A monistic religion is one that teaches there is only one universe, one reality, one life, and the rest is illusion—Maya, as Hinduism says. However, though possessing certain qualities of a monistic religion, Hinduism is not entirely monistic. Instead, Hinduism teaches that there are two factions of life, the physical body, and the soul, Atman. Atman is essentially one’s connection with the Universe, and Brahman, the Absolute, and by making psychological sacrifices for the common good, and recognizing the Atman in all things, an individual’s Atman can then be united with Brahman. Even with these teachings of recognizing the divine in all things, and the Atman in everyone being similar to the divine, there are doctrines that separate humans into strict classes. …show more content…
There are passages in the Rig Veda that even imply that the caste system was part of the world’s creation, describing the body part of Purusha, the All, in terms of different castes, Brahmin (priests) being the mouth, Kshatriyas (warriors) being the arms, the Vaisyas (merchants and craftsmen) being the thighs, and the Shrudra (laborers) being Purusha’s feet. The belief was that a soul was reborn several times into appropriate castes until it had achieved the karma to be released and born into the Brahmin, or priestly,