Para Brahman in the context of "Mahadevi"

Shaivism (/ˈʃaɪvɪzəm/; Sanskrit: शैवसंप्रदायः, romanized: Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu religious traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect, after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia predominantly in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The followers of Shaivism are called Shaivas or Shaivites.

According to Chakravarti, Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Aryan religions and traditions, Vedic Rudra, and post-Vedic traditions, accommodating local traditions and Yoga, puja and bhakti. According to Bisschop, early shaivism is rooted in the worship of the vedic deity Rudra. The earliest evidence for sectarian Rudra-Shiva worship appears with the Pasupata (early CE), possibly owing to the Hindu synthesis, when many local traditions were aligned with the Vedic-Brahmanical fold. The Pāśupata movement rapidly expanded throughout North India, giving rise to different forms of Shaivism, which led to the emergence of various tantric traditions. Both devotional and monistic Shaivism became popular in the 1st millennium CE, rapidly becoming the dominant religious tradition of many Hindu kingdoms. It arrived in Southeast Asia shortly thereafter, leading to the construction of thousands of Shaiva temples on the islands of Indonesia as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, co-evolving with Buddhism in these regions.

Vaishnavism (Sanskrit: वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, romanized: Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu religious traditions, that considers Vishnu as the supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, Mahavishnu. It is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas (IAST: Vaiṣṇava), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2020 estimate by The World Religion Database (WRD), hosted at Boston University's Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 399 million Hindus.

The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with worship of Vishnu. It is considered a merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva-Krishna and Gopala-Krishna, as well as Narayana, developed in the 7th to 4th century BCE. It was integrated with the Vedic God Vishnu in the early centuries CE, and finalized as Vaishnavism, when it developed the avatar doctrine, wherein the various non-Vedic deities are revered as distinct incarnations of the supreme God Vishnu. Narayana, Hari, Rama, Krishna, Kalki, Perumal, Shrinathji, Vithoba, Venkateswara, Guruvayurappan, Ranganatha, Jagannath, Badrinath and Muktinath are revered as forms or avatars of Vishnu, all seen as different aspects of the same supreme being.

Vishnu (/ˈvɪʃnuː/; Sanskrit: विष्णु, lit. 'All Pervasive', IAST: Viṣṇu, pronounced [ʋɪʂɳʊ]), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation (sattva).

Vishnu is known as The Preserver within the Trimurti, the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme Lord who creates, protects, and transforms the universe. Tridevi is stated to be the energy and creative power (Shakti) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu. He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism.

Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, IAST: Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva. He is associated with creation of everything, knowledge, and the Vedas. Brahma is prominently mentioned in creation legends. In some Puranas, he created himself in a golden embryo known as the Hiranyagarbha.

Brahma is frequently identified with the Vedic god Prajapati. During the post-Vedic period, Brahma was a prominent deity and his sect existed; however, by the 7th century, he had lost his significance. He was also overshadowed by other major deities like Vishnu, Shiva, and Mahadevi and demoted to the role of a secondary creator, who was created by the major deities.

The Mahāvākyas (sing.: mahāvākyam, महावाक्यम्; plural: mahāvākyāni, महावाक्यानि) are "The Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, with mahā meaning great and vākya, a sentence. The Mahāvākyas are traditionally considered to be four in number, though actually five are prominent in the post-Vedic literature:

1. Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) – literally translated as "That Thou Art" ("That is you" or "You are that"), appears in Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of the Sama Veda, with tat in Ch.U. 6.8.7 referring to *sat, "the Existent," and contextually understood as "That's how [thus] you are," with tat in Ch.U. 6.12.3 referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by [the finest essence]."
2. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi (अहं ब्रह्मास्मि) - "I am Brahman", or "I am absolute" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 of the Yajur Veda)
3. Prajñānaṁ Brahma (प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म) - "Prajñāna is Brahman", or "Brahman is Prajñāna" (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of the Rig Veda)
4. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म) - "This Self (Atman) is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad 1.2 of the Atharva Veda)
5. Sarvaṃ Khalvidaṃ Brahma - "All this indeed is Brahman"(Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1)

Mahāvākyas are instrumental in Advaita Vedanta, as they are regarded as valid scriptural statements that reveal the self (ātmán), which appears as a separate individual existence (jīva), is, in essence, non-different (not two-ness) from Brahman, which, according to Advaita, is nirguna. In contrast, these statements are less prominent in most other Hindu traditions, which emphasize a qualified or dualistic relationship between the self and Brahman, whom they regard as saguna, often identified with Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, etc.

The Trimurti is the triple deity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, preservation, and destruction are personified as a triad of deities. Typically, the designations are that of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer.

The Om symbol of Hinduism is considered to have an allusion to Trimurti, where the A, U, and M phonemes of the word are considered to indicate creation, preservation and destruction, adding up to represent Brahman. The Tridevi is the trinity of goddess consorts for the Trimurti.

The Tridevi are a trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, joining a triad of eminent goddesses either as a feminine version of the Trimurti, or as consorts of a masculine Trimurti, depending on the denomination. This triad is typically personified by the Hindu goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. In Shaktism, these triune goddesses are the manifestations of Mula-Prakriti or Mahadevi.