MAJOR RELIGIONS OF WORLD

CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM

SUBMITTED TO : PROFESSOR NAZIA

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GROUP MEMBERS : BAREERA ,SABA, MUSKAN, SAIMA , SAHAR
COMPILED BY : SAHAR UL NISA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 INRO TO HINDUISM
 COMMON CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUS
 POLYTHEISM , PANTHEISM, MONOTHEISM
 BRAHMAN,VISHNU AND OTHER GODS
 BHAGAVAD GITA VERSE
 HOW MANY GODS THEY BELIEVE IN?
 WHO CREATED GOD?
 EXISTENCE OF GOD
 CONSIDER EVERYTHING AS GOD
 PATHS OF REALIZATION
 KARMA
 IDOL WORSHIP
 PERSONAL GOD
 MONISM , DUALISM AND PLURALISM
 CONCEPT OF SHAKTI
 CONCLUSION

HINDUISM
Hinduism is an Indian religion , a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers
abide.

As a religion, it is the world`s third largest after Christianity and Islam. According to many
scholars, with roots and customs dating back more than 4,000 years.

• Hinduism comprises a wide range of beliefs about God and divinity, such as polytheism,
pantheism, monism, monotheism etc .

• Forms of theism find mention in the Bhagavad Gita.

FORMS OF THEISM
POLYTHEISM:

The belief that there are several or many distinct gods.

PANTHEISM:

The belief that all reality is identical with a creator or god, or that everything
composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. • Pantheism considers everything, living and
non-living, to be Divine.

Monotheism:

The belief in the existence of a single god.

Monoism:

The view that attributes(quality) oneness or singleness to a concept.

GOD is Formless or with Form?

 For Hindus God, as is, is beyond any attributes of form, color, shapes ... That is, God
does not have any specific form or name. In this state God is referred to as nirguna
Brahman (attributeless god).
 However God takes forms as perceived by humans and this perceived form is called
saguNa Brahman (god with (good) attributes).
 The forms provide a basis for the Hindu worshipper to easily pursue the otherwise
incomprehensible Supreme.
 So Hinduism supports both form as well as formless worship of the God. Whether one
worships in saguna or nirguna way, it is ultimately the same God.
GOD is not in some Heaven

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 • The important concept in Hinduism is that God can be realized right here in this world,
and the God is not just Magnificent Almighty, but is also a sweet lovely One, with whom
you can have a relationship - devotee, spouse, sibling, child, parent..
God is not just in some heavens, It is right in us.

It is both transcendental as well as intermixed in everything. Those who realize Its

presence reap the grand reward.
IS GOD A "HE"?
 In Hinduism, god is sometimes visualized as a male god such as Krishna (left), or
goddess such as Radha (right), bigender such as Ardhanarishvara (a composite of
Shiva - male - and Parvati - female.
 or as formless and genderless Brahman.
 Brahman: is a caste within Hindu society.

BRAHMAN

o Brahma is the Hindu god of creation. Also known as the as grandfather, he was
the original creator of the universe.
o Brahman is a metaphysical (beyond the reality we know and see) concept of Hinduism
referring to the ultimate unchanging reality, that is uncreated, eternal, infinite,
transcendent, the cause, the foundation, the source and the goal of all existence.
o The majority of Hindus believe in one supreme god (The Brahman)

VISHNU
o Vishnu one of the principal deities of Hinduism.
o GOD that preserves and protects the universe.
o Vishnu is the GOD of Preservation, the great maintainer ,who often appears in various
(avatara) to provide salvation for humanity.

COMMON CONCEPT OF GOD

o Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion.

o Polytheistic Religion: the belief in many gods .
o Personal GOD: In general Hinduism considers God not just as the Supreme All-powerful
Gigantic(very large) One, but also a personal GOD, Whom the individual can worship .
o Devotion or bhakti(worship) as often referred to is a very key concept in Hinduism.

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 o The common Hindu, therefore, considers everything as God.

He considers the trees as God, the sun as God, the moon as God, the monkey as God, the snake
as God and even human beings as manifestations of God! According to Hinduism.
"EVERYTHING IS GOD"

ACCORDING TO HINDU SCRIPTURES , CONCEPT OF GOD:

o The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the BHAGAVAD GITA
o 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”
The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods.

HOW MANY GODS ARE THERE IN HINDUISM?

Concept of God in Hinduism is very simple as well as complex.

One of the most frequently asked questions about Hinduism is “How many gods are there in
Hinduism?”
o The most common answer to this question is that there are 330 million gods, but if you
ask anyone to give their names, no one would be able to do so.
o Also, many Hindus do not agree with this number. Some say there is only one God,
while some say there are 33 gods only.
o The reason behind this confusion is that the different scriptures give different number.

