Hinduism
I- The rise of Hinduism
People who perform methodical research into the history of India find it real hard to identify India 's periods of stability; however, it is very likely that by the 6th century B.C., the country started to experience such periods. India knew lots of migrations and witnesses the influx of various human races among which Indo-Aryan tribes, coming from the coasts of the Caucasian sea, were the most distinguished. Those eminent tribes paved the way to various developments in India such as the rise of Hinduism. After numerous struggles and conflicts, between the people who tried to subdue India , Indo-Aryan tribes ended up by entering into the fabric of the Indian community. Some historians believe that the word Aryan' is taken from the Sanskrit language - the ancient Indian language - and it means the honorable man.'
Very rapidly, the Aryans started to interact with the Dravidians - the indigenous inhabitants of India - allowing India 's pattern of religion, beliefs and adorations of deities to take place. What is very notable, as well, is the similarity between the way they articulate language and the way European words are pronounced; something that goes back to the unity of the linguistic, cultural and human origin - Indians call God (Dava); in Latin language, He is called (Deus); in French, He is called (Dieu); and so forth.
As for the religious Indian literature works, it had been written down over different periods of time and it was until the 8th century B.C. that people started to learn about them. These literature works are called the Veda'; a word meaning The Texts or Books of Wisdom'. And it really remarkable that the collection of Hindu sacred texts Vedas' is not ascribed to a single person; nay, it is the fruit of the heritage of all the peoples who integrated together over times forming one melting pot society.
The origin name of Hinduism is Dhorma'. During ancient times, it was called Sentana; and it was just until recently that it took the name of Hinduism' embodying by that culture, religion, customs and traditions.
II- Fundamental principles of Hinduism
When you delve thoroughly into the principles of Hinduism concerning divinity, you find yourself plunging into more complications and confusions because sources and references will reveal to you thousands of sanctified gods; each one of them has only one mission to accomplish.
Nevertheless, Brahma is regarded as the most important god in Hindus' religious beliefs. In the Circle of Knowledge', Al-Bustani spoke about the etymology of the word Brahma' which is disputed among scholars. According to him, it is a Persian compound word made up of Bray' meaning the exaltedness' and Mah' meaning the great' or Mayh' meaning the overarching and the overshadowing'; those words are meant to designate the hollow celestial sphere that never changes; neither in form nor in position. This sphere is always fixed and it embraces the shining stars lying underneath it. On the other hand, other scholars state that the word Brahma' has a Syncretic root deriving from the word Barma.' And Barma' is a word of neither feminine nor masculine form meaning that the implied god is an epicene; he either possesses both male and female characteristics, or lacks them both.
In The Story of Civilization' Will Durant speaks about the nature of Gods in Hinduism: "The masses of Gods are thronged together in the cemetery of the grandees in India ; and if we set about counting the names of these gods, it might take us hundreds of volumes to do so. According to their nature, some of these gods are very close to be angels, some of them might be demons, some of them could be meteoritic galaxies such as the sun, some of them are amulets, etc you will find amongst them a great number of animals or birds because Indians do not depict large differences between the animal and the human being; they think of the animal as a creature of spirit the same as the human being All this variety of deities had interlaced their threads in an intricate pattern forming a single web of non-restricted limits called Karma - the Hindu and Buddhist philosophy according to which the quality of people's current and future lives is determined by their behavior in this and in previous lives the reincarnation of souls. Among these gods, you find the elephant had turned into the god Ganesha' considered as the son of Shiva and as the epitome of the animal nature of human beings although monkeys and snakes represent a source of terror, they were regarded as gods too. Considering that a single bite may lead to a certain and quick death, Hindus consecrate snakes, called Naja, in a very special way. In many parts of India, you find people hold each year a big religious ceremony aiming at glorying snakes; outside snakes burrows, Hindus put their offerings mainly composed of milk and bananas; not to mention that temples, especially in East Misur, were built to worship snakes.
