Hinduism, Initial concept of Shiva, Trinity...

[anbu_kathir]

Kathir

I did not say Bakthi was a bad thing at all, all I said was in order for one to reach "Ultimate" you need a combination of bakthi(devotion) , Gnana (intellect) Kriya(Life energies) and Karma (actions) . By one of these accept alone it is virtually impossible to reach the Ultimate, (IMHO). Imagine all these were four wheels of a car, in order to reach the destination, you will need all these 4 wheels to work simultaneously right?

If one decides to go in a different direction, will you reach your destination? No right? This is what I meant

Frankly, I think you need much more groundwork to establish what you are saying, i.e., "a combination of bhakthi, jnana, kriya, karma". It is like saying "to succeed in life, one needs a combination of skill, intelligence, action, passion for life, etc." It is a very loose statement, so I cannot reject it nor can I accept it as a perfect statement, because it will not stand its ground when examined in the light of the scriptures. Loose statements like these are dangerous in philosophy, and are practically not very useful in spirituality either, for it leaves the individual in a dilemma as to what and how to pursue these, and moreover what exactly are we hoping to attain by their pursuit.

The Hindu system, according to the scriptures, is simple and uncomplicated. There are two ways only, the way of Action (Karma Yoga) and the way of Self-Knowledge (Jnana Yoga). For a Jiva, spirituality begins with Karma Yoga, which leads to Jnana Yoga, which finally leads to Jnana or Self-Knowledge, which confers liberation. A *mixing* of the paths is actually not possible at all. Bhakthi is needed in each of these paths, but according to the mindset of the individual it will mean different things at different points in his spiritual evolution. This succession of paths and the reaching of the ultimate goal takes several lifetimes.

Anyway, my point was that Bhakthi towards a personal god (God as an external compassionate entity who is responsible for the cycle of Creation, and who justly delivers experiences to the Jivas according to their Karma) is highly recommended in Hinduism. Whether it is "enough" for liberation or not, that question we can bother about later.

Love and Light.