which one shiva or vishnu, or brahma

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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.

[Guest guest]

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?

[Guest guest]

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

namah Sivyay<br><br>Omprem

[Guest guest]

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?

[Guest guest]

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 !!!

[Guest guest]

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 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