Is advaita vedanta based on Identity crisis

[Poeticus]

Let me acknowledge that you have a point there, though idols of Indra are mentioned in the Vedas and the people are advised against the craftiness of Panis who would overcharge for it. However, do you have an explanation of why the Gods and Goddess which Hindus worship today are not mentioned in RigVeda? For a partial list of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, kindly see List of Hindu deities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

We aren't sure how widespread the Rig Vedic lifestyle actually was. For all we know, it was probably a group of 40-50 dudes and their offsprings, while a million plus around them worshipped other stuff.

Yeah, it's confusing isn't it?

I don't really worship Adi Shankara anymore....ever since I felt the huge notion that many things that people say he wrote, were probably only attributed to him.

I mean, if by his commentaries he states that Vishnu is the Primordial Brahman...we still don't know where 'Chidananda Rupam Shivoham Shivoham' comes from...

Nor do we know where Kalabhairavashtakam comes from - it is said that he wrote that...and in that, he says "I worship Kalabhairava, the God of Kashi".

Nor do we know where Shiva Panchakshara Stotram comes from...they say he wrote that and in that he mentions he worships Lord Shiva...also in Shiva Manasa Puja - also written by him...

Nor do we know where Saudarya Lahari comes from - the best treatise on the Divine Mother and Kundalini Shakti ever!...Vaishnavas aren't really into all that...

So, to say Adi Shankara was a Vaishnava, we'll put that with Adi Shankara was a Shaiva...a Vaishnava...a Shakta...and everything else....or maybe there wasn't just one person known as Shankaracharya...or maybe he just didn't exist.

Om Namah Shivay

I guess. IDK; am not sure. I'm not a specialist on Advaita-m. However, he praises Vishnu as Primordial Brahman more than he praises any other deity with that title.

 

[Contemplative Cat]

What he said is well known if you read shankara's comments, i.e. that advaita (or shall we say jnana-yoga) is not for most people (that's karma-yoga).

To quote Shankara's Gita intro:
"Of two kinds is the dharma dealt with in the Vedas: the one characterized by activity and the other by renunciation."

However, when he said: "What Krishna tells to Arjuna is only meant for Arjuna's ears." it goes against Shankara's Gita intro:

"Though the Lord had no purpose of His own to serve, yet with the sole desire of bestowing favour on men, He taught this twofold Vedic dharma to Arjuna, who was deeply sunk in the ocean of grief and delusion. "

It is slightly out of context. The Guy who started that thread was wondering why Krishna told Arjuna to fight and kill in a war over material gain.
The answer is that Arjuna's dharma is a Warrior-king, his dharma is not the same as a merchant or a Serf.
so its his duty to fight. If Krishna was talking to a bramana the dialogue would be totally different.

 

[Contemplative Cat]

Adi Shankara was born into a family of Smarta.
He worships the ParaAtman, he doesn't seem to care which deity someone uses.
The deity should suit an individuals disposition.

 

[Vinayaka]

Adi Shankara was born into a family of Smarta.
He worships the ParaAtman, he doesn't seem to care which deity someone uses.
The deity should suit an individuals disposition.

Why would he care? He's a Smarta. That's a fundamental belief of the Smarta sect.

I'm a Saiva and I don't care either ... for other people that is. For me personally I really care. But others can do what they want. There is an essential difference there. Smartas like to say that their philosophy is good for everybody, not just for themselves.

Smarta dilutes things, like mixing orange juice and milk. You never get that pure Saiva feel, nor that pure Vaishnava feel. It's this mixture thing that just never can be quite as mystically strong.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Not knowing what kind of 'Hindu' I was, I took the test. Turns out, I am a Traditionalist - who would have thunk it?
Quiz: What Type of Hindu Are You? - Beliefnet.com

Yeah, this comes on the back of 'I am not Smarta because I only worship Lord Shiva...I am not Samkhya nor Advaitin because I worship Lord Shiva...I am a 'Shaivite' I know that much, but what kind of Hindu?'

