Vaishnavism: Encyclopedia - Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism

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Vaishnavism is one of the principal divisions of Hinduism. Its adherents worship Vishnu or one of his avatars and are panentheistic monotheistic. Bhaktas, or worshippers of Vishnu are called Vaishnavites, an English term that originated from Vaishnava in Sanskrit).

Vaishnavism - Schools of Vaishnavism

Major Vaishnava schools of thought include:

• Vishishtadvaita ("qualified nondualism"), espoused by Ramanuja; i.e., Srivaishnavism
• Dvaita ("dualism"), espoused by Shri Madhvacharya
• Achintya Bheda-Bheda, espoused by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu adhered by Gaudiya Vaishnavism. ISKCON ("Hare Krishnas") is the most well known branch of this school.
• Shuddhaadvaita, espoused by Vallabhacharya
• Dvaitaadvaita, espoused by Nimbarka
• Advaita ("nondualism") is a philosophy founded by Shankaracharya in which Vishnu is ultimately an attribute of Brahman.

Vaishnavism - The Major Schools

1. The group which believes that Vishnu is the greatest God and all other Gods and creatures are below him. All of the sects mentioned above except the last fall under this group.
2. Advaita Vashnavites, which believe that as no soul is actually separated from God, that every soul is ultimately one and the same. Thus each soul could be considered as equally divine. Thus Vishnu in the saguna form is characterized by harmony and perfection. As a nirguna, he becomes the state unblemished by matter and is without attributes.

Normally the tern "Vaishanva" is used to refer to people of the first category alone, but there are a number of people in the second group, e.g., Smartas who worship Vishnu as their favourite God, or Ishta Deva. For more information about the first category, see Vaishnava Theology and Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology. For information about the second category of people, see Smartism and Advaita.

Vaishnavism - The Supreme Godhead

Vishnu and Shiva are sometimes visualized as a single divinity named Harihara. It is also notable that the heroes of both the great Indian epics are believed to be incarnations of Lord Vishnu. These epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabarata, concern Rama and Krishna, respectively.

Vaishnavism - History of Vaishnavism

Thanks to Alvars, a set of twelve people who with their devotional hymns spread the sect to the common people, Vaishnavism flourished in south India. Some of the prominent azhvars are Poigaiyazhvar, Peyazhvar, Periyazhvar, Nammazhvar and Andal. Vaishnavism grew in later years due to the influence of sages like Ramanujar, Surdas, Tulsidas, Tyagaraja, etc.

With the entry of other religions into the Indian subcontinent, Hindus united and the discriminations of Vaishnavism and Saivism became intellectual arguments rather than mutually exclusive philosophies.

Vaishnavism - Vaishna Upanishads

Of the 108 Upanishads of the Muktika, 13 are considered Vaishna Upanishads. They are listed with their associated Veda (SV, ŚYV, KYV, AV):

1. Nṛsiṃhatāpanī (AV)
2. Mahānārāyaṇa (AV)
3. Rāmarahasya (AV)
4. Rāmatāpaṇi (AV)
5. Vāsudeva (SV)
6. Avyakta (SV)
7. Tārasāra (SYV)
8. Gopālatāpani (AV)
9. Kṛṣṇa (AV)
10. Hayagrīva (AV)
11. Dattātreya (AV)
12. Gāruḍa (AV)
13. Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa (Kali) (KYV)

Vaishnavism - See Also

• Rama, Krishna, Vishnu
• Shaivism, Shaktism
• the Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Categories: Articles to be expanded | Vaishnavism

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Vaishnavism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki