Saivism

Saivism beliefs and worships Shiva as the Supreme. In the Hinduism culture, Saivism is one of the major traditions. Shiva is believed to be the creator and the destroyer of the worlds, with the immanent nature of love and the primal soul. Shiva’s followers  also worships Shiva and Shakti’s sons, Magadeva Lord Ganesha and Mahadeva Karttikeya. Saivism believes  in the ideology of three worlds, the gross, subtle and causal planes of existence, by practicing yoga, charya, virtuous living, and temple worshipping, one can achieve the higher consciousness. There are four stages in Saivism, which are Charya Pada, Kriya Pada, Yoga Pada and Jnana Pada.

 

Source: https://www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/12-beliefs-of-saivism_ei/web/ch06a.html

 

 

Vaishanvism

Along with Saivism, Vaishanvism is also one of the major traditions in Hinduism. Vaishanvism consider Vishnu as the Supreme Lord. Vishnu created brahman which is the absolute reality and incarnated avatars such as Rama, Krishna, etc. Vaishnavas pray to Vishnu for a good life and liberation from samsara. They hope to spend their eternity ater the physical death in Vishnu’s presence.

 

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vaishnavism

 

 

Shaktisim

Shaktisim believes in the metaphysical reality, the goddess Shakti is the Supreme, she is also the wife of Shiva. Shaktisim foucus on the Divine Female and sees the Devi as the source of all. Devi-Bhagavata Purana states : “I am Manifest Divinity, Unmanifest Divinity, and Transcendent Divinity. I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, as well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the Sun and I am the Stars, and I am also the Moon. I am all animals and birds, and I am the outcaste as well, and the thief. I am the low person of dreadful deeds, and the great person of excellent deeds. I am Female, I am Male in the form of Shiva”.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaktism

 

 

Smartism

Smartism allows its worshiper to worship more than one god. Smartas can follow one or even five of the main gods of Hinduism, Vishnu, Shiva,Ganesha, Surya and Shakti. They are all considered equal. Smartism was funded by Adi Shankaracharya, it abandoned som old traditions of religious rituals such as animal sacrifice and believes in Brahman as the supreme reality.

 

Source: http://lakshminarayanlenasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/What_is_Smartism_RKVS-1.pdf

 

Tantrism

Tantrism focus on the feminine aspect of bipolar realities and suggests to use sadhana to unite these realities and achieve the ultimate freedom Moksa. The term Tantra means “text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice”. Its philosophy is a mixture of Shakhya and Vedanta thought.

 

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hinduism/Tantrism