Yogkriya

Who are you you anyway? Hare Krishna? A Hindu is a Hindu. Who are the western Hindus?

aah... yes the Smartas.... These are the major ones, besides a lot more different branches and schools of thought. If we take up only Tantra, there are so many different branches too.... The topic is endless ..... can we just write millions of years of evolution in just a few lines? Hardly....!! But yes, we can write that in one word - Hinduism.

Hinduism pertains to the ageless Vedic Sanatana Dharma as was practiced by the Aryans of India (arya = noble person, race). Ater the muslim invasion of India about 1000 years ago, this ancient spiritual culture of Sanatana Dharma gained popularity as 'Hinduism' after the Indus valley where it has been primararily practiced. The Vedas do not write the religion as Hindu, but Hinduism represents it in its entiriy and not just one stream. The Vedic culture also contains the peronal as well as impersonal lines of Philosophy. The Islamic philosophy can be said to be impersonal as they don't believe in a personification of God and don't believe in having images of God like in Hindu Temples. There are also different lines of thoughts and philosophy. But in a nut shell Hinduism represents a culture that has been alive and practiced for about over 50,000 years. But in fact this spiritual culture is millions of years old. The various "avatars" or personifications of God are also worshipped. And there are basically two kinds of spiritual practices 'sakam' and 'nishkam'. the first one, is done to obtain material or spiritual gains, and the second one is done for just pleasing the God and obtaining liberation. Love, devotion, Truth, justice, non-violence, brotherhood and courage are the main pillars that help the spiritual life of a Hindu. Of course, in this age of Kali-yuga, not everyone is truthful. And this is true for every religion, race or country. But these are the general principles that do not really differ much from other world religions and Hindus try to follow this religiously and logically without fanatism. But Hinduism is much much deeper and ancient with the Vedic knowledge touching every aspect of human material and spiritual life and its growth. And these also included ellaborate scintific works carried out by the ancient rishis on various subjects of importance, from astronomy, astrology, alchemy, biology, Kayakalpa, surgery (including plastic surgery), medicine, advanced warfare, samudriik Vigyan, telepathy and so on. And the Hindu scriptures are still being studied by numerous research departments in major universities world over. Where Space travel and highly advanced warfare weaponary and streams like spiritual healing sciences were there, highly complex and well developed forms of art, music, dance, culinary and culture were also part of ancient Hindu life. Many of the works accomplished by the ancient yogies are still to be understood and rediscovered by modern day scinetists. And a person can uplift himself towards the divine following this tradition and spiritual way of life. It is the way to bring soul to supersoul. To bring human conscious to divine conscious. May you call it Krishna Consciousness or Shiva Consciousness. Christians call it the Christ consciousness. Since Hinduism has many different lines of philosophies and ways to spiritual upliftement, each time some prophet or saint comes following one school of thought only, his followers later on, at times, start drifting away form the mainstream Hinduism that is liberal and more flexible. Such break away sects then try to accentuate their individuality by claiming that they are non-Hindus or Hinduism is not what they practice. Iskcon is an example of this. But in fact the devotion or bhakti we practice is the same and the principles are the same in their essence. Hinduism, Islam, Christianinty all prophesise devotion to God in their own way. Though there can be volumes after volumes written on the subject, I recommend also reading the lives of important ancient rishies or sages, and the avataras of God. Shiva worship has been major in ancient Vedic culture, whether we see the Satyuga, Dwapar or Treta Yuga. Along with that Vishu and Durga worships have also been important through the centuries. Hinduism chiefly has three important streams - Shivaism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. Each emanating from their respective forms of the divine, namely Shaivs follow Shiva as the Supreme God, Vaishnavs follow Vishnu (and his avatars Rama, Krishna), and Shakts follow Durga and her different expansions. All the avatars have their premordial energies that control various aspects of nature or prakriti governing the universe and life. The worship traditions have been following through from one generation to another down the ages. The soul is considered to be immortal and changes bodies from one birth to another according to its karmic bondage. Hindus believe in rebirth and re-incarnation. After the demise of the material body, the five elements return back to their individual sources. And the soul continues its spiritual journey. Law of Karma binds the living soul to mundane material existence and is important to understand it. What goes around - comes around concept is well understood and followed even by illitrate Hindus in villages. By spiritual practice, one can uplift oneself with the divine mercy and if the soul gets liberation, it is freed from this circle of birth and death, which is mainly the aim of all spiritual practices and devotion. Shiva Gita, Bhagwad Geeta and Shiva Samhita explain these beautifully. There are four Vedas and 108 Upanishads, besides numerous, bhashyas, Puranas, and commentaries written over the centuries by enlightened seers of India. Whether it is the Vaishnava or Shaiva way of pure devotion, mantric ways of tantra or Yogic ways of chakras, kundalini and pranayama, all are considered important and devotees practice them according to their inclinations, level and aim. I just explained a very cursory and brief information. This can get more technical and deeper, if needed. But in a nut shell. This is it. Also, Please refer to real Hindu sites and not the ones who "pretend" to be Hindu sites. You can also refer to: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/ Om Namah Shivaya !!

