JaneSmith105
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As per the beliefs of Hinduism, this universe continues in perennial creation and destruction. This universe is first created; it is then maintained for millions or billions of years; it is then destroyed. After a while, it is again created, maintained, and destroyed, and this cycle keeps continuing until eternity. Therefore, God is visualized in terms of these three actions—God as creator, God as preserver, and God as destroyer. Hindus therefore worship God in trinity form—Brahma as creator (Brahma is different from Brahman), Vishnu as preserver, and Shiva as destroyer. Brahma created this universe, and that’s it—his job is done. He no longer has any role to play. He therefore is not worshiped; Brahma has only one temple to himself in India. Vishnu and Shiva, however, are worshiped. Therefore, Hindus are primarily made up of two sects—Vaishnavism, consisting of Vaishnavites who worship Vishnu, and Saivism, consisting of Saivites who worship Shiva.
Vaishnavites consider Vishnu to be the Supreme Purusha and Laxmi to be the Supreme Prakriti. As per them, at the beginning of time, there was only Mahavishnu He first created Mother Goddess Laxmi out of himself. He then created Brahma and Shiva and assigned them the tasks of creation and destruction, respectively. Having done so, Mahavishnu then manifested as Vishnu, who is then carrying out the task of preservation. Even though Vishnu is currently doing only preservation, he can transform himself into Mahavishnu whenever he wants. In that sense, Vishnu is not just the preserver but the Supreme Purusha himself; Brahma, Shiva, and everything else, function at his beck and call and command. Brahma then created this entire universe, all living beings, and everything else. Brahma created fire god Agni and assigned him the task of regulating the fire across the universe. He created wind god Vayu and assigned him the task of regulating the wind across the universe. He created water god Varuna and assigned him the task of regulating water across the universe, and so on. These latter beings—Agni, Vayu, Varuna, etc.—are called Devas, and their king is Indra, the god of thunderbolts. Vaishnavites worship mostly on the male side—even though they worship Laxmi, they consider her as inactive; salvation can only be granted by Vishnu. So the male side of worship is mainly stressed upon. So, independent shrines to Laxmi are less common; she is normally worshiped in conjunction with Vishnu. Vishnu is variously called Narayan/Hari/Vasudeva; and Laxmi is also popularly called Sri.
Saivites consider Shiva to be the Supreme Purusha and Parvati to be the Supreme Prakriti. At the beginning of time, there was only ParaShiva (Great Shiva), who created Vishnu, Brahma, and everything else; he assigned the task of preservation to Vishnu, creation to Brahma, and then manifested himself as Shiva for the task of destruction—this concept is entirely similar to that of Mahavishnu/Vishnu. Why should a destroyer be worshiped? Before doing one work, the previous work has to be destroyed. You have just watched a movie; now you want to concentrate on office work; but, before you can do so, your mental association with the movie should be destroyed first. So, destruction should not be seen as a negative thing, but it is an extremely essential and central aspect of existence. While Vishnu is worshiped mainly in the form of idols, Shiva is mainly worshiped in the form of semi-circular, black-colored stone called Shiva Linga. Unlike Vaishnavites, however, Saivites give a lot of importance to Parvati. Many Saivites consider Shiva to be the supreme active Purusha, who is the only one capable of giving salvation. However, there are a large number of other Saivites as well who consider Parvati as supreme active Prakriti, the giver of salvation; and these people consider Shiva to be the inactive Purusha. So, a large number of independent Mother Goddess shrines are seen all over India for Mother Goddess Parvati. Shiva is variously called Sankara/Rudra/Maheswar; and Parvati is variously called Amba, Ambika, Uma. In independent Mother Goddess shrines, Parvati is worshipped in two manifestations—in the form a golden colored goddess called Durga and in the form of a dark colored goddess called Kali. Shiva has two sons—Ganesh and Skanda. Ganesh/Ganapati is considered as lord of obstacles—he removes obstacles when propitiated, so Hindus worship Ganesh before starting on any new errand, before buying a car, for example. Shiva’s second son Skanda, variously called as Kumara/Muruga/Subramanya, is mainly worshiped in south of India, especially in Tamilnadu.
Via : Prithvi
Vaishnavites consider Vishnu to be the Supreme Purusha and Laxmi to be the Supreme Prakriti. As per them, at the beginning of time, there was only Mahavishnu He first created Mother Goddess Laxmi out of himself. He then created Brahma and Shiva and assigned them the tasks of creation and destruction, respectively. Having done so, Mahavishnu then manifested as Vishnu, who is then carrying out the task of preservation. Even though Vishnu is currently doing only preservation, he can transform himself into Mahavishnu whenever he wants. In that sense, Vishnu is not just the preserver but the Supreme Purusha himself; Brahma, Shiva, and everything else, function at his beck and call and command. Brahma then created this entire universe, all living beings, and everything else. Brahma created fire god Agni and assigned him the task of regulating the fire across the universe. He created wind god Vayu and assigned him the task of regulating the wind across the universe. He created water god Varuna and assigned him the task of regulating water across the universe, and so on. These latter beings—Agni, Vayu, Varuna, etc.—are called Devas, and their king is Indra, the god of thunderbolts. Vaishnavites worship mostly on the male side—even though they worship Laxmi, they consider her as inactive; salvation can only be granted by Vishnu. So the male side of worship is mainly stressed upon. So, independent shrines to Laxmi are less common; she is normally worshiped in conjunction with Vishnu. Vishnu is variously called Narayan/Hari/Vasudeva; and Laxmi is also popularly called Sri.
Saivites consider Shiva to be the Supreme Purusha and Parvati to be the Supreme Prakriti. At the beginning of time, there was only ParaShiva (Great Shiva), who created Vishnu, Brahma, and everything else; he assigned the task of preservation to Vishnu, creation to Brahma, and then manifested himself as Shiva for the task of destruction—this concept is entirely similar to that of Mahavishnu/Vishnu. Why should a destroyer be worshiped? Before doing one work, the previous work has to be destroyed. You have just watched a movie; now you want to concentrate on office work; but, before you can do so, your mental association with the movie should be destroyed first. So, destruction should not be seen as a negative thing, but it is an extremely essential and central aspect of existence. While Vishnu is worshiped mainly in the form of idols, Shiva is mainly worshiped in the form of semi-circular, black-colored stone called Shiva Linga. Unlike Vaishnavites, however, Saivites give a lot of importance to Parvati. Many Saivites consider Shiva to be the supreme active Purusha, who is the only one capable of giving salvation. However, there are a large number of other Saivites as well who consider Parvati as supreme active Prakriti, the giver of salvation; and these people consider Shiva to be the inactive Purusha. So, a large number of independent Mother Goddess shrines are seen all over India for Mother Goddess Parvati. Shiva is variously called Sankara/Rudra/Maheswar; and Parvati is variously called Amba, Ambika, Uma. In independent Mother Goddess shrines, Parvati is worshipped in two manifestations—in the form a golden colored goddess called Durga and in the form of a dark colored goddess called Kali. Shiva has two sons—Ganesh and Skanda. Ganesh/Ganapati is considered as lord of obstacles—he removes obstacles when propitiated, so Hindus worship Ganesh before starting on any new errand, before buying a car, for example. Shiva’s second son Skanda, variously called as Kumara/Muruga/Subramanya, is mainly worshiped in south of India, especially in Tamilnadu.
Via : Prithvi
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