Vishnu and Shiva (To Chandrashekhar ji)

[Guest guest]

-----------------"You don't see the Lotus feet

of the Lord. Why are you fighting over what his face looks like?"

 

-- His Highness Chandrashekhara Saraswati

-----------------

 

Om Hariharaabhyaam Namah

Namaste Chandrashekhar ji,

 

I have addressed these points in the past, but they keep coming up every now and

then. But I cannot keep quiet because some very wrong notions are being

popularized by some biased people.

 

Giving quotes from a Purana showing that God X is superior to God Y serves no

purpose. Quotes from puranas are a double edged sword! If a Vaishnava gives a

quote from Garuda Purana saying that Vishnu is supreme, a Shaiva can give a

quote from Linga Purana saying that Shiva is supreme.

 

Linga purana says that Vishnu, Brahma and the entire universe came from Shiva.

It also contains an interesting story. According to that story, an argument

arose between Brahma and Vishnu on who was superior. They were arguing. Then

Shiva expressed in front of them as a brilliant Jyotirlinga (column of light

and fire) that extended in two directions. Brahma and Vishnu wanted to find the

ends of the Jyotirlinga. They went in the upward and downward directions (that

is why dasamsa rulerships include Brahma and Achyuta/Vishnu in addition to the

rulers of the 8 directions). They agreed that whoever found the end first would

win. Brahma and Vishnu went in their respective directions and searched for the

end for days. Neither found the end after many days and finally they both gave

up, agreeing that neither of them is supreme and it is *Shiva* who is the

supreme one! Shiva then appeared in front of them and taught them,"we three are

part of the same supreme Parabrahman that pervades this universe. We three have

three specific roles. We should not fight with each other on who is superior."

 

Also, there is a story in Mahabharata written by Vyasa (see Drona parva).

Narayana engaged in an extreme penance (tapas) for 60,000 years. Then Shiva was

happy with the penance and came before Narayana along with Parvati to give a

great boon to Narayana in the form of Nara. Later, Narayana and Nara took the

forms of Krishna and Arjuna. In that penance episode, Shiva was described as

"the Lord of all gods" (sarvadevairapeeswaram) and as "smaller than the

smallest sub-atom and greater than the greatest entity" (aNeeyasaamaNeeyaamsam

brihadbhyascha brihattaram). The detailed description there lauds Shiva as the

greatest and supreme deity of the universe.

 

Of course, one can find many more examples where one god or the other is said to

be the supreme one. In Scriptures and religious literature, it is customary to

find glorification of each god (Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti) saying that the rest

of the gods came from that particular god and they all pray to him/her and bow

at his/her feet.

 

All these should make any intelligent person aware that pursuing this concept of

"superiority" to its logical end, as if we were taking about simple human

beings, is quite childish. After all, Skandopanishat says "yatha shivamayo

vishnur evam vishnumayah shivah" (thanks to Sarbani for the quote). It means

"just as Vishnu is filled with Shiva, so is Shiva filled with Vishnu".

 

Vishnu has been depicted as a worshipper of Shiva. His avataras such as Rama and

Krishna also worshipped Shiva. Shiva, on the other hand, has been depicted as a

great worshipper of Vishnu. The name "Shiva" appears in Vishnu's 1000 names.

The names "Vishnu" and "Hari" appear in Shiva's 1000 names. All these things

and the contradictory scriptural references should make one think.

 

Overall, looking at all the scriptural references, we can conclude the following:

 

Vishnu is superior to Shiva. Shiva is superior to Vishnu. Vishnu worshipped

Shiva and was blessed by Shiva. Shiva worshipped Vishnu and was blessed by

Vishnu. Vishnu is a superset of Shiva. Shiva is a superset of Vishnu.

 

Does it make sense? Or, does it sound contradictory? If so, perhaps you need to

change your way of thinking. After all, every assertion made above has

scriptural support!!

 

To enable you to come to terms with the apparent contradiction, I'll go back to

my favorite analogy. Even though it sounds simplistic, it's very profound and

is the perfect analogy here.

