Brahmanism also called Smartha Tradition, this sect is dominated largely by Brahmins who are dedicated to Smriti. They are basically liberal followers and non-sectarian in nature. Their path continues to be grounded in philosophical, meditative path emphasizing man's oneness with God through understanding. They are like purist of the past and continue recognizing the Brahman of Upanishads as the highest principle in the universe that pervades all of existence.
As per Brahmanism, all Brahmins who specialized in Karma kand and who followed Vedas and Shastras came to be known as Smarthas. No wonder, these are more orthodox and follow traditional Hindu denominations observing strict rules and regulations. As an extension of their lineage, their philosophical basis rests on Mimansa and Vedanta.
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| Brahmanism |
Great thinker Adi Shankara is credited with regeneration of Brahmanism tradition. It was his lifelong untiring efforts that he brought all Vedic communities together under one umbrella and revived the great tradition. In a cleansing effort, he removed all non-Smriti elements that had crept into Hinduism over the period. To bring all other sects also together he established that worshipping different deities is compatible with Vedas and not contradictory as all Gods so worshipped are but different manifestations of only one Nirguna Brahman. Following this, Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti all got added to the worship by the followers of this sect also.
Adi Shankara established the non-dual interpretation of Upanishads as a touchstone of a revised Smartha tradition by bringing together Advaita and Smartha as a solution to varied and sometimes conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship and practise either of Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, Surya or Ganesha as one's own Isht Devta.
The Sringeri Sharada Monastery founded by Adi Shankaracharya in Karnatka is still the main centre for this tradition.
Under Brahmanism tradition, Supreme reality Brahman transcends all forms of personal deity. God can be taken as Saguna or Nirguna i.e. Sakar or Nirakar. As Saguna, God exhibits qualities such as infinite nature and characteristics such as love, compassion, justice. As Nirguna, God is understood as pure consciousness totally unconnected with matter as experienced by humanity. We will take these matters in detail when we discuss Philosophies.
As regular Puja rituals, the temples made by followers of this tradition, especially during medieval time, one finds all the deities worshipped. The normal arrangement is that principal deity is placed in the centre surrounded by smaller shrines containing residual deities. Going forward to modern times, most temples built follow this very arrangement.
Brahmanism sect also believes in Ashrama system of Hinduism where different sets of rules are prescribed for different stages of human life where a person graduates from Brahmacharya to Grihastha to Vanprastha to Sannyasa depending upon his age, maturity; mental disposition, qualification and spiritual bent. These rules transposed and amended to modern time life style, are still very relevant and guide many seekers to decide their own way forward.
In modern times, Vivekananda and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan are two great teachers and followers of this tradition. Undoubtedly; as a good luck to Hinduism, the enlightened individuals appeared on horizon and took the responsibility of refining and reviving basic Hinduism at regular intervals. They allowed Hinduism to stand strong in facing a long competition from other homegrown religions. These people included ascetics, yogis, religious scholars, priests, teachers, intellectuals, authors, commentators, kings and other influential persons from different walks of social life. They kept the process of making it relevant and pushing the orthodoxy at bay.
Hinduism gained a lot from such individuals. Not being a religion, in the ordinary sense and bound by no creed or dogmas, it assimilated a wide range of thoughts and established a firm foundation upon which it got strength to stand firm for a long time in history. Hinduism is indeed comparable to a Banyan tree where branches return to the ground and become roots and trunks. These roots soon grow into another tree such that eventually you have a forest of banyan trees without being able to know or without being feeling the necessity to know the original roots.
Because of its flexibility and openness for accepting new streams with open arms, Hinduism has been rated as one of the most popular religions attracting whole host of new followers as against most other religions where one gets to follow it more by birth in the family than own personal attitude for the values of the religion. As a result, there are many new sectarian movements with varying success holding the flag of keeping it relevant for our future generations. These are:
The Swamy Narayan Movement
The Radhaswami Movement
The Ramakrishna Mission
The Meher Baba Movement
The Self Realisation Fellowship
The Self Revelation Church of Absolute Monism
The Brahma Kumaris
The Church of Shaiva Siddhanta
The Satya Sai Baba Society
The Muttapan Tevyam
The Ananda Marga
The Transcendental Meditation
The Tantri Spiritualism
The Hare Krishna Movement (ISKCON)
The Echanakar Movement
The Osho Movement
The Krishnamurthy Foundation
The Auroville Movement of Aurobindo and Mother
The Mother Meera Movement
The Sahaj Yoga Movement of Maa Nirmala Devi
The Mata Amritanandamayi Mission
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