Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: Why I left Islam - 2 [Re: sickofviolence] #16456 - 05/19/02 01:29 PM Edit Reply Quote

Hahaha, Vinaire, I don't think so. But SOV is wrong when assuming that I "downgrade" the Puranas with the word mythology. The Puranas have many subjects, sometimes reaching the Panchalakshana ideal. It contains genealogies, cosmology, mythology, etc. It's up to anyone to take the illustrative stories as one chooses them to be, but someone who can read deeper can see the stories growing with the religion developing. People who are ashamed towards non-Hindus have a problem of their own, but that's certainly not the case with me. For me the stories are illustrative, with a core of historicity (around real persons, without the phantasized attributes). But hey, that's me with a critical mind, but I don't mind if someone takes them literally. If it fulfills in the need to develop or to have inner peace, that's okay with me. But for me that literal sense is useless. I would rather want to investigate the timeline, the language, the characters, the demythologization, etc. Take for instance the Narayana and Vishnu cults which became one in course of time, but were originally two different cults. There's still a difference between the Narayana-bali (burial ritual after unnatural death) and Vishnu-bali (ritual in the eighth month of pregnancy done for an easy delivery). Narayana is in an older period first connected with Brahma and later with Vishnu, and even Rudra-Shiva! In the VishnuPurana I, 4, 7-9 Brahma is known as Narayana and goes on to attribute the Fish, Tortoise and Boar Avataras to the former! The Narayana cult had its own sects like the Pancharatras, Bhagavatas. When Vishnu merged with Vasudeva Krshna in the Yadu clans, the Narayana cult was already merged with the Vishnu cult, and the pure Narayana cult was followed by the Ekantins while the new Narayana-Vishnu cult was followed by the Purushottamas, around Krshna. Then the Bhagavatas became Vaishnavas (and some before were Shaivas). One has also to understand that the Vasudeva cult, especially amongst the Pancharatras, was different from the later Vasudeva Krshna cult. The first Vasudeva cult has nothing to do with the Yadu prince Vasudeva Krshna. The first Vasudeva was already deified when the Krshna cult was rising. The Pancharatrins had also a cult around Sankarshana, who was different from the brother of Vasudeva Krshna!. This older Sankarshana cult was more Shaiva, the later was Vaishnava. This all means that one has to really investigate in the history of works and characters and cults. One has further to distinguish between historical persons, deification, mythologization, etc. and philosophical illustrative meaning of the ancient stories and characters.