Re: Feeling confused
Namaste Avyaydya,
Deva-s are, to me, as much divine principles as Brahman is; so I see Brahman as just another deva. And, Sat is not Brahman but is simply the state of affairs when all Devata-s communicate with each other.
In all these years I have never met with anything in Sruti or Smriti that goes against this. In fact, texts are very clear when emphasising that Asat is the natural state of affairs, and is therefore more original - and hence comes before - Sat.Please note that Sat doesn't mean Satya i.e. truth, and similarly Asat doesn't mean Asatya i.e. untruth; because as such, Sat and Asat are states - and what we know as Satya (truth) is always an output, result, of Sat; similarly Asatya is the result of Asat.
Asat employs all vocabulary and glitter on avail in order to flaunt its power, acceptability. The problem is, people are naturally born into it. Asat is the natural religion.
Now, if someone says to you, "look bro, everything is One - now what is your problem?"
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Still, the good thing with Vedanta is that it is a de facto gateway for many to Hinduism. So even though its language is that of binary worldview and exclusive duality (even Advaita is a dual ideology as it has - Brahman vs. Maya), still many who mature into Hinduism are found to be basing themselves more in simple Devata worship.
I suppose early twenties is the right place for getting acclimatised with Vedantic paradigm - if at all - and the late twenties are the phase for some real action, getting to know Devata-s. I've found that those who pass this later phase without bumps are likely beyond return and thus continue ever more blindly with ideology A or B.
Rare are those who from the very start come along the way of what we call as, "The Village Hindu".
Things to remember:
1. Life = yajña
2. Depth of Āstika knowledge is directly proportional
to the richness of Sanskrit it is written in
3. Āstika = Bhārata ("east") / Ārya ("west")
4. Varṇa = tripartite division of Vedic polity
5. r = c. x²
where,
r = realisation
constant c = intelligence
variable x = bhakti
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