This is because "Hinduism" is a termed coined by foreigners who tried to define the cultures & faiths of the Indian subcontinent.
There is a theory that hindus believe in 33 crore (330 billion) gods.
Hence, hindus are defined as a people who believe in "many gods", a pantheon of gods, as opposed to the belief of one God- monotheism in Semitic religions.
I beg to differ.
Hinduism is the world's oldest living religion, and the upanishads & vedas are the oldest texts which affirm the belief in one cosmic energy, one force which rules the whole universe, one God.
Precisely because of our honest belief in one God, we are ready to worship 33 crore forms of that God.
Whatever name or form we attribute to God out of our imagination, we know that our imagination is ultimately limited. Hinduism appreciates that different devotees may see God in different ways, some devotees are concerned for God & treat Him like their child!! Some devotees are in love with God and romanticize their love. Some devotees feel like they want to be the slaves of God. Others see themselves as His friend. Yet others, as His children. Who are we to judge a devotee, who are we to announce that our imagination is right while theirs is wrong?
This is the reason that we are ready to embrace any kind of imagination, and hence we worship 33 crore gods. We are not fools, we know that there is only one God, in fact, we know it much better than many others.
The problem with a lot of people today, they have an ego, they think- "There is only one God, and that is their God, the rest of the population is worshipping evil".
Whereas for a Hindu, the definition is like, "There is only one God, but every devotee has his own right to imagine & worship that God, and it is not wrong to respect all those imaginations". Which is why, in Hinduism, we worship animals, trees, lakes, mountains, rivers, we feel God all around us, we feel Him in His creation, every speck of matter is created by Him, hence it is holy to us. We marvel at His abilities, wow, how wonderful is this earth, the sun, those stars, the moon, these birds, how did He do it all? He has let us live in this world of His, where every speck has his signature, it is worth respect!
It is only because of this truly inherent secularism & religious pluralism that the Hindus worship 33 crore gods. You are free to make up another name & deity, worship it with as much reverence, we are wise enough to understand that it is the same.
Let us observe nursery school kids drawing their happy families. They scribble a mommy, a daddy, a sibling, their family dog, a bright shiny sun, all drawn with coloured pencil crayons. We all know that mommy & daddy don't look that way, but the parent cherishes the child's drawing & feels very touched, very proud. Another child will draw mommy daddy with different coloured pencil, and different strokes. We still know yet again that that's not how mommy-daddy look, but parents love every doodle scribbled by their kids. That is how God is, He is limitless, we try to imagine Him with our limited imagination, we respect Him, we love Him, He gets touched by our devotion, He doesn't judge us as non-believers, He thinks of us as toddlers trying to walk the way of life.
My two year old neighbour Pooja was once narrating a baby bird's story to me, she was improvising and making up the story as she narrated it. I noticed something very interesting: All the characters in the baby bird's life were actually drawn from Pooji's own life! Pooji has a mom, an elder sister, a dad, a maid called Bebe. Even Baby Bird had a mom, an elder sister bird, a Bebe bird who made bournvita for Baby bird!!!
The point I am trying to make is, nobody taught Pooji, but her instincts led her to analyse a Baby bird's life through her own human eyes/perspective.
That is how most humans are. So ancient peoples (such as Hindus, the Greco-romans, the Egyptians, etc) thought that God would need a goddess wife, a god son, a goddess daughter, god relatives, etc. Also, since gold/silver/gems/flowers/fragrances etc are precious to humans, our ancestors started decorating temples/deities with these substances. Since Hinduisms were a continually evolving "thinking" movement, the culture of worship went through several different phases. There are layers of meaning behind a God-Goddess pair. I have already explained the simplest one. The other way of looking at it is, every pair makes a lot of sense as "a pair that go together". For eg, Brahma is paired with Saraswati, that is creation-knowledge/learning. Vishnu is paired with Lakshmi, that is Protection-Wealth. Shiva is paired with Durga, that is Destruction-Energy. It is like the systematically arranged cogwheels of a mechanism, so all the attributes of God are broken down into smaller bricks and laid out. But we know that it is all ultimately one. Hence, Hindus also believe that the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) were born out of Maya. To understand this In the modern context, I could say that the Government of any country is ONE, but it is broken down (for easier administration) into different Departments. Those departments are distinct, but some of them are interrelated, and all of them are part of ONE Government.
Coming to the gender of God, God is not mortal, mortals are born, grow, give birth, die. So there are two genders for progression of genes, reproduction, male, female, father, mother, etc... God creates, gives birth to us, so He may infact be a SHE, but HE is independent, so He could even be an IT! So we are ready to worship Him, Her, It, every form of Him, every manifestation of Her, every attribute of It. He, She, It, it is all ultimately THAT which we are all trying to understand.