However, this account of the events contradicts Al-Bayrouni's viewpoint on the subject which states that monotheism and the idea of the pure God is the prevailing doctrine in the Hindu system of beliefs. He describes the situation as follows: "Hindus believe in God, the One, alone, the Eternal who has no beginning and no end, the One who chooses to do or not to do, the Capable and the Wise, the Alive and the Generator of lives, the Resort and the Sustainer, the Isolated in His kingdom from all contaminated things, the One who resembles nothing and nothing resembles him He is the One who needs no reward; He is the Eternal and the Unique; He who has the peace that we hope for and the power that we fear and revere."
As for Al-Bustani, he says: "Brahma is the same sanctified Brahma of Indians after he set up his works. He is as well the third person of the Indian Trinity which means that Brahma emanates from himself three times in three persons with one person each time. In his first emanation he becomes Brahma, in the second Shnu' and in the third Sywa'.
Correspondingly, Doctor Ihssan Haqqi seems to approve this favorable opinion in his work on the translated version of the introduction of Hindus' holy book or Manu Smriti -Laws of Manu. He says: Hindus believe in monotheism; in the One God who has three assistants running his realm; and those are: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva."
However, the most likely to be true is that Hindus believe in the divine trinity composed of the three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; and each one of those gods carries out a specified mission to fulfill.
A- Brahma: Brahma is called (Sang Hay Ang) in general and in the Sanskrit language he is addressed as (Utpeti). In Hindu mythology, Brahma is believed to be the creator of the universe and that is why legends were made about the process of his own creation. In "the world of religions," Hamid Faozi said: "Brahma is thought to be a self-existent and to have evolved the world in his own way (from an egg): After long meditations and deep thoughts, Brahma was able to produce a fertile idea from which a golden egg evolved. As a result, Brahma was created from that egg and this is why he is regarded as the creator and the created." Nonetheless, although the attribute of creative activity is ascribed to Brahma and despite of the high-ranked status he enjoys in the canon of Hindus, the truth is that he plays almost no part at all in Hindus rituals and sacraments.
B- Vishnu: Vishnu is popularly regarded as the preserver (or redeemer) of the universe; and in the Hindu language, he is addressed as (Shtiti). In his book: The Ancient Eastern Culture", Coller describes Vishnu as the god full of love; the love that nourishes and sustains life. Vishnu is frequently said to have a human or mortal form (avatar) which incarnates good and salvation for all the humankind. And to accomplish that specific mission - as Hindus believe - Vishnu receives assistance from other gods amongst whom Rama and Krishna are the most important. All the more so, Vishnu enjoys a very eminent position in Hindus' rituals and ceremonies.
C- Shiva: Shiva is a Hindu god who personifies the destructive force of the universe. As he is represented as the destroyer, his mission would then be in complete opposition with that of Vishnu. In Hindus' native language, Shiva is referred to as (An Sang Kan Par).
In Hindu mythology - as described in The Story of Civilization' - Shiva is "primarily the god of mercilessness and destruction, he symbolizes the cosmic force that works, time and again, on distorting all the images from which the truth of the universe is generated, all the living cells, all the organic creatures, all the genera, all the thoughts, all what the human hands had ever created, all the orbits, everything"
Indeed, the Hindus, who consider Shiva as the god of destruction and obliteration, tried to interpret that destruction as a blessing or a mercy in itself. As Coller states in "The Ancient Eastern Culture', when Hindus spoke about Shiva they said: "He is the benevolent god of the divine blessing that can eradicate the contaminating aspects of poverty which are manifested in the deficiencies and the imperfections of the restrained spirit. In the palm of his upper left hand, Shiva holds a tongue of flame representing the force of destruction which had been related to him for so long."
Likewise, the religion of Hinduism is based upon a divine Trimurti composed of: Brahma; the creator, Vishnu; the preserver and Shiva; the destroyer. This Hindu trinity of deities has different avatars - incarnation in other gods - such as Krishna , Rama, Buddha, and Kalki. And if we want to learn more about the functions of these gods as Hindus believe, we will find that they regard Krishna as the god who aims at establishing peace and Buddha or Yuhhi the god who spreads out knowledge and education that lead to serenity. As for Kalki; he is the awaited god in Hinduism, the one who didn't arrive so far because the time of his incarnation is yet to come.
