m.vivek madabushi

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">OM</st1:place> NAMO NARAYANAYA Now iam going to reveal the truth about LORD NARAYANA A poet devotee seeks to establish that his Ishta(chosen ideal )MAHAVISHNU is the supreme being(paramporul) and that siva and other gods are only his emanations.He marshals many arguments based on puranas and mantra sastra for this and finally to clinch his argument,he quotes the authority of a non-sectarian philosophers like Sankaracharya, who accepted the superiority of MAHAVISHNU by writing a commentry on VISHNU SAHASRANAMA in preference to sahasranama of siva and other gods. The most interesting part of the argument is the reply with which he forestalls the possible objection that VEDA VYASA,who is traditionally accepted as the author of all the puranas,depicts VISHNU as inferior to SIVA in SKANDA PURANA AND SIVA PURANA and describes siva as the supreme being such as ARUNACHALA,NATARAJA,PARAMPORUL ETC.He contends that these arguments are only to be taken as ARTHAVADAS or EUOLOGIES with a contrary meaning or VIRUDDHA- VADA, that is,when siva is praised or glorified,it is only to show indirectly the glory of vishnu whose aspect siva is.These scriptures which describes siva as the SUPREME BEING OR PARAMPORUL are meant only for the votaries of siva who have to obtain their salvations(MOKSHAM) through the faith in siva,so the faith in siva is to be strengthened and made unswerving, and for this HIS exaltation over all other gods like VISHNU is necessary. In other words the one redeeming power,whom saivas worship as SIVA is really vishnu only and therefore all the praises bestowed on SIVA through down-grading vishnu,are really the indirect praises of MAHA-VISHNU This argument gives the clue to the real meaning of sectarian theologies that have come under the influence of the vedantic thought.The VEDANTA maintains that the one SUPREME BEING(MAHA-VISHNU) approaches a votary in whatever form the votary conceives HIM and so every one of those forms can be called the SUPREME BEING himself.For those who can appreciate this liberal position,every sectarian theology is alike.But many people cannot distinguish the metaphysical 'ALL COMPREHENDING ONE' from the mathematical one,which is only the one distinguished from every other.So they raise the slogan that there is no god but god(meaning their deity) and look down upon all religionists other than theirs as worshipping a false god.Such exclusiveness is needed to strengthen faith at a certain stage of man's development,but if he is not acquainted with the broad vedantic view,there is a grave danger of faith degenerating into fanaticism.A faith,eventhough exclusive,is valid and healthy only to the extent it recognises the propriety and validity of another man's right to have his own faith,and it is doubtful whether this kind of healthy faith can be achieved without apprehending the vedantic idea of spiritual truth as the 'ALL COMPREHENDING ONE' in contrast to the mathematical truth as the exclusive one.

the rigveda mantra says that when the milky ocean was churned it was vishnu who actually drank the poison making siva a mere vessele for holding the poison. kesu vishashya patrena yat redrena pibata sah. thus it was not siva but vishnu who actually drank the poison.