What is the nature of god in Hinduism?

Answer 1

"God sleeps in the rocks," proclaims the Indian scriptures, "dreams in the plants, stirs toward wakefulness in the animals, and in mankind is awake to his own ego individuality." In the enlightened stage, finally, he awakens to the full reality of who he truly is, in His infinite Self.


The Truth (God) was called Brahm by the sages. According to the Hindu view, the Supreme Reality can be viewed from two aspects:

Transcendent (impersonal) and Immanent (personal).

In the transcendent aspect, the Supreme Reality is called Nirguna Brahm, that is Brahm, without attributes. "Brahm is He whom speech cannot express, and from whom the mind is unable to reach Him, comes away baffled" states the Taittiriya Upanishad.

Nirguna Brahm is not an object of prayer, but of meditation and knowledge. It cannot be described, and the most one can say is that It is absolute existence, absolute knowledge, and absolute bliss (sat-chi-ananda). It is unborn, self-existent, all-pervading, and the essence of all things and beings in the universe. It is immeasurable, unapproachable, beyond conception, beyond birth, beyond reasoning, and beyond thought". God cannot be defined in terms of any specific manifestation, nor indeed in terms of their sum total. He is beyond all possibility of definition. The Bhagavad Gita, states this point clearly:

"Though I manifest Myself in all things, I am identified with none of them".

In its Immanent (personal) aspect, the Supreme Reality, is called Saguna Brahm. He is the personal God, the creator, the preserver, and the controller of the universe. In Hinduism, the immanent (personal) aspect of Brahm is worshipped in both male and female forms. In the male form, he is worshipped as Ishvara, Maheshvara, Paramatma, Purusha. In the female form, as the Divine Mother, Durga, and Kali. The Vedic God has no partisan attitude of the jealous and vindictive God.

God in Hinduism is not the creator of the individual soul, (atman). The atman is divine and eternal - Tat twam asi : That Thou Art".

In the beautiful words of Vedanta: "Samvit or pure consciousness is one and non-dual, ever self-luminous, and does not rise or set in months and years and aeons, past or future."

Reality is the essence of every created thing, and the same Reality is our real Self, so that each of us is one with the power that created and sustains the universe

Note:

Some answerer above referred to gods and some said Scriptures forbid idol worship, both are wrong.

Idol or image is a kind of yantra or a device for harnessing the eye and mind on God. As the Vishnu Samhita puts it:

"Without a form how can God be mediated upon? If (He is) without any form, where will the mind fix itself? When there is nothing for the mind to attach itself to, it will slip away from meditation or will glide into a state of slumber. Therefore the wise will meditate on some form, remembering, however, that the form is a superimposition and not a reality."

Symbolism in Hinduism is sublime and profound. Each act of Hindu worship reflects some deep spiritual significance.

Hassan above quoted half the Geeta Verse , and out of context and thus changed the meaning.

""Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures."
[Bhagavad Gita 7:20]

The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God."

Geeta does not say that materialistic people worship demigods.

I am not quoting full verse as answer is already long, but it says

God should not be worshipped for materialistc things.

Please stop quoting non Hindu sites. Even the Verse number given is wrong.

Answer 2

Hinduism is a monotheistic polythesism. Many cannot understand this, even if they are a member of a monotheistic faith. The many gods of Hinduism are all various forms of Brahman, the Supreme Being. Hindus worship multiple forms of one god. Hinduism is also pantheistic, as all of Creation is a part of Brahman.

Brahman - The Supreme Being, the Ultimate Reality, the Infinite Being, the Infinite Consciousness, the Infinite Bliss, the World Soul. Brahman is the god of creation and is traditionally accepted as the Creator of the entire universe. Brahman is unchanging, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, genderless.

The Hindu Trinity: The three cosmic functions of Brahman. Lord Brahma, the creator, is the first member of the Brahmanical triad, Vishnu, the preserver, is the second and Shiva, the destroyer, is the third.

Answer 3

Brahman is the Ultimate Reality. Everything comes from Brahman and everything returns to Brahman. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are avatars of Brahman. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the protector, and Shiva is the destroyer. Shiva isn't viewed as evil. There isn't a battle between Vishnu and Shiva. Shiva is merely fulfilling Shiva's role. Devas are kind of like angels. They are lesser gods and goddesses for lack of a better term. They are intermediaries. Some believe Brahman has no qualities while others believe Brahman does. It depends on the particular sect of Hinduism you're talking about. I hope this helped you gain some understanding.

Answer 4

In Hinduism,

GOD = BRAHMAN = Supreme Cosmic Spirit

And it is described as follows:

This Supreme Cosmic Spirit is regarded to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, yet indescribable. It can be at best described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. It is regarded as the source and sum of the cosmos, that constricted by time, space, and causation, as pure being, the "world soul" which also can take many forms or manifestations of the thousands of gods. It was deemed a singular substrate from which all that is arises, and debuts with this verse:

"Great indeed are the devas who have sprung out of Brahman." — Atharva Veda

Answer 5

You mean what are the gods in Hinduism? As in, are they considered to be material beings that are just located elsewhere, have incredible power, and created the universe? Or are you asking about specific traits of the gods?

Honestly, I don't know either, but I hope my question will help future answerers answer both aspects.

Answer 6

First of all i am not a Hindu... but i am a student of Islam and comparative religon....

As God in Hinduism can be explained is. through tha ultimate authority in Hinduism which is the Vedas... just like Islam has The Holy Quraan... Christianity has its Bible n etc... So as we see that according to there Holy Scriputers...

BHAGAVAD GITA

The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita.

Consider the following verse from the Gita:

"Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures."
[Bhagavad Gita 7:20]

The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.

or read thes...

UPANISHADS:

The Upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus.

The following verses from the Upanishads refer to the Concept of God:

"Ekam evadvitiyam"
"He is One only without a second."
[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]1

"Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah."
"Of Him there are neither parents nor lord."
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]2

"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no likeness of Him."
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]3

The following verses from the Upanishad allude to the inability of man to imagine God in a particular form:

"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."

"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye."
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]


also there are many more verses which i can quote from the Hindu scriptures where it says to worship only 1 God.

Answer 7

From what I understand, Hinduism is polytheistic.. so I guess you'll have to specify which god.

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism

Answer 9

Creator, Protector and Destructor !

Answer 10

exiestence itself