Hello dear listeners, and welcome to episode 6 of the Religions of the World podcast. This is going to be our fifth and final episode on Hinduism. Today we’re gonna talk about three major Hindu sects: Vaishnavism, which is the worship of Vishnu; Shaivism, the worship of Shiva, and finally Shaktism, the worship of the Great Goddess.

First, let’s start with Vaishnavism, the sect that sees the god Vishnu as the supreme existence. The word “Vaishna” means “of Vishnu” or “from Vishnu” in Sanskrit, and is used to refer to a person who worships Vishnu. It is the sect with the largest number of followers in modern Hinduism. In our episode about the two Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, we touched upon the fact that Rama and Krishna, two key characters from these poems, are considered Avatars of Vishnu. The concept of avatars, or avatara in Sanskrit, is central to Vaishnavism. Whenever the balance of Dharma is threatened in the world, Vishnu would incarnate himself in human form, and come to restore that balance. In Hindu religious art, Vishnu in his god form is usually depicted as a man with blue skin and four arms, holding a conch shell, a lotus flower, a mace, and a disk-shaped weapon called the Sudarshana Chakra. Even though this image is fairly common in itself, worship of Vishnu is often directed not to this god form but to one of his many avatars. Theological details aside, if you think about it, the concept of an avatar in Hinduism is actually quite similar to the positioning of Jesus Christ in Christianity. Krishna and Jesus are both delegates of the divine will in their respective religions, and people often worship them more than the supreme existence that they each represent. I have to admit that I’m oversimplifying things a little bit, but I think we’ll be able to dive deeper into the theological and philosophical similarities and differences between the two later in this series. Now let’s get back to Vaishnavism.

Vishnu is a deity mentioned in the Rigveda, but he is not nearly featured as prominently as Indra or Agni, with whom we should be fairly familiar by now. There were a few hymns dedicated to him, but that was about it. So how did he end up as the most prominent Hindu deity, while not a lot of people actively worship Indra and Agni anymore? The answer lies exactly in the doctrine of avatars. There are 10 avatars of Vishnu that are of the highest importance, referred to as the Dashavatara, which literally means “10 avatars” in Sanskrit. Rama and Krishna are both among these 10. It’s definitely not the case that someone just decided that Vishnu should have 10 avatars. Rather, it was likely the result of a merge between the orthodox religion, represented by the Vedas, with folk beliefs.

Let’s take Krishna as an example. It’s believed that the figure of Krishna as we know him today is the result of a merge between the deities of two ancient tribes. One tribe worshipped a hero god called Vaasudeva, and the other tribe worshiped another hero god, called Krishna. Gradually, the two gods fused into one, carrying the legends and attributes of both of these gods. This is the Krishna that we know. Even today, Vaasudeva is considered another name of Krishna. Later on, the worship of Krishna merged again with the Vedic deity Vishnu. Similar events probably occurred with other local deities, which eventually led to the establishment of the doctrine of avatars. Worshippers of these local deities should be satisfied, because their beliefs are now accepted as part of the Hindu canon. The orthodox religion also benefits from gaining a wider audience. This phenomenon is known as religious syncretism. It’s actually seen in many religions, with the syncretism between Shinto and Buddhism in Japan being a famous example. We’ll discuss more about this in future episodes. Right now, just keep in mind that religions are not something immutable and eternal, frozen in time. They are constantly influenced by cultural and political changes, and are always exerting influence on culture and politics in reverse. Enough said for now, let’s talk a little bit more about Krishna.?

Krishna is the eighth avatar of Vishnu, but that description doesn’t capture how special his status is. He is often considered to be not only a delegate of Vishnu, but supreme existence by himself. In some subdivisions of Vaishnavism, he is considered to be even superior to Vishnu. In religious art, he is often depicted as a young man with blue skin, playing the bansuri, which is an Indian flute. He is often shown together with his consort, a cowherd girl named Radha. Radha’s love for Krishna is seen as more than the love of a woman for her husband, but rather a kind of devotional love for a supreme being. Vaishna Hindus see the union between Krishna and Radha as a symbol for the non-duality of god: it encompasses both masculinity and femininity, the beloved and the loving, the eternal and the ephemeral.