 

In the world of finite numbers, x > y, x = y and x < y cannot be true

simultaneously. Only one of them can be correct. But, in the world of infinite

numbers, they all can be true simultaneously! If x and y are two infinite

numbers, then x can be greater than y, equal to y and less than y, all at the

same time!

 

Human beings are similar to finite numbers. The concept of god or divinity is

akin to the concept of infinity. Don't expect your simplistic finite thinking

to capture the realities of divinity perfectly. If you don't realize this and

expect some simplistic and rigid hierarchy among gods, you are only kidding

yourselves. You will then have to ignore some scriptures and stick to some

scriptures (which will make all your arguments meaningless). That is what

Gauranga and others are doing. They are ignoring some scriptures and heavily

quoting other scriptures and yet seem to think that their arguments are

conclusive (they aren't, for the reasons I have outlined).

 

Now, a few miscellaneous comments on a few points made recently:

 

(1) Lord Ganesha is the one who should be worshipped first. Most Hindu priests

(whether Vaishnava or Shaiva) start Vedic rituals with Ganesha's worship with

the following mantra:

 

om ganaanaam tvaa ganapatim havaamahe kavim kaveenaamupamasravastamam

jyeshtharaajam brahmanaam brahmanaspata aa nah srinvannootibhisseedasaadanam

 

(2) Shiva represents tamas, as he is completely devoid of passion. But it does

not mean worshipping Shiva is tamasik.

 

The 3 gunas (primordial natures) were never intended to be classified as good

and bad gunas. If rajas and tamas had been "bad" gunas, they would not have

found place in the creation of God. Tamas has been interpreted by most scholars

simply as dullness. But that is only one aspect of it. On the positive side, it

stands for a completely stable state where there is no passion whatsoever. The

three gunas and the trinity of gods represent three eseential (and good)

natures. Looking down upon tamas and hence upon Shiva is not right. There are a

lot of misconceptions.

 

(3) If you are faced with tamasic problems in life, there is no better way than

worshipping Shiva. Recital of Maha Mrityunjaya mantra, Rudra Namakam and Rudra

Chamakam do have the sanction of great sages. ALL people can read them when

they have to overcome tamaic problems in life.

 

Often people talk about only moksha (BTW, Shiva can grant moksha too. He grants

moksha as Maheswara). But don't forget that dharma, artha and kaama are as

important. If unfinished karma remains, moksha cannot come. As far as dharma

(duty) is concerned, it comes in 4 forms - duty towards self, duty towards

family, duty towards society and duty towards universe (Drigdasa allows us to

measure how much of each duty is followed at a given point of time). Protection

of body is the most basic duty. If you have tamasik problems impeding you in

your duties, you better pray to Shiva to remove them.

 

(4) People often equate "worship of Shiva" to "worship with desires". That's not

right. Shiva can remove tamas and give desires, but he can be worshipped without

desires too. He too can grant moksha.

 

(5) The bottomline: Whether one is a Vaishnava or a Shiava does not really

matter. If one completely surrenders to the Supreme Divinity of the universe

(whether one calls it as Krishna or SadaShiva or AdiShakti or Parabrahman or by

whatever name) and overcomes the six enemies within, one will attain moksha.

Whether one is a devotee of Vishnu or Shiva, that is the final goal anyway.

 

* * *

 

The only reason I spoke out is that some so-called-Vaishnavas who to a

fanatic school of thought that ignores the basic Vaishnava traits of compassion

and humility are unfairly creating a feeling of guilt among sincere Shiva

devotees on this list with their constant barrage of biased scriptural quotes

that belittle Shiva worship one way or the other.

Let me end this discussion with a nice quote from Vedas. One should note that

Puranas are meant for teaching advanced concepts in a simple and understandable

way to laymen, while Vedas put the ultimate truths in a crisp language without

any compromises or creative liberties.

 

ekam sadvipraa bahudhaa vadanti [RigVeda, 1.164.46]

 

"The One Supreme Lord, who is infinitely beyond the infinite scope of

superlatives, is called by different names by the learned men."

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha