Hindu Denominations

Denominations are also called Sampradayas.

Based on Schools of thought

Schools of thought are also called Darshanas.

Orthodox

• Samkhya
  • Dualism
    • Purusa is part of Prakriti
    • Purusa is bound to Prakriti by Jiva
    • Moksha is how the soul is liberated
  • Unmanifest, Prakriti is inactive.
    • It is a balance of three gunas
      • Sattva – poise, fineness, lightness, illumination, and joy
      • Rajas – dynamism, activity, excitation, and pain
      • Tamas – inertia, coarseness, heaviness, obstruction, and sloth
  • Arguments against god by Samkhya philosophers
    • If the existence of karma is assumed, the proposition of God as a moral governor of the universe is unnecessary. For, if God enforces the consequences of actions then he can do so without karma. If however, he is assumed to be within the law of karma, then karma itself would be the giver of consequences and there would be no need of a God.
    • Even if karma is denied, God still cannot be the enforcer of consequences. Because the motives of an enforcer God would be either egoistic or altruistic. Now, God's motives cannot be assumed to be altruistic because an altruistic God would not create a world so full of suffering. If his motives are assumed to be egoistic, then God must be thought to have desire, as agency or authority cannot be established in the absence of desire. However, assuming that God has desire would contradict God's eternal freedom which necessitates no compulsion in actions. Moreover, desire, according to Samkhya, is an attribute of prakṛti and cannot be thought to grow in God. The testimony of the Vedas, according to Samkhya, also confirms this notion.
    • Despite arguments to the contrary, if God is still assumed to contain unfulfilled desires, this would cause him to suffer pain and other similar human experiences. Such a worldly God would be no better than Samkhya's notion of higher self.
    • Furthermore, there is no proof of the existence of God. He is not the object of perception, there exists no general proposition that can prove him by inference and the testimony of the Vedas speak of prakṛti as the origin of the world, not God.
  • Therefore, Samkhya maintained that the various cosmological, ontological and teleological arguments could not prove God.
• Yoga
  • It is based on the Samkhya school of thought
  • It derives onotology and epistemology from Samkhya, but adds the concept of Ishvara (god)
  • Books
    • It is mainly based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
    • It was also influenced by books such as Yoga Vasishta and Bhagavad Gita
• Nyaya
  • Nyaya school's epistemology accepts four out of six Pramanas as reliable means of gaining knowledge – Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference), Upamāṇa (comparison and analogy) and Śabda (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts).
  • It states that suffering is caused by bad understandings and ignorance
  • Liberation can be achieved with right understanding
• Vaisheshika
  • Naturalism
  • It postulated that everything is made of atoms
• Mimamsa / Purva Mimamsa
  • It focuses on the early parts of the Vedas
• Vedanta / Uttara Mimamsa
  • It focuses on the later parts of the Vedas
  • It is like the opposite of Samkhya school of thought
    • It sees the world as a manifestation of Brahman
  • Types
    • Bhedabheda Vedanta (difference and non-difference)
    • Dvaitādvaita Vedanta
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
      • Akshar-Purushottam Darshan
    • Dvaita Vedanta
    • Shuddhādvaita Vedanta
    • Achintya-Bheda-Abheda Vedanta

Unorthodox

• Buddhism
• Jainism
• Charvaka
• Ājīvika
• Ajñana

Based on Deities

Hinduism is subdivided into a number of major sampradayas. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent.

Classified by primary deity or deities, four major types of Hinduism include Vishnu Worshippers, Shiva Worshippers, Adiparashakti Worshippers and Smartas (five deities treated as same).

These deity-centered denominations feature a synthesis of various philosophies such as Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta, as well as shared spiritual concepts such as moksha, dharma, karma, samsara, ethical precepts such as ahimsa, texts (Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Agamas), ritual grammar and rites of passage.