III- The quality of the Afterlife
As for the question of the afterlife, Hinduism does not believe - as Al-Suhmurani says in the book "Min Quamous Al-Adian" -in an another life where there are heaven and hell or by punishment and reward. Indeed, they believe in the Samsara or transmigration - Hindu cycle of death and rebirth - where souls pass from one body to another. The precise quality of the new birth is determined by the accumulated merit and demerit that result from all the actions, or karma, that the soul has committed in its past life or lives. All Hindus believe that karma accrues in this way; they also believe that if the person leads a life of good deeds and virtues with a renunciation of all worldly desires, his soul will achieve release (moksha) from this entire cycle of lives to be united with the Universal Soul, also called Supreme Being, or else it will remain forever stuck in this cyclical process wandering from one body to another.
Thus, Hindus take more care of the soul because they believe that souls can reach perfection unlike bodies, which are characterized only by their defects. Hindus maintain that in order to achieve a certain level of purification, the body must benefit from the presence of the soul in it, and that is why they adopted the ritual of burning the body after death, which they consider to be a final terminal.
Indeed, the faculty of senses cannot fulfill its functions if the Atman - essence of the individual - is not the leading power. The origin of this Atman is Brahma (Sang Hay Ang) who considers it as the radiant rays of the sun; the rays that widely extend everywhere all through the lifetime and all across the planet.
In spite of being perfect, the soul in Hinduism does not reach immortality as an independent entity; nay, its salvation is acquired through practicing "Yoga." The "Yoga" is a harsh system of exercise inflicting the body with a physical pain for the purpose of teaching the soul patience and discipline. "Yoga" is a Sanskrit word meaning "the yoke" and it was called so because it saves the soul from the yoke of the body and the yoke of worldly desires.
The yoga promotes the unity of the individual with the Supreme Being through a system of spiritual rituals and physical postures or exercises, or through offering sacrifices that honor gods. Furthermore, the yoga claims that one life is not enough to attain that unity because according to the karma belief the evildoings of a human being necessitate some successive reincarnations in human or animal forms.
On this basis, we may say that Hindus are not in accord with the Divine Revelations, especially when it comes to the question of the creator and the last day. The greater and lesser Hindu gods are worshiped in a number of concentric circles of public and private devotion. Amongst the most fundamental ceremonies for every Hindu are those that involve the rites of passage such as the funeral ceremonies celebrated at the Ganges River where Hindus sprinkle the ashes of their dead after subjecting them to incineration for interring corpses is not an adopted custom in Hinduism. Moreover, the Ganges is regarded as a holy river that people head to for pilgrimage each year in order to get purified with its water.
Hindus believe that cows are sacred and thus, they abstain themselves from eating beef meat. In fact, cows wander freely in the streets of the cities without any disturbance or restrictions; subsequently, so many car and train accidents had occurred in India as a result of a sudden and quick braking which is necessary to show reverence for a cow crossing over. So, Hindus leave their cows strolling leisurely in the country and the only benefit they draw from their cattle is drinking its milk and utilizing its excrements as a material to set fire. Special respect is accorded to cows by Hindus to the extent that the urine of the animal is sometimes used as a cure for diseases just like medicines; it is also used in temples as a complementary object for ceremonies when priests put the urine in tubes and sprinkle it on the crowd. Once a cow is dead, it must be buried reverently according to the religious rites and celebrations.
IV- The Hindu Texts
As we have previously mentioned, the religious texts of the Indians - the Vedas - were not attributed to a sole person. "The Veda" or "The Weda" is a Sanskrit word meaning "the knowledge" and it represents a wide anthology or an encyclopedia encompassing lots of information about the land of India and its people over many centuries starting mainly at 2500 B.C.
It took many stages in order to reach the final version of the Vedas. Before it was written down, the Veda meant to meditate'; and after it was recorded, turning out to be the real reference for the history and the heritage of India as for the religious conceptions of Hindu people. The Vedas became the ultimate canonical authority for all Hindus; it organized the lives of its followers leading them towards the path of reaching the required knowledge.
Durant tends to believe that the first people who embarked on writing down the Vedas were some Indian tradesmen who belonged to the Dravidian sect the thing that made these writings - as it seems - an object for commercial and management purposes. So, the people who originally promoted that art were indeed tradesmen and not priests.
