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9
Five Basic doctrinal aspects of
Saivism and Vaishnavism
.
As St.Thomas brought in the gospel
of Maheswara (Parameswara) into the Indian culture, it took forms
that are native in its interpretations with native symbolisms as its
expression. The Indian Catholic Way simply translated would be
“Hindu Sanadhana Dharma”. The name used by the modern Hinduism. It
displaced Vedism, Buddhism, Jainism and almost all local religions
of India at that time from the Northern India to the Southern Most
India even unto Sri Lanka.
In time various denominations began
to evolve with emphasis on specific aspects of god and gospel. Two
such denominations were Vaishnavism and Saivism. Saivism emphasized
the love of god and the Sacrifice of God for the redemption of
Mankind, while Vaishnavism emphasized the glorious almighty God of
the Skies. In Kerala Christians were called Nasranees (One who
follow the Nazarene) and Isanees (or Isanuvadikal – one who are
followers of Isa)
Saivism is considered by
many to have been born in Tamilnadu, the southern most part of India
where the Dravidians are concentrated. So even today Tamilnadu
continues to be the home of Saivism. It became a distinct religion
and took the name Saivism only during the period between 3rd century
A.D. to 10th century A.D.
Saivism
Siva
is considered to be the supreme God.
He is worshipped in two
forms. One as a lingam and the other as human form. The human form
has several varieities. The most important of them are Nataraja -
the dancing posture and Dakshinamoorthy - the teacher instructing
the four sages on the absolute truth.
 It
is interesting to note that in Hinduism, the only God who took the
poison so that the creation may be saved is Shiva.
The purana story
of churning the milky Way:
The gods (suras) and demons (Asuras) churned the milky
way with the mountain Mandra as the churning rod and the
snake Vasuki as the churning rope to obtain the elixir of
immortality (Amrit). During churning, many things
emerged. But as the churning continued for the Amrit or
Nectar and just before the elixir came out, poison flowed out of
it. The whole creation was in danger of being destroyed by the
poison. To protect the creation, Lord Siva received the flowing
lava of poison and drank it all so that none of the creation will
be dead in an act of self-sacrifice. Seeing this act of Siva, his
consort pressed his throat, not allowing the poison to go down.
Thus the poison got held in the neck and became blue. Siva is
also called Blue Necked – Neela kanda
Vaishanvism on the
other hand was concentrated in the Northern India. It was dominated
by the Aryans and emerged by the third century AD as an independent
religion opposing the Savites
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavas
believe that God is ultimately personal and that the ultimate goal
is to return to our eternal position as a servant to the Supreme
Lord. The way back is Faith (Bhakthi) and absolute surrender to
God.
Modern
Vaishnavites believe that Vishnu – which is today identified as
Krishna – takes incarnations every eon.
Thus Thomas transformed the
religious scenario of India and all of India practically was
Christianized. Majority of the population were Christians alongside
the other religions of Buddhism, Jainism and Vedism. Vedism was
most affected as most followers of Vedism became Christians. But
they were not called Christians. The name “Christians” is a term
that was created in Antioch after the Greek word “Christos”.
Act 11:26 For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company
of people; and in Antioch the
disciples were for the first time called Christians.
Five Basic Doctines of
Christianity
Five Basic Doctines of both Saivism
and Vaishnavism
Doctrine of Trinity
Doctrine of Incarnation (Avtar)
Doctrine of Fulfillment of Sacrifice
Doctrine of Forgiveness of Sin
Doctrine of Salvation through Faith (Bhakthi Marga)
All these five doctrines which are
common to both Saivite and Vaishanavites were never known in
pre-Christian era and are definite indications of the form of Early
Christianity in India. Hindu Sanadhana Dharma of first century AD
was indeed the form of Christianity that St.Thomas established and
central doctrines were indeed Christian.
 ?
These denominations evolved out of
specific emphasis on aspects of God. They all started as Christian
Churches but became heretic through syncretization and Gnostic
influence from Babylon. We will now look into the forces that
transformed Indian Catholic Church to modern Hinduism as it is
today.
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