Hare Krishna, dear devotees!!
In Padma Puran Uttara Khanda(236.18-21)
Lord Shiva says Parvati:
vaisnavam naradiyanca tathabhagavatam subham garudanca tathapadmam varaham subhadarsane sattvikanipuranani vijneyani subhani vai brahmandam brahmavaivartam markandeyam tathaiva ca bhavisyam vamanam brahmam rajasani nibodhame matsyam kaurmam tathalaingam saivam skandam tathaiva ca agneyam ca sadetani tamasani nibodhame.
O beautiful lady (Parvati), know that the Visnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma and Varaha Puranas are sattvika; the Brahmanda, Brahma-vaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavisya, Vamana and Brahma Puranas are rajasika; and the Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda and Agni Puranas are tamasika.
Also we know that the conclusion of Smriti(Puranas belong to the Smriti) shouldn't contradict that of Shruti(The Four Vedas). In Vedas ,Upanishads, that belong to the Shruti, Vyas has concluded that Vishnu or Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. An example-
vedaham etam purusam mahantam aditya-varnam tamasah parastat
tam eva vidvan amrta iha bhavati nanyah pantha vidyate ayanaya
yasmat param naparam asti kincid yasman naniyo no jyayo 'sti kincit
"I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other than this knowledge of that Supreme Person. "There is no truth superior to that Supreme Person because He is the supermost. He is smaller than the smallest, and He is greater than the greatest. He is situated as a silent tree, and He illumines the transcendental sky, and as a tree spreads its roots, He spreads His extensive energies." -Svetasvatara Upanisad
The same idea is recurrent in Sattvic Puranas. But why Vyas draws a totally different and a diametrically opposite conclusion in the tamasic scriptures like Shiva Puran by showing him as the Supreme Personality? And if Vyas has not done this, who wrote the tamasic scriptures??
Also in Vedas, just as we have Purusha Shuktam, we have Devi Shuktam that is known as SriSriChandi that glorifies Durga Devi. Why is it that both the Purusha and the Devi are glorified if the Purusha is the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
Replies
We have to strictly follow the Vedas since it shows us the path towards transcendental knowledge. And what is the goal of Vedas? That is mentioned by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita:
sarvasya cāhaḿ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaḿ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
SYNONYMS
sarvasya — of all living beings; ca — and; aham — I; hṛdi — in the heart; sanniviṣṭaḥ — situated; mattaḥ — from Me; smṛtiḥ — remembrance; jñānam — knowledge; apohanam — forgetfulness; ca — and; vedaiḥ — by the Vedas; ca — also; sarvaiḥ — all; aham — Iam; eva — certainly; vedyaḥ — knowable; vedānta-kṛt — the compiler of the Vedānta; veda-vit — the knower of the Vedas; eva — certainly;ca — and; aham — I.
TRANSLATION
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord is situated as Paramātmā in everyone's heart, and it is from Him that all activities are initiated. The living entity forgets everything of his past life, but he has to act according to the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is witness to all his work. Therefore he begins his work according to his past deeds. Required knowledge is supplied to him, and remembrance is given to him, and he forgets, also, about his past life. Thus, the Lord is not only all-pervading; He is also localized in every individual heart. He awards the different fruitive results. He is worshipable not only as the impersonal Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the localized Paramātmā, but as the form of the incarnation of the Vedas as well. The Vedas give the right direction to people so that they can properly mold their lives and come back to Godhead, back to home. The Vedas offer knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva is the compiler of the Vedānta-sūtra. The commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra by Vyāsadeva in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the real understanding of Vedānta-sūtra. The Supreme Lord is so full that for the deliverance of the conditioned soul He is the supplier and digester of foodstuff, the witness of his activity, and the giver of knowledge in the form of Vedas and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the teacher of the Bhagavad-gītā. He is worshipable by the conditioned soul. Thus God is all-good; God is all-merciful.
