One of the problems, which those who design a Religious text, do not realize that, whatever be the presentation and promotion , Truth will surface.
Especially so, if the Religious text is selected from about 300 versions and only that which suited the Political expediency is accepted.
The danger is that there are chances that the rejected material shall also come through.
This, being of the same origin as that of the accepted Text will carry the same force as the one accepted.
I am talking about the Bible, which was compiled by a Conclave of Cardinals and only that which suited the political necessities of Empire Constantine was accepted as the Religious text.
There were more than 300 versions reported to have been considered by the conclave of the Cardinals.
Now there are those versions of the Bible that have become available that speak differently of Jesus and His Character.
These Books are called the Lost Books of the Bible, Apocrypha Bible.
Some of the material found in these books are very uncomfortable for a Religion which says it the most Compassionate and Jesus was a Prince of Peace.
”
No question, the kid portrayed in the “The Lost Books of the Bible” isn’t exactly the Prince of Peace. After recounting three murders in two pages, one passage concludes, “Then said Joseph to St. Mary, henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for everyone who displeases him is killed.”
The “lost books” are part of the apocrypha, quasibiblical works not included in the official Bible. There are several dozen of these, dating from both Old and New Testament eras and exhibiting considerable variety in length, completeness, and credibility. A few of these were considered inspired in some corners of the early church but were ultimately excluded from the formal canon for one reason or another; the remainder, which account for the bulk of the material, have always been regarded as spurious by the mainstream church and include works condemned as heretical or fraudulent…
In 1820 a number of the apocryphal books were compiled into a sort of alternative Bible called the Apocryphal New Testament. This was republished in 1926 as The Lost Books of the Bible and reprinted in 1979; the last version is what you saw. The 1820 book in turn was an aggregation of two English translations published in 1736 and 1737. The original works were a serious attempt to advance bible study, but the subsequent publications, arguably in 1820 and certainly from 1926 onward, were an attempt to sell books by creating scandal.
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The homicidal-Jesus stories come from something known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. (This is to be distinguished from the better-known but equally apocryphal Gospel According to Thomas, about which more below.) Several versions of the Infancy Gospel have come to light, dating back to about the sixth century AD; all are copies of earlier texts.
As near as scholars can make out, the Thomas story originated in the mid-second century AD, subsequent to the four canonical gospels (that is, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Some say it was based in part on Luke; the two books share the story of Jesus scourging the money lenders at the Temple. It is one of the few portrayals, spurious or not, of Jesus’s early life, which no doubt accounts for its continued circulation after eighteen hundred years…
Gospel According to Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus discovered in Egypt in 1945. It is taken more seriously than the Infancy Gospel and while not as outrageous is equally troubling in its way. It ends, “Simon Peter said to them, ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
Zephaniah 2:12-15
“You Ethiopians will also be slaughtered by my sword,” says the LORD. And the LORD will strike the lands of the north with his fist. He will destroy Assyria and make its great capital, Nineveh, a desolate wasteland, parched like a desert. The city that once was so proud will become a pasture for sheep and cattle. All sorts of wild animals will settle there. Owls of many kinds will live among the ruins of its palaces, hooting from the gaping windows. Rubble will block all the doorways, and the cedar paneling will lie open to the wind and weather. This is the fate of that boisterous city, once so secure. “In all the world there is no city as great as I,” it boasted. But now, look how it has become an utter ruin, a place where animals live! Everyone passing that way will laugh in derision or shake a defiant fist
Ezekiel 9:5-7
“Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. “Defile the Temple!” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!” So they went throughout the city and did as they were told.”
Matthew henry’s Biblical commentary writes this on Ezekial 9:5-7 :
. A command given to the destroyers to do execution according to their commission. They stood by the brazen altar, waiting for orders; and orders are here given them to cut off and destroy all that were either guilty of, or accessory to, the abominations of Jerusalem, and that did not sigh and cry for them. Note, When God has gathered his wheat into his garner nothing remains but to burn up the chaff, Matthew3:12 http://www.studylight.org/desk/?query=mt+3:12&t=kjv.
