[Advaita-l] Shaiva, Vaishnava, etc. sects created by Shiva - Devi Bhagavata

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste Subbuji

On Sun, 30 Jul, 2023, 6:41 pm V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> In this chapter on worship of Devi (Brahman) it is stated that:
>
> देवीभागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः ०७/अध्यायः ३९
> https://sa.wikisource.org/s/ite
>
> The sects - shaiva, vaishnava, saura, shakta and ganapatya and agama - are
> basically meant for those who are not yet ready for vaidika dharma.


"these sects were instituted by Shankara himself" शङ्करेण प्रणीताः

Of
> these sects those aspects that are not contradictory to vaidika dharma are
> acceptable/adaptable for vaidika practitioners.
>
> शैवाश्च वैष्णवाश्श्चैव सौराः शाक्तास्तथैव च ।
> गाणपत्या आगमाश्च प्रणीताः शङ्करेण तु ॥ ३० ॥
> तत्र वेदाविरुद्धांशोऽप्युक्त एव क्वचित्क्वचित् ।
> वैदिकैस्तद्ग्रहे देषो न भवत्येव कर्हिचित् ॥ ३१ ॥
>
> This chapter has many concepts of the Veda - Purushasukta, the Bh.Gita,
> etc.  A reading of the entire chapter will be beneficial. It's Advaitic
> flavour is readily perceptible.
>
> Om
>

The above verse could be interpreted in two ways - the modern "historical"
method.
"These other sects like gANapatyas evolved organically independent of the
Vedic tradition and was slowly "sanskritized" and assimilated in to the
Vedic tradition after doing away with some of their more heretic/unorthodox
practices." Shiva was regarded as veda bAhya, gaNapati was a fierce and
violent village guardian diety. The tribalistic goddess worship was
gradually modified and assimilated in to Vedic tradition."

The second method would be the traditional understanding viz., the very
origin of all these sects is the Vedas alone. So they are all authentic  So
the talk of "partial acceptance" of their practices should not even arise.
However some degeneration had indeed crept in in to these traditions. So a
certain sectarianism, fanaticism is present is certain of the texts
belonging to these sects. Thise degenerate elements are to be disowned and
the rest of the practices and ideas of these sects can be adopted by
vaidikas".

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