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"In Hinduism, there are both a relatively large number and a wide array of types of people considered holy. Such people are deemed to be spiritually advanced, having reached the highest levels of spiritual realization, and to have the power to guide others toward that realization. They are thus treated with respect and reverence. A person can be transformed merely by being in their presence through the experience of darshan (both seeing and being seen by a holy person), even as a person can be transformed by being in the presence of deity. Such holy people may be seen to have accrued spiritual power through the practice of meditation, moral purity, devotion, and/or asceticism. They may even be considered incarnations of the Transcendent, conceived in personal terms, or of some earlier holy person who has again taken birth. There is no central authority in Hinduism that would validate the status of such holy people; rather, they are deemed holy by the consensus of communities and individuals who encounter them and experience them as such."
ISBN
9781576073551
Publication Date
12-15-2004
Publisher
ABC-CLIO
City
Santa Barbara, CA
Disciplines
Hindu Studies | History of Religions of Eastern Origins
Recommended Citation
Martin, Nancy M. “Hinduism and Holy People.” In Holy People of the World: An Encyclopedia, edited by Phyllis G. Jestice, 367-371. Santa Barbara: ABC CLIO, 2004.
Copyright
Phyllis G. Jestice (The editor)
Comments
In Phyllis G. Jestice (Ed.), Holy People of the World: An Encyclopedi