Hope that helped.

Hinduism pertains to the ageless Vedic Sanatana Dharma as was practiced by the Aryans of India (arya = noble person, race). Ater the muslim invasion of India about 1000 years ago, this ancient spiritual culture of Sanatana Dharma gained popularity as 'Hinduism' after the Indus valley where it has been primararily practiced. The Vedas do not write the religion as Hindu, but Hinduism represents it in its entiriy and not just one stream. The Vedic culture also contains the peronal as well as impersonal lines of Philosophy. The Islamic philosophy can be said to be impersonal as they don't believe in a personification of God and don't believe in having images of God like in Hindu Temples. There are also different lines of thoughts and philosophy. But in a nut shell Hinduism represents a culture that has been alive and practiced for about over 50,000 years. The various "avatars" or personifications of God are also worshipped. And there are basically two kinds of spiritual practices 'sakam' and 'nishkam'. the first one, is done to obtain material or spiritual gains, and the second one is done for just pleasing the God and obtaining liberation. Love, devotion, Truth, justice, non-violence, brotherhood and courage are the main pillars that help the spiritual life of a Hindu. Of course, in this age of Kali-yuga, not everyone is truthful. And this is true for every religion, race or country. But these are the general principles that do not really differ much from other world religions and Hindus try to follow this religiously and logically without fanatism. But Hinduism is much much deeper and ancient with the Vedic knowledge touching every aspect of human material and spiritual life and its growth. And a person can uplift himself towards the divine following this tradition and spiritual way of life. It is the way to bring soul to supersoul. To bring human coscsious to divine conscious. May you cal it Krishna Consciousness or Shiva Consciousness. Christians call it the Christ consciousness. Since Hinduism has many different lines of philosophies and ways to spiritual upliftement, each time some prophet or saint comes following one school of thought only, his followers later on, at times, start drifting away form the mainstream Hinduism that is liberal and more flexible. Such break away sects then try to accentuate their individuality by claiming that they are non-Hindus or Hinduism is not what they practice. Iskcon is an example of this. But in fact the devotion or bhakti we practice is the same and the principles are the same in their essence. Hinduism, Islam, Christianinty all prophesise devotion to God in their own way. Though there can be volumes after volumes written on the subject, I recommend also reading the lives of important ancient rishies or sages, and the avataras of God. Shiva worship has been major in ancient Vedic culture, whether we see the Satyuga, Dwapar or Treta Yuga. Along with that Vishu and Durga worships have also been important through the centuries. Hinduism chiefly has three important streams - Shivaism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. Each emanating from their respective forms of the divine, namely Shaivs follow Shiva as the Supreme God, Vaishnavs follow Vishnu (and his avatars Rama, Krishna), and Shakts follow Durga and her different expansions. All the avatars have their premordial energies that control various aspects of nature or prakriti governing the universe and life. The worship traditions have been following through from one generation to another down the ages. The soul is considered to be immortal and changes bodies from one birth to another according to its karmic bondage. Hindus believe in rebirth and re-incarnation. After the demise of the material body, the five elements return back to their individual sources. And the soul continues its spiritual journey. By spiritual practice, one can uplift oneself with the divine mercy and if the soul gets liberation, it is freed from this circle of birth and death, which is mainly the aim of all spiritual practices and devotion. Shiva Gita, Bhagwad Geeta and Shiva Samhita explain these beautifully. There are four Vedas and 108 Upanishads, besides numerous, bhashyas, Puranas, and commentaries written over the centuries by enlightened seers of India. Whether it is the Vaishnava or Shaiva way of pure devotion, mantric ways of tantra or Yogic ways of chakras, kundalini and pranayama, all are considered important and devotees practice them according to their inclinations, level and aim. I just explained a very cursory and brief information. This can get more technical and deeper, if needed. But in a nut shell. This is it. Also, Please refer to real Hindu sites and not the ones who "pretend" to be Hindu sites. You can also refer to: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/ Thank you. Om Namah Shivaya !!

