Learning Journal 27

This Wednesday in Class we watched a video on Hinduism. The first thing that I noticed was how much I had been butchering the names of not only the characters in the Ramayana, but also the title itself. I also thought that it was interesting to see how much those characters are in the everyday life of people in India. They have gigantic paper mache characters from the Ramayana and do all sorts of dancing and acting to sell the story. I think it would interesting to watch one of these now that I have read the story. I almost feel like I would need to reread the Ramayana again to make sure that I could remember it all. Hopefully I didn't miss too much because we read the abridged version. This won't be important for my project, but it will be important for adapting to the culture and fitting in. Since it is such a well known story in India, it is really important that I know what happens in it to help build rapport and trust in the people I talk with.
I am interested to see how karma, a pillar of hinduism, works in India. I don't know if I should expect more 'do unto others as you would want them to do unto you' or if life will feel the same. I don't think people will be tripping over each other to help each other, but instead everyone will go about their normal daily lives.
I knew that Hinduism was monotheistic, but I didn't really understand how. The paper helped explain how they worship so many idols, yet believe in one God.
I also learned a little about dharma. Dharma sounds like it could be very similar to the moral and virtuous standards of the church. It insists on being correct, proper or having decent behavior. They also believe that there is a divine order of things and justice, social harmony and human happiness require that human beings discern and live in a manner appropriate to the requirements of that order. We would say that God has established a way of happiness for us and that involves living the commandments and living a Christ-like life. The Church and Hinduism share a lot of common beliefs and practices.
I also thought it was interesting how big Hinduism is for a faith that doesn't use religious propaganda because God doesn't need any trumpeting. The faith is very tolerant of all religions and accepting of all people.
The other part of the movie that caught my attention were the different phases of life. As a child you were chaste, as an adult you were supposed to pro create, and as an elder you were supposed to transition your focus of life and be chaste...but not chaste.
Overall, I learned a lot, but still have a lot to learn. It will be interesting to see what life is like in India amongst Hindus. It sounds like respect is pretty important, so being treated nicely won't be a problem. I can't really apply this to my project, but it will be helpful to identify with people and inquire more about while over there.