Hinduism, or the second religious period of India

HINDUISM or the SECOND
RELIGIOUS PERIOD OF INDIA

The Great Divinities of the HINDU Religion

1. VISHNU - the PREMIER and beneficient GOD,

he supplanted INDRA at the top of the Hindu Pantheon ,

and took the name of Krishna in his 8th incarnation on Earth.
SHIVA - Second aspect of Vishnu which can stop,
destroy and modify life by making it reappear.

2. BRAHMA - The Immense one
which while remaining complementary to Vishnu/Shiva
passes to the second rank of importance.

3. SHAKTI - the goddess of omnipresent energy,
she gives force and strength : in Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.

4. DEVI - the Great Original Mother Goddess,
or the benevolent goddess, Mother of men and wife of Shiva

Secondary Hindu divinities

A G A S T Y A - the mover of mountains or the immutable one.
A P S A R A / S or Nymph-essences of water.
G A N A P A T I - the son of Shiva with a head of an elephant.
K A L I - the hand which destroys and the hand which gives.
K A M A - the god of eroticism and desire.
K R A T U - intelligent inspiration, son of the Immense being.
M I T R A - god of light and the well- being of the world.
R U D R A - frightening, howling god and god of the storms.
S O M A - the god of the Moon.
V I S H A - K A R M A N ... the Architect of the Universe
Y A M A - the god of the spirits and death

The second religious period known as : HINDU

It took more than ten centuries to see Hinduism develop, it being more peaceful than the old vedic religion.
This period corresponds to gradual spiritual changes, during which developed a new religious pattern, relating to the cycles of rebirth according to individual merit. The Hindu religion teaches us the attitudes which allow him by the control of the SELF, to reach Paradise, but if the practitioner chooses a passive and egoistic attitude, he is involved in a long cycle of rebirths which passes from the various human forms to the animal or vegetable forms !...
In fact only serious faults drive humans towards the cycle of repeated lives, (but also indifference).
In the Hindu design of existence,sacred and profane activities combine to make a whole; the whole life of the man being a participation in the cosmic life of the Universe, and is expressed in the practice of ritual actions.
The divisions of space into atoms (or celestial spheres) are only the relative interpretation of our perceptions. Space inside an atom is as vast as that of a solar system and we do not know the limits of the number of worlds contained one in another. Each time we go to the bottom of one aspect of a thing or a world, we find not a substance, but a concept resulting from thought.
The temples have only secondary importance. Nature and certain places of pilgrimage are the ideal places to meditate and approach the gods mentally by: body purification, preparation of the spirit of the admirer, control of the breath and spiritual concentration. The control and the sincerity of these acts can bring the spirit to the state of contemplation.
The worship of the Hindu initiate is of two kinds: outside and interior. The inner worship is practised by those who gave up the world where external actions occur . (Extracts from the Tantra-Samhita).

YOGA - (Extract from the Mahanirvana Tantra)

" Yoga is interior contemplation at the highest stage, where the human being perceives the Divine-Presence in all things. The intermediate stage is that of meditation, and the lower stage is that of prayer and repeating chants. Below that is external worship... "

The search for a Great Supreme God

Thus speaks a very old text, Bhagavata Purana:

Those who wish for illumination , must venerate the Vastness.
Those who wish for luck venerate illusion,
Those who are hungry venerate " Aditi, the Mother of the gods , "
Those who want a place in the sky " respect all the gods , "
Those who seek knowledge venerate Shiva, the Lord-of-sleep.
Those who want to achieve venerate Vishnu, who is " the sovereign of all".

All theologies seek to define the principles which govern our spiritual life, and they must help us to rise towards the light and divine reality, as we perceive it, nomatter which of the traditional names to him : Yahweh, Jesus, Allah or Vishnu... It is always the same Eternal Lord without face and name " that which has been always... "

If a man is still under the influence of attachment, he must venerate : " the Supreme Being with deep devotion ".
"Those who adore other gods piously, it is Me whom they adore, although they are unaware of the rites which are appropriate" (Bhagagavad-Gita). A Hindu will say " the Christians venerate Christ: an aspect of Vishnu which is not a personal god but a reality and a universal principle " .
Names, forms, and actions are common to those who seek the divine one in the existence of all the creatures forming life on earth.
" If a man aspires to the eternal life he must adore the divine one in his own heart and move away from the worship of images and material objects, which bring him back towards the cycle of lives on Earth ".

In an old prayer, Arjuna the god of the truth, personifies Vishnu the Immanent as the supreme Cosmic being, the centre of any existence :

It had faces, hands and eyes without number!
This universal man gathered in his sublime and immortal form all that seems marvellous.
A thousand divine suns appearing together could not have approached the splendour of his great heart.
In your divine resplendence, I see in You all the gods assembled together.

I see the Creator on his lotus ! (Egyptian resemblance)
The King of the Sky, the wise ones and celestial snakes.
I see in your form, neither beginning, n or middle, nor end ; " BEING IMMANENT and SUPREME ... !
I contemplate You above the vault of heaven,
I do not know who I am,
To find my peace,
make me know who You are? " " Bhagavad-Gita Xi "

Beyond the afterworld of the Transcendent is the non-manifested afterworld. Beyond the non-manifested afterworld is the Person. The afterlife of the afterworld is Unknowable . " Katha Upanishad "

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