According to Puranas:

There are 330 million gods but in practice, Hindus do not worship or even know the names of
all gods.
It is a general misconception that it is a polytheistic religion, but actually, it is a pluralistic
religion.
Hinduism believes in only one God but allows its followers to worship the God in many forms
such as nature (including trees, sun, idols, animals, etc.) and divine beings (Lord Krishna, Lord
Rama, Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, etc.) because the world that we see is the manifestation of Him
only.

These divine beings are called devas (gods) and devis (goddesses). These are
celestial beings that control forces of nature such as fire, air, wind, etc. They are not to be
confused with the One and the Supreme God. God is a different thing than a deity or a god.
These words should not be confused together.

CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM BY VEDAS

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Vedas and Bhagavad-Gita are the most sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The following are a few
lines where they talk about God.
1. “Ekam evadvitiyam” meaning “He is One only without a second.”
[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]

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

3. “Na tasya pratima asti” meaning “There is no likeness of Him.”

[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]

4. “Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam” means “His form is not
to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]

Vedas refer to God as “Brahman.

” Brahman (often confused as to Lord Brahma) is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and
transcendent reality, which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and
everything beyond in this universe. It is the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Absolute Reality and is
said to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and ultimately
indescribable in human language.

 Noteworthy thing is that Hindus believe that God is genderless whilst most of the
other religions generally believe God is male.

 PRUSHA AND PRAKRITI

 Brahman is formless but it manifests itself through Purusha and Prakriti
 Purusha is consciousness and Prakriti is the material world.
 Purusha expresses itself through Prakriti. Prakriti binds Purusha. Purusha is constant but
Prakriti changes.
 It multiplies and breaks down into cruder and more basic forms.
 The universe that we are seeing has come into being because of Purusha and Prakriti.
That is why Hindus say God is everywhere.

 Jiva (Purusha) and Shiva (Param Purusha) are both one and the same but Prakriti
creates Bheda (difference) between them.
 In terms of the human body, our body is Prakriti and the consciousness that we have is
Purusha.

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 Shiva and Shakti exist within each of us as masculine and feminine principles.
 This has an effect on the physical level – it is the cause of sexual attraction. Within a man,
there exists a tendency towards the feminine qualities and within a woman a tendency
towards the masculine.
 Through this, the masculine consciousness is attracted by the feminine and vice versa. If
both are in balance, there is no sexual attraction. But if a tendency for the masculine
predominates in man or the feminine in woman, this results in a preference for a
homosexual partner

The Brahma Sutra of Hinduism is:

“Ekam Brahma, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan” which means:

“There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”
IN PRACTICE :
Hindus worship the Almighty in several different forms. Therefore, it is interesting to
understand the concept of God in Hinduism and how the other Gods developed over time and
became popular.

Prakriti is the manifested form of Brahman and further expresses herself in three
forms:

Satvik form (HARMONIUS) – Lord Brahma.

Rajasik form (ENERGY AND AMBITIONS) – Lord Vishnu.

Tamasik form (MATERIALISTIC AND AVENGEFUL) – Lord Shiva

NOTE : That is why the followers of Shaktism believe that Prakriti, i.e., Goddess is Brahman.
Shaivites and Vaishnavites claim that Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are Brahman respectively,
but the truth is that Trinity is the Saguna (manifested) form of Brahman. Therefore, nobody is
superior.

THE CONCEPT OF GOD PER PURANAS

The reason behind this contradiction is that in the Vedas there are different verses that
proclaim the superiority of different gods. The Puranas are elaboration of the Vedas. Most of
the concepts and stories in the Puranas have bases in the Vedas.

According to the Shiva Purana:

The Brahman created Lord Shiva. Then, Lord Shiva created Lord Vishnu, and Lord Brahma
was born from the lotus originating from the navel of Lord Vishnu.

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These three Gods are assigned three different jobs to run this universe systematically:

Shiva – The Destroyer

Vishnu – The Protector

Brahma – The Creator

Lord Brahma created the universe and he recreates it after every destruction called
Mahapralaya. He created different gods like Indra, Agni, Vayu, etc. who help function this
universe. Therefore, Hindus worship many different gods.

All other gods are the creation or incarnation of the Trinity.

In the process of protecting the people, Lord Vishnu needs to reincarnate on the earth. Hindus
worship all 10 reincarnations of Lord Vishnu and their other forms also. Lord Shiva and Goddess
Parvati also took many Avatars from time to time. All those incarnations are worshipped
separately by Hindus.

CONCEPT OF GOD ACCORDING TO BHAGAVAD GITA

The Bhagavad Gita is an important Hindu scripture according to which Lord Krishna is the
incarnation of Supreme Being and hence everybody should worship Lord Krishna only.
Worshiping other deities would give you worldly benefits, but you would have to suffer for
those gains afterward.

COMMON AND IMPORTANT VIEW OF CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM

 Many Hindus understand God to be Brahman or the Infinite.

 Brahman is believed to be ever-present, all-powerful, and beyond comprehension.
Some Hindus believe that Brahman is formless and without attributes, but manifests
in form.
 Other Hindus believe Brahman has a transcendent form and attributes .

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