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Arav
02 February 2011, 07:11 PM
I really enjoy Hinduism and it is the religion that I have chosen as my own. But the thing that I have trouble with is choosing a philosophy, such as Advaita, Dvaita, etc.

So my question is, do I have to choose a philisophical standpoint? I know my path is Bhakti, but I dont care about the philosophy, I just want to do Bhakti. I thought that perhaps threw that, the truth will be revealed naturally.

I have chosen to be a non-sectarian Hindu, I dont want to choose a denomination. But I just want to do Bhakti to Krishna, thats all. Is it possible to do all of that without the philosophical standpoints like Advaita and Dvaita? But to perhaps not worry about that yet and just perform devotional service?

Eastern Mind
02 February 2011, 08:24 PM
I really enjoy Hinduism and it is the religion that I have chosen as my own. But the thing that I have trouble with is choosing a philosophy, such as Advaita, Dvaita, etc.

So my question is, do I have to choose a philisophical standpoint? I know my path is Bhakti, but I dont care about the philosophy, I just want to do Bhakti. I thought that perhaps threw that, the truth will be revealed naturally.

I have chosen to be a non-sectarian Hindu, I dont want to choose a denomination. But I just want to do Bhakti to Krishna, thats all. Is it possible to do all of that without the philosophical standpoints like Advaita and Dvaita? But to perhaps not worry about that yet and just perform devotional service?

Vannakkam Arav: You'd fit right in in many areas of India. That's mostly all they do there ... bhakti. If you ask a philosophical question not related to bhakti, you'll get a weird stare. Dualism versus monism? What's that?

So, in short, its absolutely okay. Philosophy can run you around in confused circles anyway.

Aum Namasivaya

yajvan
02 February 2011, 09:30 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté arav,

It seems you have chosen a path already, no?
If you have chosen kṛṣṇa-ji then it seems to me it would be wise to consider His teaching. You will find all you need in the bhāgavad gītā ( a part of the mahābhārata).

See what kṛṣṇa says about knowledge, action and devotion, it is most uplifting.

praṇām

Ramakrishna
02 February 2011, 11:44 PM
Namaste Arav,

Eastern Mindji and Yajvanji have spoken wise words. I believe that most (or at least a lot) of Vaishnavas, and definitely ISKCON, believe in Dvaita philosophy. But I myself am a nonsectarian worshipper of Lord Krishna and I am of the Advaita mindset.

Certainly just concentrating on pure bhakti towards Sri Krishna and not getting caught up or concentrating too much on philosophies is fine. Although it would help in terms of comprising an overarching worldview to see which philosophy you connect to, it certainly is no problem that you don't desire to. Pure bhakti alone can get you where you want to.

Jai Sri Krishna

Sahasranama
03 February 2011, 03:39 AM
If you are interested in the philosophy of bhakti, you may also want to study the Narada Bhakti Sutras or the Shandilya Bhakti Sutras. People from all philosophical schools have used them, just like the Bhagavad Gita has been commented upon by different acharyas.

http://naradabhaktisutra.com/en1
http://www.arshabodha.org/bhaktisutra.html
http://www.yrf.org/ (look for videos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfGFHJJ0WU
http://nitaaiveda.com/All_Scriptures_By_Acharyas/Shandilya_Muni/Shandilya_Bhakti_Sutras.htm

Arav
03 February 2011, 09:02 AM
Thank you all very much for your help. Though, I was thinking, maybe it would be good to have some sort of philosophy. I really like Visistadvaita, but does that mean I have to become a SriVaisnava? I dont want to do that, I just want the philosophy of Qualified Non-Dualism, but without having to become a SriVaisnava or having to follow, too much, Ramanujacharya.

In a sense, I just want the perspective of Visistadvaita, but without becoming a SriVaisnava or following all the teachings of Ramanujacharya.

TheOne
03 February 2011, 04:05 PM
I have nearly the exact same problem as you except that I believe that everything is ultimately non-dual but can be abstracted through the dual and I don't find any single deity more "important" than any others even though I'm drawn to certain gods such as Brahma, Ganesha, Hanuman, Shakti, and Shiva.


I'm only starting to realize that unlike most other religions in the world Sanatana Dharma doesn't have the concept of "sect" like we do in the west. If we tried to denote every possible interpretation of the divine we would end up with trillions because every person on this earth had a different personal way to connect with the divine. This is not as much denying the existance of labels such as "Saivite, Vashnaiva, Shakti, Smarta, etc." but its the realization that these labels in and of themselves are just a word to put on your census under religion + religious denomination. Someones personal connection to divine transcends these labels and that's why you see people in rural India identify themselves as Sanatanis when in fact they might be devoted in Bhakti to Vishnu because that is there way of saying what Sanatana Dharma is to them.

