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Is Lord Shiva really easier to please than Lord Vishnu?


To know which of the Hindu Lord was easily pleased let us look at the disciples. The best example of a Shaivite Brahmin is Ravana, and that of a Vaishnavite Brahmin is Sudama.

Ravana had it all – a golden city, huge army, and incredible power.

Sudama had nothing (initially), his God had deprived him of all materialistic possessions. He went to Lord Krishna when his children were facing death due to starvation to ask for help and his God rewarded him with a huge mansion.

Image Credit – Keshav

Shiva is easier to please than Vishnu because the Shaivaites believed that they should be able to get what they want as long as they are devout towards their motives not straying from the path of Dharma. Vaishnavites believe that to achieve their motives they should separate themselves from materialistic possessions.

Lets us discuss this in detail

Lord Shiva has been pictured with Crescent Moon on his head – Indicating that he has control over his mind, Ashes all over the body – Signifying how material existence ceases after death- the final reality Sitting on tiger’s skin – signifying that he has conquered lust, tigers skin being the symbol for lust.

Shiva

These also include behavioral attributes which were paradoxical in nature such as Destroyer and Benefactor. While Lord Shiva slays the Asuras, Drinks the most potent poison on one hand, on the other hand, he can be pleased with a legitimate amount of penance. Once pleased, God Shiva can be asked for anything, no matter how absurd or perilous, he will grant it, justifying the name Baba Bholenath for his gullibility.

The Shaivites believe in the philosophy, similar to their God, that opposites can coexist in harmony within the same entity leading to the advent and sustenance of prosperous Brahmins, who believed that God Shiva was “easily” pleased with them and had blessed them with prosperity.

Also Read :  Lord Shiva's Union with Mohini, Lord Vishnu's only female avatar

God Vishnu was ascribed with the following attributes:

God Vishnu reclining on Shesha Naga, in deep meditation, on Ksheer Sagar with Goddes Laxmi (the goddess of wealth and prosperity)with the Sudarshan Chakra in one hand.

His behavior includes instances of his shrewdness can be found in numerous stories such as his birth in various forms, his treachery, and farsightedness that led to winning the holy Wars to defeat the evil.Similarly, these were intelligent human fabrications to give a form to God. Unlike Shaivism, Vaishnavism is based on the belief that the God takes away all material things from you in order to efface the distractions which hold you back from attaining Nirvana.

In the Bhagavata Purana 10.88

King Parīkṣit said,

Those demigods, demons, and humans who worship Lord Śiva, a strict renunciant, usually enjoy wealth and sense gratification, while the worshipers of the Supreme Lord Hari, the husband of the goddess of fortune, do not

Śrī Śukadeva said 

Lord Śiva is always united with his personal energy, the material nature. Manifesting himself in three features in response to the entreaties of nature’s three modes, he thus embodies the threefold principle of material ego in goodness, passion, and ignorance. The sixteen elements have evolved as transformations of that false ego. When a devotee of Lord Śiva worships his manifestation in any one of these elements, the devotee obtains all sorts of corresponding enjoyable opulence.Lord Hari, however, has no connection with the material modes. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all-seeing eternal witness, who is transcendental to material nature. One who worships Him becomes similarly free from the material modes.

 

Source: Quora

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