Things have moved too fast, I cant grasp many ideas.

The very notion of too many ideas is problematic. Many of us typically

confuse names of gods, texts, and rituals with the broad picture of
ideas. The underlying ideas behind Upanishadic thought, Buddhism,
Jainism, Daoism and Confucianism are fairly close. So, if you grasp two
fundamental ideas you have basically understood all these religions. I
deliberately used the term ideas because we often misunderstand it.
First of all remember that these religions are non-dual, and second
they are all about letting the self or the ego go away, and compassion
is at the core of everything. I have already explained non-duality to
you. There is no supreme god, neither is there a defined notion of
demon. If you look at the lectures on malevolence and evil I have
mentioned how each of these religions view evil. The lecture on Axial
Age was about this idea of compassion. If you are asked to define what
it means to be humane, these were the first thought processes that
transformed the human to humane. Keep in mind monotheistic
religions like Christianity and Islam came long after these religions, and
they too talk about similar values.
If you think of the religion of the early Greeks or even the Vedic
gods, it is not essentially ethics and value based. Gods were supreme,
and you worshipped them, they had command over the forces of
nature, and their representatives looked after the world in forms of
rulers and heads of temples. But with the coming of the Upanishadic
thought these barriers were dissolved. The quest was not about simply
surviving in a hierarchical set up, but to value compassion, kindness
and make sure every creature was treated with equal dignity and
respect. None of the religions mentioned here has a supreme creator.
Jainism puts non-violence over everything else, Buddhism has the idea
of skandas or aggregates that make us and the ultimate goal is
reaching nothingness or shunyata which unites us all, Confucianism
believes in love that spreads in concentric circles- loving family-happy
neighborhood-happy city-happy state-happy nation, Daoism is about
achieving balance, the balance being one with the Dao an idea very
similar to that of Brahman in Upanishadic thoughts. So, two ideas and
religions have numerous ways of accessing it. Once you understand
this, everything else is remembering names and terms. Each religion
also has their unique approaches of achieving this. Buddhism is very
interested in psychology and meditation, so for them the mind and
cognition is important. Jainism does it through control of food, and
other very practical measures. Confucianism stresses on education,
merit and good governance to achieve this.
The Upanishads (Brahma, Brahmin and Brahman)
The key to understanding the three terms Brahma, Brahmin and
Brahman is to go back to the slides and see the pictures. In this case
pictures indeed speak 1000 words. But the term Brahman is confusing.

Also, the diversity in Hinduism is baffling. How can one religion be so

diverse? Let us approach this from a perspective that most of you are
familiar with. Christianity very clearly is a religion where love, peace
and compassion are the basic premise. Yet several crusades have been
fought and justified repeatedly in the name of Christ. While we can
answer this as historians and study this as a socio-political outcome,
can we understand it as a Christian value? You see, every religion is
fraught with differences and diversity. Even with one god, one major
text there are so many different sects and diversity. Yet they are all
Christians. So, why will Hinduism be any different? Why cant Hinduism
be diverse and still be Hinduism? I have repeatedly mentioned that
several traditions were brought together under the same umbrella by
the British and called Hinduism. They used it for convenience. Unlike
many other religions the earliest traces of Hinduism remains alive,
therefore the diversity shows layers of cultural changes that also
happened. For example, the caste system shows the hierarchical
nature of early religions. But you also see the birth of the idea of
compassion that was going to form the backbone of compassion.
Brahman is the idea that really shapes the concept of oneness and the
basis of the Axial Age. It says we are all born out of this cosmic orb, its
a life-emanating orb where all life comes out from and goes back. The
moment this orb takes a shape it becomes atman (soul), the orb may
take any form. So, everyone comes out of the same source.
Upanishads are philosophical texts. But it revolutionized how we look
at the world. It dethroned god, ego, and hierarchy. If the concept of
Brahman did not exist there would be no Buddhism, Jainism or even
Sikhism which borrows a lot from these ideas. Brahman like the Dao
simply cant be translated, you can only feel it and be one with it. The
Buddhists refer to that as Shunyata.