Identificatory Habitus In Hinduism

In his book, Michaels coins the term “identificatory habitus” and describes it as the force that unites Hindus and their religions together as well as the power that protects them from foreign influences (5). As the word “habitus” indicate, Michaels examines Hindus’ “culturally acquired lifestyles and attitudes, habits and predispositions, as well as conscious, deliberate acts or mythological, theological, or philosophical artifacts and mental productions (7).” The identificatory habitus that Michaels finds from his investigation, though subjective, are the common characteristics of different forms of Hinduism; as a result, they not only denote the essence of Hinduism but also mark a clear line between Hinduism and religions from the Western

Under the unifying name of Hinduism, there are various Hindu denominations (such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism) and Hindu philosophies (such as Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta). As different as each religious groups are in the two categories, they are of equal standing with each other and thus they never come across any force to unify or the hope to dominate the rest. A better way to explain this is with Michael’s words: “[T]he individual cults, sects, philosophies, and theistic systems are not different religions […] but rather cognitive systems or socioreligious institutions of a society that has reached an understanding in principle about the interchangeability and identity of the systems of belief (19).” Similarly, on a bigger scale, Hinduism manage to coexist with Buddhism, Tantrism, Islam and many other religions due to their idea of equality: everything is of a basic unity and thus everything is equal (8). Hinduism’s lack of clarity in its religious identity (that meaning not to differentiate itself from other religions by building visible boundaries and rules) is exactly a result of such principle; and this principle of equality provides a basic manifestation of the identicatory habitus that Michaels promotes (8).

Along because “the eternal and immortal may not be dependent on anything,” both men and gods are contained in the circle of reincarnation (209). Immortality, or salvation, denotes simultaneously the release from such a circle, the freeing from the realms of earthly and divine beings, and the liberation from reincarnation (209). More importantly, death is not a pre-requisite for the liberation from the world in Hinduism, nor is it the liberation itself; it is only when one identifies his real self with the universe that he is released from everything, from aging and dying, from “becoming and passing away (263).” As it can be seen, the freedom of the individual on earth is the prime concern associated with his