Dear spiritual brothers/sisters, Please accept my respects and obeisance!! Spiritual = nonmaterial, incorporeal, intangible; inner, mental, psychological; transcendent, ethereal, otherworldly, mystic, mystical, metaphysical; rare extramundane. antonym physical. What exactly is meant by Krishna having a so called "spiritual" body? The term in itself is confusing and non-scientific. What is a spiritual body?? Spiritual is what is made of spirit. A material 'body' is made up of gross / partially gross matter - consisting of the five elements, in a more or less set ration/configuration and combination of these elements, to start with. The bodies of devas / demi-Gods, ethreal beings, are made up of three elements. But Krishna took avatara. He came down to the material existence / plane for our benefit. And he says this in B.G. - " I come to establish righteousness (dharma). And he came in a material body. He was concepted and born in a natural way as humans do - through the womb of his mother - Devaki. And did grow up as people do with normal material body made up of five elements. But what set him apart in this human form was his Godliness inside the material body. At times he would choose override the material nature of his body, somethng that is termed as a miracle. Something that is not comprehensible and possible for a common person. The body remained the same. So it is not about the body, but the spirit. This is important. I hear some Iskcon devotees say, that it is a huge 'aparadha' (offence) to even think that Krishna had a "material body". Well, this is a devotional aspect of understanding!! But not the yogic scientific way. If you simply say it was a spiritual body, then this spiritual body term is a very vague one. It can also mean non-visible or nothing in material terms. This term is used to evoke reverence and devotion. But in Vedic terms it is not clear. If you say spiritual body, then you have to describe why and how. The spirit inside the body is "spiritual". Then there is the astral, causal and ethreal bodies inside the gross physical body. Various 'Pranas' ('lifetronic' energy currents) connect these different bodies in the grosser physical one. So if you simply say that Krishna had a spiritual body, then it explains nothing. The Vedic way of understanding takes viveka (logic), Kriya (the right action) and bhakti (devotional love) together. The world of feelings can go any distance. One of my good American friends, who is also a direct Prabhupada (SPP) disciple, related an interesting incident that happened in front of his eyes in the U.S. back then. Once Prabhuapada snorted and spit out some mucous to clear his throat (or maybe nose?). The devotees walking along immediately rushed to collect it from the ground and wanted to divide it amongst themselves as prasad.. ! Prabhupada upon seeing this got really angry scolded them, and told them not to be so fanatical, but also use "viveka". So this is the state of devotion. Also as SPP related that the gopies were not qualified village women, but had immense love and devotion for Krishna, hence were able to have his mercy. This is the way to go. But it is important to understand the spiritual life with "viveka" and not just feelings alone. Devotion is important, and so is "viveka" or the knowledge to recognize and cleverly understand real from non real objective of devotion. And if the devotee also uses Vedic yogic way of realization along with his devotion, then his progress gains more momentum. Avatar: The meaning of avatar is to transgress, to come down. When the higher spiritual intelligence comes down to the human level it takes that material body. But the difference is that due to its complete control over matter, it can also transgress the material nature of its bodily atoms. It has the power to override the bodily limitations. The body is very much "material". A yogi adept in the 'ashta siddhis' can also transcendent over his body's material nature. He can also dissolve his material body into a body of light or create another body using the five elements in another place that may look exactly like the first one and do all the normal things with it. This will be an exact replica of the original material body in every way. That is a matter of "Vayaviya siddhi" or "Vayaviya viddhya". Yogis like Baba Lal (year- 1600) and Pranabananda (1890) have done just that in the past. The principle is that the subtle spiritual energy or prakriti can control the gross material nature. This is the principle. The grosser material body will decay as it is influenced by the material nature. An avatara or a highly elevated yogi can choose to let it be under that influence or not. As far as Krishna is concerned, He satified the laws of nature too. He could keep his body after the arrow pierced it. But decided not to. His mission for his avatara was accomplished. And he dissolved his bodiy atoms at his divine will. His body was not cremated. He simply disintegrated and dissolved his bodily atoms. Just a few centuries ago, the well known saint and yogi Kabir did that too! When the fighting Hindus and Muslims came to take the remenants of his body, all they found were flowers in place of his body. Hope I was able to explain a point with my limited understanding. Om Namah Shivaya.

