Aspects of Hindu Morality

About the Book:

The present work seeks to critically study Hindu ethics from an entirely new perspective. It makes two significant observations at the outsets: First that Hindu 'religio-culture' being a comprehensive whole, it is impossible to properly understand and evaluate its morality without a prior understanding of its religio-philosophical beliefs and value, and second that Hinduism being a highly complex and multifaceted phenomenon, comprising several heterogeneous religio-philosophical beliefs and valuational approaches, the usual historical method needs to be supplemented by a fresh analytical and to a certain extent phenomenological approach. The author seeks to understand Hindu morality in the context of the entire Hindu 'religio-culture'. At the same time, in order to better understanding the complexity and richness of Hindu thought and practice, she analytically divides Hinduism into several religio-moral traditions. This realistic recognition of the diversity of Hinduism is compatible with an equal recognition of the underlying unity of its ethos. The author further emphasizes the immense adaptability of Hinduism and puts forth a strong case for a reformulation of Hindu philosophy of morals which would synthesize various elements of Hindu thought and practice, so as to make its ethics more self-consistent and relevant for modern times.

About the Author:

Saral Jhingran received her Ph. D. degree from Rajasthan University in 1972 for her work on Advaita Vedanta. Since then she has received U.G.C. Senior Fellowship twice. She has been regularly writing for various journals of philosophy and participating in philosophical seminars and congresses. She is a serious scholar of Vedanta and Comparative Religion. Her book - The Roots of World Religions - has been unanimously welcomed by the critics, both in India and abroad as a valuable contribution to the Philosophy of Religion. In all her works, Saral Jhingran aims at presenting a well-documented and comprehensive account of her subject matter which expresses a delightful combination of sympathetic understanding and objective evaluation. At present she is working on her next book. CONTENTS Foreword

Preface

Ch. I Hinduism Through The Ages

I. Intimate Religion between Religion, Philosophy and Ethics in Hinduism; II. Hindu Dharma: A Multi-dimensional 'Religio-culture'; III. Development of Hindu Moral Ideas Through the Interaction of the Two Religio-moral Traditions; IV. Causes of the Diversity of Hinduism and Its Immense Adaptability; V. Some Religio-metaphysical Presuppositions of Hindu Ethics; VI. Morality as Dharma.

Ch. II Ritual-centric Morality of the Vedic-Dharma-sastric Tradition

I. Amoral Nature of the Brahmanic Rituals; II. Equation of Morality with Ritualistic Religion; III. An Amoral Concept of Sin; IV. The Fruits of Rituals and the Desire For Them As the Motive; V. Amoral Implications of Hindu Polytheism. VI. Conclusion.

Ch. III Socio-centric Morality of Dharmasastra and Epics

I. The Relativistic Approach of Hindu Social Morality; II. Duties According to One's Caste and Stage of Life; III. Exaltation of Brahmanas, Degradation of Sudras and the Miscarriage of Justice; IV. The Ideal of Justice and the Preservation of Status quo; V. Sex Morality and the Treatment of Women; VI. The Pivotal Position of Family in the Hindu Social Morality; VII. Social Responsibilities of the Individual; VIII. Some Concluding Observations.

Ch. IV Liberation-centric Morality of the Tradition of Knowledge

I. Morality of Liberation (Moksa) Opposed Both to the Ritualistic and Social Moralities; II. Two Concepts of Liberation as Developed in the Systems of Philosophy (Darsanas); III. The Self-centric Approach of the Philosophies of Liberation and Its Influence on Morality; IV. World-and-life-negation in the Tradition of Liberation; V. The Creed of Renunciation Integrally Related to the Way of Knowledge; VI. Ethical Discipline As a Means of Liberation; VII. The Morality of a Liberated Man and the Ideal of Human Perfection; VIII. Some Positive Suggestions For Morality in Vedanta.

Ch. V. Theo-centric Morality of Devotional Sects

I. Development of Bhakti Tradition; II. Vedantic Theism: The Concepts of God, Liberation and Devotion; III. The Vision of God's Indwelling All and A Positive Morality Based on It; IV. The Ambivalent Attitude of the Bhakti Tradition Towards World and Life; V. Bhakti Rituals Overshadow the Spirit of Devotion.

Ch. VI Universal Morality and the Ideal of Human perfection

I. An Essentially Moral Approach: Some Observations; II. Universal Virtues (Sadharana dharma); III. The Ideal of Human Perfection and Some Cardinal Virtues; IV. The Philosophic Basis for an Altruistic Morality.

Ch. VII Some Concluding Observations

I. Recapitulation and Looking Forward; II. The Flexibility and Adaptability of Hinduism; III. The Concept of Relativity of Dharma and the Possibility of Change; IV. Some Inner Tensions in the Hindu Thought; V. Some Suggestions For a Reconstruction of the Hindu Philosophy of Morals.

Bibliography

Index