Monotheism & Its Pitfalls

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatars

 

A humble word of warning on this concept of "monotheism" - my personal

theory is that all the conflict in the world can be traced to this concept.

It was first espoused in the west by Pharoh Akhnaton who claimed that there

was only ne god - RA the sungod. In the beginning he was tolerant of other

deities and their shrines,but in the latter years he began a campaign of

persecution to force his views onto others. Then came the Jews with their

monotheism which led to them exterminating 7 nations in the land of Canaan.

This was followed by the monotheism of the Christians which led to millions

of people being slaughtered, enslaved, raped and pillaged in the name of the

"One True God". The came Islam and its monotheism - about which we all are

fully aware. The destruction of Srirangam and the massacre of Srivaishnavas.

In India their have been many smaller conflicts over the centuries between

the Vaishnavas and the Saivites and their various views on monotheism.

 

Hence I am terribly afraid of dealing with Personalist Ideas about

Monotheism. Monotheism which is the belief in ONE True Personal God means

that all other gods are either false or inferior and their votaries likewise

are either wicked, stupid or ignorant. This line of reasoning has one

consequence which history has proven time and time again - genocide.

 

So hence I am on a personal level, more inclined to the abstract concepts of

Narayana than the Personal one. Abstract is more in the spirit of inclusion

and universal compassion and service. Personal leads to exclusivity and

indifference to others at best and hostility at worst.

 

Adiyen

 

Dasanudasan

 

Sri Ram

[Guest guest]

Sri Rama Ramananujacharya's comments on monotheism are insightful, but I would

like to point out that there is a fine point of demarcation between Occidental

and Oriental thinking that may still allow for the concept of a personal deity

without the risk of falling prey to zealous fanaticism.

 

The religions that lay claim to X concept of Deity generally tend to place this

Deity as ontologically distinct from the world, i.e., God is the Lawgiver, God

is the Lord, but God has little other involvement than saving those who

supplicate themselves to His Way directly either through an intercessor or by

blind faith in an intercessor.

 

This contradistincts itself with what Vedic understanding tells us about Sriman

Narayana. He is Compassion and Love, and He is the antaryAmi that stays along

with each and ever soul, not just a few selected human souls who live according

to His laws, as Western thinking seems to imply. Consequently, to see His

Presence in everything and everyone, whether exclusive Personal or in what Sri

Rama defines as "Abstract" would suggest that we regard all that we see in this

world as being sacred, whether or not it involves Him or not.

 

Be that as it may, however, I would concur that too much focus is being placed

these days on avoiding in "anya-dEvatha arAdhanai" rather than engaging in His

Service as Service to All Beings. While it is true that Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja

never entered temples to other deities, I personally feel that this was more due

to the fact that the worship of these other gods included the practice of

non-Vedic rituals, some of which were and continue to be quite extreme. I

personally would doubt that such an enlightened soul would find these places as

being detestable because he felt that Sriman Narayana's presence was not there.

 

If I were qualified to teach or say anything on this subject, I would propose

that we adopt the philosophical attitude much along the lines of the slogan of

HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamy: "Worship Your Own, Respect All Others"

 

Ramanuja dasan

Mohan

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear devootees,

Humble praNAms to all. This is a general post. History

speaks for itself as Sri Sriram mentioned. If we look back,we

strangely observe that whenever people(not belonging to the Vedic)

gave utmost importance to their religions,the society underwent utter

cruelty in all possible forms. We have been ruled by Britishers and

Moghuls for centuries and no one needs to be told about what had

happened. Ours is the only country which stands by itself without

getting shaken by the surroundings. Even within our own vedic

tradition, there are more eveidences for shaivite kings torturing SV's

(my dear kUraththAzhvAn is the example) than vice versa. Atleast I'm

not aware of it and my knowledge is weak in these areas. Whenever we

gave utmost importance to our religion,we obseved a "golden

period"(example King Gupta's or pallava period)in our society. In our

case,religion is directly proportional to the welfare of the society.

 

All problems arise when knowledge is misused.

Shankaracarya might have written many samskrt works but he was surely

not a "social" reformer(he was not at all bothered about the welfare

of the other jIvAtmAs) and so is true with Madhwacarya. Only

Emperumanar/Ramanujacarya is a true theologian,philosopher,social

critic/reformer etc...R.K.Das(PhD and who does research in

Vaishnavism) says that vaishnavism existed much much before veda

vyasa period. He says vaishnavism is as old as the vedas which is

ageless! I would say our religion is much more scientific in

answering fundamental questions than any other religion. It will

probably take Scientists some million years to prove

the "objectivism" rather than the "subjectivism" of Sriman Narayana!

 

Like Kulashekhara AzhvAr,I'm of the conviction that sri

vaishnavas would never(would be the last creatures if it ever

happens!)go to the extent of torturing(or being indifferent or

hostile to) others. To do certain things,one needs to have the

smartness/sAmarthyam and I'm pretty sure SVs lack that trait. I would

say that an SV is the most compassionate person who embraces

everything despite all the differences that exist. My father is the

example for that. He is a "pakka" SV,doesn't step into shaivite

temples but that didn't stop him from learning about other

religions/cults/sects and he has the heart and the mind to accept

people as they are and also if his kids marry someone belonging to

other religions!!!!!!! I wish I have that same heart and mind and

right now I don't possess one. My mother always used to say

that "people who are extremely orthodox will also be forward in

thinking and they will accept everything;but those who are neither

here nor there create a mess out of everything". Kindly pardon me if

I offended anyone's feelings in the process of writing some junk.

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

NC Nappinnai

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear All

 

Monthiesim neednt be always with pitfalls.

 

It is clearly indicated and proved beyond doubt that nArAyana is

paramAthma(though that is being disputed again here in some threads

and posts)..

 

The problem is with the mindset of some well say.... many people who

follow monotheism.

 

The problem is also with viewing all these terms from the standpoint

of western religions.

 

as sri Mohan quoted yes ... One must "Worship His and respect others".

 

But this doesnt mean we must invlove in their upAsana.

 

There is nothing wrong and infact Sri Vasihnava AchAryAs find no

problems in chanting anya devathA related veress in their anustAnams

like sandhya vandhanam srArdham vaishwadhevam etc etc..

 

How do they view this and reconcile it?? This is again another big

topic.and excluded in this ...

 

So IMHO monotheism in Hindu perspective dont have pitfalls but some

followers of it might have owing to "fanatiscm".

 

But monotheism in western perspective has pitfalls both on the grounds

of religioun and amidst those who practise them because they

essetially lack "tolerance".

 

The problem and such doubt and allegations come when people read books

on vedAnthA as their "pozuthu pOku" whereas when the same is read and

learnt with the help of a suitable AchAryAn such doubts would be thwarted.

 

The reason is not all the books give you all the answers to your

questions.because the pramAnas (in content) are very vast..and it is

nearly an impossible task to deal in detail with all the questions you

have about sAsthram vedAntham etc etc.

 

So choose the way you want to learn.

 

regards

Venkat