Dear Shri Devotees, I have a few questions and please forgive me if they are offensive in anyway. I haven't been active in the forum for past few months due to personal reasons. I put forth my stance immediately before I pose my questions. Though I am from an orthodox Vaishnava family, I do not subscribe to most of the beliefs of our tradition. I was a moorkha once :) ( Only my Lord is THE Lord, na devo narayaNaat para: ), proud of my tradition, doing sandhyavandanam and samidhadaanam regularly. I can't recall what exactly cause my faith to slip away. Probably, I was digging deeper into the contents of Veda samhitas and embarrassed to find few things... So, here are the questions. 1. Vishnu appears to be a minor deity in Rk Vedas. (Totally 6 suktams I presume) In fact he is none other than Sun. No description of him as (Shanka-chakra-gadaa-paNi) etc. On the other hand Indra appears a thousand times with other deities like Agni, Pushan, Ashvins, Dyaava- Prithvi, Rbhus, Varuna: etc. So on what basis we claim Vedas as our authorities and Shriman Narayana is mentioned as the supreme in the Vedas? (Of course, I am aware of NarayaNa-Valli in Taittriya Aranyakam) 2. What about the 108 odd upanishads? There are varying number of Upanishads that are considered authoritative. But while reading the commentaries, I've seen "sectarian" upanishads quoted. This brings to an interesting question. There is a Shaiva upanishad called Sharabhopanishad, in which Shiva taking a form of Sharabha kills Lord Nrusimha!!!!!! I find this extremely offensive. Now, if Upanishads are part of Shruthi, and Shruthi is infallible, what about this Upanishad? If we ignore this as fake but take "Nrusimha- tapni", "gopala-tapini" upanishads as authoritative aren't we being hypocritical? (There aren't major upanishads either). 3. Why aren't shudras allowed to read vedas? How about women? Even if one is pure by heart and deeds? 4. Is God one? Then why is he taking different forms in different places of earth? God according to Semitic religion is totally different from our construction. So are they deluded? What objective criterion would we use to see who is correct and who is not? 5. Why should the vedas be in Sanskrit? Why not in Tamil or any other vernacular language? 6. Can a Shudra ever aspire to become a religious figure in our tradition? 7. In Gita-Bhashyam, Shri Ramanuja casually mentions that sacrificing animals during agnishToma is not ahimsa. How so? 8. Queer practices in Ashwamedha yagnya? (I am not going to give details!). Human sacrifice in Purushamedha yagnya? (mentioned in Shathapatha brahmana)? More later. Regards, Kasturi Rangan.
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