Hinduism Help??

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Slow Motion

The Fly
Joined
Jan 26, 2002
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the pit
I hope I don't offend anyone, but I have a question, and to any of you who can help, please do...

I've read that Shiva is often portrayed with a blue throat because he drinks the full cup of man's sins to save him.

I am wondering if this is in similar context to that of Jesus dying on the cross to cleanse men of their sins???

Like I said earlier, I'm really sorry if I offend, but I can only be prevented of doing so in the future by gaining knowledge. And by "men" I mean all people.

Please help if you can, thanks!!!

Love,
SloMo
 
Awww... that was the least offensive post I've read today.
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(Sorry, can't help you with your question.)
 
Okay, let's see if I can still remember all this stuff
A) I think it's Vishnu
B) He doesn't actually drink them and ingest them, he keeps them there in his throat. It doesn't kill him, but I haven't learned quite enough about my religion to make any connections with Jesus.
 
Thank you so much for the help. Wow, that just shows that some books written by "experts" can be way off!!!

Love,
SloMo
 
I am currently taking a course on world religions, so I feel as though I may contribute a bit here. About Shiva, he's more of a creator/destroyer god. He symbolizes life by portraying death and life, which go together. The blue color, the iconography of Hinduism is very extensive and creative, and any of the gods can be portrayed in countless ways. Sometimes the gods are portrayed as fully blue, because blue is considered a color of purity, I believe. Actually, I think the blue throat is due to him drinking alot of dangerous poisons, which he recovered from, but it tainted him. The poisons might symbolize sin, however, Im not sure. He can be seen as a saviour by some but not by others, as different people have different notions of the gods and their aspects, but he is associated with creation/destruction etc. There are parallels with Hindu rituals and Christian ones, and Christianity has alot of influences from cultures like the Babylonians, ie the Ark of Noah. Ancient Indian culture developed from Indo-European peoples, so there are interesting parallels between Sanskrit, the religious language of India, and many European languages like English, Latin, Greek etc. Jesus can be seen to have several parallels with Buddha, however.

I dragged on a bit didnt I?
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Oh well its a good review for my exam, anyways. If you want to know anything else about Hinduism, or any other religion, fire away. It is VERY different from any notion of the major Western religions, and you cant really think of Hinduism in those terms because the mindsets do not apply in the same way.
 
If there is a parallel, it's probably rooted in the bhakti devotional movement within Hinduism, where ordinary Hindus can find liberation by worshipping a deity like Krishna, etc.
 
Shiva is often portrayed witha blue throat or "neela kantham" in sanskrit. The jist of it is, that at one point some dudes were goign to poison the waters of the earth with the vile thoughts and deeds of mankind and Shiva decided to drink teh poison to keep it from doign any bad. His said " your an Idiot" and held his throat the poison stayed there and his throat turned blue.

can you draw a paralell to jesus ..yes..but the hindu deiti that draws teh most comparison to jesus by far is krishna..I have tons of literature on that if you want it

that's my approximation of the sanskrit...if you want email me at arun@interference.com and I'll give you the full story I have it on my comp somewhere

[This message has been edited by Arun V (edited 02-05-2002).]
 
Hey, thanks so much for the information. You guys have all been a great help. I'll definitely email you soon Arun so that I can get that info!!
Love,
SloMo
 
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