayana, Puranas, the 18 major, 18 minor, for Shiva's life, if anyone has to study, which scripture should

27:43

I go to for Shiva's life? Who is this destroyer? You know, is Shiva really the, you know, known as the destroyer?

27:51

You go to Shiv Puran, right in the Shiv Puran, you get to see, it's mentioned that Shiva is, will come as a destroyer.

28:00

Yeah. No, that's, I appreciate that. And then, so just jumping over to, that's a brief summary of just the

28:06

Hindu scriptures. Now we're looking at the hierarchy of sort of like the Hindu gods. And so we're at, obviously we're at the...

28:13

Hey Jerry, can I ask a question real quick in terms of scriptures? So Sandeep, I have a question.

28:19

Is the canon of Hindu scriptures closed or is it a continuing canon?

28:26

Meaning that, is there still the ability for more scriptures to be created? And if not, why not?

28:32

That's a very interesting question. I would say Hinduism is still developing today. My grandmother, you know, we are

28:39

Brahmins, so my grandmother is still a staunch Brahmin. She follows a female deity known as Ma.

28:47

You know, the female deities are always, you know, all the Westerners, when they go to India, they say female deity as Ma.

28:53

You know, so Ma Santoshi Mata. You know, Santoshi, if anyone searches, Santoshi is a very prominent female deity in India today.

29:03

And my grandmother, you know, is a huge devotee of this female deity. And there are millions, literally millions of followers.

29:11

There are temples, you know, for this goddess. And this goddess, there was no evidence, no reference.

29:18

I mean it, what I'm saying. There was no reference before, I would say 1950s, during that time.

29:25

Like before that, before 1950, there was no mention. No one knew about Santoshi.

29:31

It's a new god within 70 years, like, you know, within the 60, 70 years, this new god pops up.

29:37

So now today, you know, she has like millions, you know. So whatever. So, yes, and obviously there are guidebooks for again,

29:45

Santoshi, you know, there are books, there are scriptures, which my grandmother, she chants before when she worships, before going to bed.

29:54

So, yeah, it's developing even to this very day. What's up, everybody? If you are blessed by this content and you want to support the gospel's proclamation to the cults while equipping the church to combat deception, then come join us and become a

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30:46

No, I mean, it's, it's always interesting and it makes sense where anybody can come, anybody can become the

30:51

God or the guru. It makes sense how you can have a lot of changes going on. Any, any new

30:57

God can pop up at any time. Very fascinating. Um, and so another question then I would have would be, uh, defining terms would be, uh, the

31:04

Hindu gods, uh, just real quickly, uh, we were at the Hindu temple the other day and we saw a plethora of gods there.

31:11

Who, who's the head honcho, uh, right now? Who's the king of the mountain when it comes to the God, uh, the gods of the new age, specifically the gods of Hinduism.

31:18

Uh, I would say Shiva mostly. Uh, yeah, I have literally seen, uh, like I have personally seen people having tattoo here of Shiva.

31:30

Uh, and then the next one, if you ask me, I'll say Krishna, uh, Shiva, Krishna, uh, are the superior of all these two people.

31:40

And it, if it comes to feminine deity, then it's the Shakti, you know, Shiva Shakti, uh, it is said, uh, who is related to the

31:47

Kundalini actually is the Shakti is a feminine energy, which one raises from the

31:52

Muladhara to the, uh, Sahasrara chakra. And then over there, the

31:58

Shiva and Shakti meets from Kundalini yoga, Kundalini Upanishad.

32:04

And then the ritual connect. Yeah. Let's, let's interconnect with the different new age practices in comparison to the Hindu God. So usually the

32:09

Kundalini yoga is directly a by -product of Shiva. Those two things are interconnected. Yep.

32:15

Uh, and people say I do Kundalini, but I don't, uh, I don't want to follow Hinduism.

32:20

I would put Jesus over there. It's not possible. You can't re -edit the scriptures. Uh, it's just not possible.

32:26

I can't re -edit the Bible. Uh, Jesus is already written. Like people who wrote it know what they're writing.

32:34

You can't take out the Shiva and the Shakti. These two words are mentioned in the yoga Kundalini Upanishad.

32:40

The only, uh, the, the oldest of all scripture, which talks about Kundalini practice.

32:46

So you can't take these things out. You have to believe these things. Yeah. And I believe a lot of, a lot of, uh, people who practices this, even though they know that, uh, they're not doing it right, but they know that Hinduism is so much into this.

33:01

Yeah. I mean, there's no Kundalini without Hinduism. Simple. And who comes after Shiva?

