Hindu Concept of Self

This study discuss the question "Who am I?" in light of the Hindu concept of self.

As Stroup writes, there are three basic elements with which Hinduism concerns itself. The first is the nature of the universe, the second is the nature of human society, and the third is the nature of the person, the individual, or the self.

Stroup notes that these three concerns are inter-related; Hinduism deals with them as parts of a single whole, rather than as independent elements of existence. As we explore the Hindu concept of self, we must keep in mind that we cannot understand the self except in the context of society and the universe. To the Hindu, the self is meaningless outside of its relationships with the world around it.

Stroup writes that the self has long been a subject of "speculation and interpretation within Hinduism. The nature of personhood has been as intriguing and perplexing a subject as the nature of the starry heavens above . . . No simple or single interpretation has developed within the religion regarding the person . . . One of the persistent strands of interpreting (it) is to view (it) as a microcosm. The person stands in contrast to the macrocosm, the universe or that which exists outside man" (Stroup 129).

As Smith writes, the Hindu concept of man is founded on the belief that he is a "layered being . . . First and most obviously, man has a body. Next comes that portion of his mind and experience that he is aware of, his conscious personality. Un

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Category: Philosophy - H