Some of the Lost Books.
Citation and References.
http://answering-christianity.com/sami_zaatri/another_bible_myth.htm
I have been planning to write on Buddhism and Jainism, the two Great Religions of India apart from Hinduism.
To begin with let me share information about the propagation of Buddhism around the world.
Ashoka Maurya (/əˈʃoʊkə/; Sanskrit: अशोक मौर्य; 304–232 BCE), commonly known as Ashoka and also as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE.[1] One of India’s greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East and covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The empire’s capital wasPataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Bihar), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain.
Asoka took to Buddhism with great zest and propagated it around the world by sending out preachers.
He had recorded this in his edicts.
The Ashoka inscriptions represent the first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail the first wide expansion of Buddhism through the sponsorship of one of the most powerful kings of Indian history. According to the edicts, the extent of Buddhist proselytism during this period reached as far as the Mediterranean, and many Buddhist monuments were created.
The inscriptions proclaim Asoka’s beliefs in the Buddhist concept of dhamma and his efforts to develop “dhamma” throughout his kingdom. Although Buddhism and the Buddha are mentioned, the edicts of Asoka tend to focus on social and moral precepts rather than religious practices or the philosophical dimension of Buddhism.
The inscriptions revolve around a few repetitive themes: Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism, the description of his efforts to spread Buddhism, his moral and religious precepts, and his social and animal welfare program.
Ashoka explains that he converted to Buddhism out of remorse for his conquest of the Kalingas around 264 B.C.E. in eastern India (near the present-day state of Orissa):
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas (Rock Edict Nb13, S. Dhammika).
Following his conversion, Ashoka traveled throughout India and visited sacred Buddhist locations, where he would typically erect a pillar bearing his inscriptions:
Twenty years after his coronation, Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, visited this place and worshipped because here the Buddha, the sage of the Sakyans, was born. He had a stone figure and a pillar set up and because the Lord was born here, the village of Lumbini was exempted from tax and required to pay only one eighth of the produce (Minor Pillar Edict Nb1, S. Dhammika).
Ashoka’s concept of “Dhamma” seems to be synonymous with righteousness. In order to propagate the Buddhist faith, Ashoka explains he sent emissaries to the Hellenistic kings as far as the Mediterranean, and to the peoples throughout India, claiming they were all converted to the Dharma as a result. He names the Greek rulers of the time, inheritors of the conquest of Alexander the Great, from Bactria to as far as Greece and North Africa, displaying an amazingly clear grasp of the political situation at the time.
Buddhist proselytism at the time of kingAshoka (260-218 B.C.E.).
Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it (conquest by Dhamma) has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Rock Edict Nb13, S. Dhammika).
The distance of 600 yojanas (a yojanas being about 7 miles), corresponds to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000 miles).
Citation.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/indian_inscriptions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka
You would have noticed that at the end of every Mantra, Pooja and at temples Om Shanti Mantra Om Shanti is chanted thrice.
Om Shanti means May There Be Peace.
One witnesses disturbances in the world and in one’s Mind body.
Some are due to factors within one’s control and some beyond one.
It is the Hindus way of pacifying these my chanting and thereby attempting to appease them.
Disturbances/Calamities come from,
Through one’s body,
Through the forces of Nature and
due to past actions and the Will of God.(Stains on the soul as Jains put it)
These three are classified as.
Adi Bhautikam.
Adi Daivikam and
Adiathmikam.
”
Adhi-daivikam literally means “mental disturbances that come from God”—i.e. things that are utterly beyond our control: hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tsunamis, etc. We have no control over these types of disturbances. So when we say the first shanti, we are praying, “O God, may we be protected from these obstacles that are beyond our control.”
