| Essence Of Hinduism |
 |
HINDU PHILOSOPHY |
|
| As
Sivajnanasiddhiar puts it, "The Vedas are general and given out for all, the Agamas
are special and revealed for the benefit of the blessed, and they contain the essential truths of the Veda and Vedanta. Both are said to be given out by God." According to this system the supreme Reality is Siva. He is omnipotent, omni present, omniscient, eternal, changeless, free and perfect. But above all he is Love-the only quality that we can comprehend. His in finite love reveals itself in the five divine acts of the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe (in accordance with the Law of Karma) and the obscuration and liberation of souls (in accordance with Grace). Siva acts through His Sakti, which is conscious energy. While He is pure consciousness and matter is pure unconsciousness. Sakti is the intermediate link between the two. The universe, which undergoes evolution for the benefit of souls, is real and eternal. The Saiva Siddhanta analyses it into thirty-six tattvas or principles, as against the twenty-five of the Samkhya system. The world of matter and souls forms the body of the Lord. Souls (pasau) are in their nature infinite, eternal and omniscient like God (pati). But they imagine themselves to be finite, temporary and ignorant. This is due to the fact that they are in bonds (pasa). The bonds are of three kinds anava, karma and maya. The first is the false notion of finiteness. This is the same in all beings. The second is karma, which is the result of activities of various beings in the cycle of samsara. It is karma that brings about the conjunction of the soul with its appropriate body. |
|
| About Hindu Philosophy |