Accordingly, Al-Suhmurani concludes that the evolution of writing down the Vedas accompanied the evolution of the Sanskrit language itself. Most likely, that delay in recording the collection of the Vedas was the cause that deprived researchers of the great sources of knowledge concerning the ancient history of India .
Actually, it appears that the Hindu priests - Brahmins - had encouraged the documentation of the Vedas to use them as religious weapons ensuring them power, control and prestigious status especially after they established the basis of the hierarchical social system making it inseparable from religion.
Verily, the Vedas were not constituted of one book only; nay, it was a collection of fourteen books among which the "Manu Smriti" also called "The Laws of Manu" was the most important one. This book was translated into Arabic by Ihssan Haqqi who endeavors, in his introduction, to clearly reveal all the confusions and disharmonies that lie underneath. He says: "If we want to describe the "Manu Smriti", we say that it is an accumulation of disharmonies because once we notice that; in its legislation, the book reaches the highest levels of sanity, awareness, tastefulness, and reasoning; then again, we remark that it suddenly slopes down to the most ridiculous levels and most shameful trivialities if that is to indicate something, it truly indicates that this book had been written over discontinuous periods of time by very different people; different in matters of knowledge, reason and awareness."
V- Hindu class system
the majority of the Indian people adopts Hinduism as religion; the religion that had evolved along with the evolution of India itself. And as we have said earlier, Hinduism is not just a religion; indeed, through its conceptions and books, it represents the encompassment of the cultural history of India .
As Al-Suhmurani says, the religious Hindu system had mixed with the rest of the systems such as the political, the social, and the economic organisms to achieve an underlying objective. In order to guarantee themselves power and control, religious and political personages sanctified the social class system. As a result, the castes were founded dividing the Hindu society into four main hereditary classes called (varnas) and dictating the social position and status of people.
The four castes
The Hindu society is divided into four main hereditary classes: the Brahman, or priestly; the Kshatriya, or warrior; the Vaisya, or general populace and the Shudras, or servants. Hindus also believe in a hierarchical categorization of the members of each caste according to the importance of their origin, which means that the social status is handed down through generations. In the Laws of Manu known as "Manu Smriti", Hindus say: "To bring happiness to this world, Brahma created the Brahman class from his face, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaisya from his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet." Al-Bayrouni described these castes similarly to what was mentioned in the "Manu Smriti"; he says: "First of all, the Hindu institution of the caste system is organized in four classes starting with the Brahman; the highest Hindu caste that emanated from the head of Brahma - as related in their books. Knowing that the head represents the top part of the animal's body, the Brahman was accordingly considered as the most pure organism amongst species and that is why it became a symbol of the best and supreme position within people. The second caste that follows the Brahman in importance is the Kshatriya which issued from Brahma's shoulders and hands and was relatively close in position and status to those of the Brahman. The Vaisya and the Shudras come successively after the above two ranks; those classes were created from the legs of Brahma and they are closely related to each other in significance. Despite of this hierarchical system that arranges classes of Hindu society, we find that cities and villages embrace a mixture of the four castes' homes and dwellings."
A: The Brahman: In their Holy Texts "Manu Smriti", Hindus say that Brahma, the supreme god, "commissioned the Brahman to read and teach the Veda, to carry out the task of relating knowledge (Vidya), performing religious celebrations, giving and accepting charities.
According to Coller, the members of this caste are "the elite of priests and mentors who are regarded in general as the elite of cultured people whose primary activities are to preserve knowledge, culture, justice and morality in order to please the gods."
B: The Kshatriya: The Kshatriya is the second of the four Hindu castes after the Brahman, originally a royal and warrior caste with the mission of maintaining the security in the country. Consequently, its members should be distinguished by their courage as by their political and military professional standards so that they would enjoy society's great reverence. In his definition of the Kshatriya, John Coller said: "The members of the Kshatriya caste are the protectors of society, the administrators of its affairs, and the guardians of its individuals. The Kshatriya is the system that looks after society's security, supervises and watches over the execution of laws and commands required by the necessary social functions. The Jati - a Sanskrit word denoting the system of caste or varna - also states that heroism, force, integrity, mastership, being valorous even in battles, showing generosity and manifesting skillful leadership; those are the natural and intuitive duties that a member of Kshatriya caste should enjoy.
