In this episode, we discuss further concepts related to Hinduism. We present some more fundamental concepts in addition to those covered in Episode-1 that are important to an understanding of Hinduism. A knowledge of the basic framework will help us raise confident young Hindus. Show Notes 0:03 Recap of Episode 1 and notes 2:36: Linear vs Cyclical Concept of Time 5:44: Seekers vs Believers 10:01: Ashramas of Life 15:09: Oneness and Divine Presence in Everything 21:13: The Hindu Rituals Subscribers are requested to look for The Hindu Parenting notification emails for new podcasts/posts in their email promotions/spam tab and personally move these into the main inbox. Thereafter all posts will be delivered to their main inbox. Thank you! For questions that you’d like us to address, please use the form below: Hindu Parenting Questions For comments and suggestions, please use the comments tab or write to us at [email protected] Please note that questions will not be answered on email. Transcript [0:03] Rekha: Namaste. Welcome to another edition of the Hindu parenting podcast. Today Shalini and I will outline for you part 2 of “What it means to be a Hindu”. Before we start that, let's just make a couple of clarifications. The first point is, we discussed that a Hindu temple is also called a mandira, or a devalaya, which translates to the home of the deity. So this is a very important concept for us to know. Because in most faiths, the place of worship is a place that people congregate in and perhaps hear a sermon and get together to pray. But in Hinduism, that temple is the home of the deity. This is something that kids need to know. The second point is about the purusharthas. It is to be understood that artha and kama are the primary purusharthas that we deal with in today's world; artha meaning the desire for power and wealth/money, kama being the desire for pleasure. Artha, and kama always go together, and they are to be bounded by the principle called dharma. So these are just a couple of things that I wanted to clarify. Shalini any more points? [1:27] Shalini: I think there are a couple more things that I wanted to say. One, that what we are discussing here are topics which are not in any order of importance, nor are they in any chronological order, we are just discussing them as they come to us. Okay, then the other point that I wanted to say was that it is important to discuss these concepts, because these form the philosophical basis for Hinduism, and we believe that starting with this is just like starting to construct a house. When you construct a house, you always build the foundations first, and then only you build the superstructure. So the foundation is what actually stays below the ground, is a bit unglamorous, but it's a stable base, without which you cannot build a superstructure. So what we are discussing here is akin to discussing the foundations of Hinduism, which will then lead us to topics of everyday concern and everyday value for all of us to help us navigate everyday life. So I think these two things, was something that I wanted to say. So Rekha, I think we can just start now and we will delve into the concepts one by one, the ones which we have lined up for today. [2:36] Rekha: Today, let's start with something that most kids will find very fascinating. This is the concept of time. Time, as we commonly understand today is linear in nature, I mean, time by itself has no specific principle. It's just the way that we look at it. So the way we understand it today is fully linear, which means it has a past, present and future which does not repeat over and over again. But looking back, it's very intuitive to know that what we observe in nature is cyclical all the time: the seasons repeat, the phases of Moon repeat, day and night repeats. So, this is something that was noticed in most or almost all ancient cultures, including in Hinduism. So the Hindu conception of time is cyclical, it is als