Adhi-bhautikam literally means “disturbances that come from the world.” That means anything stemming from the world around us—mosquitoes, noisy neighbors, barking dogs, the phone ringing, family arguments. As opposed to the first category, we have some control over this second category of disturbances. We can use mosquito repellent, we can call the police on our neighbors, we can turn off the phone, we can leave the place altogether, etc. So this shanti means, “O God, may we be protected from the people and surroundings.”
The third type of disturbance is the most powerful and, at the same time, the only one over which we have total control. Adhyatmikam means “disturbances stemming from the self.” For one who is still identified with the ego, the people, places and things of this world stimulate one of two reactions in the mind—attachment or aversion. Whether we physical see someone we consider our enemy as we walk down the street or remember him during meditation, the mental turbulence that results is the same. Lust, jealousy, anger, sorrow, hatred destroy our peace’
Shanti Mantras are to be chanted and the Vedas have a separate section for Shanti Mantras.
| ॐ सह नाववतु।
सह नौ भुनक्तु। सह वीर्यं करवावहै। तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै। ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ |
Om, May we all be protected
May we all be nourished May we work together with great energy May our intelect be sharpened (may our study be effective) Let there be no Animosity amongst us Om, peace (in me), peace (in nature), peace (in divine forces) |
| Oṁ Saha nāvavatu | Om=supreme god; saha=together; nau=both/ all; avatu=may he protect |
| saha nau bhunaktu | saha=together; nau=both/ all;bhunaktu= be nourished/ energized |
| Saha vīryam karavāvahai | saha=together;vīryam=energy; karavāvahai=work (kara=hand; avahai=bring into use) |
| Tejasvi nāvadhītamastu | tejaswi = having great energy;nau = both ; adhi = intellect/ study; tama = higher degree; astu=so be it |
| Mā vidviṣāvahai | Mā=not be; vidvis=animosity; avahai=bring/ have |
| Oṁ Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ | shantih= peace |
Citation.
http://archives.amritapuri.org/bharat/mantra/shanti.php
The Panchabhutha Sthala Kanchipuram has Ekambareswarar Temple
This Temple represents Prithvi ,The Earth Element of Nature.
This town Kanchipuram,housing Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple, is in a straight line with Chdiambaram ,Aakasa Sthala (Ether) and Sri Kala Hasti,Vayu Sthala, Air Element.
(I am providing the Legend of the temple in this post)
In addition to being geographically linked to two Shiva Kshetras of Elements, it is curious to find that there is a Mango Tree, where Lord Shiva and Parvathi got married.
And this Tree is about 3500 years old.
Sage Agastya shows he way to date this tree
The marriage of Shiva and Parvathi, to my knowledge, happened once in Himalayas and the same event was witnessed by Sage Agastya, who could not attend the marriage because Lord Shiva ordered him to proceed to South to counter balance the earth.
This has happened about 40 million years ago, based on earths’ plate movement.
‘
‘Life in the universe is created and destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is one full day (day and night) for Brahma. The lifetime of a Brahma is believed to be 311 trillion and 40 billion years-Hindu Cosmology.
‘Eighty million years ago, India was approximately 6400 km (3968 miles) south of the Eurasian plate. Separating the two was the Tethys Sea. The Indo-Australian tectonic plate – containing the continent of Australia, the Indian subcontinent, and surrounding ocean – was pushed northward by the convection currents generated in the inner mantle. For millions of years, India made its way across the sea toward the Eurasian plate. As India approached Asia, around 40 million years ago, the Tethys Sea began to shrink and its seabed slowly pushed upwards.’
This is what Agastya had seen, if he had seen it immediately after the marriage when he crossed over the Vindhyas
Another theory is that Agastya came to South around 5000 years ago .
This is based on the Agastya Star Canopus presence when Agastya moved to South.
‘
As Time is Cyclic in Hinduism, these events keep on occurring in every Yuga.
The Kali Yuga is about 5000 years old.