Dr. hia!! Is that you ?? lol!

Om Namah Bhagawate Vasudevaya! Infact, this satvic and tamasic purana categories have been heard in gaudiya sampradaya only. I never heard of this anywhere else. For example, what exactly makes the Shiva Mahapurana a tamasic purana?? Because Shiva is considered as tamasic by some ill-informed people? Because he is the destroyer of the Universe? But then he is the sustainer and creator too. He himself says this to Rama and Rama confirms it. And Krishna and Rama are both Vishnu avatars. Yes Vishnu had ten avataras and Krishna was the one in Dwapar Yuga. Of course he is the Bhagwan period. Wouldn't want to argue on that. So, If the aim of human life is to attain only the satvic guna, then why did Ved Vyas waste his time writing the tamasic puranas? Of course one can argue that no this was for people of lower understanding. But that is not so. These puranas and Upanishads contain the knowledge of the highest order and are the Vedas and by no means a chandal or lower tamasic person can understand it. So this categorization is mostly biased and frequently used as a lame excuse for a particular sampradaya to boost the scriptures in line with their own pholosophy. In fact the worship of Lord Shiva has been considered the vedic norm. And Lord Krishna and Rama have fulfiled that norm too. Whether it is Rama or Ravana, Krishna or Arjuna, Janak or Dasharatha, Vashishtha or Vishwamitra, Kunti or gandhari, all worshiped Lord Sadashiva. The references and quotations can be thousands. But where is the realization is the question. A guru may quote any number of books, but if he has no realization, then he is not a guru but just a 'panda', pathi / kathakar or an academician. Today thousands of these pandas in Mathura and Kashi can speak elaborately quoting sanskrit verses from books. But have they attained the Lord's darshan or have a siddhi is another issue. It is all theory. This is not the vedic mantra or yog practice. This practice is the result of bhakti kaal of last 700 or so years. As to who should be worshiped, I would say worshipping Shiva or Krishna can never be wrong. It is a matter of individual intimacy and attachment that also happens due to past birth attachment to a particular form of the divine. Not all people have equal level. Some devotees may find it hard to practice pranayama and yogic and mantra sadhna as was done in the Vedic times. Other may find just beating symbols as a waste of time. It depends. But both Lord Shiva and Krishna can liberate a sadhaka from the cycle of rebirth and death. It all depends what is one's level. And finally though it may depend on the mercy of the Lord, a sadhaka / devotee still has to earn that mercy. No Guru would come and chant your rounds for you. You will have to do it. No matter how many books one reads. And just having emotions alone is not enough either. Om Namah Shivaya.

