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Re: Vishnua and Shiva ** FINALITY
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Subject: Re: Vishnua and Shiva ** FINALITY
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From: Savio <savio@cs.man.ac.uk>
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Date: 6 Dec 1995 14:38:14 GMT
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Approved: srh <srh@rbhatnagar>
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Article: 660 of soc.religion.hindu
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: Dept of Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.
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References: <48oblh$c5m@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <49ip19$6ft@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
A NEW INTERPRETATION OF "WHO IS THE GREATEST" THREAD
THAT HOPEFULLY SHALL BRING NEW DIRECTION TO IT.
Here is a new interpretation of this pointless argument about who
is the greatest God.
Personally I think that this is THE MOST stupid show of disunity I
have ever seen. I thought that my aunty not eating at a non-vaishnav
house was bad, but this is worse.Primarily because I assumed that
most Internet users were academics who could see beyond the various
veils of our Dharma and peer into the great vastness beyond.
Anyway, here is the argument.
I have read countless debates on Krishna (ie Vishnu) being the greatest
that are based on the Bhagaved Gita. If one returns to the point of
Krishna's avatar, ie to guide the Pandavas and to re-impart the
knowledge of the Yogas to us, then we can find a new perspective to
the whole picture.
Firstly if you take Bhakti Yoga to be the utmost of importance amongst
the Yogas described(which is silly as it is based on simple(sic) ideas
that are for the lay(sic) people) then you can base every occurance of
the word "Me" "I" Myself" etc (in English Translations, the Sanskrit
ones have the same but I forget the pronounciations) as Krishna. Thus
we see a picture of Krishna as the Center of All.
Secondly, if you take the view that these words "Me" "I" "Myself" as
representing the eternal ATMAN, ie the Omkara, then this other (you may
say advaitic) idea emerges.
This idea is that Krishna was explaining the vast knowledge of the Vedas
etc to Arjuna in (once again) simpler terms (NOT TO IMPLY SRI ARJUNA WAS
FOOLISH< NO BUT TO SHOW THAT HE WAS A KSHATRIA AND THAT EVEN THE
GREATEST
KNOWLEDGE OF ALL NEEDS TO BE CLARIFIED FOR HIM). This will thread into
arguments here no doubt, but I hope it doesnt as it is just an occurance
of my lack of expressive knowledge.
ANyway, the point is, Krishna isnt describing HIMSELF as the greatest of
all beings and gods, but is describing HIS- "SELF" as being the greatest
of all. Ie the Atman that is residing in ALL creation.
Why am I taking my time to enter this Childish argument?
Well it serves two purposes.
First : it shows that no God is superior to another, THUS NO DEVOTEE OF
ONE GOD IS SUPERIOR TO ANOTHER DEVOTEE OF ANOTHER GOD.
Second : It tries to show that Bhakti Yoga is like a Lego set, in that
it is simple and allows us to learn the basic constructs of creation and
the supreme, eventually attaining Mukti.
Third : That true investigation of The Vedas and Other Dharmic Texts
is like a ENTIRE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, in that it allows you to not only
learn the basic constructs of the supreme, but allows you to design
and build various constructs to learn more and eventually attain Mukti,
BUT leaving behind a structure that others may follow. After all isnt
that what the great Acharyas did?
Please dont get TOO ANGRY by this argument, I havent structured it well
and havent entered into much detail, but this is due to the heavy
workload that I am under.(BTW anyone here good at Modula-3 design? I
need a Scrabble playing algorithm implementation:-) ).
There are many web sites now, but which one actually expresses the view
of The Vedas? Too many show Bhakti oriented views, lets get together and
develop a more Logical approach.
My Two-Pounds-Fifty-pence. (Sterling of course)
Savio
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