Similarly, Al-Bayrouni says that the qualities accorded to this class require the Kshatriya person to be "revered, courageous, influential, articulate, giving, strong in facing any hardship, capable of solving plights successfully."
C: The Vaisya or the Waisya: Next in order of rank were the farmers and merchants, the Vaisya caste whose crucial mission in society is to provide the fullness of nourishment and to ensure an ample and stable livelihood conditions. Moreover, this class is in complete charge of the economic affairs and it is not a matter of desirable choice to carry out this job; nay, it is an appointed decree by the "Manu Smriti" or "The Laws of Manu" which dictate the following: "The Vaisya are supposed to fulfill seven tasks which are: taking care and shepherding animals, giving charities, worshipping the Vidya, studying the Vedas, working in commerce, adopting the treatment of usury, and assuming the farming chores." In fact, this social class is trying hard to gradually advance in position, it is really trying to attain liberation from life's restraints and achieve freedom from daily worries; however, it remains for ever the servant of the nation and the people because the responsibility of providing continuous and ample productiveness is cast upon its shoulders.
D: The Shudras or the Sudras: The Shudras is the lowest of the four castes in Hindu hierarchical organization of society. The members of this class are almost slaves because their duty lies in serving the society and working hard to fulfill whatever the upper classes burden them with. Al-Bayrouni says: "A Sudras should be diligent in serving and flattering people, he should try to be friendly to any one when performing his duty, and whomsoever shows perseverance and hard-working effort in dealing with his prescribed ordinary task, he will be greatly rewarded." And the one who does not fulfill his appointed job will be subjected to punishment. Concerning the function of this particular class, the Hindu Laws or the "Manu Smriti" relate: "The supreme god had bound Sudras with a sole requirement which is to serve the higher castes with complete loyalty and devotion." And by the higher castes', he is indicating the above mentioned three castes: the Brahman, the Kshatriya and the Vaisyas.
Verily, this Hindu social hierarchy is maintained generation after generation allowing little mobility out of the position, to which a person is born, blocking the way in front any competence or ability-based promotion and consequently leaving no room for justice. The characteristics of this Indian rigid social system paved the way to a sharp division within the Indian society creating a serious need to the dissolution of the artificial and oppressive barriers between the castes. Amongst the considerable attempts aiming at eradicating this unjust social institution was the one led by Mahatma Gandhi in the early twenties. However, this endeavor could not realize the expected and desired results because the class-based discrimination has deep roots in the Hindu mentality, beliefs and society.
VI- Hindu worship and rituals
1- Purity: It is noticeable that the most sacred places that Hindus head toward for pilgrimage are spread throughout river banks. And the holiest amongst all these rivers is the Ganges where people sprinkle the ashes of their dead after incinerating their bodies. It is said that the importance of the Ganges comes from source of which the river issues; it springs from underneath the feet of the god Vishnu, the preserver.
Furthermore, the Hindu theology reveals numerous cases of getting purified. For example, the Manu Smriti texts mentioned that the sexual defiling could be purified through washing up "Human beings can rid themselves of the uncleanness of discharging seminal fluid by washing out." In addition, "Washing up can be the way through which people can free themselves from impurities that they got inflicted with by touching moral-degraded people, by touching a woman during the menstruation period, by touching a woman during the forty days after childbirth, by touching a dead body, or by touching a person who himself had previously touched a dead body."
All the more so, Hindus believe that the blood of a martyr does not need to be cleansed up because it is pure in itself. In their Laws, Hindus say: "The person who dies in the battlefield or during a struggle; who perishes because of a thunderbolt; who is crashed by a cow or by a Brahmin; who had been sentenced to death by the king or the latter wanted to subject him to purification; no one will ever be contaminated by the death of such person." As for the woman "she should purify herself by washing up a day after the miscarriage to compensate all the months of pregnancy just as she should do after the menstruation period."