Human thought is all human-centric, we believe angels/cherubs/all celestial beings to be like humans in appearance. But Hinduisms pondered, don't animals think of God, don't birds think of God? Can't God take the form of animals/birds/amphibians? Hence the historical belief in hybrid human-animal-cross celestial beings, it is there in Grecoroman/Egyptian/Chinese/Mesoamerican mythology too! And just like humans have relatives, the gods & goddesses are all though to be related under one extended family. This naturally eliminated any fights/arguments amongst the followers of those different "gods". That was about 'imagination' in the shaping of culture/religion/society.
Coming to practicality, I believe that goodness of deeds, compassion for others & self-respect is what God would like to see in His creation. I don't think He would be too pleased with the mob of people who claim to be following the "One True/Real God", accusing others of being non-believers who deserve hell. Is this world a classroom of kids, where God is the teacher who appointed a class prefect in His absence? Those mobs of people with a bloated bullying ego are the self-appointed prefects in the classroom of life. God is all powerful, He created this world, He created ALL of us, so who are we to judge who is a believer or a non-believer? Those who think that others are non-believer sinners, do they ever pause for a moment & wonder why God created all of us, surely He has greater plans, is He answerable to us, or are we answerable to Him? Are people answerable to each other or to God?
I believe in 33 crore gods, because I don't want to be a self-appointed prefect who looks down on the imagination of others.
Hindus honestly believe in the power of God, God is THE most powerful, He created EVERYTHING and is in control of everything), it is not for us to decide who deserves heaven or hell. Dharmic religions have no equivalent of Satan or Shaitan. We believe that vice is a delusion (Maaya) which blinds our vision, we can achieve God through introspective expulsion of vice & inclusion of virtue. This vice is perhaps personified as "Satan" by semitic religions, like we have rakshasas.
But we don't hate anyone or condemn them to eternal hell, even rakshasas can gain moksha with prayer to God, after all any of us is capable of expelling vice & indulging in virtuous acts.
I believe that Hinduism is the world's first religion which thought up on the oneness of God, and has the wisdom to respect all streams of thought. In fact, it's name should be "Hindiusms". Hinduisms is the composite umbrella term that covers advaita, dvaita, vishishtha advaita, kapalika, vaishnav, shaiv, charkvaaka, smaartha, vedanta, innumerable schools of philosophy that all dharmic religions (broadly classified as Sanatana, Jain, Bauddh and Sikh dharma) ponder on.
The following shlokam from Bhagavad Gita captures the essence of humanity's quest:
( I will add the sanskrit verse soon)
"The ultimate teaching that the Ashthadasha puranas compiled by Vyasa impart, is that he who lives life with compassion is dear to Me, he who hurts others commits a sin."
We shouldn't limit God by trying to imprison Him within the narrow scope of our limited imagination.
I will end this blog entry with the following verses composed by Annamacharya, a 15th century saint/composer who lived in South India & composed over 32,000 poems in praise of God. In the following Telugu verses, he shows us how we limit the glory of God with our petty imagination:
Enta maatramuna evvaru talachina, anta maatrame neevu
In whatever measures people think of You, You measure up to them..
Antaraantaramulenchi chooda pindante nippati annattu
If one tries to investigate with deep introspection, they find that its the same, batter and the nippati~dosa..
Koluturu mimu vaishnavulu kaurimito vishnudani
Vishnavas pray to You as Vishnu with affection
Palukuduru mimu vedantulu parabrahmambanuchu
Vedantis say You are the Parabrahma
Talaturu mimu Shaivulu tagina bhaktulunu Shivudanuchu
Shaivas & the like think of You as Shiva
Alari pogaduduru Kaapalikulu Aadi Bhairavudanuchu
Kapalikas hail You with love as Aadi Bhairava
Sarinennuduru Shaakteyulu Shakti roopuneevanuchu
Shaakteyas correctly recognize You as the cosmic energy (shakti)
Darshanamunu mimu naana vidhulanu talapula koladula bhajinturu
In what ever way they can visualize & imagine You, they meditate on You
Sirula mimuye alpa buddhito talachina vaariki alpambaguduru
For People who pray to You with Siri(Money) and narrow mind, You become that narrow self
Garimala mimuye Ghanamani talachina Ghana buddhulaku Ghanudavu
For people who meditate on You by Your greatness, You show up as that great self
Nee valana korate ledu mari neeru koladi taamaravu...
As the lotus blooms depending on the availability of water; You are endless, You keep on
blossoming (giving) as the people water You with their devotion
Aamala Bhagirathi dari bavula aa jalame oorinayatlu
You are like the wells next to the Ganga river that never get dried
Sri Venkata Pati Neevaite Mamu Cherkoniyunna daivamai
Neevalane sharananiyedanu ... Idiye paratatvamu naaku...
As long as You are with us as Lord Venkateshwara, I'll live in Your service and obedience... that is the Ultimate truth for me...
The 15th century Hindu sage Annamacharya shows us his belief in the oneness of God, need I say more on how many gods there are? There are as many gods and ways to find The God, as there is imagination. Keep seeking, and you shall keep finding.
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