The marriage of Shiva and Parvathi coud have played out again towards the end of Dwapara Yuga as well around 5000 years ago!
Now to the Mango Tree at Ekambareswarar temple being 3500 years may be validated by this calculation.
The unique features of Ekambareswarar temple:
Legend.
Citation.
https://csgraju.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/splendors-of-indian-temples-19/
Some central thoughts in Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism, remain firm.
One is that there is no difference between Hari and Hara and they are quite close.
As an evidence of this Lord Shiva’s Marriage with Parvati was conducted specially for Lord Vishnu.
The Marriage Ceremonial fire still burns.
Scroll down for Video.
The marriage is between Shiva and Parvati, the Homa kunda is for their marriage.
Yet the Temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu!
Triyuginarayan Temple (Sanskrit: त्रियुगी-नारायण) is a Hindu temple located in the Triyuginarayan village in Rudraprayag district,Uttarakhand. The ancient temple is dedicated to god Vishnu. Its fame is credited to the legend of god Shiva’s marriage to goddessParvati witnessed by Vishnu at this venue and is thus a popular pilgrimage centre.[1][2] A special feature of this temple is a perpetual fire, that burns in front of the temple. The flame is believed to burn from the times of the divine marriage.[3] Thus, the temple is also known as Akhand Dhuni temple.
The temple courtyard is also the source of a water stream, which fills four sacred bathing ponds (kunds) nearby.
The word “Triyugi Narayan” is formed of three words “tri” means three, “yugi” denotes the period of time – Yuga and “Narayan” is another name of Vishnu. Pilgrims have been offering wood to the fire in the havana-kund (fireplace) since the three Yugas – hence the place is given the name “Triyugi Narayan”.[1] Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an epoch or era within a cycle of four ages. The four Yugas are Satya Yuga (1,728,000 human years), Treta Yuga (1,296,000 years), the Dvapara Yuga (864,000 years) and finally Kali Yuga (432,000 years), which is the present Yuga.
The name “Akhand Dhuni temple” also originates from the eternal flame legend, “Akhand” means perpetual and “Dhuni” means flame…
According to Hindu mythology, goddess Parvati was daughter of Himavat or Himavan – the personification of the Himalayas. She was the rebirth of Sati, the first wife of Shiva – who sacrificed her life when her father insulted Shiva. Parvati initially tried to allure Shiva by her beauty, but fails. Finally, she won Shiva by practising rigorous penance at Gauri Kund, which is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from Triyuginarayan. Pilgrims visiting Triyuginaryan temple also visit the Gauri Kund temple, dedicated to Parvati. Mythology states that Shiva proposed to Parvati at Guptakashi (on the road to Kedarnath) before they got married in the small Triyuginarayan village at the confluence of Mandakini and Sone-Ganga rivers.
Triyuginarayan is believed to be the capital of Himavat. It was the venue of the celestial marriage of Shiva and Parvati, during the Satya Yuga, witnessed in the presence of the holy fire that still burns eternally in front of the temple in a Havana-kund or Agni-kund, a four-cornered fireplace on the ground. Vishnu formalized the wedding and acted as Parvati’s brother in the ceremonies, while the creator-godBrahma acted as the priest of the wedding, that was witnessed by all the sages of the times. The exact location of the wedding is marked by a stone called Brahma Shila, in front of the temple.The greatness of this place is also recorded in a sthala-purana (a scripture specific to a pilgrimage centre). According to the scripture, pilgrims who visit this temple consider the ashes from the burning fire as holy and carry it with them. It is also believed that ashes from this fire are supposed to promote conjugal bliss.
Before the marriage ceremony, the gods are believed to have taken bath in three kunds or small ponds namely, Rudra-kund, Vishnu-kund and Brahma-kund. The inflow into the three kunds is from the Saraswati-kund, which – according to legend – originated from Vishnu’s navel. Hence, the water of these kunds is considered to cure infertility. The ashes from Havana-kund are supposed to promote conjugal bliss.