Any one who does some action or karma is a karmi ! If the karma is done in the name of God, is it not a karma? It is still an action, with whatever intention it is done. So who is a karmi then? Surely if a person in KC or otherwise spiritual consciousness does some karma, his karma will evoke a reaction. Nobody's free of maya as everyone is governed by the laws of karma and nature. everyone's body gets old and everyone falls sick. It is a different thing that the 'karmi' word has become a term being used in a particular way, but karma is action and no one us free of an action, good or bad. So everyone is a karmi in a broader sense of the word! So what's the use of using this term at all?

:-) No of course just staying awake is not what shivratri is all about. Just like Shri Krishna Janamashtami, the birth day of Krishna avatar, is not all about eating stomach full of prasad!! Yes the Shivratri Celebration is celebrated with chants from the sam Veda and other mantras including the Panchakshari mahamantra and Mahamrityunjaya Mantra. But you could have done it as per your capabilities. And taken any sadhna associate with Lord Sadashiva. This is indeed a very special day that any sadhak, serious about his spiritual growth and seeking benediction from the Lord should not miss. Lord Shiva grants his bhakta all the spiritual and material progress in life and after life. He is the beginning and the end, and the one without any beginning or end. He is the Adi-Dev and the Mahadev! He is the Mahakaal!! Some people mistakenly think that this is the birthday of Lord shiva, which is not true. This the day when Shiva got married to Parvati and also the first fire linga appeared before Brahma and Vishnu before the creation. Jai Mahakal!!

Om Namah Shivaya!!!

All glories to the Lord Krisna! Jai Baba Lal! Hari Bol Prabhu!!

Dear Bhakta, You can offer water and milk abhisheka on the Shiva Lingam or mentally on the Shiva image and offer Bilva patra, bilva fruit, flowers, sandal paste, bhasma and chant Om namah Shivaya - the adi Maha Mantra that was chanted by Lord Rama Chandra and Krishna too. This mantra was also chanted by the great Rishi Vashishtha - the kul Guru or family Guru of Lord Ramachandra and Queen Kunti and numerous others. Shiva worship has been a prominent part of vedic culture at all times and there has been the tradition of Shiva worship everytime. Even Lord Shri Krishna asked the great yogi warrior and devotee Arjuna to go and perform penance and sadhna and worship Lord Shiva if he wants success in life. When he was about to finish his penance, Lord Shiva appeared as Kirat - in the form of a hunter to test him and when pleased, he granted him his divine Pashupatastra, without which his victory in the battle field would have been impossible. Lord Shiva also grants 5 kinds of mukti or liberation from the bondages of material earthly existence. He well explains this to Lord Rama and the later accepts and confirms this for the benefit of mankind. Infact, Lord Shiva can grant all kinds of material and spiritual blessings to a devotee. If you decide to worship him then you don't have to listen to anyone evoking doubts in your mind! Can it do you any harm if Lord Rama and Krishna themselves worshiped him?? 26th February is Mahashivratri and anyone worshiping all night Lord Shiva gets immeasurable benediction and blessings from him! I hope you can avail this opportunity and perform sadhna of Om Namah Shivaya Mahamantra or shri MahaMrityunjaya Mantra. Om Namah Shivaya!!