Hindus regard purity as being divided into two types; the first one is related to the body when they wash themselves up with water, and the second type is spiritual such as the purification of the soul through holy knowledge and the purification of the heart through offering worship, and so forth
2- The prayer: bathing, wearing clean garments of white or yellow color, washing up hands and mouths with scented water are considered as forms of prayer. Men and women take different positions during prayers; the man sits cross-legged while the woman gets down on her knees. Concerning the performance of prayers - as Shalabi stated in his book "The Greatest Religions of India" - it would be as follows: "Hinduism has neither a unifying nor a collective prayer because, all in all, the prayer is individual."
As for when' and how many times' Hindus perform their prayers, the Manu Smriti stated that they pray twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. By standing up, priests perform the ceremony of the morning that lasts from the dawn till the sunrise; while by being seated, they recite the evening prayer till the appearance of the stars. Those two adopted methods to pray in the morning and in the evening are believed to wash away the sins of the previous night and the sins of the day respectively.
Hindus insisted severely on the performance of daily prayers for the texts of the Manu Smriti clearly stated that people who do not perform the prayers should be expelled and regarded the same way as the outcast Shudras, or they should be deprived from the established rights of the reborn - indicating the people who have a soul that had undergone the cyclical return.
The religious fervor that Hindus enjoy creates in them an intense enthusiasm to lead the life of hermits making from forests and riverbanks their isolated and solitary refuges. Consequently they say: "It is sufficient that the person performs his worship by just reading aloud the Khaytri with a peaceful heart and a sound reason, near a river or in a forest."
Next to water that they use in order to purify things and people, Hindus also utilize, in their ceremonies and rituals celebrated by priests in temples, fire to burn the incense, in addition to the remarkable usage of flours. The prayers that are recited in temples are performed - as Al-Shalabi says - as follows: "The priest recites his traditional enchantments. Then, the person would kneel underneath the worshipped idol and starts his invocations Later on, the priest spells out his traditional supplications knowing that each social caste has its own different share in this supplication The priest voices a special invocation. Afterwards, the person says his prayer to be finally sprinkled with water before he departs."
3- Cremation: In Hinduism, the atman - the soul - is the essence of individuals, which make the body of little importance, especially when it comes to the transmigration of a soul after death. Hindus believe that the soul keeps on undergoing the cyclical return of life because it will be searching the attainment of enlightenment and purification in order to free the spiritual self from attachment to worldly things which will finally end the cycle of birth and rebirth allowing the union with the Universal Soul "Nirvana."
Consequently, Hindus dealt very harshly with their live bodies; as for the after death, they advocate the ritual of subjecting the corpse to incineration until nothing remains but ashes; the ashes are then kept in an urn to be sprinkled afterwards in their holy Ganges River .
The ceremony of cremation is based upon the following items - as identified by Doctor Shalabi: "The required elements are: fire, wood, the corpse and water." And these items would be arranged underneath the worshipped idol by the children or the family of the dead person.
The procedure of the cremation: The corpse is washed with pure and limpid water then again washed with fragrant water. All the wounds and incisions should be completely closed. The dead body should be incinerated by means of the revered fire set by the priest. After that the corpse is covered with wood, which is also revered by Hindus The burning of the body will keep going until only ashes are left; Hindu spells, hymns, and chants will be recited over those ashes" which should be assembled in a vessel to be dispersed afterwards in the Ganges River.
4- The Yoga: In Hinduism, the essence of human beings is all about the "atman" and his body is very likely to be an obstacle hindering the way of the spiritual self which is trying to liberate itself from the cyclical and entangling return to life to finally reach the union with the Universal Spirit or the god Brahma.
Hence, as says Al-Suhmurani, Hindus adopted the concept of "Karma"; a conventional term to indicate their philosophy about the human cyclic life concerning birth, Samsara - transmigration between bodies - and the quality of people's future lives, the soul in particular, which is determined by their accumulated merit and demerit behavior in this and in previous lives.
So, if the human being took the right path: doing good and charitable deeds, performing his religious duties through expiations and rituals, renouncing all worldly desires, his soul will achieve release (moksha) from the entire process of samsara to be unified with the Universal Soul - Brahma. On the other hand, if the human being sought the profane rewards of this world: taking the path of evil and wrong doings, neglecting his duties, his soul will be endlessly stuck in the cycle of birth and rebirth, passing from one body to another, experiencing successively life and death.
