If Reality is NON-DUAL, Why are there so many GODS in Hinduism?

00:17:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBd3aHnVnuE

摘要

TLDRThe discussion addresses the apparent contradiction between the concept of non-dual Brahman as the ultimate reality in Hindu philosophy, particularly Advaita Vedanta, and the theistic portrayal of gods like Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva in Hindu traditions. This is reconciled by the principle of 'adhikari bheda', which recognizes the diversity among individuals in terms of their educational, social, and spiritual backgrounds and allows for varied religious teachings suited to individual needs. It emphasizes that Hindu scriptures cater to different spiritual levels much like educational curriculum—starting with basic teachings and moving to more complex ones as the student matures. Various scriptures and schools of thought (Dvaita, Vishishta Advaita, and Advaita) cater to these different levels. The ocean-wave metaphor illustrates these Vedantic philosophies, showing how one concept like the ocean can be viewed in different ways based on perspective. This principle is crucial because it ensures that the spiritual needs of individuals are respected and catered to, offering a refreshing flexibility different from the rigidity seen in some other religious traditions.

心得

  • 💡 Adhikari Bheda is a key principle allowing diverse teachings based on personal differences.
  • 🧘 Non-dual Brahman is the ultimate reality in Advaita, yet many gods are acknowledged due to spiritual diversity.
  • 📚 Hindu scriptures are varied to suit individuals' spiritual progress similar to educational subjects.
  • 🌊 The ocean-wave metaphor explains different Vedanta concepts—waves as souls, the ocean as reality.
  • 👥 The recognition of personal preferences in worship is unique to Hinduism, promoting individual spiritual paths.
  • 📖 Advaita, Vishishta Advaita, and Dvaita are different Vedantic schools addressing similar realities from varied perspectives.
  • 🛤️ Spiritual progress is akin to a learning curve, beginning with basics and advancing as one matures.
  • 🙏 Prayer and different forms of god help accommodate diverse devotional needs and preferences.
  • 🔍 The flexibility in Hindu teachings contrasts with the one-size-fits-all approach in some other religions.
  • 📌 No scripture or teaching can be deemed universally best; each has its own suitability based on readiness.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Sandeep from Peoria, Illinois asks why Hindu teachings mention multiple gods when non-duality, or advaita, promotes the idea of a single reality known as Brahman. This apparent contradiction can be understood through the principle of adhikari bheda, which acknowledges different capabilities and inclinations among people, allowing for diverse teachings suited to individual needs. This principle is similar to varied educational curricula designed for students at different levels, where advanced topics aren't taught before foundational knowledge is established. Similarly, spiritual teachings cater to varied levels of understanding, starting with basics and moving to complex ideas like non-duality as one advances.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Before grasping advanced non-duality concepts, spiritual seekers must develop qualities such as discernment, detachment, and self-control, which are facilitated by beginner teachings and practices. Advanced students sometimes mistakenly claim Advaita Vedanta's superiority due to its focus on the highest reality. However, just as different educational books serve different purposes, various Hindu scriptures are intended for different audiences, offering guidance from basic to complex teachings. For instance, the Upanishads focus on non-duality for prepared learners, whereas texts like the Ramayana emphasize righteousness, and the Puranas foster devotion via stories of gods. These distinctions reflect different intended teachings, and the principle of adhikari bheda supports the presence of multiple deities, analogous to individual worship needs addressed by diverse names for the one cosmic god.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:17:07

    Ramya from India questions the seeming contradiction between Dvaita (duality) and Advaita (non-duality) philosophies. Vedanta comprises several schools, like Shankara's non-dualistic Advaita, Ramanuja's qualified non-dualism, and Madhva's dualism, each providing unique perspectives on reality. Dvaita views God as separate from souls, Vishishta Advaita considers souls as parts of God, and Advaita asserts all existence as divine. Using ocean waves as metaphor, each philosophy's truth varies by perspective, complexity, and subtlety. The principle of adhikari bheda informs which philosophical path suits spiritual beginners versus advanced seekers, allowing any Vedantic school to align with personal spiritual requirements, thus highlighting the flexibility within the Hindu tradition to accommodate diverse spiritual needs.

思维导图

Mind Map

常见问题

  • What is adhikari bheda?

    Adhikari bheda is a principle acknowledging the differences among people in terms of educational, social, and spiritual backgrounds, allowing for diverse religious teachings.

