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Questions
I have 4 questions.
-Question 1- TO ALL HINDUS-
One of the basic tenets of hinduism is the Karma theory.
I seem to have come across something to "disprove'
the Karma theory. Actually, I am just trying to understand
the Karma theory fully. I sincerely request someone to
throw light upon the following "PROOF"-
According to a shloka by Veda Vyasa,
" ASHTADASA PURANESHU VYASASYA VACHANA DVAYAM|
PAROPAKARAH PUNYAYA PAAPAAYA PARA PEEDANAM || "
I have no 'authority' for the above sloka. All I know is
that it was taught in our sanskrit class.
Anyway, It means, " the author of 18 puranas, Veda Vyasa,
has said 2 things - to help others is punya and to harm
others is paapa. "
Ofcourse, by the definition of the Karma theory, Punya
brings happiness and Paapa brings unhappiness.
I'll assume another thing- there was a creation, before
which I assume that there was no such thing as Karma.
Consider 2 persons A and B. A harms B. A has commited
Paapa(sin). B has suffered because he had commited sin
sometime before(otherwise why should he suffer?).
B,therefore, harmed a guy - say, C. C suffered at B's hands
because C had commited sins sometime before, to someone,
say, D. ...AND SO ON...
As you might have noticed, we have been going backwards in
time while analysing A,B,C,etc.. WE WOULD HAVE TO GO
INFINITELY BACKWARDS IN TIME IF WE ASSUME THE KARMA LAW-
i.e., the world has always existed- THERE IS NO CREATION!!
-Question 2- TO THE ADVAITINS-
If the world is illusory, why practise anything at all?
Why renounce the world since that is illusory?
Why not just have a good time in this world instead of
practising religion, since they are all Maya anyway?
-Question 3 - TO THE VAISHNAVAS
Assuming Buddha to be God( I think it is mentioned in the
Srimad Bhagavatam),why do you still believe in Idol-worship?
(Since Buddha was against idol-worship).
Saying that " God especially manifests himself in the idol",
or " God and his form are One" etc. are unsatisfactory
arguments. If you can believe TO THE WORD what Krishna tells
you in the Gita, why do you treat Buddha's words in an
entirely different vein(not trusting to the word)?
-Question 4 -TO THE HARE-KRISHNAS-
I recently visited the Hare-Krishna home-page and found
a piece on Hinduism. To be precise what I'm talking about,
the URL number for that is-
http://aristotle.algonet.se/~krishna/_q_20.htm
There, I came across a passage saying-
"Shiva is the lord of cosmic devastation. Sakti is the
goddess of the total material nature, or prakriti. Because
Shiva is very easily pleased, those who desire rapid
material advancement for little effort are especially
interested in worshiping him and Sakti."
I have forgotten where exactly the following is mentioned
(as I have left most of my Veda books back home in India),
but the following is mentioned in the Vedas-
" Tat Purushaya Vidmahen Mahadevaya Dhimahi.
Tanno Rudrah Prachodayaat. "
Meaning( I think) , " To reach That Purusa, I pray that
mahadeva be well-disposed towards me. May Rudra
impel me towards It. "
But on reading your piece about Shiva, It seems as if the
ONLY aim of the worship of shiva is to have material
advancement(though you have not explicitly mentioned ONLY).
You have not touched upon the aspect of worship of Shiva
for reaching That Purusha.
I would very much like answers to these questions. I'm NOT
trying to refute- I'm merely trying to understand.
Sincerely,
Kartik
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