Now I know. lol

Om Namah Shivay

 

[Vinayaka]

Not knowing what kind of 'Hindu' I was, I took the test. Turns out, I am a Traditionalist - who would have thunk it?
Quiz: What Type of Hindu Are You? - Beliefnet.com

Funny quiz ... I got bhaktar... but "Would you allow your kids to marry outside the faith?" lol ... who in heck would write such a thing? My kids were adults when they married. I had absolutely no say in it.

 

[Jaskaran Singh]

Funny quiz ... I got bhaktar... but "Would you allow your kids to marry outside the faith?" lol ... who in heck would write such a thing? My kids were adults when they married. I had absolutely no say in it.

I got philosopher, which is a bit odd since none of the answers I picked had anything to do with the upaniShad-s.
Edit: Just for the heck of it, I took it again and went with all the ones which pertain to the upaniShad-s and philosophy and I got traditionalist. I assume the quiz got the two messed up, so the people who got traditionalist should have got philosopher and the people who got philosopher should have gotten traditionalist.

 

[Vinayaka]

Several times my answer was .. none of the above ... so yeah, it was definitely not well written. But who cares really, anyway? Most of us who have been around longer than 2 years know what kind of Hindu we are.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Some people think so. Others, not so much. He added another school, in his attempt to make one. So if you consider +1 as a unification, go for it. It didn't work as well as he thought, as evidenced by the fact that all the other schools continued to exist.

They have a right to exist. Hinduism does not throttle 'matas' (opinions). For this reason only Buddhism did not prosper in India as a separate religion. It was assimilated in Hinduism and Buddha made an avatara of Lord Vishnu. Sankara did not add anything, 'Advaita' was already there. It was not Sankara's invention. Did he write the 'mahavakyas' in the Upanishads? Vaishnavas, in particular, should be thankful to him for establishing the four places of pilgrimages which are till today the greatest pillars of Hinduism.

 

[Aupmanyav]

One of the best Advaita commentaries I have ever read ... Hindu Dharma Forums - View Single Post - the world is an illusion, but its real enough

Did Sankara ask anyone not to follow dharma? Did he not accept the reality of the world at the 'Vyavaharika level' and even accepted deities for people who cannot do without them? You do not read Sankara correctly.

 

[Vinayaka]

Did Sankara ask anyone not to follow dharma? Did he not accept the reality of the world at the 'Vyavaharika level' and even accepted deities for people who cannot do without them? You do not read Sankara correctly.

I've never read Sankara at all.

 

[Aupmanyav]

We aren't sure how widespread the Rig Vedic lifestyle actually was. For all we know, it was probably a group of 40-50 dudes and their offsprings, while a million plus around them worshipped other stuff.

IMHO, they were more than 40-50 dudes and their brats who called the Saraswati river settlements as Aryavarta/Brahmavarta. Do you think these 40-50 dudes and their brats could have made significant changes in culture and language of hundreds of millions of people, and in time, establish kingdoms. I think it was a sizable, continuous, and peaceful migration (just like how people of Sindh, Punjab, and Kashmir, migrated to other parts of India when things became intolerable in their lands).

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Several times my answer was .. none of the above ... so yeah, it was definitely not well written. But who cares really, anyway? Most of us who have been around longer than 2 years know what kind of Hindu we are.

Even when I was a Hindu before...for almost 20 years, nobody told me what kind of Hindu I was...I never belonged to any 'school' of Hinduism and I don't know if my husband did either...we never talked about it...I was just 'a Hindu'.

After one year now, back in the faith (Dec 6 2012)...Bhairava Appearance Day (BAD)...I still don't know what kind of Hindu I am...

I agree that the test is inaccurate, because everybody tells me that a Traditionalist I am definitely not...

So, how does one find out these things?

Om Namah Shivay

 

[Jaskaran Singh]

Even when I was a Hindu before...for almost 20 years, nobody told me what kind of Hindu I was...I never belonged to any 'school' of Hinduism and I don't know if my husband did either...we never talked about it...I was just 'a Hindu'.

After one year now, back in the faith (Dec 6 2012)...Bhairava Appearance Day (BAD)...I still don't know what kind of Hindu I am...

I agree that the test is inaccurate, because everybody tells me that a Traditionalist I am definitely not...

No one can tell you what you are or are not; it's eventually up to you to decide.