Other Classic

• Shrautism
  • Shrauta communities are very rare in India, the most well known being the ultra-orthodox Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala. They follow the "Purva-Mimamsa" (earlier portion of Vedas) in contrast to Vedanta followed by other Brahmins. They place importance on the performance of Vedic Sacrifice (Yajna). The Nambudiri Brahmins are famous for their preservation of the ancient Somayaagam, Agnicayana rituals which have vanished in other parts of India.
• Suryaism / Saurism

Modern

• Ganapati Worship
• Reformist
  • Adi Dharm / Brahmoism
    • Brahmo Samaj
    • Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
  • Ananda Marga
  • Arya Samaj
    • Reform by Dayananda Saraswati
    • Focus on Vedas
    • Against untouchability
    • Equal rights for women
  • Ayyavazhi
    • Teachings of Ayya Vaikundar, in Kerala
    • Says in Kali Yuga, all scriptures were corrupted
    • No Idol Worship
    • No Priests
  • Brahma Kumaris
  • Chinmaya Mission
  • Divine Life Society
  • Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math
  • Ravidas Panth
    • Satnampanth
  • Shri Ram Chandra Mission
  • Sri Aurobindo Ashram
• Sat Panth
  • Dadu Panth (Part of the Sant Mat)
  • Kabir Panth (Part of the Sant Mat)
  • Pranami Sampraday
  • Sathya Sai sampradaya
• Yoga and meditation based
  • Art of Living
  • Isha Foundation
  • Himalayan Yoga and Philosophy
  • Prarthana Samaj
  • Sahaj Panth (Buddhist and Hindu)
    • Sahaja Yoga
  • Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga
  • Swadhyay Parivar
  • Transcendental Meditation
• Others
  • Hanuman Foundation
  • Hindutva
  • Inchegeri Sampradaya
  • Kapadi Sampradaya
  • Mahima Dharma
  • Matua Mahasangha
  • Nath Panth
  • Ramsnehi Sampradaya
  • Varkari Panth (Hindu)

Notes

Sampradaya in Indian origin religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, can be translated as 'tradition', 'spiritual lineage', 'sect', or 'religious system'.

To ensure continuity and transmission of dharma, various sampradayas have the Guru-shishya parampara in which parampara or lineage of successive gurus (masters) and shishyas (disciples) serves as a spiritual channel and provides a reliable network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity.

Shramana is vedic term for seeker or shishya. Identification with and followership of sampradayas is not static, as sampradayas allows flexibility where one can leave one sampradaya and enter another or practice religious syncretism by simultaneously following more than one sampradaya.

Samparda is a punjabi language term, used in Sikhism, for sampradayas.

Guru-shishya parampara

Sampradayas are living traditions of both teaching and practice within a specific religious-spiritual tradition. They are generally composed of a monastic order within a specific guru lineage, with ideas developed and transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. A particular guru lineage is called parampara. By receiving diksha (initiation) into the parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya.

To ensure continuity through dharma transmission, various smapardayas ensure continuity through Guru-shishya parampara where Guru teaches shishyas in gurukula, matha, akhara, and viharas. Buddhism also has lineage of gurus. Tibetan Buddhism has lineage of Lamas who teach in gompas and stupas.

Continuity of sampradaya

See also: Guru gotra and Gurunath

Sampradaya is a body of practice, views and attitudes, which are transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. Participation in sampradaya forces continuity with the past, or tradition, but at the same time provides a platform for change from within the community of practitioners of this particular traditional group.

Diksha: Initiation into sampradaya

A particular guru lineage in guru-shishya tradition is called parampara, and may have its own akharas and gurukulas. By receiving diksha (initiation) into the parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya.

One cannot become a member by birth, as is the case with gotra, a seminal, or hereditary, dynasty.

Authority on knowledge of truth

Membership in a sampradaya not only lends a level of authority to one's claims on truth in Hindu traditional context, but also allows one to make those claims in the first place. An often quoted verse from the Padma Purana states:

Mantras which are not received in sampradaya are considered fruitless.

And another verse states:

Unless one is initiated by a bona-fide spiritual master in the disciplic succession, the mantra he might have received is without any effect.

As Wright and Wright put it,

If one cannot prove natal legitimacy, one may be cast out as a bastard. The same social standard applies to religious organizations. If a religious group cannot prove its descent from one of the recognised traditions, it risks being dismissed as illegitimate.

Nevertheless, there are also examples of teachers who were not initiated into a sampradaya, Ramana Maharshi being a well-known example.

A sannyasin belonging to the Sringeri Sharada Peetham once tried to persuade Ramana to be initiated into sannyasa, but Ramana refused.