They are all one in the same. "All that is"....if you feel the need to follow or
serve one, choose the one that is in your heart. in love, mirabai

if they all the same why the always fighting? iof
theey all the same, why is it that vishu alone can gvie
the booon of moksa<freedom>, if they al the
same why is it that brahma indra nor shiva can give
the boon fo moksa? obviously they are not the same.

they are the same....each is a part of the whole...why dont you go study and
find your own answers? Surely there are texts which address your questions?

Om Arjuna8<br><br>This question has been asked and answered already.<br><br>Om
namah Sivyay<br><br>Omprem

it has well why hav'nt i seen an answer, it seems
the gods battle for supremacy al the time vishnu
braham and shiva, qnd the others how come if they don't
know who is greater how do you, are yousaying you know
more thah brahmna vishnu or shiva?

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said, "Only the
ignorant see Me different from Shiva, Brahma and the Like.
The wise know all to be the same."<br><br>The
following story is that of a Vaishnavite, wherein Vishnu
shows Him that He and Shiva are the same.<br>Once there
lived a staunch devotee of Vishnu. He loved Narayana so
much that He would not accept other Gods as Gods. He
considered all else inferior. <br>One day he set out on a
pilgrimage to visit all the Vishnu temples. (In those days,
they used to travel by a cart or on foot. Since the
travel typically involved a few days, they used to rest
in the village / town en route during the night.
)<br><br>As night fell, he was approaching a village, and
decided to rest in the temple of the village. Pretty
tired after the long days journey he didn't even check
which temple it was, and just spread his bed, and went
to sleep. Then suddenly in the middle of the night
he got up, and he wondered whether he was in a Shiva
temple or a Vishnu temple. He was hoping it would be a
Vishnu temple, as he considered it a sin to even step
inside a Shiva temple. So he fearfully approached the
sanctum sanctorum (garba graha) and felt the statue. It
felt like Shankar ! He was shocked to the core and
immediately lit a lamp to get a glimpse of the statue. When
he lit the lamp, he saw a statue of Narayana ! He
then closed his eyes and felt the statue, it again
felt like Shankar ! When he opened his eyes he saw a
statue of Narayana. He repeatedly did this, and each
time he felt the statue, it felt like Shankar, and
everytime he openend his eyes , he saw a statue of
Narayana. <br><br>He was aghast at his strange experience
and prayed to Narayana. The All Merciful Vishnu then
appeared before him and said, " I did all this only to
show you that Shiva and I are the same. " The devotee
then folded his hands and reverently bowed to Vishnu
and said, "My Lord, I now understand that You and
Shiva are the same."<br><br>This is the basis of the
ShankarNarayana temple in Tamil Nadu. In the sancum santorum, the
main idol is half Shankar and half Narayana thus
pointing out that both Shiva and Vishnu are the
same.<br><br>In Ramayana, Lord Rama prays to Lord Shiva before He
sets out for Lanka. In Shiva Purana, Shiva seeks
Vishnu's help to save Him from Basmasura. All this is only
to show that they represent different aspects of the
Same Entity namely Brahman and hence are the
Same.<br><br>Hence, serve Him to whom your mind gets attuned to the
most. <br><br>Hari Aum !!!

A simple question, no matter how it is posed and
with what purpose, can elicit such a beautiful
responses from our members. That is what makes us such a
beautiful family and even if we tend to be quiet very
often, all are actively participating in sending love.
<br><br>Arjun ! welcome and I'm glad you are participating in
our dialogue. We have a wealth of information,
thoughts and ideas in our archives too. You can access
them by going to our Subject Index as indicated in our
founder's Message, or you can simply call up the message
listing and starting from the beginning scan through the
messages. Many of our members do that and are amazed.
<br><br>Even more importantly, do share with us what your
beliefs are. Books, shastras etc are only a guide. Wars
have been fought over its historical significance. As
one of our members have pointed out earlier, on can
take any book and find quotes, many times out of
context, to suit what one wants to prove. Specially when
we we speak of a set of literature as vast as that
of "Hinduism", on needs to be even more particular
to look at the whole picture and not just one
historical text. <br><br>However, it is how we incorporate
teachings in our daily lives that makes them part of our
sadhna. How does it help one's saadhnaa whether Shiva is
greater than Vishnu or visa versa? <br><br>So what is
your practice? What calls your heart and how has it
affected your life?<br><br>Looking forward to hearing from
you.<br><br>_/\_ Tat twam asi<br><br>Uma