om namah Sivaya Yuriy and Dobryi Den! It is true indeed that Lord Shiva answers sincre prayers quickly, because he is quickly pleased and this is why he is called the Bhole Nath - one who is simple hearted and easily pleased. Even if a littkle water and flowers are offered to him with devotion are accepted and he gives his blessings that have no bounds. There is a common misinterpretation amongst some other devotees that Shiva is Tamogunic or in the mode of ignorance. This is not true and very wrong. Shiva is the controller of all the three gunas and above all teh three gunas of material nature. The trident or trishul he carries symbolizes that he controls all the three gunas and is not affected by them. To understand more about Lord Shiva, Bhagwat Puran is not the best source. You should read the Shiva Mahapurana, The Shiva Geeta and Shiva Samhita! Shiva Geeta comes in the Padma Purana (also written by Vyasdeva) and is a discourse given by Lord Shiva to his devotee Ramachandra!! Here Rama (like Arjuna in Bhagwat Geeta) asks Shri Mahadeva and he answers his queries. But Rama is not able to get over his questions and so Lord Shiva shows his eternal universal form where Rama can see all the universe in him and then he sees all the ten avataras of Lord Vishnu also in Shiva including the Krishna avatara and his killing of Kansa!. Lord Rama gets so overwhelmed and starts doing 'dandwats' to Lord Shiva and requests him to merge his universal form and come back to his asceti9c form. In another incident when asked by Udhisthira, Lord Krishna explains the glory of Lord Shiva and his sadhna. Krishna himself states how he performed the most difficult of penances to please Lord Sadashiva and takes the pledge of Pashupata Yoga and living only on air and standing on one leg for 6 months to please him and at last obtains his darshana! Lord krishna describes the appearance of Lord shiva as the appearance of a million suns in teh sky from behind a dark cloud!! His brilliance and mercy is boundless. And Krishna gets the boon of a unique son from Shiva for getting whom he performed this penance. In another story, Lord Vishnu performes devotional austerities to Lord Shiva doing Yagya with a thousand lotuses everyday. One day one lotus is missing, so Vishnu plucks his own eye with an arrow and offers to Shiva. Lord Shiva appears before him and is so please that he gifts him a spiritual weapon disc - the Sudarshan Chakra. This is the Sudarshan chakra that Lord Vishnu carries and Shri Krishna carries to protect his devotees from the demons! there has been a very speciakl bond between Lord Vishnu/Hari and Lord Shiva and they always offer obeisances to each other. Indeed they are in each other's heart always. So it is indeed very exalted to worship such a merciful Lord whom Vishnu, Krishna, Rama themselves worshiped in every yuga!! Om namah Shivaya!!

Attached is a picture / painting of Sri Baba Lal ji. This pic was made by the court painter of Dara Shikoh the prince of Shahjahan who had a few discussions with Satguru Shri Baba Lala ji! His questions about God relization and human life were also recorded at the time into Farsi that later trfanslated into Hindi. This book is also available. Shri Baba Lal did twice complete kayakalpa of hos body throug yog shakti and lived for 300 years. Some of his disciples did many miracles to save the people from catastrophes. This included reviving a young boy to life after he was dead. Though Shri Baba Lalji had all the top eight riddhi-siddhis and other powers, he was against the show of miracles as he considered them as a hindrance to spiritual growth and was a true Vaishnava Yogi and was also related to Ramananda Sampradaya. Lord Ramachandra appeared before him and blessed him benevolently. He was a unique yogi and poorna Sadguru, one of his kind. And after my parents were having pproblems with children, I was born with his blessings some 35 years ago.

Shivratri is on the 26th night. Celebrate it with love and devotion to Lord Bhole Nath, Sri Mahadev Sadashiva.

Hari bol prabhuji !!! Krsna bhagwan ki jai!! He teaches us through different sources and makes us realize of our own mistakes. We still have to learn so much and come up in our service. Y.S. Sanatana

Yes let's not be hiprocrates, but devotees!!

Nothing surprising prabhu! I can have the liberty of associating with the impersonalists too just for the above mentioned reasons by myself. I even met some very devoted and loving people amongst them. Ready to give and sacrifice and serve. I feel suffocated in a narrow minded lane. But primarily, I am a personalist. Also, remember prabhu how many of us so called Krishna bhaktas become offensive to others while trying to prove our own point to them and to keep our selves above everyone else! I was offensive to a true Shiva bhakta once in order to heavily preach him. He looked a bit annoyed and I told him that I don't care about people like him. Soon within a week's time, I fell very sick and spent rest of the month in bed. That was the punishment Krishna sent me. So I became very careful about it afterwards. This was a Shiva sadhu who came for alms. I soon learnt that their philosophy looks different, but in essence is good and liberating too. I read on really great impersonalist saints and Shaiva saints!! How can I be offensive towards them? Is Krishna limited only to his small cowboy form alone? The universal form doesn't seem to show that at all! All glories to Harinaam!! Haril bol!!

okay! /images/graemlins/smile.gif we will not exploit Tulasi Alladin bhai.

