I'm vaishnav (devotee of lord vishnu) but after reading raja yoga i think shiva is my god

[Aupmanyav]

Mods, that is what some people need to understand. The title of the topic is:

I'm Vaishnav (devotee of Lord Vishnu) but after reading raja yoga I think Shiva is my God

Now some people say that Shiva is a mini-God, demi-God, and even insinuate that worship of Shiva is equivalent to devil-worship. Now that is very unfair. I have no problem with any. I am sort of a 'smarta' and I rever both equally. Which God a Hindu will worship is his/her own choice.

 

[Amrut]

I am reading a book about shiva (dancing with shiva) it has given me a great knowledge about shiva. Now my problem is i don't know how can i worship both of the god. My mind says worship Shiva as shiva is sada Shiva. My heart says worship lord vishnu whom i have worshipped since a long time. I tried to visualize Shiva as vishnu and vishnu as shiva but it's not helping me. Please tell me what should i do. I think worshipping shiva is necessary as it's going to be a part of my sadhana.

Namaste,

Some queries

No 1

First of all, my apologies for not reading all replies.

I would like to know your background as do you follow any sampradAya like Sri Vaishnava or mAdhvA or are you just a vaishnava who worships viShNu like many do. There are kapoLa vANiyA-s, dasAshrimAlI-s, etc who worship only Krishna, but they do believe in Siva at times offer water to Sivalinga.

There is also smArta sampradAya in which we worship 5 deities- gaNeSa, Siva, Sakti, viShNu and sUrya as manifestations of brahman.

Or are you just a liberal minded fellow whose family happens to be a vaiShNav but you yourself are not a staunch vaiShNava.

No 2

Are you actually interested in practicing yoga or just read books for curiosity?

There are many books like haTha yoga pradipikA, etc Yoga Yajnavalkya (highly revered by a Sri Vaishnava T Krishnamacharya, father of modern Yoga). Yoga Yajnavalkya teaches both types of meditations - saguNa and nirguNa.

The answer depends upon many factors, but a little bit of your background is important as there are staunch vaishnavas or as they say Pure vaishnavas and some who do not follow any sampradayas, many believe in Adi Sankaracharya and accept other forms of God though being a vaishnava while some will not take Siva's prasad as he is worshiped there as Brahman. So it all depends upon individual.

Krishnamacharya believed in both saguNa and nirguNa upAsanA and he taught his disciples to just worship (their) God i.e. ISTa-devatA, though he only worshipped viShNu) as he was Sri Vaishnava). He taught Yoga to all people irrespective of their caste and religion or sampradAya they followed.

Hari OM

 

[Aupmanyav]

With all respects to Sri Thirumalai Krishnamacharya, his being a Sri Vaishnava is immaterial as far as Yoga goes. Guru Gorakshanath was a Shaiva.

 

[Amrut]

With all respects to Sri Thirumalai Krishnamacharya, his being a Sri Vaishnava is immaterial as far as Yoga goes. Guru Gorakshanath was a Shaiva.

Namaste,

Exactly. Infact Nathmuni came in Krishnamacharya's dreams and the great yogi himself explained a yogic treatise written by him (Nathmuni) as the text was lost.

Of-course, Guru Gorakhshanath was a Shaiva. A Nath Yogi Muktatma has written haTha yoga pradipikA and Krishnamacharya has referred it.

Krishnamacharya has composed Yoga Makaranda, an essence of Yoga.

Texts referred by T Krishnamacharya

(For convenience, texts are not presented in the Original Order as given in Yoga Makaranda)


Classic Hatha Yoga Texts
1. Hathayoga Pradipika - by a Nath Yogi Muktatma
2. Siva Samhita
3. Gheranda Samhita by Gheranda Muni (geraNDa munI

Classical Yoga Texts
4. Patanjala Yogadarshanam (Patanjali Yoga Sutras)
5. Yogayajnavalkyam (Yoga Yajnavalkya)

Yoga Upanishads
6. Dhyana Bindu Upanishad
7. Chandilya Upanishad (Sandilya Upanishad)
8. Yoga Shika Upanishad
9. Yoga Kundalya Upanishad (Yoga Kundalini Upanishad)
10. Nada Bindu Upanishad
11. Amrita Bindu Upanishad
12. Garbha Upanishad


Other Texts
13. Rajayoga Ratnakaram
14. Yoga Taravalli of Adi Shankaracharya ji (Gloss on Patanjali Yoga Sutra)
15. Yoga Balaprathipikai
16. Ravana Nadi (Nadi Pariksa of Ravana)
17. Bhairava Kalpam
18. Sri Tattvanidhi
19. Yoga Ratnakarandam
20. Mano Narayaneeyam
21. Rudrayameelam (Rudrayamalam)
22. Brahmayameelam
23. Atharvana Rahasyam
24. Kapilasutram
25. Narada Pancharatra Samhita - Sri Vaishnava Text
26. Satvata Samhita
27. Ahir Buddhniya Samhita


Source