🐍 Advaita Hindus
Only Brahman is ultimately real. The world of separate things is an appearance, like the snake seen in the rope. Avidya is what keeps a person from seeing through it.
Hindu Beliefs about the Universe and Human Beings » Avidya and Maya: Why People Go Wrong in Hinduism
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 1.3 (Hinduism)
- What avidya and maya mean, and why Hindus see them as the roots of wrongdoing
- How greed, anger and attachment grow, and what Hindus mean by sin (papa)
- How Hindus believe these faults can be overcome
- Hindu views on who is responsible for hatred, injustice, violence and war, and whether they are inevitable
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Unlock This CourseAvidya: not knowing who you are
The lesson Why Do People Do Wrong? Selfishness, Greed and Sin set out the general ideas. Hinduism's own answer starts with ignorance, not with sin.
Remember, Hindus believe a person's true self is the eternal atman, and that the body and mind are temporary. Avidya means 'not knowing'. It is not a lack of facts or education. It is ignorance of your own true nature: taking the body and mind to be 'me' and forgetting the atman.
Hindus believe selfishness grows from this mistake. If I am only this body, then what matters most is my comfort, my things and my status. This sense of 'I' and 'mine' is called ahamkara. The Bhagavad Gita (chapter 2) says that the person who lives without the sense of 'I' and 'mine' finds peace.
Key terms:
- Avidya: ignorance of one's true nature as the atman.
- Maya: illusion. Mistaking the changing world for what is ultimately real.
- Ahamkara: ego. The sense of 'I' and 'mine'.
- Dharma: duty and right living. What a person ought to do.
- Papa: sin. An action against dharma.
- Punya: merit. The good result of an action that follows dharma.
Maya: the world is not what it seems
Maya is usually translated as 'illusion'. A traditional picture explains it. At dusk a person sees a coiled rope on the path and takes it for a snake. The fear is real, but there never was a snake. When a lamp is brought, the mistake ends.
In the same way, Hindus believe people look at a world where everything changes and treat it as lasting and all that there is. Money, fame and power seem worth almost anything, so people lie, cheat and hurt others to get them. Maya does not mean the world is simply not there. It means people misread it.
🙏 Many other Hindus
The world is real, because God made it. Maya is God's own power, which hides God from people who are wrapped up in the world. In the Gita (chapter 7) Krishna calls maya his divine power, hard to cross, and says those who turn to him do cross it.
Greed, anger and attachment
In the Gita (chapter 3) the warrior Arjuna asks Krishna what drives a person to do wrong, even against their will. Krishna answers: desire and anger, which come from rajas. Desire hides a person's knowledge as smoke hides a fire and dust covers a mirror. Later (chapter 16) the Gita names three gates to hell: selfish desire, anger and greed.
💰 Greed (lobha)
Wanting more and more. Hindus say it is never satisfied, because no passing thing can satisfy an eternal atman.
😡 Anger (krodha)
What desire turns into when it is blocked. An angry person stops thinking clearly.
🔗 Attachment
Clinging to people and things as 'mine'. It bends a person's sense of what is fair.
The Gita (chapter 2) sets out the steps like a ladder going down. A person dwells on something they want. Attachment grows, then desire, then anger. Anger clouds the mind and ruin follows.
Example: the Mahabharata
The Gita is part of a great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In it, Prince Duryodhana is so greedy and jealous that he refuses to give his cousins, the Pandavas, even as much land as the point of a needle. His blind father, King Dhritarashtra, knows this is wrong but is too attached to his son to stop him. The result is a terrible war.
Sin in Hinduism: papa
Papa is any action that goes against dharma, such as lying, stealing or cruelty. Remember, karma means that actions bring results. Papa brings bad karma and suffering, in this life or a later one. Punya brings good results. How karma works is taught in Karma and Freedom: Hindu Views on Free Will.
For most Hindus, sin does not cut a person off from God for ever:
- The atman stays pure. Wrongdoing covers it, like the dust on the mirror, but cannot spoil it.
- Bad karma is worked through and comes to an end. The hells described in Hindu texts are usually understood as temporary.
- In the Gita (chapter 9) Krishna says that even a person who has done great wrong, and who turns to him with full devotion, should be counted as good and will soon become good.
The Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda told an audience in Chicago in 1893 that it is a sin to call a human being a sinner. Hindus still take papa seriously. Many pray for forgiveness and make amends through fasting, giving or pilgrimage.
Can they be overcome?
Hindus say yes. Avidya is a mistake, and mistakes can be put right.
📚 Knowledge (jnana)
Studying scripture with a teacher removes avidya. The Gita (chapter 4) says knowledge is a boat that carries even the worst sinner across, and a fire that burns karma to ashes.
🧘 Self-discipline
Arjuna says the mind is as hard to control as the wind. Krishna agrees, but says it can be trained by steady practice and by letting go of attachment (Gita chapter 6). Yoga, meditation and fasting are ways to do this.
💖 Devotion (bhakti)
Loving God turns the heart away from 'I' and 'mine'. Many Hindus believe God's grace does what human effort cannot.
🤝 Good company (satsang)
Spending time with good and wise people. Hindus believe people become like those they mix with.
Many Hindus believe this takes many lifetimes. The full teaching comes in Moksha and the Three Margas.
Hatred, injustice, violence and war
Who is responsible? Hindus believe human beings are. Hatred and war come from greed, anger and attachment inside people, and karma means each person answers for their own actions. The Gita (chapter 16) says people can develop godlike qualities, such as truthfulness, or demon-like ones, such as pride and cruelty. Rulers carry extra responsibility, because protecting people and ruling justly is their dharma.
Are they inevitable? Hindus give two answers.
📉 In the world, perhaps
Hindu tradition divides time into four ages. Many Hindus believe we live in the last, the Kali Yuga, an age of quarrel when dharma is at its weakest. While avidya lasts, conflict will keep returning.
📈 In each person, no
Anyone can overcome greed and hatred, so nobody is forced to add to them. Ahimsa asks Hindus to avoid harm. Mohandas Gandhi, a Hindu, led non-violent protests against British rule in India.
Common mistakes
Do not write that maya means the world does not exist. It means people mistake what changes for what is ultimately real. Do not describe avidya as being uneducated. And do not say Hindus believe sin separates a person from God for ever. Papa brings bad karma, which comes to an end.
Exam-style question
Paper 1 style. (a) and (b) test AO1; (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three ways in which some people believe ignorance can be overcome. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about sin in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why followers of this religion believe that ignorance leads people to do wrong. [6 marks]
(d) 'Human greed can never be overcome.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Education (1). 2. Studying holy books (1). 3. Meditation (1).
(b) Hinduism. Hindus teach that sin, or papa, is an action against dharma (1), which means it brings bad karma and suffering in this life or a later one (1). Hindus teach that sin does not separate a person from God for ever (1), because the atman stays pure and Krishna says in the Gita that a wrongdoer who turns to him will become good (1).
(c) Hinduism. Hindus believe the root of wrongdoing is avidya, ignorance of one's true nature. A person forgets the atman and thinks they are only the body and mind. This builds ahamkara, the sense of 'I' and 'mine', so they act selfishly.
Avidya also leaves people caught in maya, or illusion. They mistake passing things such as money and power for what is ultimately real. This means they are willing to lie or cheat to get them.
Finally, the Gita teaches that dwelling on what you want leads to attachment, desire and then anger, which clouds the mind. So for Hindus, greed and anger are the results of ignorance, and removing ignorance is the cure.
(d) Plan. For: the Gita says the mind is as hard to control as the wind; greed is never satisfied; many Hindus believe this is the Kali Yuga, when dharma is weakest; some non-religious people say greed is part of human nature.
Against: Hindus believe greed comes from avidya, a mistake that knowledge can remove; the Gita says the mind can be trained by practice and letting go of attachment; devotion and satsang change people; humanists say education and fair laws hold greed in check.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, then pick a side. For example: I disagree. Greed may never vanish from the whole world, but Hindus show that a person can overcome it, so 'never' is too strong.
Exam tip
In part (c), do not just list avidya and maya with their meanings. The question asks why ignorance leads to wrongdoing, so show the chain: forgetting the atman, then 'I' and 'mine', then greed and anger, then wrong action.