Who Is Greater, Vishnu or Shiva?
त्वया यदभयं दत्तं तद्दत्तमखिलं मया
मत्तो विभिन्नमात्मानं द्रष्टुं नार्हसि शङ्कर
योऽहं स त्वं जगच्चेदं सदेवासुरमानुषम्
अविद्यामोहितात्मानः पुरुषा भिन्नदर्शिनः
Krishna is telling Shiva here. Some say Vishnu is greater than Shiva. Some say Shiva is greater than Vishnu. See what Krishna himself tells Shiva — 'Whatever abhaya, protection that you offer, all that is given by me only. You can’t be seeing yourself to be different from me. Whatever I am, you are. And that is what this universe also is. All the beings — devas, asuras, humans — they are all a single unity, which is you and me.'
One who sees Shiva to be different from Vishnu, and Vishnu to be different from Shiva, is suffering from ignorance and delusion.
This is very, very important. When we say that Vishnu is the one and only God in the world, it is not to the exclusion of Shiva, Brahma, Ganesha, Parashakti and other deities. The fact is that they are all the same. They are not different from each other. In fact, they are not even different from you and me. When you are addressing Vishnu, you are also addressing Shankara and Mahamaya. They are not different from each other.
If you have attained Ishwara Sakshatkara — say by doing upasana of Ganesha — then wherever you go, go to a Shiva temple, you will find Ganesha’s presence only there. Go to a Krishna temple, you will find Ganesha only there. You go to Devi temple, you will find Ganesha only there. The chaitanya is the same everywhere. It is the ignorant who differentiate into — 'I am Shaivaite', 'I am Vaishnavaite', 'I am a Shakta'. Once the ignorance goes, all these differentiations also go.
Adi Shankara was going towards the river along with his disciples to perform afternoon prayers. A chandala, an outcast, came their way along with four dogs. They asked him to go away because he is impure. The chandala asked:
अन्नमयात् अन्नमयं अथवा चैतन्यमेव चैतन्यात्
द्विजवर दूरीकर्तुं वाञ्चसि किं ब्रूहि गच्छ गच्छेति
What should I keep away from you — the body? Your body and my body — they have come out of the same pancha bhutas, the same food common to all. Or the atma? Your atma and my atma are the same. They are manifestations of the same Paramatma. So clarify — what should I keep out of your way, the body or the atma?
Shankara was awe-struck.
It is said that Lord Shiva came in the form of a chandala to test Shankara — how far Shankara has progressed in Vedanta? But then, Lord Shiva doesn’t have to assume the physical form of a chandala and come in front of Shankara. These tests are always there all around us. We can decide when to take them — like the online tests taken these days. The tests are not done on a particular day from 9 to 12. They are always there. You can choose when to take these tests.
So let us shun all these differences — which God is superior? There is no God who is superior or inferior. When Sri Hari says that 'I am the one and only, I am the Supreme,' it does not mean that the other gods are inferior. He says they are not different from me.
सर्वदेवनमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति — all namaskaras go towards Keshava
is the same as:
सर्वदेवनमस्कारः गणेशं प्रति गच्छति
सर्वदेवनमस्कारः शङ्करं प्रति गच्छति
सर्वदेवनमस्कारः भारतीं प्रति गच्छति
It requires a lot of maturity to do away with that 'my daddy big and strong' notion — 'My god is the greatest of all.'
Shiva says:
विष्णोरन्यं तु पश्यन्ति ये मां ब्रह्माणमेव वा
कुतर्कमतयो मूढाः पच्यन्ते नरकेष्वधः
ये च मूढा दुरात्मानो भिन्नं पश्यन्ति मां हरेः
ब्रह्माणं च ततस्तस्माद् ब्रह्महत्यासमं त्वघम्
Those who see me or Brahma as different from Vishnu are just fools who want to engage in useless arguments. They will burn in hell. The sin of doing so is equivalent to Brahmahatya.
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Vishnu Sahasranama
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