Sandilya Vidya

[dwai]

[XieJia]

Thank you

 

Very beautiful and sublime.

 

@dwai

Is it possible to explain the nature of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva from the Vedantan's experience so that we all can understand more?

Edited September 15, 2011 by XieJia

[dwai]

Thank you

 

Very beautiful and sublime.

 

@dwai

Is it possible to explain the nature of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva from the Vedantan's experience so that we all can understand more?

Dear xiejia,

 

Brahma, vishnu and shiva are deities of the astika or "gnostic" traditions of india. For a dvaita vedantin, the deity is the absolute and the individual conditioned self or jiva is always separate from the deity. Other traditions have other models. For an advaitin, the deities are aspects of saguna brahman or the reflection of the brahman in the rational/phenomenal world. So the deities have names, descriptions, powers, etc. But, powerful as they might be, they are not nirguna brahman unless approached in that way..in which case one or the other deity is manifested as any number of others. Nirguna brahman is the formless, indescribable, rationally unimaginable infinity. It is dao.

 

Sri ramakrishna paramahamsa, the great 19th century teacher used to give the analogy of a ladder. He said that the various traditions are like rungs of a ladder and nondual tradition os th final rung. A seeker is on any specific rung based on their karmic history and their mental temperament. So it is perfectly valid that initially an advaitin might focus on a specific deity to develop concentration, meditate, devotion, love, compassion until he or she reaches the next rung of the ladder and leave the form behind and move to formless.

Edited September 16, 2011 by dwai

[XieJia]

Dear xiejia,

 

Brahma, vishnu and shiva are deities of the astika or "gnostic" traditions of india. For a dvaita vedantin, the deity is the absolute and the individual conditioned self or jiva is always separate from the deity. Other traditions have other models. For an advaitin, the deities are aspects of saguna brahman or the reflection of the brahman in the rational/phenomenal world. So the deities have names, descriptions, powers, etc. But, powerful as they might be, they are not nirguna brahman unless approached in that way..in which case one or the other deity is manifested as any number of others. Nirguna brahman is the formless, indescribable, rationally unimaginable infinity. It is dao.

 

Sri ramakrishna paramahamsa, the great 19th century teacher used to give the analogy of a ladder. He said that the various traditions are like rungs of a ladder and nondual tradition os th final rung. A seeker is on any specific rung based on their karmic history and their mental temperament. So it is perfectly valid that initially an advaitin might focus on a specific deity to develop concentration, meditate, devotion, love, compassion until he or she reaches the next rung of the ladder and leave the form behind and move to formless.

 

Hi Dwai,

 

Thank you for the reply and the information.

So to put it...

 

Nirguna Brahman would be the formless, the collective with one and all.

All other names whether any deities, man, plants or animals.

From the sublime to the coarse.

 

So for the advaitin

If so Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva is the personification of the manifestation of the Nirguna Brahman on the phenomenal world much like the Daoist idea of the Dao nourish all.

Could we say the three Deities are different collective functions of the greater Nirguna?

So to say, nothing under anything can be separate?

This is what I understood from reading your post and other sources.

 

Thanks

 

XieJia

 

[dwai]

Hi Dwai,

 

Thank you for the reply and the information.

So to put it...

 

Nirguna Brahman would be the formless, the collective with one and all.

All other names whether any deities, man, plants or animals.

From the sublime to the coarse.

 

So for the advaitin

If so Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva is the personification of the manifestation of the Nirguna Brahman on the phenomenal world much like the Daoist idea of the Dao nourish all.

Could we say the three Deities are different collective functions of the greater Nirguna?

So to say, nothing under anything can be separate?

This is what I understood from reading your post and other sources.

 

Thanks

 

XieJia

 

 

Pretty astute!

 

The only correction I'd suggest is to separate the Nirguna and the Saguna. The Saguna too is merely a reflection of the Nirguna, per Advaita, just like the Jiva is. Only difference is that the Saguna reflects a lot more of the Nirguna than the Jiva does. The limiting factor on the Saguna is less "limiting" (for lack of a better word) than that on the Jiva (Jiva is the entity with a body).

[XieJia]

Thank you.

 

Are there any sutras that you would recommend in particular?

Or it is this kind of interpretation of the Vedas?

[dwai]

Thank you.

 

Are there any sutras that you would recommend in particular?

Or it is this kind of interpretation of the Vedas?

Vedic literature have four general categories. The samhitas, the brahamanas, the aranyakas and the upanishads. The uanishads are called vedanta since they are the fial section of the vedas. To answer your question, if you want to read the vedanta without commentary, read the upanishads and vedanta sutras or brahma sutras.

 

http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/bs_0/Brahma_Sutra.pdf

Edited September 17, 2011 by dwai