  • Why do Hindu scriptures mention many gods if non-dual Brahman is the ultimate reality?

    The mention of many gods is reconciled through the principle of adhikari bheda which accommodates various spiritual inclinations and levels of understanding.

  • How does adhikari bheda apply to spiritual teachings?

    It allows for different teachings and scriptures to be suited to individuals' unique preferences, needs, and capabilities.

  • What are the different schools of Vedanta mentioned?

    The three schools are Advaita (non-dualism), Vishishta Advaita (qualified non-dualism), and Dvaita (dualism).

  • How does Dvaita differ from Advaita?

    Dvaita teaches that God is distinct from individual souls, while Advaita states there's only God, nothing else.

  • Why are different scriptures used in Hinduism?

    Different scriptures cater to different spiritual development levels and preferences, similar to how schools teach subjects based on students' capabilities.

  • What is the metaphor used for explaining the Vedanta philosophies?

    The ocean and waves metaphor is used—waves being individual souls and the ocean being God or reality.

  • How do Hindu scriptures accommodate personal preferences?

    They allow and encourage followers to choose their main form of god for prayer, recognizing individual differences.

  • Is there a hierarchy of teachings?

    No single teaching is considered best; it depends on an individual's readiness and spiritual needs.

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  • 00:00:21
    Here's a question from Sandeep who  lives in Peoria, Illinois. He asks,
  • 00:00:28
    "If non-dual brahman is the ultimate  reality, then why did the ancient rishis say
  • 00:00:36
    that Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are the gods  of creation, sustenance, and dissolution?"
  • 00:00:47
    Questions like this one often arise when we  look at conventional Hindu teachings from the
  • 00:00:54
    lofty standpoint of non-duality, advaita.  The scriptures of advaita Vedanta accept
  • 00:01:02
    only one, undifferentiated underlying reality  called brahman. But most other scriptures accept
  • 00:01:12
    the existence of many gods. These two positions  are contradictory and seem irreconcilable.
  • 00:01:22
    But, this apparent conflict can be resolved  with the help of an important principle
  • 00:01:29
    that applies to all Hindu scriptures, yet it's  seldom discussed except in scholarly commentaries.
  • 00:01:38
    That principle is called adhikari bheda. Bheda means difference,
  • 00:01:46
    and the expression adhikari bheda  refers to differences among people
  • 00:01:53
    who have a wide range of educational backgrounds,  who come from various social and economic groups,
  • 00:02:02
    who have distinct personalities,  different emotional temperaments,
  • 00:02:07
    and so on. The level of diversity among people is  astounding. We all differ in the foods we like,
  • 00:02:16
    the kinds of entertainment we enjoy, the clothes  we wear, and in thousands of other ways. So, it's
  • 00:02:25
    no surprise that we also differ from one another  in our religious and spiritual inclinations.
  • 00:02:34
    The principle of adhikari bheda acknowledges  these differences and wholeheartedly embraces them
  • 00:02:43
    by enabling the Hindu tradition to provide  different religious and spiritual teachings
  • 00:02:50
    to different people, according to their  individual preferences, needs and capabilities.
  • 00:02:59
    This principle is commonly found elsewhere, like  in our schools. Students first learn basic math.
  • 00:03:08
    Later, they learn algebra, geometry,  and trigonometry. And later yet, they
  • 00:03:15
    might learn calculus. Each of these subjects are  taught according to a student's age and ability.
  • 00:03:24
    Not surprisingly, some students advance  more rapidly than their peers, while
  • 00:03:30
    others opt out of advanced classes.  It's different for each individual.
  • 00:03:38
    All this holds true for the study of  religious and spiritual teachings as well.
  • 00:03:44
    First we learn the basics, about God,  prayer, and the importance of dharma.
  • 00:03:51
    Then, we gradually proceed to more complex  topics, to the extent we're inclined to do so.
  • 00:04:00
    And, just like students have different books for  algebra, geometry, and so on, in the same way,
  • 00:04:07
    we have different scriptures that present a wide  range of religious and spiritual subjects.
  • 00:04:15
    Consider this. Young children would find a  calculus textbook to be incomprehensible.
  • 00:04:23