Yes someone tried here to explain the similarities, but couldn't any justice completely to Lord Shri Krishna's life. There was a prominent distinction though - Jesus was killed by the demons and Krishna killed the demons!! Hari bol!!

I especially wrote Hari Om and wanted to see your reaction. For me Hari Om, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Shri Govinda means the same!! Not for you. All are names of the same Lord!! Too much technicality keeps the simplicity of bhakti confused. It is good for impressing others with "spiritual" and textual 'intellect'. Impersonalists are not criminals!! They also serve and pray to the Lord in a different way. But they are devotees and should be respected and not said about in an almost abusive way 'oh they are impersonalists'!! The Lord himself says that he can come to the bhakta in whatever way he wants, as friend, father or brother or any other. He shows his eternal universal form where there was not only the form of a seven year old kid playing with cows and gopies!! And there have been verry very advanced so called 'impersonalist' devotees who have accomplished God-communion (Yoga). So why rebuke them prabhu? Any non-gaudiya topic has to be OFF!!! That is radical. By the way, Hari is Krishna and OM and Krishna are inseparable. My mind hardly sees any problem! /images/graemlins/smile.gif And that's why I can easily associate with impersonalists and personalists. I love them all. They are also trying to come to the Lord just as we are. You can disagree of course, as I am not strictly being in line with the Gaudiya philosophy. Your humble servant, Sanatana.

You say Lord Shiva is NOT the supreme personality and I say that LORD SHIVA IS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY!! Krishna was a Shiva devotee, so was Rama!! You may just fail to understand or believe this as his divine grace A.C. Srila Prabhupada did preach the opposite. So you have to follow him. Yes there always were and will always be this argument. Nothing new in this. Point is not this, point is where are you? What is your level? Can you solve your spiritual and material problems? Can you attain the darshana of any of them? Have you attained Krishna sadhna siddhi? If no, then all this talk is bogus inflatting of shallow egotism. Who is bigger or smaller is not going to make any difference in yourself. Hari om!!

Dear prabhu, Hari bol! Please accept my humble obeisance!! All glories to Sril Prabhupada!! "Sada-shiva is expansion of Lord Baladeva [sri Balarama]. So you can sence Sada-shiva nature is to be a Vaishnava, and Supreme God. Although looking at the Tattva, He is always dependent on Vishnu. " No, I do not agree with this explaination ! Lord Sada-Shiva is not an "expansion" of anyone and is not "dependent". To think like that is an offense in itself. Your view is based on Gaudiya scriptures, which are not a Shiava lineage and hence are not an authority on the position on Lord Shiva or Sada-Shiva!! Vishnu is the center and hence everyone else become as "dependent" in this termnology. Did you ever ask a Shaiva who shiva is dependent on?!! Whatever Vedic scriptures are present (without the commentary or the ones written by saints of Gudiya thought of lineage or not the ones written by his divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada's lineage of ) do believe everyone else as "dependent". If we talk to Shiva bhaktas, they do not believe that Lord Sada-Shiva has to be "dependent" on some one. Of course the Vishu tattva as well as Shiva tattvas work in unison. Maybe this could be a reason for you to contemplate that one is dependent on the other. But then the Vishnu tatva is as dependent on the Shiva tattva too. But the Gaudiya lineage, as is a Vaishnava lineage loves to maintain only one side of the truth. But the truth is that, we are so small, even to talk or speculate about this. Hari Bol!!

Hare Krsna! I don't even understand, why there is so much mentioning about the 'HIndu' thing in this article. What do Hare-Krsna movement and Hindus got in common except that they also pray to Lord Krsna? So why is the Hare-Krsna temple being called a Hindu temple there? A regular Hindu temple would have Shiva, Ganesh and Durga as well. A Hare-Krsna temple would never have that. Moreover, Prabhupada made it clear that our Hare-Krsna org has nothing to do with Hinduism!! Why this hypocrisy about?? Hari Bol!