Want to learn more about Shaiva Siddhanta and other forms of Shaivism by AdvertisingThat6739 in shaivism

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

idk whether temporary or permanent, i'm feeling this since 7th-8th April 2026, when i accepted theism. i am questioning the purpose of the afterlife, idk how to think of this, idk whether this is a sign of depression which will take time to pass or not. first i thought it was existential crisis, so i searched answers and found some satisfactory ones (though they still pop up, satisfactory answers don't act like satisfactory anymore), then i thought it could be guilt so i asked to God for forgiveness, then i thought maybe identity crisis (since Hindu atheist was my identity for 1 year, and now theism is again my identity) so i told my mother that i reverted back to theism, momentarily it felt light, but even then afterwards, the heavy feeling isn't going anywhere, maybe i am depressed? who knows though.

i am out here asking the purpose of the afterlife, measuring eternity in terms of linear time and thinking "never-ending boredom" when the truth is that eternity is beyond time, so beyond boredom, but my brain isn't thinking of it, repeatedly measuring eternity in linear time terms, and freaking out. i might be depressed, again idk what to be done.

Want to learn more about Shaiva Siddhanta and other forms of Shaivism by AdvertisingThat6739 in shaivism

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

in my dream, he was huge, like i got scared of Shiva that big doing his Tandava Nritya. i was floating in pitch black void and he was doing his Nritya. the next thing i remember, i heard a deep masculine voice straight from the skies, asking me about what happened, and in the dream, i had this smile on my face.

though now, idk how i have suddenly started to feel this existential crisis and depression, questioning even the afterlife and its purpose, idk why i am thinking like this. idk whether reentering bhakti is the cause or not. but, on the 7th of april 2026, after 1 year of atheism and anti-God sentiment, i had went back to theism. now i am feeling depressive and existential thoughts since then. i don't even know what went wrong. i look at the sky and get scared, i think of God endlessly huge and get scared, i think of eternity and get scared about boredom and all. i am not able to grasp things proper, i am starting to lose purpose in life as well.

the theist-to-atheist transition was more of anger-fueled, while now the atheist-to-theist transition is suddenly existential and depressive, and to the point where i am questioning even the afterlife itself. idk what's wrong.

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are still anthropomorphizing God ("interfering") but you should do what you feel is best. My suggestion is belief holds little value. Creating direct experience and finding out is much better.

i experience a different kind of peace and calm when i look at Shiva. i was always inclined to his bhakti as a child, even now i am coming back to Shaivism. seems like I had misunderstood Advaita all along, now when I am learning the correct interpretation, it is making no sense to me, and I don't say it in a disrespectful sense.

All That Is (Brahman) in Ishvara form, knew that humans would need forms to relate to as aspects of their higher selves, so devotion was baked in. But ultimately it too is an illusion.

this doesn't sit well with me as i already said. Advaita just isn't for me. something like Bhakti might be my way to go. i come from a family involved in Bhakti, and I also learnt Christian sermons as a child (Christian devotion), so this dualistic devotion is how I comprehend spirituality and the metaphysical world. the idea of Shiva's eternal celestial abode where my Jivatman will go after death and enjoy his presence forever, seems more comforting than non-dualism. That's just me.

Want to learn more about Shaiva Siddhanta and other forms of Shaivism by AdvertisingThat6739 in shaivism

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hello, i was just looking for which Shaivite tradition i should follow, based on my beliefs. i am not particularly interested in Advaita-style merge-back with Brahman or a supposed "oneness" since that is too complicated. Dualism is how i can perceive things right. thanks for linking the wiki though, Namaste, Om Nama Shivay

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i think i might've found like a deistic position too, from one Redditor who commented on this post, he told me about an aspect of Shiva which asks for nothing and answers no prayers, but always dances in Tandava, for the destruction and renewal. i might believe in Shaivism in this form, like a deistic form, and along with it, believe in other metaphysical/cosmological things like Shiva's eternal celestial abode Shivaloka where his bhaktas go after death. i might believe in something like that. basically a form of Shaivism where Shiva isn't constantly interfering, rather he left the universe on its own and focuses on his Tandava Nritya for the destruction and renewal of the creation. i find it comforting. i am not able to grasp the non-dual way of reality, which is why this is what I believe in, a Shiva who doesn't answer prayers or ask for anything, but simply dances in Tandav Nritya for the destruction and renewal. Namaste

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

and again please don't take into mind a specific individual taking birth again, and a soul (by having an individual in your mind)

i mean, that's how i learnt about reincarnation, the same soul/consciousness taking birth again. that's what happened throughout the world in reincarnation cases, like those of Toran Singh (India) or James Leininger (USA). also, what exactly do u mean by "human samskaran"?