So, how does one find out these things?

Om Namah Shivay

If you don't know then perhaps you're still just a seeker, .

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

No one can tell you what you are or are not; it's eventually up to you to decide.

If you don't know then perhaps you're still just a seeker, .

Maybe...maybe...I know I am a Hindu, I know I am a Shaiva...apart from that, I know not.

Maybe I should start studying Shiva Siddhanta or something...maybe I am still seeking within that niche.

Maybe there just isn't a school I belong to and that is the problem?

Om Namah Shivay

 

[ShivaFan]

I took the quiz on what type of Hindu am I. It was fun.

It came back that I am: Philosopher

 

[Poeticus]

Even when I was a Hindu before...for almost 20 years, nobody told me what kind of Hindu I was...I never belonged to any 'school' of Hinduism....snip

I don't really see the above as a problem of great concern. Hundreds of millions of Hindus in India don't even know to which school they belong, let alone if they are even part of a particular sect/school.

Yet, the majority of them most likely go to a nearby temple, recite the Gayatri Mantra, light a little Diyā, and celebrate various Hindu holidays. IMHO, that's Hindu enough.

 

[Vinayaka]

So, how does one find out these things?

Om Namah Shivay

Lots of people don't care. At the temple I attend we have tons of people who don't care and don't know. The temple is a Saiva temple, and it's written in the constitution. It eliminates in-fighting about prominence of deities and all that. We refused a 50 000 donation in the beginning. The string was to put in a Venkateshwara. We suggested that would make a great start for a Venkateshara only temple. But the management of the temple is probably only 50-100 people. I'm not even a member any more. The other 1000 people who use it don't see it as being managed by anyone, but just as Ganesha's temple.

I know how I know I'm a Saiva. I bawled when I saw Nataraja for the first time. All the signs pointed in that direction. Many many more besides that. My first encounter with religion period had Siva written all over it. But for many, its not like that. So for most people it's not important .... at all.

Still some of us notice a very substantial difference.. in the energy, in the tolerance level, in the friendliness, in the simplicity versus complexity, and much more. That's why for people like that, like me, there are specific sects we can hang our hearts on.

I don't think it's anything to worry about, unless you really want to delve into a specific sampradaya/teacher/lineage to see where that leads you.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

I don't really see the above as a problem of great concern. Hundreds of millions of Hindus in India don't even know to which school they belong, let alone if they are even part of a particular sect/school.

Yet, the majority of them most likely go to a nearby temple, recite the Gayatri Mantra, light a little Diyā, and celebrate various Hindu holidays. IMHO, that's Hindu enough.

Thanks, hun. I needed that.

I should stop trying to pigeonhole myself when I am not even a pigeon and I am glad there are millions just like myself.

Om Namah Shivay

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Lots of people don't care. At the temple I attend we have tons of people who don't care and don't know. The temple is a Saiva temple, and it's written in the constitution. It eliminates in-fighting about prominence of deities and all that. We refused a 50 000 donation in the beginning. The string was to put in a Venkateshwara. We suggested that would make a great start for a Venkateshara only temple. But the management of the temple is probably only 50-100 people. I'm not even a member any more. The other 1000 people who use it don't see it as being managed by anyone, but just as Ganesha's temple.

I know how I know I'm a Saiva. I bawled when I saw Nataraja for the first time. All the signs pointed in that direction. Many many more besides that. My first encounter with religion period had Siva written all over it. But for many, its not like that. So for most people it's not important .... at all.

Still some of us notice a very substantial difference.. in the energy, in the tolerance level, in the friendliness, in the simplicity versus complexity, and much more. That's why for people like that, like me, there are specific sects we can hang out hearts on.

I don't think it's anything to worry about, unless you really want to delve into a specific sampradaya/teacher/lineage to see where that leads you.

Thank you also. That was the way I knew I was a Shaiva. No other form of God could illicit such emotion from me.

I guess it's one of those things that will work itself out with time. I am not really interested at the moment, but still it's nice to know where I 'belong' and if people ask me, what do I say? I don't know what to say. Maybe I should just say 'Om Namah Shivay' if I am asked...yeah, that will do.

Om Namah Shivay