Antaḥ-praviṣṭaḥ śāstā janānām. The living entity forgets as soon as he quits his present body, but he begins his work again, initiated by the Supreme Lord. Although he forgets, the Lord gives him the intelligence to renew his work where he ended his last life. So not only does a living entity enjoy or suffer in this world according to the dictation from the Supreme Lord situated locally in the heart, but he receives the opportunity to understand the Vedas from Him. If one is serious about understanding the Vedic knowledge, then Kṛṣṇa gives the required intelligence. Why does He present the Vedic knowledge for understanding? Because a living entity individually needs to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedic literature confirms this: yo 'sau sarvair vedair gīyate. In all Vedic literature, beginning from the four Vedas, Vedānta-sūtra and the Upaniṣads and Purāṇas, the glories of the Supreme Lord are celebrated. By performance of Vedic rituals, discussion of the Vedic philosophy and worship of the Lord in devotional service, He is attained. Therefore the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Kṛṣṇa. The Vedas give us direction by which to understand Kṛṣṇa and the process of realizing Him. The ultimate goal is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.4) confirms this in the following words: tat tu samanvayāt. One can attain perfection in three stages. By understanding Vedic literature one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by performing the different processes one can approach Him, and at the end one can attain the supreme goal, who is no other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this verse the purpose of the Vedas, the understanding of the Vedas, and the goal of the Vedas are clearly defined.
Hare Krishna!!! Demigods are many, and Shiva is the best of these demigods.(Devadidev Mahadaev). However, Krishna remains as the Purushottam Bhagavan. Noone can deny this truth. Ishwaras can't be many. Ishwar is one and i.e. ' isvarah paramah krsnah'. Only Bhagavan can show His Universal Form. After beholding the Universal Form with awe and fear, Arjuna had to accept that Krishna is Bhagavan. The best of definition of God is given by Parasara Muni in Vishnu Puran
Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is thus defined by Parasara Muni as one who is full in six opulences—who has full strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty, and renunciation.
Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the proprietor of all riches.
Krishna perfectly fits in this description. Also God, must be all-attractive. The very word, 'krishna means all-attractive'.Krishna possesses all good qualities. He is Bhagavan! He possesses all opulent qualities in the infinite degree. He is the most beautiful personality. Since He is the Supreme, He has the supreme form and personality. No one is more beautiful or attractive than He. Krishna attracts everyone. Therefore He is called Krishna, the all-attractive one. Except for the liberated souls, everyone in the material world is attracted by Cupid. But Krishna is so attractive that He not only attracts the liberated souls but He attracts Cupid as well. Krishna is the strongest personality. By His desire alone all the universes are created and destroyed by one portion of a portion of His personal form. He can do anything and everything as He likes. Krishna is also the wealthiest person since all wealth in all worlds everywhere come from Him. Everything animate and inanimate within all creation is owned and controlled by the Lord, who is the actual provider of everything.
This verse from the Brahma Samhita describes the nature of Sri Krishna. The Brahma Samhita is Lord Brahma's (the creator of this universe) treatise on Krsna and the spiritual world.
ishvaraha parama krishnaha
sac-chid-ananda-vigraha
anadir adi govindaha
sarva-karana-karanam
He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body.
He is the origin of all. He has no other origin
and He is the prime cause of all causes.
Hare Krishna, Dairian Prabhu!
Svetasvatara Upanishad (5.4) relates that the Supreme Being, Lord Krishna, is worshipable by everyone, the one adorable God, repository of all goodness, ruler of all creatures, born from the womb [in His pastime of Lord Krishna], for He is eternally present in all living beings [as Supersoul]. Furthermore, it states (3.8), “I have realized this transcendental Personality of Godhead who shines most brilliantly like the sun beyond all darkness. Only by realizing Him one goes beyond the cycle of birth and deaths. Absolutely there is no other means to get God-realization.”
The Svetasvatara Upanishad (5.6) further elaborates that Lord Krishna is the topmost of all the gods. “He is the most esoteric aspect hidden in the Upanishads which form the essence of the Vedas. Brahma knows Him as the source of himself as well as the Vedas. The gods like Shiva and the seers of the ancient, like Vamadeva rishi realizing Him, ever became dovetailed in His service and therefore they naturally became immortal.” And in (6.7) it continues: “Let us take our final resort at Him who is the Transcendent and the only adorable Lord of the universe, who is the highest Deity over all the deities, the Supreme Ruler of all rulers–Him let us know as the Paramount Divinity.”