33:08

Um, Krishna. Krishna. Yeah. Define Krishna and the ritual. What's connected as far as like, uh, out pourings, rituals, beliefs that a lot of what people would identify with as far as new age practices go.

33:19

Um, um, Krishna is seen as a God of yoga also, uh, in the

33:25

Bhagavad Gita, which is the second most, uh, sacred book for all Hindus, uh, believe to be a lot of Hindus believe

33:32

Bhagavad Gita is the national book of India. Uh, there are, uh,

33:38

Bhakti yoga, there is, uh, Kriyan yoga, uh, uh, all of these yoga, you know, there is

33:44

Karma yoga. These are the terms mentioned in the, in the, uh, Hindu scripture.

33:50

So people who do yoga, uh, they are called to do Bhakti yoga.

33:56

You know, Bhakti yoga is like a devotion. It's like a meditation, which is, uh, you're thinking about Krishna and Krishna tells in the

34:03

Bhagavad Gita, uh, that you have to, uh, you have to think about me.

34:09

You have to, uh, meditate on me. You know, uh, that's called the, uh, uh, the

34:16

Bhakti yoga. You are devoted to Krishna. And so again, uh, um, who is this

34:23

Krishna to learn about his life? The most two important books when it comes to Krishna is the, uh,

34:30

Srimad Bhagavatam. Uh, you go to any Hare Krishna temple, they will hand out the Srimad Bhagavatam.

34:35

That's the most, uh, besides the Bhagavad Gita. And these two books, you get to see

34:41

Shiva's entire life mostly comes out from the Srimad Bhagavatam. Uh, uh, we get to see also in Matsya Purana, Shiva is literally cursing six, uh, like 16 ,000 women.

34:53

You know, uh, we get to see a story. Shiva is cursing, um, woman to get raped even.

35:00

Uh, he's not happy, you know, so the woman should get raped. You know, there are verses literally in Matsya Purana, which says, and then

35:08

Bhagavata Purana, it's all about, um, Krishna, how, you know, how, how he was like human beings, you know, he did mistakes like humans, you know, so it's nothing like super holy

35:22

God, like Jesus, you know, sinless, there's no, nothing like that for Krishna's life.

35:28

And then we're talking about just practices and beliefs would be a lot of the ideas of reincarnation because we were at the

35:33

Hindu temple that was brought out specifically in relation to Krishna. Yeah. Yeah. The reincarnation is, uh, is, is the core belief of Hinduism.

35:41

You have to believe that that, uh, karma is something which you have to pay. Uh, you know, one gets rid of the karmic cycle, uh, the samsara cycle.

35:50

No one gets free of that. Even the gods are, uh, you know, many Hindus would say no, no, by doing yoga, you know, and some, there are some verses which actually says that, uh, by doing yoga, uh, and meditation, you can get freedom from the karmic cycle in a

36:06

Buddha did that, Gautama Buddha, you know, he, he did, he meditated all, all of his end of his life and thinking that he attained a moksha, uh, freedom from the karmic cycle.

36:17

Yeah. Um, so you, you don't get to see that's actually happening in, in Devi Bhagavata Purana, like over there, it literally mentions in book six, um, chapter 10 that, uh, even the gods like the

36:33

Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, all are under the karmic judgment. They don't get, they are not free.

36:40

That's why Krishna was killed by, uh, you know, how did Krishna die? He died, uh, by, uh, by, uh, by a arrow, you know, shot by a hunter called

36:50

Zara, you know, so, because Krishna did, Krishna in his previous life was Rama. So Rama killed, uh,

36:58

Vali, you know, uh, so Rama became next birth Krishna and Krishna was killed by that Vali who became a next birth

37:06

Zara. This is the karmic cycle. Quick question going back to, uh, the gods here.

37:11

And I think it can even relate this to some samsara, but let's say Brahman, not

37:17

Brahma, uh, but Brahman, uh, is different than Krishna, Vishnu, and, uh,

37:26

Shiva. Right. My, my question is, is what, what's the difference. And if there's something that is submitted to by Vishnu, Shiva, uh, and Krishna, like samsara, did

37:42

Brahman create samsara or is samsara this eternal principle that, uh, that all things must submit to except for Brahman?

37:55

I'm just kind of confused on the way all of that works. It's actually a little confusing.

38:01

Actually, the Hindu scripture says, uh, not the same thing, you know, uh, different scripture says different things.

38:08

Actually, if you read the Puranas, the Puranas, you know, different Puranas are claiming that Shiva is the, is the, is the main guy.

38:16

And then the Bhagavad Gita is saying that Krishna is the main guy, but so Brahman and Brahma, both are different.

