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Re:Demi God worship

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bindinganavale suresh • September 5, 2000 


Dear Bhagavathas,
   It was nice reading the opinions of people of the
list regarding this topic and i would like to share my
understanding of the vedanta darshana of
Sri Ramanuja ,popularly known as visistaadvaitha 
with respect to the topic in question.

The essence of Visistaadvaitha philosophy is the
"Existence of One supreme Reality known as Brahman or
Narayana having the cit(finite conscious entity called
jiva) and acit(matter) as his modes or attributes
along with other infinite auspicious qualities
inherent in it and a life led in this
world by an individual soul based on the above
understanding will finally lead him to the
experience(Darshana or intution) of that One supreme
reality,having attained which there is nothing more to
be attained or desired".

So,Visistaadvaitha philosophy is not just a theory but
also a "Way of Life",which has to be lived and the
nature of realities propounded by it has to be
realized if one wishes to attain the Highest,as the
Upanishads Say"The Knower of Brahman attains the
highest".Sri vaishnavism is the practical	
visistaadvaitha vedantha and it looses its meaning if
the philosophy behind it is forgotten.

A common factor all theistic philosophies in the world
agree is that there is only one supreme creator or
God.
All this leads to the conclusion that there might be
any number of philosophies and corresponding religious
faiths,but all lead to the same Goal i.e one God.
As all of us are parts or amsas of the one supreme
God,
we all live,move and have our being in that one whole.
		 
As God is the center of existence in all of us,all
terms finally connote him in reality.
If we worship the supreme reality by asserting that
he is Narayana or Shiva or Allah,all are correct and
will hold good as it points to the same supreme
reality as "his qualities",which are true facts.
Even,worshipping a jiva,which is a part of God
qualified as a Demi God is not wrong provided the
knowledge of the one supreme qualified all pervading
reality is not lost.If we are confused as to who among
the gods we know is the supreme reality,we should not
worry as we know that there is only one supreme
reality called as vishnu,narayana,shiva or vasudeva
based on "his qualities",who is infinitely
powerful,merciful and always ready to educate his
erring conscious amsas in ignorance and take them 
to their highest good.
		 
In short,all that is required is understanding the
essentials of any theistic philosophy based on one's
personal appeal and following the same sincerely 
with the view of attaining the one common Goal pointed
to by all and not getting lost in speculation or
dogmatism or fanaticism.

The above is only my opinion and all errors are mine
and can be ignored.

Sri Krishnaarpanamasthu
Suresh B.N.


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