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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1324
Hindus beseech Krishna, the avatar, to intercede for them with Krishna, the
Supreme Absolute Being—and when remonstrated with by the missionaries
for the absurdity and inconsistency of the proceeding, often reply that it is
no more absurd than the missionaries teaching that prayer to God should
be made through the Mediator, or Christ—”through our Lord, Jesus Christ,”
or “for Christ’s sake,” when Christ is equal to, and identical with the Father.
But the Shiva worshipers have no such intimate approach to their deity—
for Shiva is not held to have had any incarnations or avatars. Shiva must be
approached directly by his worshipers. But, nevertheless, among some of
the Shaivas there is manifested a wonderful fervor of worship and devotion,
scarcely second to that of many of the Vaishnavas.
There is a paradox in the conception of Shiva, that is most difficult of
comprehension by the Western mind, even when a study of the subject
is made. There are two distinct aspects of Shiva—two totally opposing
conceptions of him—one or the other of which is favored by the various
sects in the general cult. And this gives rise to the paradox of the character
of the Shaivas noticed by all Western writers and students of Shiva worship.
The highest and the lowest are represented in this form of worship, and the
followers of the sects represent some of the brightest philosophical minds
in India, and also some of the most degraded and brutal and uneducated
among the Hindu races or tribes-people. The tendency of the Shaivas to
ignore the caste distinctions has attracted many of the low-caste people to
some of the lower Shaiva sects.
In fact, there are really two Shivas—that is, while there is merely one Shiva
in name, there are really two aspects of him as conceived by his followers.
The one aspect or conception is derived from the legendary Shiva of the
ancient Hindus, in which he is pictured as a fierce, revengeful, warlike, angry
god, of a destructive tendency—the Rudra of the ancient peoples. And this
aspect attracts to him the rude, uncultured minds of the uneducated people
and tribes, and also those whose minds turn toward self-torture, asceticism,
etc., as a means of worship. And some of the lower sects are composed of