Airport. New Delhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triyuginarayan_Temple
I posted an article,Photo Essay on the nine sleeping poses of Vishnu.
Lord Vishnu does not sleep.
His sleep is called Yoga Nidra (Sleeping posture i Yoga) or Ari Thuyil(Tamil–sleeping while aware of everything)
The Snake Adisehsa is the coiled Cosmic energy in the Solar Plexus(Mooladhaara).
The Ksheera Saagara is a representation of the Milky way Galaxy.
Please read my Post Vishnu’s’ Conch and Discus in galaxies, filed under Hinduism/Astrophysics.
This Yoga Nidra of Lord Vishnu is of Nine types.
1.Vadabadra Sayanam, Srivilliputtur.Moolavar Image not available.
I had written on the sleeping, floating Visnu in Budhanikantha Nepal.
I have been under the impression that the Anathasyana form of Vishnu found in Srivilliputhur, Sri Rangam and Thiruvanathapuram are the largest, in that order
I am wrong.
There is a Rock Cut Anantha Sayana Vishnu in the Village Sarangi in Odisha.
Anantashayi Vishnu, also known as Anantashayana Vishnu (both literally “sleeping on the serpent Shesha”), is a large open air rock-cut image of the Hindu god Vishnu, carved during the early 9th Century in the Saranga village, under the Parjang police station, in Dhenkanal district of Orissa, India. It is located on the left bank of the Brahmani River. It is the largest such exposed rock cut structure in the horizontal position measuring 15.4 metres (51 ft) in length, in the whole of India, while the largest standing image is of Gomateshwara in Southern India. It is a protected monument maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, BhubaneswarCircle. Worship is still offered to the four armed reclining Vishnu.
The Vishnu image, under the open sky, occupies an area measuring 15.4 metres (51 ft) in length and 7 metres (23 ft) in width with a thickness of 0.7 metres (2 ft 4 in). The image is of the Hindu god Vishnu in a reclining position (Anantashayana in Sanskrit, literally sleeping on the serpent Ananta). The image is carved out of natural rock of sandstone formation. He has four arms, holding a Chakra in the upper right hand, a Shankha in his upper left hand, a Gada and a symbolic lotus on its lower left hand. The hoods of the serpent Shesha (Ananta) covering the head of Vishnu.The Vishnu image has a sharp chin, distinctive nose and wears a crown on its head, called kiritamukuta (a tall conical crown, typically worn by Vishnu). A lotus design shown sprouting from his navel has the creator god Brahma, sitting in meditation. Another image in the same district also carved in sandstone in a reclining posture is in Khamkanaga Subdivision, in Angul district of 41.5 feet (12.6 m) length (as against the length of 15.4 metres (51 ft) image in Saranga village.The sculptor has imagined the river bank conceptually to represent the Kshirasagara (cosmic ocean) from which Brahma created the world. The shrine is regularly worshipped by local people. The Archaeological Survey of India is renovating this sculpture regularly and has kept it in a good condition. Floods in Brahmani River are the only threat to the image as this is built by sandstone in the river bed, which could erode.
Location.
The Vishnu image, located on the left bank of the river bed of the Brahmani River, is at an elevation of 200 feet (61 m). It is accessible by road over a distance of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from Saranga Village in Parajanga Tehsil of Dhenkanal district, 67 kilometres (42 mi) from Dhenkanal, 23 km from Angul and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Talcher.[1][4] It is also approached from theNational Highway 42 from Cuttack to Sambalpur, on branch road over distance of 3 km. The second natural rock-cut image in parent rock is at Bhimakand in Talcher subdivision of the Dhankal district.
Citation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anantashayana_Vishnu
To what extent our History can be hidden, is amazing.
Sirr-i-Akbar by Dara, Introduction PersianTranslation by Chand Tara.
