Multiplicity of Gods

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Sarvam sivam, Dear Fellow passengers in the Spiritual travel called life, First of all I congratulate Shri.Bhatnagar Shailendra for his question. Though his question seems innocent and simple, it is fundamental and important question. Why Multiplicity of Gods is Vedas and Puranas? Well I wish to answer this question in the layman's view, for I am a layman in the search of spirituality. Tell me my friend, where/which/what in the world is unique, absolute single? NONE. With the perspective of the observer, with the collective co-factors, and with the place it belongs it takes form. Say, for example Water, when it comes from above it takes the form Akasa Ganga, rain, when it runs on earth takes the form river, stream, when it is stored on

the pot based on the purpose of its use it is known as drinking water, water for other purposes, and when it goes up takes the form of streams. Then take Any person, he is a son to the parents, father to his kids, husband to his wife, friend to his friends, officer at work, citizen of the country, what more?. The person is same, he takes different forms depending upon the needs of the others. His acts based on the relationship/form varies. Andso, the ultimate supernatural force is ONE, the cosmic energy- SIVA, he takes the form of Father - Rudra, the saviour, and the form of mother, Annapoorna, the protector, Vishnu - the friend and philosoper, Skantha - the figher and lover. Sivaya namaha, Punith Balu

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Om Namah Sivaya "Para-vidya (Higher knowledge), is that by which we know God. All else, scriptures, philosophy,logic, grammer etc only burden and puzzle the mind. The Granthas(book) are sometimes Granthis (knots). They are good only when they lead to the higher knowledge." ----Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa "Of all the scriptures in the world, it is the Vedas alone that declare that even the study of the Vedas is secondary. The real study is that by which we realize the Unchangeable. And that is neither reading, nor believing, nor reasoning, but Superconscious perception, or samadhi." -----Sri Swami Vivekananda Sri Swami Vivekananda asked us to be rational when we read scriptures or hear things from others, rather than simply accepting or believing (word by word). We should never switch-off our rational faculty (which is God given gift), otherwise we start to believe any nonsense and can become extremely Superstitious. I

have come across Muslims from many different nationalties, they told me that they should simply accept every word of Quran and should never question or confused, otherwise at the day of Judgement (after death) they will be punished for being rational.They also told me that people can't never realise God, only their prophet who NEARLY realised God, their prophet will recommend at the day of Judgement who can enter pradise (where apparently they can maximise their sensual pleasures) or hell.This is the main reason ( i.e switching -off rational faculty) I think that Islam has produced lots of dodgy people than any other religion. Being a Hindu, we have the liberty to be rational, we can raise questions like: Why a story has been told in different ways in different puranas (often contridictory) ? Do we have the original verses written by Sri Vaysa? How

can be assured that scriptures haven't been altered by corrupt people over time? Why not there are transaltion erros (often Sanskrit words have many meanings)? The Puranas were written to popularise the religion of the Vedas. They contain the essence of the Vedas. The aim of the Puranas is to impress on the minds of the masses the teachings of the Vedas and to generate in them devotion to God, through concrete examples, myths, stories, legends, lives of saints, kings and great men, allegories and chronicles of great historical events. The sages made use of these things to illustrate the eternal principles of religion. The Puranas were meant, not for the scholars, but for the ordinary people who could not understand high philosophy and who could not study the Vedas. Schools of philosophy are very stiff. They are meant only for the learned few. Sri Adi Sankara never wrote any commentary on

any puranas.The Puranas are meant for the masses with inferior intellect. Misunderstanding created by the Puranas is not a new problem. Sri Arumuga Navalar (1822-1879) was a devout and brilliant Saivite Saint working to reeducate the Saiva community of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, following the

departure of the Portuguese and two centuries of foreign domination and anti-Hindu preaching. The Christians were criticizing Hinduism as superstitious, childish and polytheistic, quoting from the Puranas to prove their point. Navalar boldly defended his faith, even translating the Bible into Tamil to show its own failings and immaturities. The missionaries loved the Puranic tales which speak ("absurdly," Navalar declared) about the marriages of the Gods and promote a multiplicity of Supreme Gods. Navalar believed in the Gods, the Mahadevas, and worshiped Lord Murugan

