Why do scriptures describe the divine differently?
Read the Shiva Purana and Shiva is supreme; read the Vishnu Purana and Vishnu is. Are the scriptures contradicting each other? Traditional teachers have a thoughtful answer.
The verse
Different texts, different audiences
The Puranas were composed over many centuries, in different regions, by communities devoted to different forms of the divine. Each praises its deity as the highest. The tradition never tried to force them into a single account.
The teachers' explanation
Traditional teachers explain this with an idea called adhikāra — and with a much-loved story of blind men and an elephant…
The journey continues for members
- Adhikara: fit for each seeker
- The elephant and the blind men
- Scholarship
Sources
- Bhagavad Gita — 4.11, 7.21
- Udana — parable of the elephant (Buddhist)