Is Hinduism montotheistic or polytheistic

Answer 1

Hinduism is a polytheistic religion because it has thousands of gods. And to clarify there is no way is could be atheist because atheist means you have no religion.

Hinduism is holistic:Hinduism is a holistic religion. It covers the entire spectrum of religious possibilities.

Monotheistic Hinduism:

Brahman is the supreme god of Hinduism. The aim of Hinduism is to become one with Brahman. Hinduism has studied the supreme god more thoroughly than any other religion.

If we worship just Brahman then Hinduism would be monotheistic. However, Brahman is a state at which nothing changes. Thus, by itself, it is not compatible with social life.

A monotheistic religion must have a messenger of god and a code of conduct. Hinduism has neither of the two.

Polytheistic Hinduism:

This is the Hinduism the world is familiar with. In this there are seven basic gods, incarnations of Vishnu, goddesses, their children and associated gods.

Polytheistic Hinduism is practical Hinduism. In this scheme Brahman is not a must. In fact, most Hindus don't even know that there is a Hindu god called Brahman.

Atheistic Hinduism:

There is one and only part in the human body that is under our control. It is our skeletal muscular system. Any thing we control or anything that controls us must work via the skeletal muscular system only.

All the Hindu gods are actually centers of gravity of our body, those in the upper part of our body facilitating movements and those lower down facilitation thinking and dreaming.

All the Hindu gods can be appeased just through meditation and thus Hinduism lays great emphasis on meditation. Rituals are not an absolute must.

Thus, Hinduism can be reduced to a set of Isometric exercises.

It is for this reason that Hinduism believes that that 'I am the supreme god'.

Atheistic Hinduism eradicates blind beliefs and unnecessary rituals. It is Hinduism in hibernation and thus used when it is under attack.

Thus, Hinduism is a Holistic religion and thus can't be considered as monotheistic, polytheistic or atheistic.

Answer 2

originally Hinduism was monotheistic religion and believed in one true god. with time the one true god took Incarnation (avatāra) to fulfil various tasks and Hinduism developed into polytheistic religion.

Answer 3

According to Scriptures & Vedas Hinduism is monotheistic. Its is said that all the different gods in Hinduism are Incarnation (avatāra) of one Supreme God.