Though it is a fact that Islamic rulers of India raped women, killed people, destroyed Temples and forcibly converted Hindus to Islam, it is shocking to know that they could execute their own siblings for translating The Vedas directly from Sanskrit into Persian.
It is not about the common fanatic I am speaking about.
It is about Shah Jehan’s son Muhammad Dara Shikoh, who was also a great Sufi.
He went to the extent of saying that Islam had its roots in Hinduism, more specifically in The Vedas and the Upanishads, and they were revealed to the Rishis by God much before the advent of Prophet Muhammad.
( I am stating facts as I see them; I am not trying to legitimize Islam as many try.
I just point out the similarities between Hinduism and Islam.
That 786 is OM, Mecan is Shiva Temple,Ancestors of Arabians c0uld have been Tamils, Prophet Muhammad’s Uncle wrote a Hymn, Stuthi On Lord Shiva)
”
Prince Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan. Known the world over for his unorthodox and liberal views. He was a mystic and a free thinker.
Dara Shikoh, wrote in his Persian translation of the Upanishads.
“After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.”
He had learned Sanskrit and studied the Hindu scriptures in the original.
He translated the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Yoga-Vasishta into Persian directly from Sanskrit and called it Sirr-e-Akbar (The Great Mystery). Titled “The Upanishads: God’s Most Perfect Revelation” and then into Latin by Anquetil Duperron (1801 and 1802) under the title Oupnekhat, contained about fifty. The Quran itself, he said, made veiled references to the Upanishads as the “first heavenly book and the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism.”
In his Majma-al-Bahrain, he sought to reconcile the Sufi theory with the Vedanta.
He was able to affirm that Sufism and Advaita Vedantism (Hinduism) are essentially the same, with a surface difference of terminology.
And in introduction to this work he says that one finds in Upanishads the concept of tawhid (the doctrine of Unity of God, the most fundamental doctrine of Islam) after the Qur’an and perhaps the Qur’an refers to Upanishad when it refers to Kitab al-Maknun (The Hidden Book). His work Majma-al-Bahrain (Mingling of the Two Oceans i.e. Hinduism and Islam) is very seminal work in the history of composite culture of India.
Two years after the completion of the Sirr-i-Akbar, Dara was executed on the orders of his brother.
“Dara subsequently developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai. Dara devoted much effort towards finding a common mystical language between Islam and Hinduism. Towards this goal he completed the translation of 50 Upanishads from its original Sanskrit intoPersian in 1657 so it could be read by Muslim scholars. His translation is often called Sirr-e-Akbar (The Greatest Mystery), where he states boldly, in the Introduction, his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Qur’an as the “Kitab al-maknun” or the hidden book, is none other than the Upanishads.[
Sirr-e-Akbar English Translation Download.
Citation.
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/Islam.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dara_Shikoh
I often encounter questions on Sanatana Dharma, called Hinduism, as to why there are many Gods in it and one is confused by this.
Also while the other Religions talk of Only One God, why is it that Hinduism talks of many Gods.
I have been receiving a lot of queries on this and I am quoting one.
“Usually, we all say God is one but in Hindu Dharma we have Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva for Creation, Preservation and Destroy. Why it is so? Why other religion is praying and naming one God. Can you please explain”
As to other Religions , Christianity, Islam, hey talk of God in an Impersonal way.
Christianity talks of God as The Father and there are no descriptions or attributes except the generalities like All merciful and one who would condone your sins if you repent your sins through His Agent, Jesus Christ.
Hinduism does not believe in Agents nor does it absolve you from the results of your actions, simply because you repent.
One has to face the consequences of his actions, this includes the Avatars of Gods as well.
Godhood is a Principle and Impersonal and Laws do not distinguish between people.
In Islam the same generalities.
God is One who lays down the Rules,he punishes you if you do not follow Islam!.
Hinduism is different.
It knows Religion is an experience and it can not be dictated by Logic alone, even if the Logic is impeccable.
