God
and godsof Hinduism
Scene from the
Gita: Krishna and Arjuna
with good pictures of some of the gods
Who is God... Brahman:
The God of Hinduism and Christianity are
different:
- For Christianity God is the Creator, but he
is not his creation. For example, he is not an animal or a star, and an animal
o a star are not God, though they are manifestations of God, creations of the
only One God.
- Hinduism provides a radically
different idea. Brahman (the "creator" god) IS his creation. The cosmos
is not so much a creation, but more an emanation from him.
- For Hinduism, God is both, immanent and transcendent:
1- Immanent, remaining or operating within a domain of
reality,
because each person is an emanation of God, is God.
2- Transcendent, being beyond the limits of all
possible experience and knowledge, being beyond comprehension,
Brahman is entirely impersonal, and entirely impossible to describe, is
perfect and beyond complete
human understanding.
Varying emphasis on either quality is made by the different
philosophies/traditions within Hinduism.
- For Christianity, God is Immanent but
not-transcendent:
1- Immanent, because the essence of Christianity is not
"to know" about Christ but "to be" another Christ, with Christ in the
Christian and the Christian in Christ, in his Mystical Body, in his
church... and Christ is God, the Absolute, the real Brahman who became a
real human person, not just a hero of an imaginary novel.
2- God is not transcendent, beyond the limits of all possible
experience and knowledge, on the contrary, He is personal, and well known
through His own revelations of Himself in the Bible, and most
specially through Jesus the Christ, he who sees Jesus sees God Himself,
the Absolute, Brahman Himself. (John 14:9).
For Hinduism, all the humans, animals, and gods, and even objects is one divine being.
The soul of each person is thus Brahman, the entirety of creation... and every
animal or stone or star or planet is God... This is a difficult concept to comprehend,
for how can the "small" soul of each person or even a stone can be identical
with the "large" God of the cosmos? But it is the comprehension of this very
idea that becomes a central goal in the of human life and in the resolution of
the human problem for Hinduism....
Please, look at
Animism
and all primitive religions.
This idea, you and God are one, is the one followed by the
Mormons and the New Age with its many sects and cults
The multiplicity that hides the cosmos'
unity is called Maya; that is the reality humans perceive with their senses
everyday. The overcoming of Maya to perceive true
reality (Brahman) thus constitutes an important task in Hinduism... you and
God are one...
However, though Brahman IS the creation,
Brahman is more than the sum of everything in
the universe, says Hinduism.
God and gods of Hinduism: Brahman:
For Hinduism there may be millions of gods!... however, these gods are not God, they can not make stars, nor roses, nor human hearts... they should not be adored.
"Brahman"
is called the Absolute, the only one real God.
Though believed by
many Hinduism to be a polytheistic religion, the basis of Hinduism is the belief in the
unity of everything. This totality is called Brahman, the Absolute, the
Supreme Being, the Ultimate Reality, the Divine...
also called "Bhagvan", or "Ishvara"...
the purpose of life is to
realize that we are part of God and by doing so we can leave this plane of
existence and rejoin with God.
Everything in the universe is part of Brahman, (including each one of us),
but Brahman is more than the sum of everything in the universe.
Hindus believe that each soul is an individual, and yet is also a part of
the Divine; is part of "God".
Brahman is not a personal
being in the sense that Christians think of God as a personal being.
For most Hindus this God is not a person but a force,
an energy, a principle...
Brahman is entirely impersonal, and entirely impossible to know or to
describe.
Brahman is a supreme, perfect spirit or force that permeates everything.
Different aspects of Brahman:
There is only one ultimate reality, Brahman. But that ultimate reality shows
itself in many forms or functions, and some of those formsor functions are called
gods, they are not separate gods but they are valid to worship, according
to Hinduism.
The gods Brahma, Vishnu, and
Siva, for
example, are different epic aspects of Brahman:
For Hindu pantheism, the world is part of God; for Western religions, the
world is a creature of God; for Paganism, God is part of the world.
The gods of Hinduism:
The different gods and goddesses of Hinduism
represent various functions or aspects or attributes of this One Supreme
Divinity, they are not separate gods but they are valid to worship, according
to Hinduism.
For example, the goddesses are really the female aspects of God, because
the Divine contains both masculine and feminine attributes...
some gods are represented with several heads or 8 arms to represent the
omni-potency and omni-presence of God... all in all, it is often stated that
some Hindu teachers claim 330 million gods and goddesses!
The gods of Hinduism do not exist as a person and they never existed,
they are the result of divinization of novels or epics heroes, like the Greek
or Roman gods... it is like making a god out of
Hamlet or Sherlock Holmes who never
existed, only in the mind of the writer... and this is recognized by most
Hindu scholars:
1- So are the 33 gods of the Vedas pantheon mythology, including the
Cosmic Trinity of Agni (god of fire), Vayu, (god of air), and
Surya (god of energy or life).
2- So are the gods of the Puranas, including the Hindu Trinity, of
Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the savior and
protector who incarnates 10 times), and Shiva
(the destroyer of evil, and the creator of new life)... they
never existed as persons and do not exist now, nor their wives and lovers also
adored as gods, but who also never existed, only in the mind of the writers.
