SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE VARIOUS SECTS WITHIN HINDUISM

[JaneSmith105]

Sruti (Vedas) are Auparsheyam, meaning not "man made", but are the breath of the Supreme known under different names like Brahman, Narayana, Maheswara etc. Sruti teaches facts, which are beyond the range of knowledge gathered by the senses and beyond the objective knowledge gathered by human effort. Sruti is infinite and the seers codified set portions of does and don'ts for the benefit of mankind. They had to remember or recapitulate some portions, when the original relevant portions disappeared from current use. These are called Smritis or remembered things as distinct from Srutis which are heard Vedas. (Srutis were taught orally only and hence "heard"). The does and don'ts taught by Smritis make human beings pure and thus fit for emancipation or Moksha, or knowledge of Brahman or Atman. These are many, called differently by the names of their compilers like Manu, Yagnavalkya, Vashista, Parasara etc. All epics like Puranas, Ramayanam, Bharatam, Geetha are Smritis.

Those who abide by these precepts are Smarthas. That way all who are in Sanatana Dharma, wrongly called Hindus, are Smarthas.

Then where do Saivaites, Vaishnavaites, Ganapathyas, Sakthas etc. come from ?

1. The Smarthas worship all the Gods (in fact the manifestations of God) like Siva, Vishnu, Ganapathy, Soorya, Amba etc and deem the Gods they worship not just as one of many, but as one of the numerous manifestations of the one Supreme who is beyond names and forms and yet is called Narayana, Maheswara, Hari, Hara etc. Smarthas thus worship Ganapathy on Vinayaka Chaturthi day, Krishna on Janmashtami day, Rama on Ramanavami day, Siva on Sivaratri day, Amba during Navaratri days, Soorya on Sundays and so on.
2. Saivaites, Vaishnavaites etc hold Siva or Vishnu not as manifestations of the Supreme, but as the Supreme itself, having name and form, with specific qualities, dress, weapons etc. To each of them, the other Gods are subordinates - office bearers and managers. These anthropomorphic forms are real to non-Smarthas and are absolute.
3. To the Smarthas, these forms are Mithya (not real, but appearance only) necessary for worship and meditation. This is because it is impossible to visualize or meditate on the formless. Hence the need for having a Saguna Brahman - a Brahman or Supreme with name, form and other qualities. Thus all manifestations in the whole of Cosmos (or Prapancham) is a manifestation of the Supreme who alone exists. As Sri Rudram (a portion of the Vedas) clearly shows, Smarthas do worship stones, trees, rocks, sand, horses, dogs, thieves, dacoits, carpenters, masons etc, for He alone exists and the whole world is His manifestation.
4. Worship presupposes two entities: the worshipper and the worshipped. It is this worship of Saguna form of Almighty prescribed in the Vedas, that confused Western scholars into thinking that the ancient Vedic Aryans worshipped nature, thunder, lightning etc out of fear and ignorance or because they were beautiful.
5. By the time of the advent of Sankara Bhagavatpada, the non Smarthas of each sect (like Saivaites, Vaishnavaites, Ganapathyas, Sakthas), all those who held that a particular manifestation alone was Supreme, had adopted extreme and gruesome forms of worship. Their rituals had degenerated into an end to themselves. Sankara restored the purity of worship, got the aberrations discarded and introduced the Panchayatana Puja - worship of the five entities, namely Sun, Ganapathy, Siva, Amba and Vishnu. Many of these extremists adopted these refinements and once again became Smarthas.
6. Long after Sankara, religious teachers like Ramanuja, Madhwa, Bhasvaraya etc reintroduced the aforesaid so called specialization holding Vishnu or Siva only as the Supreme and final end for the seeker. It was also posited that this was the teaching of the Vedas and Upanishads. Since Vedas and the different Puranas, praise different manifestations, it was not difficult to quote "texts" in support of each creed. Unlike the Smarthas, even today each creed holds that the God they worship be it Siva, Vishnu or Amba, alone is Supreme real (not an apparent, unreal manifestation of the formless Supreme as interpreted by the Smarthas from the Vedas and Upanishads).

The above clarification however does not bring out the significance of the difference in the understanding of Smarthas and others. Hence a brief resume of the Vedanta and its different interpretations is necessary for an in-depth understanding.

Vedas and Upanishads teach:

• Who is "I" ?
• What is this Cosmos ?
• Who is God or the Supreme ?
• What is the relation between these?
• What is the goal of man ?

The Upanishads teach 'Asad va idam agra aaseet" i.e. in the beginning there was nothing, meaning there was no manifestation. From that non-manifested thing, all matter and everything came. Because of the subsequent creation of matter etc., the initial "nothing" could not mean nothing, but only unmanifested.

This unmanifested reality or existence ("Sath") is designated as Brahman Atma, Bhooma (the infinite) knowledge (Jnanam) Sathyam etc.

The sage Brigu requested his father Varuna to teach him Brahman. Varuna taught "That from which this whole Universe came, because of which this whole Universe exists, and into which this Universe merges in the end, know that by penance, meditation and concentration, that is Brahman."

From the Brahman or Atma, evolved space, then air, then fire, then earth, then plants and trees, ten food and then man and other beings.