What version of Svetasvatara Upanishad is that? there is no such translation like that. Besides it is absolutely pointless to debate over supremacy of deities. The more important matter is attaining God Consciousness.
Thkx a lot Sudipta Prabhu and Suresh Prabhu for clearing my doubts!! Hare Krishna!! With these doubts in my mind, I just couldn't concentrate in chanting!! Thank you once again!!!
Svetasvatara Upanisad is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Not all Upanishads are dedicated to Vishnu. There are ones that dedicate themselves to Lord Shiva, Devi, and Impersonal Brahman. Also to take note the Linga itself is representation of the formless Brahman.
hare krishna prabhu,
If we read bagavat gita which is essense of vedas,we will come to know about the three modes of material nature.Everyone of us are conditioned by these three modes sattva,rajas and tamo gunas.So,all the puranas are written by srila vyasdev bagavan,who is a literary incarnation of krishna the supreme personality of godhead.the purpose of the puranas is to lift a conditioned soul from the lower gunas to higher gunas,and at last to the stage of suddha sattva guna,which is transendental.In that suddha satva state only one can enter into the spiritual world"paramavyoma".So,the tamasic puranas are given for the people who are in tamo guna,for rajasic people rajasic purans and for people in satva guna ,sattvik puranas are given.it is a gradual devolopement of conciousness.highest purana is srimad bhagavatam.The people in mode of goodness can only understand things as they are.so,by reading srimad bhagavatam which is consisting the highest of the truth,the will come to trancendental state.this is the plan of krishna the supreme personality of godhead.durga is meterial energy of krishna.siva is one of guna avatar(deity of tamo guna) of krishna.If we read bagavat githa we can understand things as they are without confusion.but to understand that we should chant the holynames of the lord daily which is yuga dharma of this kali yuga."hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare,hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare".i hope this will help you to understand.all glories to srila prabhupad.all glories to guru and gauranga.hare krishna.
Hare Krishna Gaurav Prabhuji. Dandavat Pranam. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Bhagavan Vyasa wrote all the puranas, including Tamasik and Rajasik Puranas. Now the question here is that if he had confirmed in almost all the vedic literature that Vishnu is supreme, then what was there a need oh him to write the tamasik and other Puranas to glorify Lord Shiva and Devi. The reason is
Everyone is situated in a particular mode- goodness,passion and ignorance- and is attracted to a particular type of worship and lifestyle according to the mode in which one is situated.People in different modes are given different type of worship directed towards different demigods. The upanisad says
"Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam" - (katha upanisad) i.e. The supreme Lord is only one, but the living entities are many although both are eternal and conscious. Thus God is one ,but demigods are many.
So according to the nature and faith of the worshipper Vyasa wrotes Puranas for tamasik and rajasik audience, to give them facility thus they can also gradually elevate themselves to pure consciousness. Because most of the people in world by nature are not Sattvik, and only a person in mode of goodness can worship Vishnu tattva. But at the same time we can't reject non-sattvik audience also, so Veda also covers them and allows worshipping deities suites their faith and nature. That is why Shiva purana glorify lord Shiva and Devi (parvati).
Now come to your next question why there is devi suktam along with Purusha suktam in Rig Veda. Veda glorifies not only Purusha but his potencies also.As power is potency representation of the powerful, energy is potency representation of energetic so to glorify the powerful/energetic person we must have to glorify his power or energy at the same time because without that it doesn't make any sense right. When we describes the power/ energy of the person energetic then it is for the purpose to show the ability of the Powerful only. Similarly the Veda tells about Devi suktam to glorify the feminine energy or potency of the Purusha.
Hope this will help
your aspiring servant
Hari Bol
Padma Purana glorifies Lord Shiva in Shiva Gita! And this is a sattvik purana.