Invitation to World Religions

104  CHAPTER 4  Hinduism

EUROPE

NORTH AMERICA

ASIA

AFRICA

SOUTH AMERICA

AUSTRALIA

World Hindu population (%)

0 km

2000 4000

2000

4000

0 miles

1–15 15–55 55–70 70–100

World Hindu population.

ultimately one. It is nondualistic in that there is no distinction between the divine reality and the rest of reality. The Hindu dualistic viewpoint, in contrast, under- stands divine reality as God, a personal being separate from the rest of reality. This means that God is separate from the individual, and therefore devotion to God is natural. Devotional practice of this sort is a primary religious activity of Hindus who hold this dualistic viewpoint. The majority of Hindus understand divine reality in this dualistic manner. Names of the Divine Reality  Hindus refer to divine reality in a variety of ways. In this chapter, in order to maintain clarity between references to the monistic and the dualistic viewpoints, we use two distinct terms. When referencing monism, we use the term Brahman (Sanskrit, “expansive”) to denote the divine reality, which monistic Hindus believe is the supreme, unitary reality that is the source of all being and all knowing. When referencing dualistic or devotional Hinduism, we use either “God” or the name of the specific deity under consideration. In actual Hindu practice, conventions of naming the divine are often not so simple as our chapter’s use of these two distinct terms might imply. Sometimes monistic Hindus, for example, refer to Brahman as “God.” Many dualistic Hindus use “God” to denote a universal being that encompasses all the various deities wor- shiped in Hinduism, and sometimes they use “Brahman.” When dualistic Hindus refer to a particular deity, they often use the specific name, such as Krishna, Rama, PROPERTY OF OXFORD

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