Does there exist non-maya?

[sunsoul]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

This is the simplistic view written by indologists trying to study Hinduism at the turn of the century. Although it made it into encyclopedias, and has somehow managed to stay there, it has very little bearing to the reality of Hinduism, just like a whole lot of western indologists interpretation of Hinduism. So best to discard that as wrong information.

The three represent three factors in the continuous cycle - emanation (wrongly translated as creation ... (using the Abrahamic lens to view something outside of it) sustaining, and then dissolution (wrongly translated as destruction ... again, looking through the wrong lens). Within Saivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism, all three of these stages in the cosmic cycle are included and done by each individual God. So for me, Siva does all 3. For a Vaishnavite, Vishnu does all 3, etc.

There is incredibly little worship of Brahma in India today. Shakti (any of several 'female' versions of God.) should be the one mentioned instead, as its very popular. The whole male-female thing is incorrect as well. It's far more accurate to think unmanifest-manifest, or even cause-effect.

Although I strongly agree with your sentiments about oversimplifying Hinduism and the errors of some Indologists I think you start to generalise somewhat here..

The Trimurti is not a creation of western ethnographers, it is part of orthodox Hindu belief. Of course, Shaivites or Vaishnavas would see it differently but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist as a Hindu belief.

There are creation stories in Hinduism. The Aryans didn't come out of nowhere and some of them passed into Iran and further afield. You can see parallels in certain creation stories from India, the Middle East and Iran. Indian mythology wasn't somehow protected or insulated from parallel belief systems in other regions and cultures.

There are stories detailing how the world came into being in the Puranas and other Vedic literature. I think we can say that creation stories and the identification of Brahma as a creator god didn't really hold as much importance as in other religions. There are only about two Brahma temples in India, and hundreds of temples dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva and a variety of other gods.

[Vinayaka]

Sunsoul, I agree with what you say. I do tend to overgeneralise in the process of simplifying things. It's tough with the complexity of our religion.

[sunsoul]

You certainly understand a lot about your religion. I always appreciate your insights. I just thought some added points necessary.

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by sunsoul

Yes, ajay. According to the Indian constitution it lists 22 official languages. However, according to the census of India (2001) there are 122 major languages, and 1599 other languages.

Well, I had to correct you since you stated that we had over a 100 official languages.


We have over a thousand unofficial languages as well.