SV: creation of human kind

[Mani Varadarajan]

>
> I hear that 'Saiva Siddhantam and Vishishtadvaitam are basically
> the same philosophically. Is this true, Mani?
>

Saiva Siddhanta and Visishtadvaita are similiar
in that they do not accept Sankara's Advaita philosophy.
Both accept that there is a fundamental difference
between the paramAtmA and jIva, known as Isvara
and cit respectively in Visishtadvaita, pati and
pasu in Saiva Siddhanta.

However, the "pradhAna pratitantra" or basic
tenet of Visishtadvaita philosophy is Ramanuja's
SarIra-SarIri-bhAva, or body-soul explanation of
how the universe and all its constituents relate
to the Supreme Self.  As far as I know, this is not
part of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. I also don't
think the Saiva Siddhanta has a tradition of
interpreting the Upanishads or other Vedic texts;
they tend to stick to Saiva Agamas and the songs
of the Nayanmars.

In short, they are not the same philosophy.

Mani