Hinduism

Hope in Hinduism is based on the notion that the world is governed by a spiritual law, karma, and that eventually one attains union with God or Brahman, ultimate reality. Much older than Buddhism, Hinduism is also a cyclical tradition, where samsara, or the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth, is commonly believed. Yoga, or being "yoked" with God, is the means of getting off the wheel of samsara.

A number of Hindu scriptures exist, each offering its own understanding of this complex tradition. The Upanishads, for example, early philosophical statements dating to the ninth century B.C.E., assume the existence of one reality, the impersonal god known as Brahman:

Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman, the limitless One - limitless to the east, limitless to the north. Limitless in every direction.... Incomprehensible is that supreme soul, unlimited, unborn not be reasoned about, unthinkable - He whose soul is space! (cited in Hopfe, 2005, p. 83)

Since all beings are expressions of Brahman, all phenomenal existence is illusion - illusion arising from ignorance of the true nature of reality. Humans possess false knowledge when they believe that this life and their separation from Brahman are real.

In the Hindu tradition there are many ways to be yoked, i.e., multiple paths to God. Swami Vivekananda wrote: "As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different paths which men take through different tendencies various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God" (quoted in Hopfe, 2005, p. 72). Jnana yoga, for example, is for the intellectual, karma yoga is for those who relate to work and physical actions, hatha yoga brings harmony to mind and body, and bhakti yoga is for the devotional type of personality.

As Criswell and Patel explain (2003), yoga signifies the unification or reunification of the self with the Universal Self. It also denotes reunification or integration of the person - mentally, physically, and emotionally. In yoga psychology mind and body are considered to have evolved out of the same primordial energy, prakti.

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Yoga-based psychotherapy enables a person to develop somatically: "The client needs to be able to follow through on the insights, which he or she cannot do if the body's muscles are chronically contracted" (p. 218). Moreover, yoga can help individuals relax and enjoy their lives, to really see, hear, taste, and savor experiences. It is extremely useful for stress management, since many psychological symptoms are intensified by intense and prolonged stress. Hope in Hinduism is found in the belief that one is eventually yoked with a greater consciousness.

In sum, each religious tradition offers a path toward healing and thus towards hope. It must be mentioned, however, that not all religious practices are healing, particularly given certain psychological ailments. Criswell and Patel (2003), for example, caution that yoga can lead some individuals to have dissociative experiences and can encourage withdrawal from the world. Moreover, LoewenthaPs research (2007) suggests that meditation may precipitate manic breakdown in susceptible individuals. Religion can be practiced maladaptively or used as a negative coping mechanism (Pargament, 2001). In the context of religious delusions, individuals may feel less hope. These caveats suggest that hope does not necessarily come easily nor without deep reflection, yet it would seem that hope is integral to a healthy religious world view.

Along these lines, Snyder indicates that among religious individuals higher hope is related to prayer (1994). Prayer is a means of increasing one's mental energy or willpower, potentially through a "recharging" of the mind and body. Meditation also accomplishes this, for in praying or meditating one shuts off the draining processes associated with thinking about daily stressors. To my knowledge, no study to date has examined whether high-hope persons are more religious. Spiritual well-being and hope, however, have been positively related. In a study of nursing students conducted by Carson and Soeken (1988), both trait and state hope were positively correlated to spiritual well-being and its components. Spiritual well-being was defined in terms of four characteristics: a unifying force that serves to integrate physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of health, meaning in life, a common bond between individuals, and individual perceptions or faith permitting the individual to acknowledge the supernatural and to experience pleasure. These characteristics encompass future orientation, goal setting, action taking and interpersonal relationships, leading Carson and Soeken to conclude: "if one is spiritually healthy, one is also hopeful" (p. 161).