Suffering, Judgment, Obligation

When you think of these words many things come to mind, but when I think about them, I think about the cultures around me. In our own culture, we suffer when we do wrong and when things do not go our way. We are under constant judgment each day from our peers and our professors. We also have much obligation of what we should do each day with our lives.

Now when I think about comparing these words to the Hindu culture, they begin to have a different meaning. When you first think of suffering, the Hindus believe that everyone suffers as human beings until they reach Brahman. Upon reaching Brahman, they no longer have the suffering that they had in the human life. However, they also believe that when they cause others to suffer, they will suffer in their next life when they are reborn. It is kind of interesting that they believe that when they cause others to suffer, they will eventually suffer themselves.

For judgment in the Hindu system, they are under constant judgment of Brahman. He judges whether or not people are doing their dharma and avoiding kharma. It is kind of interesting to think that their god judges them, and when they die, their god will judge whether or not they are reborn or become one with Brahman. This is interesting to me since in Christianity, God loves everyone and does not judge people on their actions.

Lastly, obligation in the Hindu system is also an important concept. Hindus are obligated to do their dharma and avoid kharma. They must do the duty that Brahman has appointed to them, and only by doing this can they achieve moksha. They are constantly performing yoga that is also required by them. Its kind of interesting that they have so many things that they must perform in their lives in order to achieve everlasting life.

It is interesting what all the Hindus must do day to day to please their god, Brahman. They must perform all these extra duties that are expected of them, while we are just expected to live our lives and do not have all the obligations that the Hindus have. It is interesting that they have all this stuff plus all the suffering, judgment, and obligations other human beings bring to them.