Shiva Temples

[Marco19]

Hello friends,

After attending a nice and very warm festival, a few qs's arised to my mind.

Before asking let me tell you that the temple was Vaishnavi
and the celebration was about the full-moon (i think it's called pooja)
so my questions are:

1- Are all hindu sects celebrate it?
2- What it means for you?
3- Why inside the temple was dedicated many rooms, each for one god (Shiva, Ganesh, Murugan ... etc)
4- Do the followers of Shiva believe in the cast system?

Thank You!

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

The Vishvakarma puja (presiding deity of all architects) was on Sept 17 are you commenting on that ? It's a minor festival I have never celebrate it.

Most Indian Hindu's believe in caste I hope they don't believe in caste discrimination.

 

[Marco19]

The Vishvakarma puja (presiding deity of all architects) was on Sept 17 are you commenting on that ? It's a minor festival I have never celebrate it.

i don't know if it's celebrated once per year.... as i understood, it's monthly special celebration when the whole moon appears. BTW that was on 20th not 17th so we may talking about differ fests.

 

[kaisersose]

i don't know if it's celebrated once per year.... as i understood, it's monthly special celebration when the whole moon appears. BTW that was on 20th not 17th so we may talking about differ fests.

List of Hindu festivals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There was no major festival that I am aware of. Perhaps, the temple had organized a special Pooja?

Many Hindu temples have multiple Gods - especially outside India. It is one common place for different Hindus to worship.

Caste is really more a social concept than religious. So I would just not bother with it, unless I have social concerns.

 

[Breathe]

3- Why inside the temple was dedicated many rooms, each for one god (Shiva, Ganesh, Murugan ... etc)

That's not the case for my mandir; they are all in the same room but in separate 'alcoves' if you will.

Perhaps some prefer one room for each god so that they have enough space and all that?

4- Do the followers of Shiva believe in the cast system?

As kaisersose says, caste as is known in the West is more social than religious: you can even find people who adhere to the caste system within Christianity, Islam and even Sikhism.

Many argue caste (varna) is different to their jāti, which has become a sort of birth caste and a corruption of the varna. This is because there is a verse in the Rig Veda (9.112.3) which states:

कारुरहं ततो भिषगुपलप्रक्षिणी नना |
kārurahaṃ tato bhiṣaghupalaprakṣiṇī nanā |


Translated as: I am a bard, my father is a physician, my mother's job is to grind the corn.

 

[Marco19]

Hi Odion

they are all in the same room but in separate 'alcoves' if you will

Ok, got it.
i always thought that each temple is dedicated to only one god,
my first impression was that i'm in a polytheist temple, and took long time till i grasped the whole idea.

But one more thing,
since Hindu believe in one supreme god, then why there scholars(priests/gurus) don't try to unify them?
i mean instead of making each group to worship a particular god, why they don't all worship one specific god?

In the session, while a priest explaining to the guests about some of the gods, he mentioned Shiva's family, in that point i wondered, if i have the choice to worship Garensh or Shiva, why i accept Garensh for instance, and leave Shiva His father, and in a higher level (since He is one of the three main gods)

 

[Breathe]

since Hindu believe in one supreme god, then why there scholars(priests/gurus) don't try to unify them?
i mean instead of making each group to worship a particular god, why they don't all worship one specific god?

In the session, while a priest explaining to the guests about some of the gods, he mentioned Shiva's family, in that point i wondered, if i have the choice to worship Garensh or Shiva, why i accept Garensh for instance, and leave Shiva His father, and in a higher level (since He is one of the three main gods)

I'm not sure, perhaps some did in time, but my own understanding--which others may or may not disagree with--it doesn't matter whom one worships, since they are merely aspects of Brahman.

I consider the various devas as 'roles' of the One, Brahman. For example, Brahma is the 'role' of creation, Vishnu is the 'role' or aspect of Preservation, and Shiva destruction (but I prefer the term 'dissolution'), there would be no point in that for me, since all roads lead to Rome, the worship of any divinity ultimately reaches Deity, and since I consider Deity to be something that is so vast, what works for me may not work for another.

If someone wants to worship Shiva, that is their (spiritual) right, so is it their right to worship Vishnu, Krishna, Durga, Hanuman, or even any of the less worshipped devas such as Indra, Brahma or Varuna.


When it comes to why haven't they attempted, say, to point at the One God, I'm sure some have to some degree, but not the way that we may expect from the Abrahamic ways. For example, there are pictures of Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva).

And Ardhanari (Shiva-Shakti).

Instead of "My God is true, your god is false"; the message was "My God IS your God, we just look at Him differently, but they are one and the same."


Which I think is lovely.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

But one more thing,
since Hindu believe in one supreme god, then why there scholars(priests/gurus) don't try to unify them?
i mean instead of making each group to worship a particular god, why they don't all worship one specific god?

There are many paths to God. Its all about what appeals to you and your world view. If we had only one path with only one Image of God it would limit the flexibility of Hinduism. Also God has no Image this is done only for the sake of the Devotee.

 

[kaisersose]

Hi Odion
since Hindu believe in one supreme god, then why there scholars(priests/gurus) don't try to unify them?

In the session, while a priest explaining to the guests about some of the gods, he mentioned Shiva's family, in that point i wondered, if i have the choice to worship Garensh or Shiva, why i accept Garensh for instance, and leave Shiva His father, and in a higher level (since He is one of the three main gods)

The single God concept is not a mainstream belief among Hindus. Hindus like the concept of several Gods - a Ganesha for wisdom/luck, Saraswati for Learning, Laxmi for weath, Shiva or Krishna or Rama for more general wellness, etc. Though a few may go one step further and try to see them all as different manifestations of one Brahman, most Hindus will not bother with connecting them.They are happier with a set of different Gods.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

The single God concept is not a mainstream belief among Hindus. Hindus like the concept of several Gods - a Ganesha for wisdom/luck, Saraswati for Learning, Laxmi for weath, Shiva or Krishna or Rama for more general wellness, etc. Though a few may go one step further and try to see them all as different manifestations of one Brahman, most Hindus will not bother with connecting them.They are happier with a set of different Gods.

Many Translate Brahman as the supreme impersonal God into English. Your view of the word god is limited. But you are probably right. For the man on the street who has not studied Hinduism. I still have not meet or read a pundit, sage, or teacher who was polytheistic in the true sense of the world; Henoistic, Monotheistic,Monist, or even Atheistic are all common.

 

[kaisersose]

Many Translate Brahman as the supreme impersonal God into English. Your view of the word god is limited. But you are probably right. For the man on the street who has not studied Hinduism. I still have not meet or read a pundit, sage, or teacher who was polytheistic in the true sense of the world; Henoistic, Monotheistic,Monist, or even Atheistic are all common.

This is interesting - how we can have two different takes on Hinduism

- Hinduism in literature where the focus is more on esoteric concepts like Brahman, Liberation, etc.

- Hinduism as practised by the common man (comprising over 90% of Hindus) who never heard of Brahman, has no interest in liberation/afterlife and is more into worshipping Gods in temples for material gains.

We can describe Hinduism either way, though they are widely different.

 

[Riverwolf]

This is interesting - how we can have two different takes on Hinduism

- Hinduism in literature where the focus is more on esoteric concepts like Brahman, Liberation, etc.

- Hinduism as practised by the common man (comprising over 90% of Hindus) who never heard of Brahman, has no interest in liberation/afterlife and is more into worshipping Gods in temples for material gains.

We can describe Hinduism either way, though they are widely different.

Well, "Hinduism" is an umbrella term that doesn't necessarily focus on or refer to a single religion. ^_^