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Devotional Vedic-Hindu Traditions
Textual Sources
• Theism (belief in a single Supreme personal being)
emerges in many of the later Upanishads (8th-6th
centuries BCE).
• Theism is an important motif in the Epic literature of
India beginning around the 5th century BCE.
• The Bhagavad Gita (circa 300 BCE), for example,
emphasized the ultimately personal nature of
ultimate reality (Brahman), as well as its
manifestation in human form as Bhagavan (Lord)
Krishna.
The Puranas
• Hindu devotional traditions are also based on the
various texts called the Puranas, which were
composed largely during the Gupta period (circa 320500 century CE), and revised during the medieval
period.
• The Puranas are conceptually influenced by aspects
of both the Upanishads and Epic literature. As such
they are an interesting blend of non-dual philosophy,
cosmology, and theism.
The Puranas
• The Puranas are essential for understanding worship
of the gods in the mainline devotional traditions of
India today.
• Although acknowledging many of the different gods
of the Hindu pantheon, the Puranas demonstrate the
rise in popularity of the worship of Vishnu and the
worship of Shiva as the Supreme being.
• Some of the Puranas are written from a sectarian
viewpoint in which Vishnu or Shiva is the Supreme
being, and all other gods are subordinate entities.
Brahman as Personal God
• The Upanishads also refer to Brahman under various
attributes (saguna Brahman), including those
indicative of personhood: knowledge, will, and moral
goodness (Svetasvatara Upanishad, VI.1-23).
• Some passages in Mundaka Upanishad subordinate
imperishable Brahman to the supreme “Purusha”
(person).
• Other later Upanishads emphasize personal theism
(e.g. Katha, Isa, and Svetasvatara).
Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva
The Trimurti (three forms) represent formless Brahman
manifested or immanent in the cosmic processes of
creation, preservation, and dissolution/recreation of
the cosmos. This is the meaning of the mantra OM or
AUM.
Bhakti Renaissance
• Between the 6th to 9th centuries CE, bhakti traditions grew in
intensity in South India among many poets and mystics, and
by the 11th century were widespread in North India.
• The worship of Vishnu (Vaishnavism) and Shiva (Shaivism) as
the Supreme being were the prominent general forms of
religious worship in the Bhakti traditions.
• Bhakti traditions emphasized the loss of ego in total surrender
and love for God, often rejecting more formalized aspects of
religious worship (formal temple worship, yoga, and
theology).
Contemporary Devotional
Traditions
Vaishnavism:
Worship of Vishnu
or Krishna as the
Supreme Being.
Vaishnava Traditions
• Vaishnavism designates a variety of different
traditions centered on the worship of Vishnu (or
Krishna) and his many expansions or manifestations.
• Some Vaishnava traditions (dvaita) are strongly
dualistic in nature, affirming a distinction between
God, the world, and souls. Others (Vishishtadvaita)
are non-dualistic with qualification: souls are part of
God’s being. Others (Gaudiya Vaishnavism) affirm
the simultaneous difference and non-difference
between the Self and God.
Shaivism: Worship
of Shiva as the
Supreme Being.
Saiva Siddhanta:
Dualistic – Shiva and the
devotee are distinct.
Kasmir Shaivism:
Non-dualism – Shiva and
the devotee are nondistinct, whose essential
nature is consciousness.
Shaktism: Worship
of Shakti or Devi
– the Divine
Mother – as the
Supreme Being.
Rooted in the Puranas
and Tantric texts.
Less clearly defined
than Vaishnavism and
Shaivism.
Often indistinguishable
from Shaivism.
Durga – warrior manifestation of Shakti
Kali – feminine power of destruction
Smartism: Worship of one’s own chosen deity as one
among many different manifestations of formless
Brahman. Philosophically grounded in Advaita Vedanta.
Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva
The Non-Dual interpretation of Brahman implies that
“gods” represent different provisional manifestations of
formless Brahman.
“Truth is one, but the sages call it by different names.”
– Rig Veda
Vedanta in the United States
The Advaita tradition came to the United States in the
last quarter of the 20th century through the teachings
of Swami Vivekananda (right), the great disciple of
19th century guru Sri Ramakrishna (left).
Vedanta in the United States
The Bhakti tradition came to the United States in the
1960s under the guidance of A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna
movement (a species of Vaishnavism)
References
• Steven Rosen, Essential Hinduism (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006).
• R.C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (New York: Schocken
Books, 1969), Chapters 2-4.
• R.C. Zaehner, Hinduism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972).
• Swami Prabhavanda, The Spiritual Heritage of India: A Clear
Summary of Indian Philosophy and Religion (Hollywood, CA: Vedanta
Press, 1979), Chapters 1-3.
• Gavin Flood, Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press,
1996).
• Hans Torwesten, Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism (New York: Grove Press,
1991), Chapter 1.
• Dominic Goodall (ed.), Hindu Scriptures (Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 1996).