    In the same way, those just beginning their  spiritual journeys would probably find the
  • 00:04:30
    loftiest teachings of Advaita Vedanta to be  beyond their reach. Before studying calculus,
  • 00:04:39
    students have to be adequately prepared by  studying algebra and the rest. It's the same
  • 00:04:48
    for spiritual seekers. Before they can grasp  the highest teachings of non-duality, they too,
  • 00:04:56
    have to be adequately prepared. Traditional  Vedanta texts list the necessary prerequisites.
  • 00:05:07
    Those prerequisites include the cultivation  of qualities like discernment, dispassion
  • 00:05:14
    toward worldly pleasures, equanimity,  and self-control, in addition to prayer,
  • 00:05:20
    meditation, and the study of introductory texts  under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
  • 00:05:28
    A problem I've noticed from time to time is  that some advanced spiritual students claim
  • 00:05:36
    that Advaita Vedanta is better than other  teachings because it reveals the highest reality,
  • 00:05:45
    non-dual brahman. But their claims  really aren't justified at all.
  • 00:05:53
    A book on advanced calculus isn't better than  an introductory algebra text. These books have
  • 00:06:02
    different subject matters and are intended for  students of different levels. In the same way,
  • 00:06:10
    our scriptures have different subject matters,  intended for different types of students.
  • 00:06:18
    For example, consider the Upanishads, the  scriptures on which Advaita Vedanta is based.
  • 00:06:26
    They're primarily focused on teaching non-duality  for those who are adequately prepared for
  • 00:06:33
    that profound subject matter. The Ramayana and  Mahabharata mostly teach dharma, righteousness,
  • 00:06:43
    for those who need guidance in coping  with the complexities of day to day life.
  • 00:06:50
    The eighteen Puranas recount the lives of ancient  saints and tell stories about gods like Brahma,
  • 00:06:58
    Vishnu, Shiva, for those who want to  cultivate their prayer and devotion. It's true
  • 00:07:06
    that each of these scriptures  include a range of subjects,
  • 00:07:10
    including topics found in other scriptures,  so there's a lot of overlap. But in general,
  • 00:07:17
    each scripture has a primary subject matter  that's meant for a particular group of people.
  • 00:07:26
    For these reasons, no single scripture or  teaching tradition can really be considered best.
  • 00:07:34
    It's more accurate to say that certain  scriptures and teachings are well-suited
  • 00:07:41
    for someone's unique preferences, needs, and  capabilities, while other scriptures are not.
  • 00:07:50
    The principle of adhikari bheda also explains why  there are so many gods in the Hindu tradition.
  • 00:07:59
    The earliest Hindu scripture, Rig Veda,  clearly says, "God is one, which the
  • 00:08:07
    wise call by many names." How many names? The  Puranic scriptures refer to 330 million gods,
  • 00:08:19
    all of them different names and forms for the  one god of the cosmos. That huge number is
  • 00:08:27
    interesting because it's more than the population  of our planet in ancient times. That means, each
  • 00:08:36
    person could worship his or her own individual  form of god, worshipped by no one else.
  • 00:08:45
    This observation shows how the Hindu approach  to devotional life recognizes the importance of
  • 00:08:54
    personal preferences and religious inclinations.  The Hindu tradition allows and encourages
  • 00:09:02
    followers to choose a particular form of god  as their main focus for prayer and worship.
  • 00:09:11
    This attitude is refreshingly  different from most other religions
  • 00:09:16
    that prescribe one and only one  form of god for prayer and worship.
  • 00:09:23
    In my classes for children, I jokingly call this a  "one size fits all" approach to religion. One size
  • 00:09:34
    of clothing certainly doesn't fit our many  different shapes and sizes. So how can one
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    form of god be suitable for us all, given our  wide range of preferences and inclinations?
  • 00:09:51
    Another question that's related to the principle  of adhikari bheda comes from Ramya in India.
  • 00:10:02
    She asks, "What's your view on the philosophy of  Dvaita, duality, because it seems contradictory
  • 00:10:13
    to the philosophy of Advaita." In  fact, the teachings of Vedanta include
  • 00:10:22
    several different schools of thought that were  established by greatly-revered scholars long ago.
  • 00:10:31
    In the eighth century, Shankara developed the  teachings of Advaita or non-dualistic Vedanta.
