Hey Veeky Forums, I've become interested in Hinduism, but it seems to be anything BUT an accessible religion. The Vedas are apparently without a proper translation, and even most Hindus can't read it, and rely on gurus for spiritual advice.
What is some essential hindu literature, in terms of understanding its theology?
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You’re not interested in Hinduism. You’re interested in some repackaged New Age wacky nonsense.
>The Vedas are apparently without a proper translation
That's a somewhat questionable assertion, portions of it have any number of great translations in a few languages, the actual problem is that the corpus is fuckhuge and the work's being done in a piecemeal fashion.
You seem to be approaching this in an unhelpful way, it's probably not the best to view the width and breadth of the Indic religions as "Hinduism" because there are particular cults, sects, modes of worship, and godform specialists that all have their own little camps, inside and outside of the Vedic adumbrations (see: Tantriks, often using an Agamic or otherwise non-Puranic source materials).
Given how much priority is placed on puja/sadhana in the vast majority of these groups, you may be better off exploring the literature of whatever godform draws your attention the most, and seeking therefrom.
Perhaps I phrased this incorrectly, I know Hinduism is quite a large and ancient religion, not to mention the amount of mixing with the other Indian religions. I mainly want to get a grasp of what I'm looking at, give me a way to orientate myself
>a number of great translations
Any recommendations in particular? I've heard from several sources the English translations of the Vedas are trash.
Nah, I want the real deal, not some bs mumbo jumbo.
I IMAGINE you want English?
For Rgveda, Oxford University Press just put out a three volume set that I hear is half decent. The 2002 Indica Books edition gets enough praise. Griffiths, Lubotsky, and Lopez do a contemporary-ish (90's) edition of Atharveda that I think is the best we have unless something's changed. New work hasn't been done on Samaveda because it's all in Rgveda.
The big problem is Yajurveda which are only in fragmentary translation, and even then it was in the 80's, and really poor. I'd argue against the translators pushing "monotheism" given how many Hindi groups bitch between themselves about the identity of Paramesvara. If you just remember that SOMEONE's in charge you can kinda get by but even then I doubt it would be helpful for clearing out your understanding.
>Given how much priority is placed on puja/sadhana in the vast majority of these groups, you may be better off exploring the literature of whatever godform draws your attention the most, and seeking therefrom.
do you have any recommended texts for
>kali
and
>parvati
Read the Upanishads and get immersed in the philosophy, don't get bogged down in the mythology.
Came looking for a thread on this subject and have a question if anyone can help.
I've read the Gita numerous times through and have begun teaching myself Sanskrit (recognising the alphabet and pronunciation at the very least) for the sake of a deeper understanding.
Observing the writing, I'm coming across characters I don't find in modern Aksharas.
In the "Aham Vajram" opening statement, I the first akshara of the second word "Aham" contains the aspiration "Ha" but the initial symbol isn't part of the current Aksharas and I can't din it anywhere. Looks like a "Pa" sound withe extra wings...? Also both Aham and Vajram lack the corresponding "M" sound akshara at the end.
ANY suggestions for where to look further would be vastly appreciated.
Good books: Upanishads, Vivekachudamani, Ashtavakra Samhita, Yoga Vasistha, Tripura Rahasya.
Investigate the lives of people like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi and Adi Shankara.
On Wikipedia look up such words as Brahman, Maya, Atman, Avidya, Moksha, Mukti, Advaita Vedanta, Smarta tradition (a denomination of Hinduism), Ishta-devata, Panchayatana puja.
Reading about Indian religions make me feel like a brainlet desu, there's so much material and history to read.
its really just a bunch of authors adding new text or interpolating existing ones. Mahabharata for example used to have 24k verses, then it had 100k, now it has 200k. Obviously if you're allowed to just add texts to the canon it's going to be a clusterfuck after a certain amount of time. Hindus avoid this by saying the added texts are 'smrti' (secondary) but I conjecture that the primary texts (vedas, upanishads, etc) also took the same path of interpolation.
There is no need to feel like a brainlet in this decentralized mess.
Hindi speaking Hindu here.
1) I am quite baffled by the use of this strange alphabet. It should have been 'अ', pronounced as 'uh'/'uhh', with your jaw pulled back, and constrain in your throat. I'll talk to my father(Knows this shit better) and get back to you.
2) The 'हं' is pronounced something resembling 'hung' like the english word hung. Only trick is to slowly transition the swallowing of G with that word. a-hu-n-g. transition of n to g is literally swallowing the g to make it sound like a-hu-ng.
Hindi/Sanskrit has gone through many revisions to make it suitable for plebs.Best way to learn Sanskrit is to speak to a person who knows it;They'll help you out.
I talked to a friend of mine who know stuff, and it is the problem of the printing press. The with extra wings is supposed to be अ with a र( In the form of a sanyukt akshara, like 'प्र' is प and र coming together and pronounced together.
Protip; Ayudhanam aham is pronounced as Ayurdhanam aham
Amazing! Thank you!
>do you have any recommended texts for
>>kali
Yeah actually I do, go over to my library (esoteric texts usually linked in the OP of the Veeky Forums book thread, or /x/'s /omg/ if you're brave enough). Eastern folder:
I have a couple of public Pujas for Kali worship that were approved for public release by some tanrik folks (completely tame, hence public).
I also have a modest handful of Shakti based texts in so-named folder, but I could really use to expand it quite a bit.
>thinking chakras originated in new age
>The Vedas are apparently without a proper translation
You should never learn any religion in language other than original.
Just pick however many of their 330,000,000 demon gods you want to spend eternity with in hell, and go for it.
Not eternity but this aeon (age of pisces) and hell is this planet. Look in Kratylos what demons originally meant. They are inadvised for this aeon, because Pisces have no chakra assigned, therefore demonic/zodiacal forces shouldn't interfere with forces of emptiness who are Apostles. Apostles also depict zodiacal forces but are based on faith not knowledge. Faith is force of Neptune.
To be fair it's one thing to learn Greek or Arabic, and another thing altogether to learn an ancient esoteric meme language.
He's not saying that dumbass.
What is he saying?
I mean, with the correct contextualizing materials, Greek (Greek Magickal Papyri) and Arabic (Shams al Ma'arif) are also esoteric meme languages.
I can agree with this but learning is a process, people have Greek/English bibles all the time as they're learning to study the Greek.
That most people's expectations of other religions are often warped by how our culture presents them, New Agey or otherwise. He's being a dick but there's an underlying valid criticism that's being attempted: A lot of what's been filtered down to us is questionable.