The Truth, according to Hinduism, is One.
It is called Brahman, The Reality.( This is different from Brahma , the Creator).
This Brahman is without Attributes, it is a Principle , just as Gravity is.
But it is difficult to know it through the Mind.
Just as we can not know Gravity, we think we know Gravity, but what we really know is because of the feeling of Gravity.
The scientific explanation is only an expression born out of the feelings of Gravity.
Imagine that we do not feel Gravity.
Would we have tried to form theory on Gravity?
So even if the Reality is an abstract principle,it has to be made understandable to be of use to us.
Hence even though the Reality Brahman is the Truth,Hinduism devised ways to reach/realize it.
The Truth, The Brahman, the Reality is Knowable, to Be Known.
That is the Truth.
This knowledge about Brahman is called ‘Apara Vidya'( beyond this world of names and forms)
The knowledge about Brahman and its attributes are called Apara Vidya.
The general descriptions of Brahman are Sat, the State of Being, Chit(Consciousness) and Ananda(Bliss)
Apart from this, the Upanishads,a part of The Vedas, the scriptures of Hindus, try to explain the qualities of Brahman by excluding the attributes normally known to us stating that the Brahman is Beyond all this and also this.
For example the Upanishads,describe Brahman as,
‘Neither Tall nor Short, nor of medium height,
Neither Male, Female,nor transgender ,
Neither the Knower nor the Known,
Yet It is All of These’
You would find this is difficult to comprehend even at the intellectual level.
Knowledge if it can not be understood or used is useless.
Therefore Hinduism devised a way.
If we have to Know, it must be easy for us to follow.
The instrument to know is the Mind.
The instrument to feel is the Heart.
For those who want to know a glimpse , Hinduism provides Gnana Yoga and Raja Yoga.
Raja Yoga is the path of Yoga being practiced by many.
Here one prepares the mind to understand Reality.
Gnana Yoga prepares one to discern the Reality by developing Vairaagya, the discerning capacity to distinguish between practical knowledge,Para Vidya and the Apara Vidya.
There are two more methods.
Bhakti yoga, the path of Loving God.
The other one is karma Yoga, the Path of Action.
For loving God one needs an object to concentrate for the Mind to enable the Heart to feel it.
So Gods have been named In Hinduism.
It is difficult for the Humans to empathize with qualities which are known to them.
The emotional connect is strong in the case relationships.
Father, Mother, Children, Wife, Children and relatives.
And if one attributes Reality/God with the qualities of Humans , it is easy for the Humans to understand.
So the Gods of Hinduism are attributed with Human qualities.
Then why many Gods?
Some love mother, some Father, some Lover, some friends, some a master
God in Hinduism is portrayed with all these qualities.
This makes it easy for Humans to relate to God than being asked to relate to an Impersonal God.
Once people start this step, over a period time, they will be able to feel the Impersonal God and the concept of god with Attributes withers away.
This first step is like LKG, while understanding, feeling Reality is like Phd..
After reaching Phd, the LKG would seem to be of no use.
But without that one could not have reached Phd.
At another level, there are principles that represent the Physical world.
Thus we have Brahma who represents the Potential energy, Vishnu, the Kinetic energy, and Shiva, the Potentio-Kinetic Energy.
Similarly all the Gods present the Principles of Nature as well.
Yet the fact that the Gods Rama ,Krishna, Shiva , Subrahmanya existed, as proved by Historical and astronomical Data, there is an unexplored area.
In short, Hinduism talks of not only Monotheism but Monism as The Truth but devised a way to understand them by Gods with attributes..
Kindly read my post Gods Hinduism, with name and form, Yes and No.
Another point is that even thought Gods with Names and Forms are only a tool to understand Brahman, these Gods, when prayed deliver results, as Lord Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita.
‘What ever Form you worship, I deliver you the results in the form you worship”
( This is not a literal translation)
