There has been a lag in between and I apologize for that. I've been busily involved in some activities and also studies. Moreover, the week's lesson was quite heavy and as such I had to take some time to look through the notes and just record here some essence of the lessons learnt on that day.Like said in the previous post, the revelation of the Shruti scriptures were characterised by the time, place and content. In the early 2000 BCE, or even earlier, the Veda was revealed near the Saraswati river. The Agamas were revealed later around 500 BCE near the Ganges river. In our Sampradhaya (tradition), rivers are very highly revered even until today. Ganges river (near Kasi) is considered to be a pilgrimage and believed that if you take a dip, your sins are washed away. Why this is so?! Well, if you think of it, padi field are found near rivers and its the river that provides water for the growth of rice plants. We get the rice and we consume it. Literally then, our body is given life by the river and thus, they are highly revered!
The now-existent Temple tradition was revealed in the Agamas. The Veda does not say "This is God" and is therefore not sectarian. But the Agamas have a sectarian attitude. There are three branches under the Agamas: Shiva Agama, Vishnu Agama, and Devi Agama. If its Ganesha and Muruga, they come under the Shiva Agama. All the three different sects lead you towards the same goal but reveres each as the supreme deity. For example, the Shiva Agama says that Shiva is supreme, the Devi Agama says that Devi is ultimate and so on... To avoid confusion I would advice you to follow just ONE sect! If you are a Shiva devotee, do not look at the other sects. Just pray to Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Muruga. Basically, Agamas have made the abstract concept of Ishwara (God) that is found in the Veda, into something tangible and reachable to all.

Puranas (Smriti), about which we will be talking in the next post, are in parallel with the Agama tradition. Though you can find some answers in the Agamas, for ultimate authority on any issue, you HAVE to go back to the Veda! Veda is the ultimate authority! Thaayumanavar has put it very beautifully. He said that the horse is the Agama and the path the horse follows is the Veda. There are no contradictions between the Agama and the Veda, both compliment each other.Each sects in the Agama can be further divided into four, just like the Vedas. Take a look at the chart. The Carya (conduct) describes how to lead a life for the priest looking after the Temple. This usually includes the penances and the kind of lifestyle he should be leading. Kriya (rituals) is about how to chant mantra to invoke the grace of the Lord. This is also the part where the Temple structure and the procedures for building Temples is described in details, together with hymns and such. Yoga and Jnana is the same as in the Vedas. What a striking resemblance it has with the Vedas!

Did the Agamas propagate a Bhakti tradition? No! For example, the agama shaivism doesn't have its own Bhakti tradition. but Shaiva Siddhantha has! You can do rituals without any Bhakti. And here we need to define Bhakti. Bhakti is a liking towards God, it is also about understanding your relationship with God. It usually involves emotions. You can have no bhakti and yet appreciate the knowledge gained from Hinduism. Bhakti is not required, however, if you have Bhakti then it will act as a propellant (catalyst) in your journey towards your ultimate goal.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that there are four types of Bhaktas:
1) The one who only thinks of God during times of distress (Artha)
2) The one who seeks God for wealth, children, prosperity and happiness (Artharthi)
3) The one who seeks Him through knowledge (Jignyasu)
4) The one who realises that "Jnani is in me, I am in Jnani" (Jnani)
According to Krishna, all the four types of the bhaktas are important to him. If you look at the different types of bhaktas as listed above, you will realise that it is the evolution of our minds in relation to God and how we perceive Him. In the 3rd stage, we will then start to realise his true relationship with him and by the 4th stage, we would have realised! The first two stages, in which most of us are in now, are propellants that would bring us slowly to the 3rd and 4th stage. Remember! God's grace is very important to take you further to the 3rd and 4th stages of your mental evolution.

Now we have come to the essence of today's post. Hinduism defines the individual evolution towards the ultimate goal, moksha, through 3 stages:
1) Learn Dharma and follow it. Learn what your duties are and follow them.
2) After you've attained a certain level of mental maturity, do Upasana. Meaning meditation and yoga.
3) Seek Jnana (knowledge) to attain moksha.

There are some important points to take note here. This evolution doesn't take place in the time of one life span of a human. It can take place along the time span of mutiple births and rebirths. Most of us are still in the first stage of individual evolution. Some of the fortunate ones have already advanced towards the second stage in life. A very few are already in the third stage of life. NONE are forced to follow all three in their current birth! JUST FOLLOW DHARMA! That's more than enough to earn you a place in the heaven (temporary existence, not eternal happiness). There will come a time when you would be prepared to go through the 2nd and 3rd stages in life.

Now you will understand the problem with Modern Hinduism. They straight away teach you yoga and meditation (when you are not even mentally prepared) and tell you that it is the way to moksha! DON'T be deluded with all the modern day teachings of Hinduism targetted to the WRONG audience! They will make you feel guilty with the notion of renouncing happiness and wanting to attain moksha! This is NOT TRUE! Wait till the next few posts to find out... :)