How can Hindu's believe in one god but have many gods?

Answer 1

The confusion stems largely from the word "god". In Hinduism the term is "deva", which literally means "light".

When Hinduism was being brought to the West, "deva" was, and still is to this day, often translated with the word "god,", but this does not accurately reflect what "deva" means in Hinduism.

A deva in Hinduism is a form of Brahman, or the Absolute Reality. Or, to put in terms of "god": "A god in Hinduism is a form of God." It's important to note the use of lowercase and uppercase here.

Brahman = God

Devas ("gods") = forms of God.

In Hinduism God is, in essence, formless, but in order to conceive of what is essentially inconceivable, we give God forms to better understand God's nature. This is especially important in Bhakti Yoga, the path of Loving Devotion, in which a relationship to God is emphasized.

It is worth noting, though I don't want to further entangle the issue, that a Hindu's attitude towards God and devas will inevitably vary from Hindu to Hindu. I spoke with a Hindu ascetic once at a monastery who told me he did not conceive of any "god". What he meant was that he did not feel the need to conceive of the Divine as having any form. He did not feel the need to have a relationship with the Absolute, but rather conceived of "God" to be the ultimate grounds of being, and in fact did not feel the need to use the word "God" either. This is possible in Hinduism.

Answer 2

Hinduism is a virtual religion. It has no code of conduct. Instead, it has seven basic gods.

The basic Hindu gods:

There are seven basic Hindu gods.

They are,

1. God of dreaming - Indra

2. Goddess of Illusion - Shakti

3. God of creation - Brahma

4. God to maintain status quo - Vishnu

5. God of determination - Shiva

6. God to alter status - Shani

7. God of compulsion - Yama

Selection of Basic Hindu gods:

It is obvious that these the basic Hindu gods are not omnipotent but are specialized for a purpose.

Thus,

1. When the real world is hostile we can hibernate and bide our time by surrendering to Indra.

2. If we are forced to live in a hostile real world we can create an illusion that we are greater than we actually are by using the Shakti gods

3. When our life is devastated beyond repair we can start a new life using Brahma.

4. We our status is absurdly high we can normalize by using Shani.

The secondary Hindu gods:

1. Since the gods are difficult to use directly we have goddesses, which enable us to approach the gods slowly and systematically

2. Use of the seven basic Hindu gods needs total knowledge not only of these gods but also of our task. The secondary gods like, Incarnations of Vishnu, Children of gods, Ganesha, Hanuman etc. simplifies worship. A single secondary god would have the best features of all the seven basic gods and therefore we can worship just one god.

3. If we are fed up of frequent and chaotic changes we can select Brahman, the supreme god of Hinduism, attain Moksha and thus abolish all changes and thus lead an effortless and stress free life.

Thus, having belief in the infinite Hindu gods is like having faith in many specialist doctors and won't be as difficult to use as followers of monotheistic gods may think.

Answer 3

The Hindus believe in many gods and goddesses. At the same time they also believe in the existence on one Supreme God, whom they call variously as Paramatma (Supreme Self), Parameshwar (Supreme Lord), Parampita (Supreme Father). Iswara, Maheswara, Bhagawan, Purusha, Purushottama, Hiranyagarbha and so on.

God is one, but also many. He manifests Himself in innumerable forms and shapes. As Purusha (Universal Male), He enters Prakriti (Nature, Matter or Divine Energy) and brings forth the numerous worlds and beings into existence. He upholds His entire creation with His unlimited powers.

He is both the Known and the Unknown, the Being as well as the Non-Being, Reality as well as Unreality. As the Unknown, He is rarely known and worshiped for difficult and painful is the path for those who choose to worship Him as the Unmanifest (The Bhagavad-Gita XII.6).

He exists in all and all beings exist in him. There is nothing other than Him, and there is nothing that is outside of Him. He is Imperishable, unknowable, immortal, infinite, without a beginning and without an end. All the same when worshipped with intense devotion and unshakeable faith, He responds to the calls of His devotees and comes to their aid and rescue.

All the gods and goddess are His manifestations only. In His female aspect He is Shakti, who as the Divine Universal Mother assists the whole creation to proceed through the process of evolution in Her own mysterious ways.

The concept of monotheism is not new to Hinduism. It is as old as the Vedas themselves. References to One indivisible and mysterious God are found in the Rigveda itself. The concept is the central theme of all the Upanishads in which He is variously referred as Brahman, Iswara, Hiranyagarbha, Asat etc.

The many gods of Hinduism:Brahman, the ideal Hindu god:

Hinduism has evolved from the supreme Hindu god called Brahman. Brahman makes both activities and rest 100% reliable and 100% efficient. However, we can come under the control of Brahman under ideal conditions only.

The Basic Hindu gods:

For practical purposes, we can combine activity (Kinetic force) and rest (Inertial force) in seven distinct ways.

There are seven distinct steps in which we can blend them.This leads to seven basic Hindu gods.

They are,

1. Dreaming force - Indra

2. Illusory force - Shakti

3. Voluntary force - Brahma

4. Semi voluntary force - Vishnu

5. Involuntary force - Shiva

6. Status altering force - Shani

7. Compulsive force - Yama.

The first god Indra favors dreaming and the last god Yama favors action. In between there is a gradual transition from thought to action. Vishnu, the default Hindu god, favors both dream and activity equally.

The goddesses:

The Basic gods (Basic forces) have two components. The major component represents a god and the minor component represents a goddess. Thus, theoretically there can be seven goddess. However, only the central three viz. Saraswati, Laksmi and Parvati are found to be useful.

The goddesses give control over gods.

The illusory force, Shakti is considered as a goddess. Being a village goddess it is known by different name in different places.

Children of gods:

A component of a basic force may be more important under certain circumstances. These would represent children of god of that force. Ganesha, Subramani, Aiyappan are examples.

The incarnations of Vishnu:

Vishnu is symbolic of the Semi voluntary force, which would produce wave like fluctuations in life. Each part of the wave represents a different Incarnation of Vishnu. Rama, Krishna are the most popular incarnations of Vishnu.

The secondary Hindu gods:

To use the Basic Hindu gods we must have a thourough knowledge of the nature of these gods and the situation we are in. Secondary gods would have the best features of many gods. Thus, a single god would be enough, though it wouldn't be that reliable and thus we have to be at the mercy of fate.

There can be infinite secondary Hindu gods. Venkateshawara, Krishna, Aiyappan are, strictly speking, secondary gods as they have features of many basic Hindu gods.

Thus, Hindus believe in one god but have many gods because the Ideal Hindu god Brahman is too difficult for an ordinary Hindu to worship.

Answer 4

Hindus reconcile the concept of one god with their belief in many deities by separating the whole into different entities. In this manner, all deities in Hinduism are part of one supreme being.

Answer 5

Hindus believe that GOD is one but there are many forms of that GOD.GOD Came on this Earth in different form every time to guide humanity. For More Info Go To- www.djjs.org