Hindus believe that while our mortal body is impermanent, our souls are eternal and after death, we are reborn again and again. This endless cycle of death, birth and rebirth is known as samsara. The ultimate goal of a Hindu is achieving moksha, which is to liberate their eternal souls from samsara by fulfilling their dharma and accumulating good karma. Aboriginals, on the other hand, believe themselves to be interconnected with their community and the nature around them. Thus, every action they take affects everything around them and can weaken or strengthen their relationship with the Great Spirit. “You are free to choose but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.” Unknown.
Even if people don’t believe in religion or spiritual duty, it is widely believed that every action has its own consequence like the butterfly and ripple effects. Moral teachings of Hinduism and Aboriginality are similar as they revolve around the idea that actions have consequences. To begin with, moral teachings of Hinduism. As mentioned before, most Hindus believe in karma which is the past actions on present circumstances. Hindus believe this concept is directly connected to the concept of reincarnation and good karma leads to positive consequences in the future. For example, if you give money to a beggar and help them out then one day someone will also help you when you need it.
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Certain sacred Hindu scriptures teach that following niyamas, which is a code of religious practices, will improve karma. Niyamas include various morals like bri: showing modesty, dana: giving to others, isvara pujana: daily worship, and japa: chanting. Furthermore, Hindus believe all humans are born with certain duties known as dharma. There are four stages of dharma called ashrams. They are brahmacharya - the student life, grihastha - the household life, vanaprastha - the retired life, and sannyasa - the renounced life. Each ashram contains duties specific to gender, caste, and age. Hindu scriptures teach that when one fulfills their dharma, everyone benefits and society thrives when individuals within it fulfill their spiritual duty. Hindus who practice Raja Yoga have 20 central morals or yamas, that refers to one’s daily behaviour.
They include asteya, non-stealing; satya, truthfulness; arjhava, honesty; and daya, compassion. Ahimsa, nonviolence provides the foundation for all the other yamas. Moving on, moral teachings of Aboriginality. Aboriginals believe certain principles must be evident in their lives in order to connect to the Great Spirit. These include: truth - individual perspective and collective perspectives must be the same; honesty - honouring internal answers and fostering relationships; love - based on trust and generosity, must be evident in all relations; courage - following through with appropriate actions; respect - cordiality to all; wisdom - how to apply knowledge properly, the elders are the main keepers of wisdom; and humility - everyone is equal and imperfect. All of these traits must be evident in one’s life. They are like puzzle pieces coming together to form the bigger picture of connecting with the Great Spirit. Additionally, Aboriginals follow various ethics to live as a community. The ethic of non-interference means that no one will ever another Native what to do as it is considered to be rude.
Another commonly practiced ethic is that anger must not be shown. It came from an ancient belief that showing temper would provoke being cursed by shamans or witches. Aboriginals also believe everything is shared. All resources are shared and one should take more than what is necessary as it is considered greedy and wasteful to take more than one’s fair share. This ethic is based on the principle that the survival of the whole community is more important than individual prosperity. This does not mean that if you were to win the lottery, you would distribute the money equally among everyone. It simply means that if you see someone struggling or need something that you have, then you help them out giving and sharing. Attitude to gratitude is another commonly practiced ethic. Since everyone is expected to their job and do it well, people do not show a lot of gratitude in return for service. The last native ethic I’ll talk about is the dependence-independence ethic. It means that one is always expected to be independent and look after themselves and their family.
People are expected to acknowledge advice but do what they think is right. When these ethics are followed as a community then only can the community prosper. They are like the spokes of a wheel, if one spoke does not contribute, the wheel cannot function. Now that you have an understanding of the basic moral teachings of both religions, we are able to see that there are many overlaps and similarities. The Hindu principle of nonviolence, ahimsa, is similar to the Aboriginal ethic of not showing anger. Without anger, we cannot have violence. The moral of honesty and being honest is shared by both religions. The Hindu niyama, dana, giving to others is similar to the Aboriginal ethic that everything is shared. Both religions also expect people to take care and provide for their families. Aboriginals are expected to do this throughout their lives but Hindus are expected to do this during the grihastha stage of their life. Both religions believe their actions will benefit them in the future. In conclusion, Hinduism and Aboriginality have similar moral and ethical teachings however Hindu morals are based on achieving moksha and Aboriginal morals are based on thriving as a community and having a good relationship with the Great Spirit.
Now, something to think about is that there is no significant evidence that proves that good actions have good consequences. We can’t say that your glass window was broken by a baseball because years ago you hit a home run and did the same to someone else. Sometimes things just happen because of coincidence and probability or simply just because. Bad things can still happen to good people. So what do you think, is there such a thing as karma or not? And with that question, I shall take your leave.
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