IS IT REALLY HINDUISM HOLDS UP TO 300,000,000 GODS RELATED IN THEIR CREED? 
CURIOSITY ABOUT HINDUISM.
(Hinduism)
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| Concept of God
Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism,[13] panentheism, pantheism, monism and atheism. It is sometimes referred to as henotheistic (devotion to a single God while accepting the existence of other gods), but any such term is an oversimplification of the complexities and variations of belief.[14] Most Hindus believe that the spirit or soul—the true "self" of every person, called the ātman—is eternal.[15] According to the monistic/pantheistic theologies of Hinduism (such as Advaita Vedanta school), this Atman is ultimately indistinct from Brahman, the supreme spirit. Brahman is described as "The One Without a Second;" hence these schools are called "non-dualist."[16] The goal of life according to the Advaita school is to realize that one's ātman is identical to Brahman, the supreme soul.[17] The Upanishads state that whoever becomes fully aware of the ātman as the innermost core of one's own self, realizes their identity with Brahman and thereby reaches Moksha (liberation or freedom)[15][18] Other dualistic schools (see Dvaita and Bhakti) understand Brahman as a Supreme Being who possesses personality and worship Him or Her thus, as Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva or Shakti depending on the sect. The ātman is dependent on God while Moksha depends on love towards God and on God's grace.[19] When God is viewed as the supreme personal being (rather than as the infinite principle) God is called Ishvara ("The Lord"[20]), Bhagavan ("The Auspicious One"[20]), or Parameshwara ("The Supreme Lord"[20]).[16] However, interpretations of Ishvara vary—ranging from non-belief such as followers of Mimamsakas, in Ishvara to identifying Brahman and Ishvara as one as in Advaita.[16][21] There are also schools like the Samkhya which have atheistic leanings. |
I think it's like this:
God is infinite, and all-powerful. This makes it difficult for an ordinary man to worship God, 'coz, to worship, one has to have some image or concept in mind...And whatever one tries to see in mind, God is beyond that, 'coz God is infinite.
So, I guess, Hindus made up 33 Million or so 'Godlets' to ponder on, each showing some divine aspect of the infinite God... One can worhip any, but have to bear in mind he's viewing just a sample of the real God.
There's a nice story about this:
I guess that says it all, doesn't it?
God is infinite, and all-powerful. This makes it difficult for an ordinary man to worship God, 'coz, to worship, one has to have some image or concept in mind...And whatever one tries to see in mind, God is beyond that, 'coz God is infinite.
So, I guess, Hindus made up 33 Million or so 'Godlets' to ponder on, each showing some divine aspect of the infinite God... One can worhip any, but have to bear in mind he's viewing just a sample of the real God.
There's a nice story about this:
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| One day, long long ago, a monotheist [actually a very famous mythological figure, but that doesn't matter to the gist of the story] went to the home of a polytheist friend [ditto as before - very famous etc.] He walked up to the house, and asked the servant where his master was. He was informed that the master was in his worship-room.
'Okay,' says the Monotheist. 'Which god is he worshipping now?' The servent goes in and peeps, comes back and says, 'Now he's worsipping Lord Vishnu'. Upon hearing this, the guest squats down, and digs a small hole in the earth using his forefinger. After half an hour, he summons the servent again. 'See which god is it now, please,' says the guest. 'It's Lord Shiva now,' reports the servent. Guest squats again, digs another hole. This goes on for a while, and now the guest is standing amidst a horde of small holes in the earth. After about three hours, the master of the house emerges, and is delighted to see the guest. 'Where you waiting for long?' says the master. 'You must be bored stiff - why didn't you go inside the house and find something to read to while away the time? My prayers usually lasts this long.' 'No, I wasn't bored at all,' says the guest. 'You see here - I was digging holes in the earth. I was quite disappointed because I didn't find water in any of the holes. Actually, I realized too late that instead of digging many different holes, I should have made the effort on a single hole. Perhaps then I'd have found water...' The master is an astute man, and he immediately gets what his guest is hinting at. He thinks for a while and says, 'Well, if you know that the ground-water is the same everywhere and you keep digging into all the different holes a little everyday, you'd perhaps, after a while, see water in all the holes...' 'Yes,' smiles the guest. 'You should always remember that the root is the same everywhere!' And they go in for lunch. End of story. |
I guess that says it all, doesn't it?
Hi,
My interpretation of "GOD" is something beyond anyones' control.
There is nothing you can do but trust the SUPERPOWER.
Even if you do 100 things right and still you fail, So, i feel that is GOD (Some may call it Destiny, i call it GOD)
Even if you do 100 things wrong, still you pass, i call it GOD.
Some may call it the power of our inner soul, i call it GOD.
So, in Hinduism, there is GOD for good Mind(Lord Ganesha), GOD for good health(Lord Hanuman).
So, we've GOD for every trait of personality.
So, there are many GOD's
My interpretation of "GOD" is something beyond anyones' control.
There is nothing you can do but trust the SUPERPOWER.
Even if you do 100 things right and still you fail, So, i feel that is GOD (Some may call it Destiny, i call it GOD)
Even if you do 100 things wrong, still you pass, i call it GOD.
Some may call it the power of our inner soul, i call it GOD.
So, in Hinduism, there is GOD for good Mind(Lord Ganesha), GOD for good health(Lord Hanuman).
So, we've GOD for every trait of personality.
So, there are many GOD's
Nobody has seen God. All the different Gods in Hinduism are just different symbols which people at different times tried to attribute to what they thought God was.
yes, there have been countless GODs (rather say deities) in Hinduism. To say, on one side there is only one ALMIGHTY, but if we break up the all the things which we say are controlled by some supernatural entities then we can have a lot many deities ( which can be termed as GOD of different things) and then every other community would like to give different name and different shapes to their GODs and then at different time the same thing emerges in some different form, so all this leads to having so many deities in one religion.
Yeah Hinduism is a really interesting religion. I have been in a temple in Madurai, India, where you could buy little butter balls and throw these at statues!
| perlpoint wrote: |
| IS IT REALLY HINDUISM HOLDS UP TO 300,000,000 GODS RELATED IN THEIR CREED? |
Yes.
There are this many gods in hinduism, because people have made up their own household gods and other type of gods.
Originally in Vedic times, there were just 12 gods. These were gods of the elements.
As people who claimed to be incarnations of god came along, these were added to the list.
there is a God for everything water, fire, earth.....
we treat everything as equally imp.
but it depends from ppl to ppl...
like other religions there is no compulsion in hinduism on the no. of prayers u hav 2 offer ur god in a day and so on....
we treat everything as equally imp.
but it depends from ppl to ppl...
like other religions there is no compulsion in hinduism on the no. of prayers u hav 2 offer ur god in a day and so on....
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