38:22

Uh, so, uh, Brahma is the creator God is like a God like Shiva, Vishnu, but Brahman in with the end at the end, uh,

38:31

Brahman is, is like a cosmic God, uh, is like the ultimate reality who is above the, in the sky, you know, and the whole universe is, is within the

38:44

Brahman, you know, so there is this, uh, formless, you know, um, kind of, uh,

38:51

God who is known as Brahman. The whole Cosmo, uh, is, is inside this

38:57

Brahman. And the sound of Brahman is the, oh, this is the sound.

39:02

Uh, but again, uh, different scriptures like the, uh, Chandogya Upanishad from the

39:08

Vedas, book one, if anyone reads over there, it's, it says actually the Om, the sound Om is the

39:15

God. So even the sound can be God, you know, and then there is a Bhagavad Gita even claiming that Shiva, uh,

39:23

Krishna is the Shiva. He's the creator. So different book is saying different things.

39:29

Yeah. Uh, so, so Brahman would be like the third in line as far as the hierarchy of the Hindu gods.

39:34

Yeah. So Brahman is the top, I would say the, the top most is a Brahman. Brahman? Yeah. Brahman, uh, uh, is the ultimate reality.

39:42

You know, you, you attend moksha, you achieve, you go to the state of Brahman. The next one would be, uh,

39:49

Shiva. So it's Brahman, Shiva, then, uh, then Krishna. Yes. And then there are, you know, others, uh, uh,

39:56

Rama, there is, uh. What about, uh, Vishnu? Because Oppenheimer at the very beginning, he quotes Vishnu.

40:02

Yeah. So Vishnu is also, but when it comes to hierarchy, I'll say Brahman and then Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, uh, this, this is kind of the hierarchy.

40:12

Uh, now it again, uh, many Hindus, uh, might have different hierarchies because it's nothing like one saying, you know, like the

40:19

Bible says Jesus is the, is, will be the sacrifice. Yeah. And obviously we've, we've recorded a lot of content.

40:25

I don't think we have the time to, uh, go through all 33 ,000 plus deities or however many are in Hinduism or how, how many are in total?

40:34

Uh, 33 million. 33 million. Why did I say 33 ,000? It's been a long day, but it's a lot.

40:40

So it needs to say we're not going to have the time to go through every single Hindu gods. Otherwise we would be here till, uh, a long, long time.

40:50

So that just, uh, made my heart skip a little bit. Um, yeah. So that, that being said, uh, so we're talking, those are kind of, regardless of what, uh, sector cast of Hinduism and, and as many, whatever other gods you believe in those four that you're mentioning that that's kind of the hierarchy there.

41:06

So we have the certain, we have the Hindu scriptures covered some of the basic gods of the new age. And then that you have the

41:12

Kundalini Yoda, transcendental meditation, and all those things that are part and parcel that comes out from the worldview of Hinduism.

41:18

And then another thing that's talked about that maybe people want to come back and listen to this in reference to your testimony, um, describe the different cast.

41:26

There's the caste system. Describe each caste and what they represent. Uh, yeah. Uh, so, uh, according to the

41:34

Bhagavad Gita again, um, the Brahman, the Brahmin caste, actually the

41:40

Brahmin caste should be, uh, priest. Their duty is to be priest, to read the

41:47

Vedas. Uh, we, we get to, uh, see that in the, uh,

41:52

Ramayana, you know, Krishna, sorry, Rama, uh, killing Sambhuka who was from the lower caste trying to do a ritual and, and, uh,

42:02

Rama killed Sambhuka because, you know, Shudra should not do that. It's not the job for Shudra. So Brahmin is to read the

42:09

Vedas, uh, you know, do the rituals, lead the congregation. The next is the

42:15

Kshatriya. Kshatriya's duty is to, uh, uh, establish truth, uh, uh, follow the dharma, you know, uh, follow the, um, uh, you know, defend the religion, defend the faith, actually go to the battlefield, fight that what

42:30

Arjuna did, you know, was convinced like forced by Krishna. I always see in that way.

42:36

Um, and then are the Vaishyas. The Vaishyas are the sect of Vishnu actually.

42:43

Uh, so their job is to do trading, to do business, you know, most of the business, uh, people in India belong from the

42:51

Vaishya's caste, Vaishnavas also they are called. The last is the Shudras who are meant to clean the latrine, you know, uh, clean, do all the lower jobs, uh, burn the body, throw the ashes, all the cleaning jobs, lower job, not done by Brahmins.