We shall now move on to talk about Shaivism, the sect that primarily worships the god Shiva. For a lot of non-Hindus, Shiva has a reputation for being fearsome, since he is known as the god of destruction. While this is not entirely wrong, it doesn’t quite capture the whole picture. The name Shiva literally means “the auspicious one”, or “the benign one” in Sanskrit, which is quite different from the frightful image that some people have of him. The idea of Shiva being the god of destruction comes from a concept called Trimurti, which associates three gods with three steps in the life cycle of the universe. A god named Brahma is linked with the creation of the universe. Vishnu, whom we already introduced, is responsible for the preservation of the cosmos. And finally, Shiva is the one who destroys it, which allows another cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction to follow. This idea is seen in some of the Upanishads, but is by no means a mainstream belief in any sect of Hinduism. Nobody would place the primary god that they worship at the same level of importance as the other gods. Instead, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism, which is coming up soon in this episode, all consider their deity to be the supreme existence, responsible for every being and phenomenon of the universe. They acknowledge the existence of other deities, but consider them to be either inferior to their own god, or merely manifestations of it. This is one of the reasons why it would not be proper to call Hinduism a polytheistic religion. Max Müller, an influential scholar of India and Hinduism, described Hinduism using the term Henotheistic, which refers to a religion which has a pantheon of gods, but under which each group of the religion worships only one of the gods in particular.

Does Shiva have a fearsome side, even though his name, which again, means “the auspicious one”, clearly suggests the contrary? Yes he does. When followers describe this side of him, the name Rudra is often used. There is a deity mentioned in the Rigveda called Rudra, who is the god of storm, and portrayed as a rather terrifying figure. Shaivism identifies Rudra with Shiva, the former being the representation of an aspect of the latter. In a nutshell, Shiva is not gentle or fierce, not the creator or destroyer. He is both. Nothing can make this more clear than the artistic representation of him as the cosmic dancer. This depiction is called the Nataraja, which literally means “Lord of the dance”, and is made into numerous stone reliefs, bronze statues, etc. It shows Shiva standing on his right foot, while his left foot is lifted. He is encircled by a ring of flame, and his long hair is floating behind him, seemingly because of his extremely energetic movement. It is said that Shiva does two kinds of dance, one is graceful, associated with creation of the universe; the other is rather violent, associated with the destruction of the universe. Shiva creates, destroys, and creates again. As such, Hindu gods are usually not considered omnibenevolent, since that would indicate a limit, an incompleteness in their attributes. They are seen as beyond the naive dichotomy of good and evil in human understanding. People love them and fear them. Add the emotions of adoration and terror, and you get a feeling of worship.

Apart from the Lord of the Dance depiction that we just discussed, Shiva is often portrayed as a man sitting in Yoga position, deep in meditation. He has a third eye on his forehead, and he is often seen carrying a trident, called Trishula. These are the prominent features with which we can easily identify him in religious art. However, in the majority of the temples dedicated to Shiva, worship is targeted towards an abstract representation called the lingam, which is a round, pillar shaped object. It has a pretty obvious resemblance to a phallus. Some people consider this association offensive and try to deny it, but the fact that it is usually placed on top of a stone plate that is round on the top and narrow on the bottom is just evidence beyond reasonable doubt. The two parts are seen as a symbol of the unity between the male and female aspects of the universe, and even though it is rather direct, I don’t think there is anything vulgar about it.

Finally, let’s talk about the third sect, Shaktism, which worships the Great Goddess, Adi Parashakti, or simply Shakti for short, which gives the sect its name. Similar to Vaishnavism, Shaktism also embraces the concept of avatars, which is not an important part of Shaivism on the other hand. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the three gods in the Trimurti, each have a consort, which together form what’s called the Tridevi, or the three goddesses. These goddesses are all considered to be different aspects of the larger reality that is Shakti.

Brahma’s consort is called Saraswati, who is the goddess of knowledge and wisdom. Vishnu’s consort is Lakshmi, the goddess of auspiciousness and fertility. Rama’s wife Sati and Krishna’s consort Radha are both considered to be avatars of Lakshmi, which makes sense if you remember that Rama and Krishna are both avatars of Vishnu. Finally there’s Shiva’s consort Parvati, who has a more complicated theology similar to that of Shiva. She is usually a benevolent goddess, but can transform into a fierce and even terrifying warrior in order to combat evil. This is best exemplified by a form of hers called Kali. Legend says that when Parvati was fighting a demon, she realized that the enemy could spawn a clone of himself with every drop of his blood touching the ground. Kali emerged from Parvati, and devoured the demon and all his clones.?

