Quote:
Originally Posted by handy guy
there are various vehicles....which are different....and thus they reach different realizations and truths.
Do they all end up at the same Truth? Some say they do which sounds plausible. (at least at the end of this long cosmic cycle?) Anyway since you sound like an expert on the matter and are apparently beyond the use or need of vehicles, tell us- do the truths and vehicles of both Buddhism and Hinduism reach the "Self"? One answer from many Vedic based Self realized Satguru's (and many Buddhist Lama's) is no, they do not.
For instance Swami Lakshman Joo, a K.S. Satguru, said they do not.
Btw, anyone else is welcome to jump in with their take...
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Namaste.
This is going to be very personal and also difficult to explain.
When most people think "Shiva", they think of a formless, all-pervading energy.... of Consciousness itself, which is what everybody is at their core..All thanks to Adi Shankaracharya who composed Atma Shatakam..."Chidananda Rupah.. Shivoham... Shivoham".
Even Sadhguru (Jaggi Vasudev) says that Shiva means "that which is not"...When the word, "Shiva" actually means AUSPICIOUS ONE!...also, if Shiva means "that which is not", then just what IS that 112 ft bust of this "thing" outside Isha Foundation HQ? because it cannot be Shiva, can it?
What is that thing dancing outside of CERN LHC? Nah..That cannot be Shiva, because Shiva does not exist!
I mean, while MOST people are at the level of associating Shiva with a formless, endless energy a.k.a JYOTIR LINGAM, I am still stuck, I guess, associating Shiva with His Puranic, Saguna form...You know, the One with the blue throat (Neelkantha) who has the crescent moon in hair (Chandrasekhar), who has the Ganges in matted locks (Gangadharaya/Jatadharaya), who has the Third Eye which destroyed Kama Deva (Tryambakaya - Trikalagni Rudraaya), who has the serpent Patanjali Vasuki around neck (Bhujanga) who rides a white bull (Nandeshwara), who has skin as white as Camphor or Jasmine (Karpoor Gauram Mallikarjuna)...and you know my dear readers, I could go on all DAY with this... extolling the glories and passtimes of Lord Shiva... INCLUDING the time He appeared as the Jyotir Lingam and tasked Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu with finding the beginning and the end of it.
So, I KNOW that I am not Shiva!!! Shiva is Brahman and I am also Brahman..I am identical in the spiritual sense WITH Shiva, but I don't have a blue throat or ride a bull the last time I looked...and there will also be those who will say that it is all "symbolic"..Yes, it is symbolic, but I also take all of that symbolism quite literally as well...Quite literally!
However, I am fully aware that Shiva is, in NO way limited to and by this appearance...the way that I learned about Lord Shiva. I mean, becoming Veerbhadra Avatar and decapitating Prajapati Daksh was one of His more
endearing moments! It is His "Yaksha Roopam" that totally melts my heart (I guess I am just weird that way).
So, when others say "Shiva is pure, formless Consciousness"..Well, for THEM He is like that, but for me...Nope! BRAHMAN is pure, formless Consciousness, while Shiva is that shining, angelic, holy dude who sits in Samadhi on Mt Kailash with Kali Ma and all their attending ganas.
Aum Namah Shivaya