According to Huston Smith’s definition and explanation of Hinduism, people want four things: pleasure, success (including power, fame and wealth) duty and liberation or moksha. We may ask ourselves, “How do we obtain pleasure?” It may seem difficult and may be even nearly impossible for us to understand how to achieve pleasure. India says to the the person who wants pleasure, “Go after it.” Smith explains that success is an insatiable. We are never content with what we have but what we want that which we already have. Behind pleasure and success brings us to duty. This means real responsibility and the maturity to perform such duty sufficiently. Liberation is the fourth and last thing people want. Smith says, “Liberation from everything that distances us from infinite being, infinite awareness and infinite bliss.”
The greatest belief that the Hindu people have is that they can have what they really want. That which we desire more, we can have. What’s the secret to getting that which we want the most? We already have it. Though we may not even know we possess it, that which we want most may be hiding or buried by other things within us that are not allowing us to realize that we have it.
India has three stages of life. The first being that of Youth. This is their time to learn and be educated about the world around them. The second stage of life is Household where we put our time and energy into creating a family and a stable profession in which to provide and support that family. The last stage of life is Retirement. People in the West think this is perhaps the most boring time of life where we’ve learned all we need to know, making our retirement stagnant. India believes this is the time to turn our life into a devoted time of understanding of what the real purpose of life is.
Personal Reflection -
It is intriguing to read about how the Hindus view themselves. They seem to never be good enough, to not have enough self-worth and to continually strive to be better. I think people in the West could use a little bit more of this mentality. I think we should all constantly strive to be better and have more self-worth.