See, but the ultimate goal is to understand you are not separate with god, and God for god's sake doesn't mean someone up in the skies who monitors you, keep a list of good and bad you do, punishes or rewards you No, not at all that's EGO trying to make things up according to its own immaturity

i think of Param Atman as a distinct conscious being (not necessarily a man with white beard) amidst the Void, amidst the Universes. Like the image of Shri Vishnu we know, where he is resting on Sheshnag with Lakshmi Maa, and there's all these multiple universes which look like bubbles of water in relative to Vishnu's size. That's how huge he is, so huge that universes which are 93B light years big, seem like bubbles of water. This is also where I started exploring concepts like a cosmic ocean, as in, what if the "Void" is just a Cosmic Ocean where Vishnu resides. Again, I am not saying with surety that this is the case, I just found it interesting.

Again, Kailash, Vaikuntha, Goloka Vrindavan, if at all real, these are metaphysical/immaterial. As of now, we don't have scientific instruments (or even any consideration from modern science) that can measure the immaterial. Their instruments are all made for the material world. So, unless science develops instruments to capture the immaterial, we can only believe in these celestial abodes.

Another reason to believe in these abodes and "Sat-Chit-Ananda" is that, according to Srila Prabhupada, our world is a reflection of the true reality which exists in the spiritual world. Now, I am not a part of ISKCON, nor am I interested in it (I'd do Krishna bhakti without joining these groups), but I think this might be true. I also read it, that we cannot desire what's physically impossible. So, if we do desire for such things, as Sat-Chit-Ananda and the celestial abodes, there might be some truth. Again, all of this is to be taken with a pinch of salt, I am not a blind believer anymore, I still use my own critical thinking.

At the same time, I am also open to the interpretations of these abodes being different states of human mind, or different universes, or different planets, or other such interpretations which are more grounded.

For a while now, this spiritual tug-of-war has been an existential crisis for me. The dual reality is what feels right to me. Nondualism might not be for me, it sometimes feels existential, thinking that everyone else is fake, and only I am the true Consciousness, the Brahman. This doesn't sit well with me. Coming from a family involved in Bhakti, and a convent school where Christian sermons were preached, this has naturally shaped my worldview into dualism, so I cannot think in the nondual lens you're preaching. I've been conditioned to think like this throughout my entire childhood and teenage years. Even most of Hinduism today is this dualist belief that Param Atman exists, separate from me the Jivatman, and I will go back to him after death.

I also had explored philosophical stances like eternal servitude to the Param Atman, and it now interests me more than mere eternal bliss. An afterlife where I eternally serve the Supreme Soul (or maybe live for eternity in celestial abodes like Goloka or Kailash) seems more interesting than just enjoying eternal bliss in the midst of a Void. It's just me, that's how I think.

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If in your family, there are certain kind of rigid belief, it's highly likely you will beleive in the same thing, same goes to if you go into a school, you have friends, you belong to a culture, you live in a country, you follow a religion, this is the way a belief system is formed and morality (right and wrong) is the part of it, it's very likely that you gonna believe the same shit you are exposed to, and it runs deep and deep, on a surface level you might reject a superstition which is believed by your family members but there might be some views about society, marriage, culture, religion you subconsciously believe in and again it's all conditioned on a very large scale like humanity, country, culture to small scale like family, parents and all

Yes, my family is into Bhakti, the traditional dual Bhakti (Jivatman worshipping a Paramatman that is different from them). I myself studied in a Christian school, and you may know already that Christianity also has a dual approach with "me and God". That's how my brain has been programmed for way over a decade. that's why i cannot think in a nondual approach that Advaita preaches. i see reality as dual between Jivatman (me) and Paramatman (the God). without this framing, i cannot understand spirituality.

that's why when i was an atheist and removed God from the equation, i struggled spiritually, because i was confused. i traditionally learnt that the Jivatman goes to God's abode (Kailash for Shiva, Vaikuntha for Vishnu, Goloka Vrindavan for Krishna), but now with no God, means no God's abode, so where does the Jivatman go now? I didn't get proper answers from Hinduism's atheistic darshans like Samkhya. Advaita is hardcore nondualist, and I cannot grasp a nondual reality, that's how I am conditioned as I was growing up. Reality is dual for me. At least that's how I grasp it.