(Skanda) devoutly. But he knew his faith spoke of a single Supreme Being Siva and wanted his fellow Saivites, who were languishing under missionary assaults, to understand the traditional view. He spoke against the storybook aspects of the Puranas, making it clear to Saivites that the Vedas and Agamas are spiritually superior and should be the source of their faith and practice. Still, he defended the greatness of the Skanda Maha Purana, which he saw as high-minded and inspiring, as it is mainly devoted to Jnana (Spiritual Knowledge) section of the Vedas. He succeeded in bringing Saivism back to life by showing his people the true, mystical purity of Hinduism. The point that Sri Arumuga Navalar was making is: don't take the Puranic stories too literally. They are a major source of misconceptions about Hinduism. When the Puranas are taken as the authority on Hinduism, the high philosophy of the revealed scriptures is obscured and confusions arise. We need to take into account when we read vedas/Puranas about the target audience, devotee of which deity a message was addressed to? whether it was aimed at a man/woman, a householder or a renounciate, etc. It is important to note that Hindu religion is the pluralist religion, which accept that the same God can be approached in many different ways,

as the mother, father, friend,lover, preserver, liberator,etc. There are various sects in Hindu religion to suit the taste and temperament of different individuals, and spiritual evolution. Whatever be the path they choose, ultimately they reach the same goal, union with the Lord. The Hindu Sages have always declared that the spiritual path is not a STEREOTYPED one, the same drug for all diseases, the same food for all people at all ages (from infancy to old age!), but that the spiritual life is adapted (within broad limits) to the needs of each individual. Everyone pursues the path or the combination of paths suited to him, and ULTIMATELY reaches the SAME goal; RE-UNITE with the Supreme Being. Of course, people in an initial stage of the spiritual path are puzzled

when they go through Siva Purana and Vishnu Purana, etc. In Siva Purana, Lord Siva is highly eulogised and an inferior position is given to Lord Vishnu. Sometimes Vishnu is belittled. In Vishnu Purana, Lord Hari is highly eulogised and an inferior status is given to Lord Siva. Sometimes Lord Siva is belittled. This is only to increase the faith of the devotees in their particular Ishta-Devata. Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu are one. This was the declaration of both Saivite and Vaishnaivate saints who had had the Highest Realisation. For example : A Great Saivite Saint Appar says: “Everything is the manifestation of Lord Siva. Siva is Narayana, Brahma, the four Vedas, the holiest, the oldest, the perfect. Though Siva is all these, He is none of these. He is without name, without birth, death or disease. He is

at once the transcendent and immanent. " A Great Vaishnavite Saint Poygai Alwar says: "God who is variously called Siva and Hari, that His vehicle is either Garuda or a Bull, and that His action is either destruction or preservation. He says also that the Supreme Lord is one and the same, though He appears in two forms as Hara and Narayana." Another Great Vaishnavite Saint Peyalwar states that he saw the Lord at Venkata Hill (Tirupati) as Siva with His matted locks and axe, and as Hari with His discus and crown. Sivaya Namah bhatnagar_shailendra <bhatnagar_shailendra wrote: Om Namah SivayaNamaste,Honestly speaking I am still confused about the multiplicity of Gods in Vedas and Puranas.I have heard the answer about multiplicity of Gods from Vaishanavites and Advaita Vedantins. The Vaishanavites say based on Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, that there is a hierarchy of Gods and Goddesses, in which Lord Vishnu is supreme.The Advaita Vedantins (of the Sankara tradition), say that all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the one Brahman. They represent various aspects of Brahman. They normally (advaitins) say that you can chose any one God as your favorite and worship. I believe, Acharya Sankara himself proposed worhsip of 5 or 6 Gods - Ganesh, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Skanda

and Surya. If we analyze the Veda :- Narayana suktam and Purusha Suktam proclaims Lord Vishnu as supreme- Sri Rudram says Lord Rudra is the very Godliness in Gods. Lord Rudra is hailed as pranava (namas taraya)- The Divine mother teaches Brahm Vidya in one of the upanishads- Lord Ganesh is hailed as Brahman in the Atharva Veda (tvameva sarvam khalvidam brahmasi)So my question is why this multiplicity of Gods in the Vedas ? Has anybody else felt that this multiplicity has created division and dissensions in the Vedic dharma ? Secondly, there cannot be multiple infinities - that would be an absurdity. So why has Veda described multiple Gods with mutually contradictory statements of supremacy. This continues even in Puranas - a set of Puranas say Lord Shiva is supreme, another set says Sri Mata is supreme, while another set says Lord Vishnu is supreme. So what are these God anyway ? Are they really

separate entities or are they simply different representations of the one infinity ? Does this really make the Vedic culture more rich or more prone to divions ? with regards,Shailendra Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Calendar Change settings via the Web ( ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional

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