A PRESENTATION ON VAISHNIVISM IN VEDIC RELIGION

1. JIWAJI UNIVERSITY, GWALIOR
SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON
IMPORTANCE OF VAISHNAVISM IN VEDIC RELIGION
MA - AIHCA II SEMESTER
SESSION – 2021-23
Presented to Presented by
Dr. (Prof) S.D. Sisodia Abhijeet Verma
MA- AIHCA (II)Semester
Roll No. 211000716

2. Origin of Vaishnavism
The origin of Vaishnavism can be traced back to the verbal
teachings imparted by Vishnu himself to Goddess Laxmi and
in turn to Vishvaksena, the divine angel. The earliest known
origin of Vaishnavism can be traced back to the Rig Veda, the
oldest religious literature of the world. There are a number
of hymns in the Rig Veda which are also repeated in the Yajur
Veda and Sama Veda, which speak of Lord Vishnu as the
highest personal God, who is the sole creator and controller
of the universe and the saviour of humanity.

3. Vaishnavism in Ancient Hindu
Texts
Vaishnavism is contained, discussed, elaborated and
developed in a number of ancient Hindu texts. These
include the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Agamas and
the epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

4. Upanishads
The various philosophical and religious doctrines
which constitute the chief basis of Vaishnavism are
found in the Upanishads in great detail. The basic
themes of Ishwar (God), chitta (soul) and acit
(matter), the nature of Ishwar as a personal God
endowed with attributes, the Bhakti or Upasana as
a sadhana or means of God-realization and the
nature of Moksha as conceived in Vaishnavism are all
taken from the Upanisadic teachings. The Katha
Upanishad and the Shakta Upanishad hold Vishnu as
the supreme deity. The Taittiriya Upanishad asserts
that the Purusa who has been spoken about in the
Rig Veda is the ruler of the Universe, Narayana.

5. Agamas
In the period of time following the Vedas, the
various important tenets of Vaishnavism have been
more elaborately expounded in the Agamas. The
Vaishnava Agamas uphold the exclusive worship of
Vishnu as the Supreme Deity. It emphasized on the
exclusive worship of Vishnu as a means of salvation.
The Agamas have evolved the concept of
worshipping it in an image form. As a follow up of
this form of worship, the consecration of icons, the
construction of temples for this purpose and the
observance of certain prescribed daily rituals and
other festivals in the temples have all been
formulated in the Agamas.

6. Epics
Following the Agamas, the development of
Vaishnavism has taken place in a comprehensive way
in the great Indian epics of the Mahabharata and
the Ramayana. The Ramayana is regarded by the
Vaishnavites as a text expounding the doctrine of self-
surrender. In the Mahabharata, Vishnu is identified
with Narayana, Vasudeva, Bhagawan and Krishna.
The importance of devoted worship to Lord Vishnu in
order to attain Moksha is clearly brought out in the
Mahabharata. The supremacy of Vishnu as against all
other deities including Shiva and Brahma is upheld
throughout the Mahabharata.

7. Puranas
The contribution of the Indian Puranas in general
and Vishnu Purana of Sage Parasara in particular is
significant in developing the Vaishnava doctrines.
The Vishnu Purana is acknowledged as the oldest
and the most authoritative Purana. It presents all
the basic doctrines, both philosophical and
theological, of Vaishnavism. It is clearly stated at
the very beginning that Lord Vishnu is the main
cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution of the
universe. The Vaishnava concept of Paramapada is
also referred to in this Purana. The Sattvika Puranas
are those which emphasise the greatness of Vishnu.

8. Bhakti Movement and
Contribution of Vaishnava
Religious Leaders
Vaishnavism was greatly revived during the Bhakti
movement. The Vaishnava religion has been prevalent right
from the Vedic period. During this entire period of time, a
number of other philosophical and religious schools of
thought had come up. Thus there was a lot of opposition to
Vaishnavism especially
from Buddhism, Jainism and Shaivism. In order to uphold the
teachings of Vaishnavism against other emerging religious
philosophies there was felt the need to consolidate and
systematise the thoughts found in different religious works.

9. Nathamuni made a significant contribution to Vaishnavism
by rediscovering the 4000 hymns of the Alvars,
rearranging them into four parts and introducing its
recitation by the Vaishnavas as part of the worship at
temples. The works of Yamunacharya have laid the
foundation for the formulation of the important doctrines
of Vaishnavism. The most significant contribution in the
development and propagation of Vaishnavism was made
by Ramanuja. He did this by means of his many written
works as well as propagation through the apostles.
Ramanuja presents the fundamental philosophical
doctrines of Visistadvaita Vedanta on the basis of the
interpretation of the Vedanta Sutras.
This task was fulfilled to a large extent by Ramanuja and his
forerunners, Nathamuni and Yamunacharya.

10. Development of Vaishnava
Schools
There are four main Sampradayas within Vaishnavism. Each of
these is slightly different from the other in their philosophical
beliefs. Though the core of their essential beliefs is the same,
each of the sampradayas has a separate understanding of the
relationship between the soul (jiva) and God (Vishnu or
Krishna).

11. Vaishnavism today has a large number of followers. The
influence of Vaishnavism however has not just remained
confined in the country but spread abroad as well. This has
been made possible through the works of the Hare Krishna
Movement. Thus, Vaishnavism has emerged as one of the
strongest branches of Hinduism with the constant flow of its
development right down the ages
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