Question:
O' Vedic Hindus, How do you worship your supreme formless God Brahman?
Raj
2008-11-15 00:49:37 UTC
Only learned / spiritual Vedic hindus answer this question. Beginners, please be a spectator.

While Brahman is the formless one Manaathithi (beyond the conception of Mind), then how can you worship this formless, nameless, Brahman with your mind. What do you think is the best way to worship this Brahman with your mind? Have you ever worshipped this Brahman in your life time?
Nine answers:
C. Sri Vidya Rajagopalan
2008-11-15 04:55:38 UTC
The question is how Vedic Hindus worship their supreme formless God Brahman.



1) By Karma Yoga:



By doing YAGNA, Vedic Hindus worship their supreme formless God Brahman.



Reciting Vedic scriptures, doing Vedic Yagnas and Vedic Homas are the ways of worshiping God Brahman.



----------------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------------------

Majority of people can worship Brahman only by Karma yoga.

----------------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------------------



2) By Jnana Yoga:



Paroksha & Aparoksh jnan:



Jnan a is of two kinds - Paroksha - i.e. which you learn from books or Acharyas, and Aparoksh - i.e. which you learn by your own Anubhuti or realization.



Once the spiritual thirst is created, the seeker naturally turns towards spiritual books or spiritual teachers for light on the path. He acquires theoretical knowledge, Paroksha Jnana. This, as we noticed, is the first step, and a necessary step. The next step in spiritual life, and the most essential step, is practice.



Practice ultimately leads to Aparoksha Anubhuti or the supreme Direct Experience. Indirect knowledge becomes direct experience. All that is learnt and understood about Brahman is more than verified by one’s own experience. That brings down the final curtain on the drama of life. But between the initial stepping on to the spiritual path and the final experience of realising Brahman, there are innumerable facts of spiritual life which the Sadhak verifies for himself personally. And with each verification his conviction in the truth of what he learnt grows.



----------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- -----------------------

Only very very few can become brahma jnanis like Suka Brahmam

----------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- -----------------------



3) Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 14



"annad bhavanti bhutani

parjanyad anna-sambhavah

yajnad bhavati parjanyo

yajnah karma-samudbhavah"



Synonyms:



annat--from grains; bhavanti--grow; bhutani--the material bodies; parjanyat--from rains; anna--of food grains; sambhavah--are made possible; yajnat--from the performance of sacrifice; bhavati--becomes possible; parjanyah--rains; yajnah--performance of yajna; karma--prescribed duties; samudbhavah--born of.



Translation:



All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed duties.



4) Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 15:



"karma brahmodbhavam viddhi

brahmaksara-samudbhavam

tasmat sarva-gatam brahma

nityam yajne pratisthitam"



Synonyms:



karma--work; brahma--Vedas; udbhavam--produced from; viddhi--one should know; brahma--the Vedas; aksara--the Supreme Brahman (Personality of Godhead); samudbhavam--directly manifested; tasmat--therefore; sarva-gatam--all-pervading; brahma--transcendence; nityam--eternally; yajne--in sacrifice; pratisthitam--situated.



Translation:



Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.



5) Madhvacarya's Commentary on Gita Verses (3, 14-15):



Actions are born from the Vedas because the Vedas prescribe yagna or worship and appeasement and the performance of yagna is done by actions. The Vedas arose out of the breath of the Supreme Brahman. This is noted by the word brahmaksara which means the supreme immutable Vedas which was the medium by which the knowledge of the ultimate reality was revealed.



Otherwise how could the Supreme Brahman which is inconceivable, without a beginning and an end and complete within Himself ever been known. The word aksara in brahmaksara means the ultimate reality denoting the Supreme Lord. When a primary meaning has been identified it is not proper to accept a secondary meaning as is often the case due to forgotten traditions. Insentient objects cannot manifest by themselves they must be created. The magnitude of actions in creation, the unlimited resources of elements and the awesome manifestation of time indicate inconceivable powers.



Since the material worlds are but reflections of the spiritual worlds all actions in material existence emanate outwards with the energy of the Supreme Lord as the source. This does not directly include the actions exhibited by sentient beings using free will only the underlying energy that empowers them.



The word aksarani refers to the eternality of the Supreme Lord. The eternal Vedas have Him for their source. Because He is eternal the Vedas are eternal as well. There would be a flaw in anyone thinking that the Vedas were created because they could not have been so without prior knowledge. They are eternally manifest and the Vedic scriptures reveal that they were exhaled by the breath of the Supreme Being. Exhaling is a natural phenomena without any effort required indicating that the Vedas manifested from the spiritual worlds without any conscious effort, this is the inference meant here.



In view of being eternal the statements of being created have to be understood from the point of view of manifesting within material existence or perception of such not that it was actually created for the first time. An example of this is the treatise Shatapatha Brahmana which is said to have been created by Yagnavalkya. How is it possible for any part of the eternal Vedic scriptures to be created by anyone? Yagnavalkya blessed by the Supreme achieved a high level of attainment and received it within his mind from the spiritual plane and transcribed it onto palm leaves for posterity.



A statement clarified after deliberation is superior to one spoken without contemplation. The Vedic scriptures are the source of origin, thus the statement in Brahma Sutras I.I.III that the Vedas are the evidence that Brahma is the creator. In the previous verse I.I.II the word janmadyasya is used meaning from whom were created is the evidence which can be quoted. These verses do not suggest that the Vedas were born from Brahman nor do they infer the Brahman was the cause of the Vedas.