43:08

We have the lowest one, that's the called the Chandalas. They are the low, more lower than the

43:14

Shudras. So they are like also known as untouchables actually. So in India, there are untouchable caste also mostly found in the southern part, uh, village areas and all.

43:25

Um, yeah. So these are the duties actually, and their duty is to do all the lower jobs, you know, and no

43:33

Brahmin would ever clean a latrine, never in the history it has happened and never it will happen.

43:41

Yeah. All right. So you got the, so those are all the caste systems you have then. Um, when it comes to defining terms like within Hinduism, we've covered the

43:49

Hindu scriptures, uh, the Hindu gods in this episode, these are the caste systems. Is there anything that would be notable, um, in our audience?

43:56

I mean, by the time they'll probably, if they listened to all the episodes, I'm still, I'm still, you know, they're probably going to have questions or want to kind of understand things and given this as your life, are there any kind of points we should cover as far as just understanding that kind of lens and worldview of Hinduism that we should be aware of as far as defining terms?

44:13

Yeah. Uh, one last thing that I would like to say is that, uh, uh, if, if you're young, uh, you know, uh, you're from the

44:21

West or, you know, you're middle, middle -aged or someone like that, or you go to your workplace or you go to universities or, you know, you're somewhere school or somewhere, if someone is trying to tell you that, you know,

44:34

Christianity is a new religion and that Hinduism is the oldest and it's the best of all, and let's do yoga, you know, you can do yoga without Hinduism, you know, or without like doing the tortoise pose, you know, do the kurmasana, but not believing in the

44:50

Hindu god Vishnu. Uh, uh, that's not possible. You can't reedit the scriptures.

44:56

And that's my point. You can't reedit, uh, all of these scriptures, yoga sutras of Patanjali or the heart yoga.

45:03

Uh, these are main scriptures. You can't take the Adinath, the word out from that scripture. These are like the center, the bedrock for, for these all practices, you know?

45:12

Uh, so never, never believe that, um, that Hinduism, you know, is the oldest.

45:18

Uh, look for the evidence. Uh, maybe if it is the oldest, you'd find some kind of evidence like manuscript or, uh, some kind of inscription, you know, look for the evidence.

45:27

Just don't believe because you are being told by so -so -so professor or, you know, a lecturer like Oppenheimer even, you know, uh, many people in the

45:36

West might think, okay, you know, Oppenheimer got inspired by the Bhagavad Gita and Vishnu.

45:42

There's no Vishnu. Like I've told you, there's no Vishnu in Bhagavad Gita. He quotes Bhagavad Gita. We open, we don't find

45:48

Vishnu. So Oppenheimer, maybe he, he know physics and, and that's not bad.

45:54

I mean, uh, he knew something, but he doesn't for sure knew anything about Bhagavad Gita.

45:59

That's my point. I'm not trying to brag or something, but, uh, you have to study the scriptures to, uh, know about Hinduism.

46:07

So just don't believe because your professor tells you that, or your aunt told you that, or your friend told you that, you know?

46:15

Yeah. No. Go to the source. And that's why we had you come out from New Jersey to be on the podcast. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the ripple effect that, that these, uh, conversations have.

46:25

Um, so yeah, I appreciate you coming out here. And man, I've been talking all day. I've been like, I've been using that, like this honey spray to kind of like in my throat and now my throat is starting to get raspy.

46:34

So now I'm starting to sound like, eh, so it's like Dr. Fauci or something. I can't wait to have my Indian food.

46:41

One thing that I cannot get rid of Indian foods. Yeah. Indian food's good. Curry and all of this. Yeah, curry, that stuff is good for sure.

46:48

But you do like your hamburgers too. So you got, yeah, I like beef. No, that's the type of sync. That's the type of syncretism we can do.

46:54

We can do with some hamburgers, fries, a good, a good, uh, if you're here, you're saying that a good pastrami sandwich, but then also, you know, the

47:03

Indian foods, it also good. A little curry is good too. Okay. Um, all right. Well, if you guys have enjoyed this episode, this series,

47:09

I hope this episode, you might have to come back to this again. Uh, we'll time, we'll try and timestamp this and hopefully this will be helpful.

47:16

And, and, you know, anytime you have questions about Hinduism and who knows, maybe sometime down the future, we could do another collaboration.

47:22

I think this is going to be very, very eyeopening for audience. So man, I appreciate you coming on and this has been a blast. Thank you for having me.

47:28

We appreciate that. Absolutely. All right. Well, if you guys enjoy this program, uh, appreciate it. Definitely check out our other content or links to the description, and we will talk to you all next time on cultish.

47:37

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