The image of Kali is honestly quite terrifying. Her numerous arms hold various weapons, and a severed head. She wears a garland of skulls around her neck, and her most distinguishing feature is her protruded tongue, making her appearance even more horrifying. Fun fact, the classic “tongue and lips” logo of the Rolling Stones is actually inspired by Kali’s lolling tongue, although this design does not have any religious meaning behind. The fact that people would worship Kali, this horrifying goddess, is another testimony to the fact that god in many religions are not necessarily conceived as entirely benevolent. A violent, frightening facet would not turn people away from the supreme existence. Instead, the mixture of fear and adoration would actually strengthen one’s admiration for it. Think about the atomic bomb. Julius Robert Oppenheimer, one of the leaders of the Manhattan project, who is often credited as “the father of the atomic bomb”, later recalled that when he saw the test detonation of the first atomic bomb, a sentence came to his mind. “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” That was a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, a sentence that Krishna uttered to Arjuna after revealing his divine form. Oppenheimer read the Gita in original Sanskrit, and it is clear that when he saw the blinding radiance and heard the thunder from the explosion, he felt something transcendent. The terror and strange beauty of something so devastating and awe-inspiring was certainly beyond normal human experience. I think there might have been something common between what was on his mind at the time and what people feel towards the fierce goddess Kali, a manifestation of the destructive side of the Great Goddess. In addition to Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati, and most interestingly, Kali, there are hundreds of other goddesses considered different manifestations of Shakti, many of which are likely village gods that were incorporated into the orthodox. Shakti is truly a goddess with a thousand faces.

We have talked about the beliefs, legends, and iconographies of Vaishnavism, the worship of Vishnu; of Shaivism, the worship of Shiva, and finally Shaktism, the worship of the great Goddess. It is however, very interesting that below the various differences among these traditions on the surface, their theologies are actually quite similar. The more philosophical followers of all three sects identify their deity with Brahman, the universal principle central to the Upanishads. It seems that what they are worshipping are one and the same, and Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti are merely different names that they use to refer to this absolute existence, the only existence. On the other hand, for the general population, I don’t think the ontological quality of their deity is something that would cross their mind. To them, Krishna is not only a god, but also a playful youth that they can understand and love; Shiva is not a distant and amorphous force, but a yogi that joins them in meditation; The great goddess is not something mysterious and intangible, but a kind and loving mother goddess that cures diseases and brings good fortune. They project their very worldly needs, desires, and emotions onto these divine figures. They are Hindus as much as the scholars in monasteries, but is the religion of the common folks really the same one with that of the scholars? A Vaishna would recognize that Krishna is identical to the all-pervasive Brahman, but is this identity really part of anyone’s religious experience?

This is where Hinduism amazes me the most. The Veda Samhitas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the folk traditions…... All these are considered part of the same religion, and yet they are so diverse in their view of the divine and the transcendent. They contradict each other, enhance each other, interpolate each other in such an amazing way, and produce a religion, or rather, a family of related belief systems, that is Hinduism, where everyone can find what they are looking for.

Well, that concludes our chapter on Hinduism. If you want to learn more, here are some books that I recommend. Hinduism, A Cultural Perspective by David R. Kingsley is an accessible and comprehensive introduction, and is helpful for giving you a high level overview and general knowledge of the religion. After that, I recommend you read A Survey of Hinduism by Klaus Klostermaier, which is also a comprehensive guide but goes much deeper into the topics, which can be a little intimidating at first but is definitely worth a read. If you want to learn more about the Upanishads, Paul Deussen’s book The Philosophy of the Upanishads is a great choice. If you’re interested in learning about the caste system, G. A. Ghurye’s Caste and Race in India is a classic, even though the author mixes in his personal political views sometimes.

Next in this podcast, we’re going to explore the world of Buddhism, which is a natural next step since it emerged out of Hinduism, inheriting some Hindu beliefs while challenging others. I will need some time to do plenty of research so that I can provide quality content for you all, so please be patient.?

Thank you all for listening, and I’ll talk to you soon. Goodbye.