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Thread: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

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    which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    And can you tell me a little about it? Of the Hindu deities I am aware of I am most inclined to worship of Shiva. He seems to represent Jnana Yoga whereas Krishna seems to represent more a Bhakti stance and I am more inclined to Jnana. I have not had a chance to look into the different forms of Shaivism yet so I was wondering if any of you practitioners here could give me a brief introduction. I looked into Kashmir Shaivism and it didn't really resonate with me. I admire the intricate philosophy involved in so many schools of Hinduism and when I find one that works for me I would love to learn it's philosophy as fully as I can but right now I want something that aims at direct immeditae transformation of my experience of life, greater understanding of and communion with divinity and awareness of the divinity within. I was reading Dasgupta's five volume history of Indian Philosophy but it was just page after page of abstract information that seemed irrelevant to my personal experience... sorry for the long post. I am just desperate for something to practice. I have been trying to understand God for ten years and haven't even found a good path to follow yet. Every time I think I might be on the right track and then realize I'm following a dead end it induces a horrendous depression... anyway, Thank you.

    Stevie

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Quote Originally Posted by shays860 View Post
    And can you tell me a little about it? Of the Hindu deities I am aware of I am most inclined to worship of Shiva. He seems to represent Jnana Yoga whereas Krishna seems to represent more a Bhakti stance and I am more inclined to Jnana. I have not had a chance to look into the different forms of Shaivism yet so I was wondering if any of you practitioners here could give me a brief introduction. I looked into Kashmir Shaivism and it didn't really resonate with me. I admire the intricate philosophy involved in so many schools of Hinduism and when I find one that works for me I would love to learn it's philosophy as fully as I can but right now I want something that aims at direct immeditae transformation of my experience of life, greater understanding of and communion with divinity and awareness of the divinity within. I was reading Dasgupta's five volume history of Indian Philosophy but it was just page after page of abstract information that seemed irrelevant to my personal experience... sorry for the long post. I am just desperate for something to practice. I have been trying to understand God for ten years and haven't even found a good path to follow yet. Every time I think I might be on the right track and then realize I'm following a dead end it induces a horrendous depression... anyway, Thank you.

    Stevie
    Vannakkam: Generally speaking, there are six schools, but various places will give them slightly different names, depending on who did the research.
    Here is one link that gives brief summaries.

    http://www.saivism.net/sects/index.asp

    Personally, I follow Shaiva Siddhanta as taught by Subramuniyaswami, and his successor, Bodhinatha, of Saiva Siddhanta Church in Hawaii. It's called the Nandinatha sampradaya. Lots of introductory information can be found on the Kauai Aadheenam website, and the introductory course consists of free on-line lessons which basically involve daily study of Subramuniysami's trilogy, Dancing (philosophy), Living (daily life), and Merging (mysticism, yoga) with Siva.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Dear shays,

    The Chinmaya mission will teach you a particular school of thought called Advaita Vedanta as you move forward in your course. I will personally advise you that you stick to one philosophy as Shaivism and its various schools could potentially use different terminologies and confuse you. I mean to say that when ultimately you want to learn Advaita vedanta then it is much better to move ahead with Advaita vedanata thought. That said you should definitely check out various scriptures which represent Shiva. Shiva Sutras of vasugupta tell a lot about Shiva and Jiva. It is a very nice work. if you are interested in various leelas or divine plays of Shiva then Vayu Puran or Shiva Puran can be of help. But from what I perceive, Chinmaya Mission actually asks you to chose Shiva as your Ista-devata and not as a God as depicted in Shaivism.