Accordingly, Hindus adopted the Yoga discipline. The Yoga is a Sanskrit term meaning the yoke' used to signify the fact that the exercise of Yoga achieves the salvation of the soul from the yoke of the body.
Verily, as we have said earlier, Brahma and the Atman (the essence or the soul) are one entity. Therefore, the purpose of practicing Yoga - as Coller notes - is to reestablish that unity which had split when the soul inhabited the body. So, in order to be liberated and realize again this oneness with Brahma, the soul necessitates the Yoga discipline. Coller adds also that the marvels of this bodily control, which may achieve liberation from the limitations of flesh, the delusions of sense and the pitfalls of thought are not enough if the human being was not introduced to wisdom and disinfected from ignorance Once the wisdom is fulfilled, no suffering will exist any more because there will no longer be a misconnection between the soul (Borosha) and the substance (Brakriti) - the changing and sufferable entity.
On this basis, Shalabi says that realizing the gratification of god, the creator, is the ultimate goal Hindus try to achieve through practicing Yoga; the kind of exercise based on remembrance, meditation and silence. Coller also states that the Yoga is the answer of salvation from pain and tragedies; it is the path through which human beings reach the Nirvana that achieves the complete union and fusion between the atman (the soul) and Brahma.
Moreover, Al-Suhmurani said that the Yoga saves and releases the spirit from the bond of the body and from its primitive instinctive impulses and drives to make from the human being a more tender and loving person to people all. By reaching this noble level, the concerned person will be called "Mahatma"; a title ascribed to Hindu Saints and good people. The word is etymologically divided into two syllables: Atma' or Atman' meaning the Soul; and Maha' to signify the Great. Like so, the person who reaches salvation will be deemed as the person of the Greatest Spirit.
5- Sraddha or Shraddha: the Sraddha, as described by Al-Bustani in "The Circle of Knowledge," is an Indian term meaning faith or trust' and it is used to designate an Indian ceremony celebrated to honor the dead and their spirits; it mainly includes offerings of food and water to dead ancestors. Indeed, Hindus believe that carrying out this festival shortly after the death of the person would immediately guide his soul to heaven and facilitate its acceptance amongst the pure souls. In return, if that ceremony is never held, the soul of the dead will remain lost forever wandering aimlessly in earth with the rest of defiled spirits. Moreover, the person who keeps on delaying the fulfillment of his duties towards his dead relatives; will be damned by the gods and the humans; consequently, the spirits of his relatives will be deprived from the feast of the pure souls for several years. As for the person who dies without leaving a son to complete the funeral requirements after him, he would become the main cause of expelling the spirits of his ancestors from heaven to be sent hell.
At the beginning of each lunar month, the Brahmans lead some conjoined Sraddhaas for the sake of their ancestors in general, in which they make daily offerings. And as individuals, they hold a special and private Sraddhaa once a month or once a year. The Book of Manu minutely describes the Law of Sraddhaa: If a person offers the spirits of the dead a ball of rice simmered with milk, honey and dripped butter during one of the lunar days when the shadow of Ganesha - an elephant-headed Hindu god - is directed towards east; he would be pleasing them for a whole year; as for the other offerings, they may satisfy the souls for two or three months, or even more regarding the kind of offerings that are being given. All the more so, the soul can attain an eternal gratification and satisfaction if the following oblations are made: the meat of a rhinoceros, the flesh of crabs, goats of nearly red hair, honey, or some cereals of which a hermit had eaten, etc These Indian customs are completely similar to the Greek and Roman customs. To the ceremony held for the sake of the dead, Hindus do not invite but the pure people. Two people, however, should be present at this festival: a Brahmin who covers all the required rules and a person of a deep knowledge in the religious Texts whose presence is better than the crowd of a million knowing nothing about it. In addition, if the dead person had no son to carry out this ceremony, the adopted child - if he had one - would be commissioned to fulfill the duties of the Sraddhaa; something that tightens and strengthens the father-son relationship.