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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1322
interesting resemblance to certain forms of ceremony and worship in
the Roman Catholic Church. It seems that India is destined to manifest
every possible form of religious ceremony and worship, and to exhibit a
correspondence to the religions of all countries—always antedating them,
however.
As an instance of the degree of “hair-splitting” theology manifested
by some of these schools and cults, let us call your attention to a matter
of theological dispute that has raged for centuries between two schools
of the Ramat-Vaishnava cult; The school of the north of India known as
the Vadagalis are found opposing the school of the south, known as the
Tengalais. The Southern school holds that the Lord saves the sinning soul, as
does the mother Cat, picking up the young and carrying it away to a place of
refuge; while the Northern school insists that the Lord saves the sinning soul
as does the mother Monkey, urging her young to embrace her so that they
may be carried off. The former school holds that the work of salvation must
be done altogether by the Lord, who, mother-cat-like, picks up the sinner
and saves him; while the latter holds that the saving is done by the Lord,
in the manner of the monkey-mother who bids her young reach out for
salvation, and thus saves them by reason of their love, faith, and individual
effort. This point, of course, is applicable to other religions besides those
of the Hindus, and shows the degree of theological reasoning employed in
these schools, as well as the tendency to illustrate the doctrines by parables,
in which the common animals are brought in in a manner startling to the
Western mind.
Krishna is usually represented in the images as playing the flute, and often
with his consort Rahdi standing behind him, encircling him with her arms.
The Vaishnavas often mark their foreheads with two perpendicular marks,
as a cult sign. They hold in high esteem the symbols of the Tulsi plant, and
the Salagrama stone, which latter is a clear white pebble.
As a rule, the Hindus with Vedantic affiliations, are inclined toward the
Vaishnava cult, in some of its many branches, and many of the great Vedanta