    If you still want to know about Shaivism which gives a lot emphasis on Jnana Yoga, then Nath tradition of sri Gorakshnath can be very enlightening for you. Apart from nath sampradaya, shaiva siddhanta which respected EM ji follows is also a very good school. My regrets and apologies if my reply has not been helpful to you.
    When the light has risen, there is no day, no night, neither existence nor non-existence; Siva alone is there. That is the eternal, the adorable light of Savitri, - and the ancient wisdom proceeded thence (Svetasvatara Upanishad IV-18). :)

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Quote Originally Posted by isavasya View Post
    Nath tradition of sri Gorakshnath can be very enlightening for you. Apart from nath sampradaya, shaiva siddhanta which respected EM ji follows is also a very good school. My regrets and apologies if my reply has not been helpful to you.
    Vannakkam: The Natha sampradaya is split with very few and minor differences. Sri Gorakshnath school is caled the Adinatha school, whereas Nandinatha and his disciple Tirumular are the Nandinatha school. Gorakshnath's school remained itn he north, while the other moved primarily to TN, where it has great influence today.

    The primary difference betweenm Advaitha Vedanta and the Natha sampradaya is a greater focus on bhakti, and the successive stages of arriving at jnana in the latter. But the end result, Vedanta, or monism, is the same.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Mind View Post
    Vannakkam: The Natha sampradaya is split with very few and minor differences. Sri Gorakshnath school is caled the Adinatha school, whereas Nandinatha and his disciple Tirumular are the Nandinatha school. Gorakshnath's school remained itn he north, while the other moved primarily to TN, where it has great influence today.

    The primary difference betweenm Advaitha Vedanta and the Natha sampradaya is a greater focus on bhakti, and the successive stages of arriving at jnana in the latter. But the end result, Vedanta, or monism, is the same.

    Aum Namasivaya
    Namaskar EM ji,

    You make a very good point which I have also pondered over many times. The end result of natha sampradaya is same as Advaita Vedanta school. Only the initial practices differ.

    Dear Shays
    I think Natha sampradaya could be of interest to you. One thing I know about Natha Siddhas is that they aim to get Moksha in this very birth itself. So it actually is a very good school of thought and also contains Advaita teachings and emphasis is on jnana.
    When the light has risen, there is no day, no night, neither existence nor non-existence; Siva alone is there. That is the eternal, the adorable light of Savitri, - and the ancient wisdom proceeded thence (Svetasvatara Upanishad IV-18). :)

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Thank you for your answers. I will look into Shiva Sidhanta again as I am already slightly acquainted with it.

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Namaste Shays,

    I have also pondered this very question! I am also new to this path and not familiar with the depth and intricacies of all of the paths that lead to Lord Shiva, but I have also find myself coming back to the Saiva Siddhanta path over and over. They have a ton of great resources, such as easy to digest free ebooks and other publications. Personally, I have found their daily emails on the Master Course which Eastern Mind mentioned to be very helpful in guiding me daily. You can sign up for the daily emails here: http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=&Pub...&portal=331383. There are also several other newsletters which you can also select as well. Just go through the list and check or uncheck the subscriptions you want. By default they are all checked, and there are a lot, so personally I would make sure to read through and deselect some or else you will be getting a lot of emails. As well as the Master Course, I also subscribe to the Tirukural (which is on the list twice, so don't check both or you will get it twice every day), and Vedic Verses.

    I hope you find this information as helpful as it has been to me.

    Aum Namah Shivaya!
    Om Namah Shivaya

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    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    http://www.saivism.net/ has some good information... look to the left pane under the section "Sects of Saivism"...

    Sects Of Saivism

    Saiva Siddhanta
    Vira Saivism
    Kashmiri Saivism
    Gorakhnatha Saivism
    Pasupatha Saivism
    The Ganapatya Sect


    http://www.saivism.net/

    Om Namah Sivaya

  9. #9

    Re: which form of Shaivism do you practice?

    Namaste Shays,

    I simply do Japa to him Offer my oblations to the sacred fire and I begun reading the shiva purana,I try to do a shiva puja every year and I have also begun to think about my daily tasks and how do I make each one of them an offering at the same time.Honestly I dont know what category this falls under but it has been life changing for me.

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