Having created all these, the Atma, entered into all these to activate them, to activate all the senses - eyes, nose, ears, skin, tongue and the limbs.

All actions produce results; hence all creations enjoy or undergo sufferings, as the result of actions. In this process more actions take place with resultant enjoyment and sufferings. This cycle never had a beginning. Of all creations, man alone has had laws, called Sastras, consisting of does and don'ts, with which man (again alone) can accelerate, slow down or even scotch the effects of actions. This is his duty, his Swadharma.

What then is the goal of man ? Here there are some difference which take us back to the question at the beginning.

These differences can be broadly classified into "Advaita", and "others" ("others" include all the rest, like Dvaita, Vishishta, Advata, Sakta, Saiva etc philosophies).

Advaita - literally means "non-two" (It is not "one" for "one" presupposes the next "two"). Advaita teaches that Brahman alone exists - the world, universe with all its contents being "mithya". "Mithya" does not mean unreal, it means it is absolutely real, but phenomenal - having a temporary reality, the duration of which is only so long, till the truth that Brahman alone exists is known. There is an old story that in the dark a rope can be mistaken for a snake. This misconception exists till the truth that it is a rope is known. So are things seen in a dream, till the sleeper awakens. Universe with its unreal contents is a manifestation of the Supreme - Brahman. The delusion of seeing the world is due to the beginningless Maya (which also exists till the dawn of truth).

All individual jeevas (beings) are also the reflections of the Brahman; or appearance of Brahman. The whole creation and dissolution is just an appearance.

Since only Brahman exists, all are Brahman. The delusion that man has - that he is insignificant, ignorant with only a little knowledge and power and is different from the omniscient, omnipotent, Brahman will disappear only when man realizes that he is Brahman ("Aham Brahmaswami" or "Tat Twam Asi").

How to remove this delusion and what should man do ? Realization cannot be the effect of action; but man can, so to say, remove the covering which makes the Brahman appear as day to day entities. All actions - Karmas - prescribed in the Vedas (Sruti) have this one aim, namely this purification of insight, removal of past sins, so to say, after which man will realize that he is Brahman. Hence the need to observe Swadharma - one's own duties befitting one's status, position etc prescribed in the Smritis.

Even this result may not be achieved without Divine Grace. Even for observing Swadharma, Divine Grace is required; hence the need for prayer, worship, meditation, mind control etc.

 

[JaneSmith105]

The Smriti prescribed Karmas (actions) in addition to the purification of the mind. This will incidentally secure desires and prosperity for a better living here, but this is not the real aim of the "does" and "don'ts".

After an all-too-brief resume of Advaita, let us understand the "others" (or non-Advaita) views. Atma or Brahman is quality less, actionless, nameless, formless, partless, limbless and has no appendage. It alone exists - as already stated - to the Advaitis. The whole world, including all forms of God, is a manifestation only.

"Others" hold that the jeevas (individual beings, not the body) are real and even existent. The goal of man is to worship the anthropomorphic form, prescribed by the revered teacher and finally be with Him at Vaikuntam, Kailasam or Mahameru etc as the case may be, all the while retaining his individuality. This is Moksham for the "others". God on His part, is not "just reclining, careless of mankind", as Tennyson put it, but very much cares for His devotees and grants them the desires. He is always benign and the sufferings of beings here are all due to their past sinful actions. There is nothing beyond the happy stage, referred to above - at Vaikuntam, Kailasam etc.

The Smarthas have no quarrel with the above - as far as it goes - except for the use of the word only "ONLY" - as in ONLY Siva is Supreme or ONLY Vishnu is Supreme. To the Smartha, the God he worships anytime is the Supreme, for only Brahman is real. The different manifestations help him to concentrate or meditate, and thus gain purity of mind. To him, to the Smartha, the final goal is with Him which only he has to realize. This perhaps can be best understood by the following two stories from the Upanishads:

Ten men cross a flooded river, swimming, and as a matter of abundant caution, on reaching the other shore, count their number. Each of them omit to count themselves, and find, to their consternation, that only nine have reached the other shore. A passing wise Samaritan tells each "You are the tenth". Then they get peace. Nothing new was created, or attained, yet sorrow and delusion disappeared.

A baby prince was abducted by a dacoit and brought up as his son. After the baby grew to adulthood, he was discovered by the prime minister and identified by the birth marks. The prince was then taken to the palace. He realized that he was a prince, which he always was. Only the ignorance (of his being a prince and not a dacoit's son) was removed.

This realization that all of us, are Brahman, is Moksha for a Smartha.

Creation of the universe, its sustenance and dissolution repeatedly, is for giving individual souls opportunity to realize the infinite or Bhooma or Brahman or Self. These are similar to Big Bang referred to earlier (and may be similar to the black hole). What was there before the Big Bang ? "This question should not be raised", says the eminent physicist Stephen Hawkins, "for this is like asking, 'What is before time?'". As indicated earlier, Upanishads say that Brahman alone existed unmanifested. Even space was created later.

The difference between a Smartha and a Saivaite (or a Vaishnavaite) has been examined comprehensively. The difference is in the basic philosophy and not so much in the form that is worshipped. It is also true that the average man seldom goes to the basic difference in the underlying philosophy, satisfying himself with the difference in the idols worshipped.

Via: M.H.Gopalakrishnan