3- So are the Post-Vedas gods from the novels or epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata: Rama is a hero of the Ramayana who never existed, only in
the mind of the writer. Khrishna is the hero of the 18th chapter of the
Mahabharata who never existed as a person, and does not exist now as a
person... and so are the animal or planet deities... of course, a monkey or an
elephant are not God!
For Jews, Christians and Muslims to adore other than God is an idolatry...
they are "idols", or "devils" says Psalm 96:5... do not
adore idols... do not trust your life to devils, it is a prostitution against
the real God, against the one who made the sun, and the atoms, and our hands
and hearts, says the Bible (Leviticus 20).
1- The 33 "gods of the Vedas", the Devatas:
They are not very popular. Although the Vedas comprise the
most sacred literature of Hinduism, the divine pantheon in them is essentially
ignored in daily life. Only one god important is Agni, who is
both the god of fire, and the sacred fire itself. He continues to be
worshipped in the daily rituals of each Hindu home. Every morning, an offering
of clarified butter (ghee) and some grain cakes is shared communion-style
between Agni (i.e., the fire) and the members of the household
Prajapati is the father of the gods and of the devils (asuras).
Indra, the warrior god, with his band of Maruts, defeats the demons of
darkness each morning so that the sun could rise. There is also the sky god
Dyaus and a few goddesses, such as Aditi and Ushas.
2- The post-Vedas gods:
The theology of the Puranas mainly centers round the Trinity,--Brahma, Vishnu and Siva,--as also the incarnations of Vishnu and the Saktis of the Trinity,--Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Durga,--and the two sons of Siva.
They are very popular, mostly the "Trimurti", Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, with some similarities to the Christian "Holy Trinity":
1-
Lord
Brahma: The
creator god, with some similarities to God the
Father of the Christians,... There are very few shines dedicated to him, in
fact only one temple in all India. God the Father has also few temples
dedicated to Him in Christianity. .
Lord Brahma, the creator God of the Trimurti (Trinity).
Painted as 4 males or 4 females, as shown in the picture, with 4 heads and 4
arms, symbols of his omni-presence and omni-potency, Each hand is holding a
sacrificial tool (sruva), the
Vedas (knowledge), a
water pot (kamandalu) and a rosary respectively and appears seated on a
lotus (a symbol of glorious existence).
His vehicle is a swan (hans) which is known for its judgment
between good and bad.
Lord Brahma's consort is
Goddess
Saraswati, she is the Goddess of Learning.
2-
Lord Vishnu,
is the savior and protector of mankind,
with some similarities to God the Son for the Christians, he incarnates, like Jesus, but 10 times!, the last one, as
Kalki, is still to come.... Vishnu is very popular, and
shown as one of his 9 incarnations ("avatars"), as fish, tortoise, a boar... the
last 4 incarnations were
Rama,
Balaram,
Buddha and
Krishna -
(Incarnations)
Avatars of Vishhnu
The 2 wives of Vishnu are Lakshmi, goddess of
fortune, and Prithvi, the Earth Goddess, both very popular.
Lord Krishna
-
Krishna-2 :
The last Avatar (Incarnation) of Vishnu.
He is the central hero of the 18th chapter of the epic novel
Mahabharata, the
Bhagavad Gita
There are three main stages in Krishna's worldly life.
1- Krishna is born in a prison in the epic, where his royal parents are being held by a
rival king. His father works out a scheme to enable the baby Krishna to escape
to a nearby village and replace him with another child. Krishna grows up as a
mischievous boy within this village of cowherds, playing tricks on his family
and friends.
2- As a youth in the epic, Krishna woos all the gopis (female cowherds) in the village
with his good looks, charms, and attentions. Although Radha is his favorite, he
dallies with the other gopis as well.
3- As an adult in the epic, Krishna regains his kingdom in northern India by killing
King Kamsa, an act seen as the restoration of dharma. In the story of the
Mahabharata., he then helps
Arjuna (by serving as his chariot driver), and his
brothers (the Pandava brothers) in a war to regain their rightful kingdom. On
the night before a major battle, Krishna and Arjuna have a long discussion about
the nature of dharma and the cosmos, which is preserved within the Mahabharata
as the Bhagavad Gita. At the end of the discussion,
Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna as Vishnu. The exploits of Krishna are told
and rehearsed in the Vishnu temples and in the annual festival of the Ras Lila.
-
Lord Rama:
The other major avatar of Vishnu is Rama, the central figure of
another novel, the epic Ramayana.
Lord Rama is one of the most commonly adored gods of Hindus.
In keeping with the actions in the story, Rama (i.e., Vishnu) bears the
attributes of trust, faithfulness, and strength. Along with Sita,
his faithful wife, Vishnu as Rama continues to be worshipped in temples and in
the annual festival of the Ram Lila.
Lord
Hanuman,
the monkey-god, is the guardian spirit of the villages, the one who saved
Sita, the wife of Rama in the Ramayana epic.