  • 00:10:40
    Three centuries later, Ramanuja developed  the teachings of Vishishta Advaita,
  • 00:10:48
    or qualified non-dualism. Later yet, Madhva  developed the teachings of Dvaita, dualism.
  • 00:10:59
    We can t get into the details of these three  schools of thought, so here's a brief but
  • 00:11:06
    highly oversimplified account. Dvaita, dualism,  teaches that God is separate and distinct from
  • 00:11:16
    all individual souls, from the consciousness or  awareness that's the essential nature of us all.
  • 00:11:25
    Vishishta Advaita, qualified non-dualism, teaches  that each individual soul is a small part of God
  • 00:11:36
    and shares God's divine qualities. And Advaita  boldly declares that there's only God, nothing
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    else. All that exists is a form  or manifestation of the divine.
  • 00:11:55
    All three teachings seek to explain the very  same reality, but they adopt three different
  • 00:12:03
    perspectives for their explanations.  To understand the dualistic perspective
  • 00:12:10
    of Dvaita, suppose you gaze at the ocean and see  many individual waves. You could observe how each
  • 00:12:20
    wave is born from the ocean, sustained by the  ocean, and eventually returns to the ocean.
  • 00:12:29
    This metaphor nicely represents Dvaita's teachings  about the relationship between individual souls
  • 00:12:37
    and God, who is the source, sustainer, and  ultimate destination for all that exists.
  • 00:12:46
    To understand Vishistha Advaita's view, suppose  you consider the fact that each wave is actually
  • 00:12:55
    a small part of the ocean. The ocean is made  of countless waves that share its qualities.
  • 00:13:05
    This metaphor represents the teachings of  Vishistha Advaita. Each individual soul
  • 00:13:13
    is a small part of God, a spark of  divinity as they say. And God is the unity
  • 00:13:23
    because of which the diversity of souls exists.  Finally, to understand Advaita's view, suppose
  • 00:13:33
    you appreciate the fact that, ultimately, there's  only water; there are no waves or ocean at all.
  • 00:13:43
    This metaphor represents Advaita's sole  acceptance of one, non-dual brahman.
  • 00:13:52
    Regarding the ocean, you can't say that one  perspective is right and the others are wrong.
  • 00:13:59
    Each is correct from its own standpoint. But  the three perspectives do differ in complexity
  • 00:14:09
    and subtlety. One ocean with many waves is  a simple concept. It's a bit more complex
  • 00:14:18
    to say that each wave is part of the ocean.  And to say, there are no waves or ocean,
  • 00:14:25
    there's only water, is quite subtle since it  requires a radical shift of perspective.
  • 00:14:35
    All this holds true for the three Vedantic  schools of thought as well. You can't say one
  • 00:14:43
    is right and the others are wrong because each  is correct from its own standpoint. But they do
  • 00:14:52
    differ in complexity and subtlety, and that's  where the principle of adhikari bheda comes in.
  • 00:15:02
    For those just setting out on a spiritual  path, Dvaita is a good starting point,
  • 00:15:09
    not just because it's the simplest of the  three, but because it most strongly supports
  • 00:15:17
    the practice of prayer, and prayer  is essential for spiritual growth.
  • 00:15:24
    The teachings of Dvaita are sufficient for a  lifelong practice of prayer and worship, but for
  • 00:15:32
    those who want to understand their relationship  with God more deeply, it might be helpful to
  • 00:15:39
    explore the teachings of Vishishta Advaita  or Advaita. It all depends on the individual.
  • 00:15:50
    Based on the principle of adhikari bheda, any of  these three three teachings can be followed.
  • 00:15:59
    The many different scriptures, gods and  teachings found in the Hindu tradition are all
  • 00:16:06
    examples of adhikari bheda. This principle often  goes unrecognized, but it's crucial because it
  • 00:16:16
    ensures that individual religious and  spiritual needs are never ignored.
  • 00:16:26
    This is the eighth video in a series that  answers questions submitted by viewers. If
  • 00:16:33
    you have a question that would serve as  a good topic for a video like this one,
  • 00:16:38
    please email me at this address, and be  sure to indicate "video question" as the
  • 00:16:44
    subject of the email. I'll try to address  your question in a future video.
标签
  • adhikari bheda
  • Brahman
  • Dvaita
  • Advaita
  • Vishishta Advaita
  • Hindu gods
  • spiritual teachings
  • Hindu philosophy
  • Vedanta
  • Hindu scriptures