Sahasranama
04 February 2011, 04:57 AM
Someones personal connection to divine transcends these labels and that's why you see people in rural India identify themselves as Sanatanis when in fact they might be devoted in Bhakti to Vishnu because that is there way of saying what Sanatana Dharma is to them.Sanatanis is a word used by traditional Hindus, it's often used in the opposite to neo-Hindu movements like the Arya Samaj. You might come across the term "Samajis versus Sanatanis." Samajis have attacked Sanatanis by criticising our rituals, gods and scriptures. That's why there is this distinction, although they like to call themselves followers of Arya Sanatana Dharma. The Samajis are veda fundamentalists, they reject everything that is not sanctified by the vedas according to them, although they have severely distorted the meanings of the vedas. They have been influenced a lot by reform movements like the brahmo samaj, theosophy and the protestants. Sanatani is thus used for people who follow the itihasas, puranas or agamas and tantras besides the vedas, since we believe that these are necessary to properly interpret the vedic wisdom.

One example to show how the Samajis have reinterpretated the vedic rituals is this. Sanatanis believe that the fire sacrifice is a devotional offering to the gods, while Samajis have adopted new age notions and say that the fire sacrifice is only a tool to purify the air with the combination of mantric vibrations and medicinal smoke. This is just one example of their pseudo-rationalism, if this the only purpose of the fire sacrifice, then we could build a factory to burn the samagri and play a cassette of vedic mantras.

There are more nonsense arguments fromt he samajis. When the founder of the Arya Samaj was still young, he did puja of the Shivalingam. While he was doing jagran, the rest of the family was asleep. He was from a north Indian Shaiva Brahmin family. During the puja, a mouse came at the altar and ate some of the prasadam offered to Shiva. Dayananda thought, if this Shivalingam were God, why did he not kill the mouse? This is a stupid argument, why would lord Pashupati kill a mouse for eating prasadam. We all might have some mistakes in our puja to Shiva, he did not kill us, so why would he kill a cute little mouse. All while Shiva is called Pashupati and Parvati Akitabrahma Janani, the mother of all creatures, from a small little insect to Brahma, why would Shiva kill the mouse for eating prasada? All that happened is that His child in the form of a mouse has taken part of the grace of eating Shiva's prasadam. But because of this incident, the samajis with their pseudo rational mindset don't worship idols or any of the Hindu gods. They have a special hatred against Ganesha, the god who rides on a mouse and they are fond of saying all kind of nasty things about our deities.

The purpose of this post was to give you some perspective on how the term Sanatani is used in north India, so if you want to choose a path, Sanatana Dharma is a good choice.

saidevo
04 February 2011, 07:18 AM
namaste Arav.



Though, I was thinking, maybe it would be good to have some sort of philosophy. I really like Visistadvaita, but does that mean I have to become a SriVaisnava? I dont want to do that, I just want the philosophy of Qualified Non-Dualism, but without having to become a SriVaisnava or having to follow, too much, Ramanujacharya.


You are perfectly at leberty to be a vishiShTAdvaitin without being a vaiShNava. To be a vaiShNava, you need to wear their symbol called Urdhva-puNDram--the shaivas' symbol is bhasma puNDram,--perform their rituals, go to their temples and attend their satsangha and so on. You need not do any of these external activities, and still be a vishiShTAdvaitin to immerse yourself in bhakti--devotion, towards shrI KRShNa (who is a avatar of mahAviShNu).

However, as you get more serious in bhakti, you would find that you need to relate to the deity. The beauty of this concept is that the relationship can be dynamical: you can relate to the deity, with you in a junior relationship, as a child, servant, friend, or consort, as your bhakti takes you, at different points of time, so long as you are sincere about it.

Hindu religion recognizes three types of prArthanA--prayer: iShTa-kAmyArtha--for a specific wish, AtmArtha--for discovering the Self, and loka-kShema--welfare of the world. Here too your prayers can be as dynamic as required. In the first kind, you focus on your personal self and family, with desire as the driving force. In the second, you focus on your deity seeking his grace to discover your real nature, with love of the Self as the driving force. In the last, you focus on the people around you and the world in general, with altruistic love as the driving force.

IMO, the best way to start is to read about and contemplate the glories of shrI KRShNa. A non-sectorial English translation of shrImad bhAgavatam purANa could be an ideal text here. Once you are familiar enough with the divine personality of shrI KRShNa, you would be driven to his teachings, at which time, you can read the mAhAbhArata and the gItA.

All the best.