It is so confusing !
2007-12-15 18:56:06 · 16 answers · asked by Nitai Guranga 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually there is only one capital 'G' GOD but there are many small 'g' gods.
Every gods are controlled by one GOD. Lord Brahma is the original creator of this universe and here is he prays in Sri Brahma-Samhita when he got the knowledge from Lord Vishnu (Self realization of Brahma )
isvarah paramah krsnah
sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam
"Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes."
All small 'g' gods are Lord Krishna's agents who works under His direction to control the universal affairs.
Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita -
mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva(BG 7.7)
"O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."
prakrtim svam avastabhya
visrjami punah punah
bhuta-gramam imam krtsnam
avasam prakrter vasat(BG 9.8)
"The whole cosmic order is under Me. By My will it is manifested again and again, and by My will it is annihilated at the end."
A country is run by a President and he is the supreme controller but there are many other who directly works under the president.
Idols are called 'Archya Vigraha' are like Govt. post boxes where you know for sure if you post a letter with proper stamp it would reach the destination, similarly Idols are representatives of the Lord through which He accepts the services.
2007-12-15 20:05:10 · answer #1 · answered by Roy 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Pearls of wisdom have been integrated in the thread of stories. For a child (beginner in spiritualism) it is always easy to understand and retain the moral (wisdom) through interesting stories.
Each idol represents an ideal i.e. a set of positive qualities and attributes, which gels with one’s internal personality. Main idea is to imbibe those positive qualities in our character. Idols is worshiped the way we worship our National flag.
Various Gods and Goddesses in Indian religion are symbolic to one Cosmic Consciousness. It's the way various maps are used to understand the different parts of one World or different books by different authors on the same subject.
2007-12-16 23:44:35 · answer #2 · answered by shanky_andy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Goddess ( or god) in Hinduism has so many aspects because it is like a person who is a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a boss, a colleague, a lawyer ( or career ) and maybe a PTA member of her kid's school.... ALL the same person expressed with different functions to cater to different people of different needs.
2007-12-15 19:04:40 · answer #3 · answered by Tiara 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
And you are a christian, I presume, to make such remark. Praying for all the things and go to heaven and worship an imaginary master *** friend does not makes you any better. By the way, you should read up hinduism before you make such comment, you don't know the very basic of hindu. In fact Hindu is very much similar to christianity with one creator god, three lesser great gods (similar to archangels) and lots of minor gods (similar to angels).
2016-05-24 04:21:21 · answer #4 · answered by julieta 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hinduism lays emphasis on direct Experience of the Devine
rather than on authority.
Hindus believe that God is everything and everthing is God thus it is obtuse to confuse Hinduism's images with idolatry, and their multiplicity with polytheism. They believe that what every you follow with utmost devotion will lead you to the final goal which is the Realisation of the Ultimate reality and Truth.
The first fundamental principle of Hindu Dharma is that "the Reality is one without a second." This reality is beyond description by human mind. Hence it is indicated by a single world, "Brahman". "Infinite, eternal, changeless existence is the All; from that All, All comes forth; to that All, all returns," that is what the Chandogya Upanishad(one among the numerous sacred texts of Hinduism) tells us.
By the way how can you prove God is one and only one??
2007-12-16 16:27:45 · answer #5 · answered by sita 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Not every hindu worships all the gods. There are varying sects and it's not idol worship. It's only as confusing as the trinity. although hindus do have a trinity of their own.
2007-12-15 19:00:45 · answer #6 · answered by chiknmnkeyboy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dear friend,
For non-Hindus it may be confusing.But for Hindus it is a highly satisfying one.
You see as per Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) , everything that exists, both animate and iananimate are nothing but manifestations of HIM.
As Mr AUM said Shivasaktya yuktam jagatsarvam.(what ever you see in the universe is nothing but a manifestation of awarenessand Energy.(that is HE)
In the beginning, people used to feel indebted to nature,rain,land,sun,fire,water,etcetc that are there in their livers.
Rain watered the land and gave good crop...so they called rain as rain god Varun.
Agni ,Fire was the necessary thing to cook anything and keep them warm and called him fire od Agni.or Tejas
Water is so essential and they called water as god and worshipped rivers.
Similarly hills they worshipped and called them Hill gods and gave names.
So for everything in nature , they understood their depended on all these and with gratitude the worshipped them all ad gods.So the list of gods is endless as the things in nature are.
You are free to choose your dear god from among and worship.
They through introspection found out the or realised the TRUTH or HIM and found it to be endless,beginning-less ...eternal.There were all qualities to it and simultaneously noqualities are attributed to it.(Nirguna).
How to worship a nirguna Brahan (god).
So an idol became necessary ,at initial stages .Then as concentration grew and knowledge was gained gradually one turned from Saguna to Nirguna worship.
As Swamy Vivekananda once remarked'' All these books are necessary to make you understand that no book is necessary.'', similarly all this idol worship necessary to make one understand that no idol is necessary.
So there is no confusion whatsoever if you see everything in universe as a part of DIVINITY (DEVA AMSA and give it a name and call it a god)
The beauty of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is that it accepts all things as God.You are god, what you do is god and what you eat is is God and what you see is God.So it accepts all things.There is no confusion at all.
That way I feel.
2007-12-16 00:08:46 · answer #7 · answered by Radhakrishna( prrkrishna) 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
there are basically 3 Gods, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector, and Shiva the destroyer.
the rest are generally different incarnations, avtars, or etc of the three, although this varies between sub cultures.
2007-12-15 19:04:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As per Hindu philosophy there is One supreme Consciousness who we call Bramh, or Turiya or Aum. We dont have any temples or idols for God.
Hindus know that This supreme Consciousness apparently divides into two aspects Shiva and Shakti (awareness & energy).
Shiva and shakt's union, manifests different forms of gods, demi gods, and all the cosmos.
Hinduism gives free liberty to its followers to worship / love God as they like....like Father, Mother, beloved, or simply as non-attributed God.
Hence hindus worship god in his manifestations as per their choice... but they know they are worshipping that One Bramh...who is beyond all these manifestations
idols are not worshipped, but these work as external stimulii to concentrate on various aspects of god.
Like statue of liberty is not liberty but indicates liberty
like a skull and two bones are not DANGER but indicate towards dangers.
Idols tell us about the aspects and attributes of god
Seeing hinduism from spectacles of abrahmic religions, it may look confusing... but for hindus it is quite normal and natural
2007-12-15 19:08:15 · answer #9 · answered by ۞Aum۞ 7 · 7⤊ 1⤋
Why? because it does, that's all
Why are many gods any more confusing than one god with three versions (the Christian trinity) ?
All religion is silly and makes no sense. At least the Hindu religion is colorful
2007-12-15 19:05:57 · answer #10 · answered by SkepDoc 2.0 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