RE: [SJC: Achyuta Gurukul] why are Gaudiya Vaishnavas so into lerant?

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna!

Gaudia Vaishnavas honor all living entities, not only demigods. Because humility

and honor to others is the key principle in chanting Hare Krishna Maha mantra.

For example vaishnavas in Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya sampradaya honor Brahma as

their parampara guru. They consider Lord Shiva as the best vaishnava. But

nevertheless they don't equal Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma to Lord Krishna. They

consider them dependant from Lord Krishna. In Vedas we can find many places

where Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma are described offering worship to Lord Krishna

(or Lord Vishnu). For example Lord Brahma himself in Brahma-samhita (5.1) says:

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid anda-vigrahah

anadir adir go vindah

sarva-karana-karanam

"Krsna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal,

blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for

He is the prime cause of all causes."

In the following verse Shiva is compared to curd, made of milk (Sri Krishna) and

hence dependent from Lord Govinda.

ksiram yatha dadhi vikara-visesa-yogat

sanj\yate na hi tatah prthag asti hetoh

yah sambhutam api tatha samupaiti karyad

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

"Milk is transformed into curd by the actions of acids, yet the effect 'curd' is

neither the same as nor different from its cause, viz., milk. I adore the

primeval Lord Govinda, of whom the state of Sambu is a similar transformation

for the performance of the work of destruction." (Bs. 5.45)

So the vaishavas follow Lord Brahma's point of view.

But some neophyte devotees of Lord Krishna may sometimes forget about other

living entities and demigods. Because at kanishtha-adhikari stage devotee can

see only Supreme Lord and himself as His servant, but forgets about others. But

when devotee progress further to madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari stages he

learns to truly honor all living entities, beginning from Lord Shiva and Lord

Brahma.

Best wishes,

Ignat

I think the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, and writing of the

Acharyas are important. There are many philosophies and traditions

of Vaisnavas. And there is more than one tradition of Gaudiya

Vaisnavas. Some traditions are:

Gaudiya or Bengali Vaisnavas -- tracing from Sri Chaitanya.

Vithobha Vaisnavas in Maharashtra (Pandarpur).

Rama Vaisnavas located mainly in the northeast at Ayodhya and

Janakpur.

The ascetic Ramanandi order of Vaisnavas are devoted to Rama and

Sita.

Sant Vaisnavas (transcendent aspect) -- Kabir and Nanak are venerated.

The Sri Vaisnavas are located in Tamil Nadu (Srirangam) -- Ramanuja

is particularly important.

Gaudiya Vaisnavas deriving from Srila Prabhupada (ISKON) -- tracing

from Sri Chaitanya.

In some traditions it is specified that the attitude of worship must

be absolute and so you must assume the attitude of "the only way".

All traditions trace to a scriptural or individual (enlightened)

authority. You will need to do much research to discover all the

authorities and traditions.

Om Shanti

, "Alexandra Kafka"

<alexandra.kafka@a...> wrote:

> Why are they?

> In Hinduism it is common to regard one's Ishtadevata as supreme and

all other deities as aspects or manifestations of him/her.

> For instance, the Shaivas regard Shiva as Parabrahman and respect

Vishnu, Krishna, Brahma, etc. as aspects or manifestations of Shiva

and the goddesses such as Lakshmi, Radha, Sarasvati, etc. as aspects

or manifestations of Shakti-Devi.

> The Shaktas also respect the other deities.

> But the Gaudiya Vaishnavas seem to hold the view that only Krishna

is god, all other deities are mere demi-gods.

> Why? Did Sri Chaitanya preach that?

> Is this view shared by all Vaishnava sects, or are there branches

of the Vaishnava tradition that follow the classical Hindu tradition?

> On which scriptures do they base their view, and on whose

interpretation of these scriptures?