Vishnu and Shiva

[Vaidya Sundaram]

namaskaram.
 On the same line of thought, I would also refer to a post on Feb 11 2002 by
Ramakrishnan where he also drives home the point that without a Guru to help
you understand the meaning of the Vedas, we are lost souls.
bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Vidyasankar" <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: Vishnu and Shiva


> It looks like my message got sent in a truncated manner. Apologies for the
> double post.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> I have been trying to keep out of this discussion, but may I just point
out
> a few problems?
>
> 1. The devI sUkta begins, "ahaM rudrebhir vasubhiS carAmy aham Adityair
uta
> viSvedevaiH" - Note that rudra is in plural, i.e. the 11 rudra-s, not the
> one Rudra as we think in popular terms. Similarly with vasu, i.e. the 8
> vasu-s and Aditya, i.e. the 12 Aditya-s.
>
> 2. Note that if you are to interpret this as meaning that devI is the
power
> behind rudra, so also is She the power behind Aditya. And we know from
gItA
> 10.21-23 that vishNu is one of the Aditya-s (AdityAnAm ahaM vishNuH), just
> as Sankara is one of the rudra-s (rudrANAM SankaraS cAsmi).
>
> 3. It is meaningless to take vedic sUkta-s selectively and to interpret
> them as one pleases. Along with Srikrishna, I would urge a good study of
> the bRhaddevatA, as also the commentary of sAyaNAcArya on the Rgveda,
> before venturing to form one's own opinions.
>
> Vidyasankar
>