why are Gaudiya Vaishnavas so intolerant?

[Guest guest]

Why are they?

In Hinduism it is common to regard one's Ishtadevata as supreme and all other

deities as aspects or manifestations of him/her.

For instance, the Shaivas regard Shiva as Parabrahman and respect Vishnu,

Krishna, Brahma, etc. as aspects or manifestations of Shiva and the goddesses

such as Lakshmi, Radha, Sarasvati, etc. as aspects or manifestations of

Shakti-Devi.

The Shaktas also respect the other deities.

But the Gaudiya Vaishnavas seem to hold the view that only Krishna is god, all

other deities are mere demi-gods.

Why? Did Sri Chaitanya preach that?

Is this view shared by all Vaishnava sects, or are there branches of the

Vaishnava tradition that follow the classical Hindu tradition?

On which scriptures do they base their view, and on whose interpretation of these scriptures?

[Guest guest]

I think the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, and writing of the

Acharyas are important. There are many philosophies and traditions

of Vaisnavas. And there is more than one tradition of Gaudiya

Vaisnavas. Some traditions are:

 

Gaudiya or Bengali Vaisnavas -- tracing from Sri Chaitanya.

 

Vithobha Vaisnavas in Maharashtra (Pandarpur).

 

Rama Vaisnavas located mainly in the northeast at Ayodhya and

Janakpur.

 

The ascetic Ramanandi order of Vaisnavas are devoted to Rama and

Sita.

 

Sant Vaisnavas (transcendent aspect) -- Kabir and Nanak are venerated.

 

The Sri Vaisnavas are located in Tamil Nadu (Srirangam) -- Ramanuja

is particularly important.

 

Gaudiya Vaisnavas deriving from Srila Prabhupada (ISKON) -- tracing

from Sri Chaitanya.

 

In some traditions it is specified that the attitude of worship must

be absolute and so you must assume the attitude of "the only way".

All traditions trace to a scriptural or individual (enlightened)

authority. You will need to do much research to discover all the

authorities and traditions.

 

Om Shanti

 

, "Alexandra Kafka"

<alexandra.kafka@a...> wrote:

> Why are they?

> In Hinduism it is common to regard one's Ishtadevata as supreme and

all other deities as aspects or manifestations of him/her.

> For instance, the Shaivas regard Shiva as Parabrahman and respect

Vishnu, Krishna, Brahma, etc. as aspects or manifestations of Shiva

and the goddesses such as Lakshmi, Radha, Sarasvati, etc. as aspects

or manifestations of Shakti-Devi.

> The Shaktas also respect the other deities.

> But the Gaudiya Vaishnavas seem to hold the view that only Krishna

is god, all other deities are mere demi-gods.

> Why? Did Sri Chaitanya preach that?

> Is this view shared by all Vaishnava sects, or are there branches

of the Vaishnava tradition that follow the classical Hindu tradition?

> On which scriptures do they base their view, and on whose

interpretation of these scriptures?