Hinduism - 16.

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Continued from 1.10.2008.

 

16. Vaishnavism in the North

 

One of the most influential Vaishnava cults was founded by

Vallabhacharya, a Telugu Brahmin who lived in the 15th century. He

migrated to the North and in his numerous works in the North he gave an

interpretation of the Vedanta differing from that of Ramanuja, as also

of Sankara. He called his doctrine Suddha Advaita, pure non- dualism.

The world is real, and not an illusion. God is Nimitta- Karana, the

causative being. Discarding the Maya theory Vallabhacharya asserts that

God cannot be described by negatives but only by his holy and gracious

attributes, and is personified in Krishna He is not only karta, creator,

but also Bhokta, enjoyer. Though he has no need to assume a bodily form,

he often does so to please his devotees. Regarding Bhakti as the chief

means of salvation and superior to Jnana, (knowledge) Vallabha opposed

all kinds of asceticism. The body is the temple of God, he said. The

famous Upanishadic precept Tatvamasi was by an ingenious interpretation,

modified by Vallabha as Atatvamasi, 'That thou art not'. Vallabhacharyas

doctrines were fully interpreted and expounded by his son Vitthala.

 

Later, in Northern India, there arose the Chaitanya movement. Nimbarka

had already elevated Radha, the consort of Krishna, to the highest

position. Jayadeva, the author of Gita-Govinda, and other poets like

Vidyapathi, Umapathi and Candidas, adopted the Radha-Krishna cult.

Chaitanya, the great Vaishnava teacher of the 15th century transformed

the Vaishnava faith and extended his influence in most parts of Northern

India. He accepted converts from Islam, the foremost among them being

Haridas, Rupa and Sanatana. Salvation, according to his doctrine,

consists in the eternal experience of God's love. Chaitanya

exercised great influence over later Indian thought.

 

Saktism

 

The cult of Sakti or the mother aspect of Godhead had its roots in the

Vedas. The Rig-Veda describes Sakti as the embodiment of power and the

upholder of the universe. Sakti is represented as the sister of Krishna

and the wife of Siva. She is worshipped as Devi, who is one with

Brahman. The literature of Saktism, called the Tantra, gives a high

place to women and reacts strongly against caste distinctions. According

to the doctrines of the Sakta cult (embodied in 77 Agamas), Siva or the

supreme entity is impersonal and beyond activity. Sankara in his

Saundarya1ahari declares: " Siva is able to function when united with

Sakti; otherwise he is inert. " The Sakta cult and philosophy has had

great influence in Bengal and Assam, as well as in Malabar.

 

A variant of the Saivite philosophy, which developed in Kashmir, is

known as the Pratyabhijna system. Here, as Dr. Radhakrishna says, Siva

is the subject as well as the object, the experiencer as well as the

experienced. " As the consciousness on which all this resultant world

is established, whence it issues, is free in its nature, it cannot be

restricted anywhere. As it moves in the differentiated states of waking,

sleeping, etc., identifying itself with them, it never falls from its

true nature as the knower. " In theme God head rather than on Vedic

studies or sacrifices. It is worthy of note that in the Bhagavata Purana

(11th Skanda) the Alvars were prefigured or adverted to; several great

devotees of Vishnu, the Purana states, would appear on the banks of the

Tamraparni, Kritamala (Vaigai), Payasvin ( Palar), Kaveri (Cauvery), and

Mahanadi (Periyar).

 

The Alvars lived between the 5th and the 12th centuries. The first group

included Saroyogin or Poygaiyalvar, Bhatayogin or Bhutattalvar,

Mahadyogin or Peya is the unchanging consciousness and Sakti its

changing power, appearing as mind and matter.