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I know that Vedas are Sruti, including its embedded texts - Samhitas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas and Upanishads. And also that each Upanishad is linked to each Veda. Tell me, if Upanishads are Sruti, then so must be the "sectarian" ones like Vasudeva, Narayana, Krishna, Garuda, etc, which are the Vaishnava Upanishads and also Shaiva Upanishads, viz. Jabali, Rudraksha, Kaivalya, Dakshinamurti etc.

That means that they are "seen" or "heard" or "perceived" by Sages. Now please tell me, that if this is true, doesn't it instantly prove that Vishnu and Shiva are equal (in essence), because of the authority of Sruti texts, and since there is both a Shaiva and Vaishnava Upanishad (many more Yoga, Sannyasa etc.) embedded to each Veda?

Also if its true then it should prove in a way that Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Yoga are all valid paths to Moksha as they are proclaimed to be equal, hence....Advaita. Also these Upanishads claim Brahman to be either equal to Shiva (in Shaiva Upanishads) or Vishnu (in Vaishnava Upanishads).

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    Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti - Rigveda 1.164.46
    – Pandya ♦
    Jan 10, 2018 at 17:04
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    Most of.later day.upanishad are ordinary texts i.e even below smriti and puranas. Upanishad are technically not shruti. Please see hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/18989/7853
    – Rakesh Joshi
    Jan 10, 2018 at 22:21
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    Yes. Vishnu and Shiva and Brahma are equal. Devi Bhagavati Herself has said that "He who will differentiate between Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, will go to hell without doubt". And Devi, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, all are supreme Brahman. And actually they are one, but the great delusion causes to see them separated.
    – user12826
    Jan 11, 2018 at 6:13
  • @user12826: "Devi Bhagavati Herself has said that "He who will differentiate between Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, will go to hell without doubt" - please give reference ?
    – zaxebo1
    May 6, 2018 at 12:16

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Not every text claiming to be an upaniShat is accepted as such universally. An extreme counter-example would be allopaniShat. For that matter, pAncharAtrika-s claim that some of their samhitA-s are remnants of lost shruti.

That said, universally accepted shruti-s are quite abundant in cases where a diverse set of deities are adored as the ultimate - so you don't really need recognition of these sectarian upaniShats as shruti to make the point you're trying to make. That viShNu supremacy and such ideologies stand despite that should tell us about their resilience to such (superficial?) challenges.

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