3-
Lord Shiva,
with some similarities to the
Christian Holy Spirit , is the destroyer of evil, and the creator of new
life, and sustainer of life, the cosmic lord.\
The main symbol of Shiva is the Lingam and Yoni because of
his re-creating fertility... It
is one of the most common objects of worship, weather in the temple or in the
household cult:
The erect male organ, the lingam, rising from the
female counterpart, the Yoni, as the base.
The god Shiva is often shown with a big lingam.
Lingam and Yoni images by Google -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam
This symbol is placed as the central image in a Shaivite temple and often made from a valuable material, such as silver. It is
usually two to three feet tall, and constitutes a focus of worship for his
followers,
Shiva`with
his`wife, Parvatie and his son Ganesha, the
elephant-god.
Shiva's "wives"
Shiva's wives are the symbols of feminine powers of God, called Shakti.
Although there are numerous female figures associated with Shiva, five stand
out: Parvati, Umma, Durga, Kali, and Shakti:
- Parvati, the wife of
Shiva, is the goddess of love and romance. She is young, beautiful and
full of life. As such, she represents union with Shiva, a representation that
has distinct sexual overtones. Indeed, they are often depicted in the act of
act of intercourse, the
combination of their male and female (sakti) energies sustaining the universe.
Parvati is also the mother of Janet. Although Shiva initially tried to kill
Ganesha, he ultimately adopted him and the three of them are a favorite family.
- Umma is the wife who represents motherhood. She is seen
as kind, caring, nurturing, and displaying other features of motherhood.
- Durga represents the attribute of justice. She rides a
tiger and carries the weapons of battle. In this character, she is unafraid to
kill to reestablish justice.
Durga-Parvati
- Kali is wild, terrible, and unpredictable, and is usually
associated with death. She is usually depicted naked, wearing a necklace of
human heads and a skirt of human arms. Blood drips from her sword. Death is thus
connected with her activities. In fact, she is sometimes depicted dancing upon
the prone form of Shiva, symbolizing the strength of wild and unpredictable
power. The city of Calcutta (=Kali Ghat) is named after her. (For a picture of
Kali, go here or
here.)
- Shakti, the Grand-mother, is very popular, the goddess of
the Tantric sect that worships erotic sexuality.
- Two sons of Shiva:.
- The first,
Lord Ganesha has
the head of an elephant and is the god of overcoming obstacles, which
links him to good luck and prosperity, and the one who recorded the Mahabharata
epic.
- The second,
Lord Skanda, becomes the divine warrior and thus the god of
war.
4- Other gods:
Hindu
Goddesses:
Each God in the trinity has his consort. To Brahma is
Saraswati,
the Goddess of knowledge. For Vishnu is
Lakshmi, the
Goddess of love, beauty and delight. For Shiva is
Kali (Parvati)
, the Goddess of power, destruction and transformation. These are the three main
forms of the Goddess, as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the three main forms of
the God as mentioned above... The three Goddesses are often worshipped in their
own right as well as along with their spouses.
Animal gods:
Hindus see divinity in all living creatures. Animal deities therefore,
occupy an important place in Hindu dharma. Animals, for example, are very common
as form of transport for various gods and goddesses.
Animals also appear as independent divine creatures... already mentioned are
Lord Ganesha,
the elephant son of Shiva, and
Hanuman,
the monkey-god, saved Sita, the wife of Rama, in tne Ramayana epic... a
fish, a tortoise, a cow, a boar...
Of course, all of these gods are not God, no one can make a
star or an atom. and nobody sould adre or trust an imaginary "god".
Planet gods, the
Navagraha:
There are nine deities also referred to as Nava (Nine)
Grahas (Planets). These grahas are supposed to have a significant impact on the
lives of an individual. The Hindu science of study of these planets is called
the Vedic Astrology.
Classical Vedic astrology
uses the seven visible planets; the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and
Saturn, along with the two lunar nodes, the north and south nodes, Rahu
and Ketu.
Lesser gods:
Personification of nature, like river and ocean gods, love and wealth
gods, hosts of celestial beings...
Lord
Jagannath
Lord
Kartikeya or Subramania
Lord
Satyanarayana
Lord
Venkateshwara
Lord Ayyappa
Lord
Satyanarayana
Rama and Krishna never existed, like Hamlet or Holmes,
never existed and they do not exist right now, they existed only in the
imagination of the novelist.
Jesus Christ is God, a person live right now... he is real, he can clean all
our bad karma, forgive all our sins... he is the real Brahman made flesh who
died on a Cross with love, to pay for all our sins, to clean all our bad karma,
and resurrected to give us a new glorious life on Earth, and an eternal life in
Heaven, as the "person" we are, and without the need of any reincarnation... and
it is free, just believe in Jesus!... He is at your side right now!...
Christianity
http://hindunet.org/god/Gods/brahma/index.htm, pictures
http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm, pictures
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/hinduism_gods.shtml
The Jerome Bible Commentary, book by
book
1,093 prophecies and
types of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus and His Church
Other Web Sites of Dr. Dominguez
(over 300 in
English and Spanish)
Public domain text. May be distributed freely. No rights reserved
Home E- Mail to: J. Dominguez, M.D. Last edition: April,, 2006