The creating of the material worlds by the Brahman from the five basic elements given to him of water, earth, air, fire and ether does not preclude the creation of the Vedas nor would it be correct to assume that the Vedas were created this way. The creation of a most wonderful world is in no way superior to the eternal emanations of the Vedas. This also does not lead to the conclusion that the Brahman is omniscient even though the manifestation of the Vedas is omniscient. Therefore the eternal Vedas coming from the spiritual worlds are themselves the proof and the word aksara confirms this.



------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -------------------------------------

So Brahman is revealed through yagna and Brahman is revealed through Vedic scriptures and the Vedas eternally establish yagna throughout the material creation. From knowledge of the Vedas and performance of yagna living entities prosper and flourish. This is the eternal cycle.

------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -------------------------------------





Sources:



Answer got from my father, aged 84, a vedic pandit in Krishna Yajur Veda.
darcy
2016-05-29 02:10:04 UTC
1. Worshiping man created idols destroys the very meaning of 'worshiping' God One & Only Who is All-Knowing. So indeed they do not worship God but earn His anger. 2. Their forefathers worshipped idols and so the children followed them. They were mislead and so are the children. 3. Some forefathers may have praised God fearing persons and their children outdid them by creating idols, portraits and eventually started worshipping them generations later. 4. They argue that idol is needed for concentration but infact they are rejecting the One & Only Lord altogether ! ( like saying Both are correct 1+1=3 & 1+1=2 ) 5. Hinduism is not a religion (way of life) but a philosophy and data on historical events. Sanskrit is Not an outspoken language. 6. Today many hindus worship themselves by Disbelieving in accountability by the Almighty and take pride in themselves. 7. Some worship money as their god by striving & loving it much more than their Lord. They reject the Almighty, His Angels, Messengers, His Books & the Last Day of Judgement. 8. Their scriptures mention that those who worship natural thing are in darkness (like plants, trees) and those that worship man created are entering even more in darkness. Yet since it's Not a religion (compulsion to follow good) and only a philosophy hindus do as they like. 9. Idol making & selling is a profiting bussiness. 10. They do not want to use logic and see what their scriptures say about One & Only God nor do they want to explore the truth
kcsadvocate
2008-11-15 01:26:46 UTC
Seers of yore, in their perception of the mantras and the treatises called upanishads, have advocated a spirit of inquiry. No uniform rules have been laid down for all people. Various pathways have been indicated. From own analysis, in the pathway of ashtanga yoga, precautions have been advised and cautions provided, so that the seeker does not get entrapped by the effects of any wrong step.

The threefold path of duty,knowledge and devotion delineated by Sri Krishna, none has been graded as inferior or superior to the other. After several centuries of advent of various schools of theology and philosophy, we are today at a stage where there is fusion of all the three pathways of Sri Krishna, where Bhakti seemingly has ascendance. The philosophical debates place bhakti as ultimate for some and jnana as the ultimate but both consider the other two as stages. The ritualistic Srivaishnavism school of Ramanuja, alone distinguishes Prapatti even from Bhakti and stresses on formalised process of absolution.

In these times, I doubt whether anyone exists who is on the pure pathway of'upasana' of 'nirguna brahman'. The co-existence of 'Nirguna-niraakaara' aspect with the'saguna-saakaara' aspect is what is accepted as the most practicable approach.

The Kanchi Pramacharya H.D. Chandrashekharendra Saraswati Maharaj, in his discourses has synthesised the same. One has to lead a simple life (that would shun the crass consumerism of our times), ethical means of earning livelihood for bare needs, moral lifestyle, coupled with efforts to perform the basic and if possible more of the duties 'nitya karmaanushthana' -" Vedo nityam adheeyataam; tad uditam swa karma su anushtheeyataam " dictum of Sri Sankara, to the maximum extent possible under the circumstances. This would lead to 'chitta shuddhi" cleansing of mind where Divine consciousness is possible, which too shall be adopted with a sense of sacrifice and surrender. This would lead one to perceptional diversification of presence of divinity in every being and even things which wouls launch one in the path of introspective inquiry on the lines of the vedic mantra "aatmaa ma aatmani shritaH".

This structured synthesised approach is practicable. Ramana Maharishi too advocated the path of inquiry but did not shun the path of devotion. So too Sri ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

So, as one who believes in the mandatory 'karma', practises worship in form I am one among the multitude to yet reach that stage of inquiry.
Jadoremonchat
2008-11-15 00:53:28 UTC
You're not going to find too many Hindus on here. I would suggest e-mailing the Vedanta society or Ananda village if you want an answer to that quetsion.



And BTW, people don't really worship Brahma so much anymore. He pretty much served his purpose after he created the Universe.
2008-11-15 01:47:15 UTC
nirgunopaasana



soham (while taking breath)



aham brahmasmi



twamevaaham



many many ways for the shapeless: Do you understand sanskrit, if so add details of this in your question and a sanskrith sloka will be added to my answer.
brkshandilya
2008-11-15 06:29:13 UTC
This is what happens when we don't understand what we are talking about but talk we MUST.Understand the basic difference between worship and meditation.It may help you somewhat,if you are open minded.
humanist
2008-11-15 06:15:49 UTC
When you reach that stage of 'mindlessness'

there will not be any worshipper and the worshipped. both merge and a calm re silence

descend. no one to tell you "the best way to worship"
Just Do It!
2008-11-15 00:55:24 UTC
Yes



Ask yourself



"Who Am I"



May you have the realisation



I pray for you and your family
koushiksaha
2008-11-16 06:32:51 UTC
With good Karma or/and meditation (yoga). Try it , it works.Get yourself a good Guru


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
Loading...