A thorough examination of the origins of Hindu practice, including various disciplines of yoga, ayurvedic medicine, the concept and meaning of chakras and the caste system.
This paper offers a history of the origins and practices of Hinduism from a sympathetic, yet still scholarly perspective. It explores the philosophical underpinnings of the belief system and its development through various disciplines of yoga and the practice of ayurvedic medicine. Explication of the concept of chakras and their relevance to yoga and ayurveda is also provided. The paper also offers insight into broader Indian perspectives of Hindu beliefs in general and the caste system in particular.
“It is perhaps this suspension of Western societal or moral judgment that makes cross-cultural study such a challenging and difficult endeavor for students and scholars outside India. If we are to grow as a global community however, we must make every effort to bridge these intellectual and philosophical gaps in order to learn and appreciate wisdom that does not always speak in our tongue. Likewise, because not all of any one social construct or philosophy, Eastern or Western, offers nothing but truth and beauty, we must also maintain a wide range of knowledge regarding the errors of other ways, in order to best assess the efficacy of the paths that we might choose.”