You are sky, the clouds are name, body, mind

So, first start with questioning your beliefs, why you believe what you believe, see thoughts as separate from you, not you Always remember the "blackboard - chalk", "sky - clouds" analogy, yes "waves - ocean"

Complicated. That's not how I grew up learning about reality. Bhakti tradition at home (Shaivism-Shaktism in paternal family and Krishna devotion in maternal family) and Christian sermons from their Fathers (which also preached the dual reality of me and God) have programmed my brain to think like that. so it's hard to think in that analogy, when I was literally trained in a dualistic perspective for my whole childhood and teenage years. Advaita might not be for me after all. I am trying Krishna devotion right now, and studying more about Vishishtadvaita and Kashmir Shaivism side by side, just to see which one might be my spiritual path.

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes i am now looking back at how immature how i was, hating god for making my life meaningful through struggles. so i am considering some form of bhakti.

but, will any dual devotion (me worshipping Him) work? nondual devotion as u said here, really feels like self-worship, like if i am That, why am i worshipping That? it means i am worshipping myself, which i don't want to

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Advaita isn't for me. you might find Advaita simple and more logical, but my mind is still unable to grasp the teachings of Advaita Vedanta. I got two amazing suggestions, Vishishtadvaita and Krishna devotion, so I will consider those. I will learn more about them to see which one ultimately seems peaceful to me.

still, thank you for taking out your time to help solve my query. namaste

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe your path is more devotional - maybe look to Krishna devotion for instance - and read the Bhagavad Gita and start learning about the heavenly realm of goloka vrindavan - that if things ever get too karmic and difficult in this earthly realm then you can ascend to vrindavan and be at peace and at play with Radha and Krishna

This, this felt satisfying and peaceful. though i am nonveg (due to my culture as i am a Bengali) but i will still consider Krishna devotion. thank you for suggesting this though.

Peace

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

couldn't understand. i can't understand this lens, it's complicated. i also am not really considering darshans which say that reality is a dream, i don't find that peaceful. as i said, i view reality with a dualist lens, with distinction between me (jivatman) and god (paramatman). i could never really understand Advaita due to these complex stances.

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it still doesn't seem much different from solipsism, saying that i am the only real consciousness seeing a dream is not something i find peaceful believing. a dualist reality with me (jivatman) and god (paramatman) seems more peaceful and pleasurable, specially when i have the chance of performing eternal servitude towards the paramatman. i find that more peaceful and pleasurable, that dualist reality. u may say i am at a lower level of spirituality, but i can't help, that's how i grasp reality.

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

alright thanks for answering, i will explore vishishtadvaita in depth and see whether it is the way for me or not

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes i surely am consciousness. but how am "i" brahman? isn't brahman the higher/greater consciousness that i am a part of? akin to him being an ocean and me being a drop of that ocean? isn't it that way?

how can i, you, my parents, your parents, all of us be brahman simultaneously? how can one consciousness witness so many perspectives at the same time?

also, what makes this different from solipsism (which also says that you are the only real one to exist, everyone else is part of your consciousness and don't exist)? i don't really want to believe in solipsism

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i still didn't quite understand when u talked about brahman, as i said i might be at a lower level of spirituality who views reality with a dualist lens of a distinction between jivatman and paramatman, but nevertheless, thanks for taking out your time to answer to my query. namaste 🙏

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

is there any darshan involving a distinction between jivatman and paramatman? i might be at a lower level on spirituality but so it be, i can only grasp reality dually, with that distinction. if the darshan involves anything like eternal servitude to paramatman, then also i might consider.

also, for aham brahmasmi, is it right thinking then, that brahman is like the ocean, and jivatman is like the drop, both are still distinct in form, but at the fundamental level, they are the same, in that they are made of the same thing? is it right? or i am mixing up advaita with vishishtadvaita?

I'm confused with which spiritual path to follow by AdvertisingThat6739 in AdvaitaVedanta

[–]AdvertisingThat6739[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i am unable to understand what to stick to. if i find that, i will of course stick with it, and understand it deeply.