On Hinduism

Hinduism is a religion popular for its identity of being a theology with an ocean of gods. It is believed that Hindus worship millions of gods. What is the truth behind this claim? 

The word ‘God’ itself has many names in the Indian languages, the prime language being Sanskrit. Deva, Ishvara, Prabhu, Bhagwan, Sura, Parmatman and many more are the synonyms used to denote the almighty divine power.

To get an idea about the number of gods, first we need to acquaint yourself with the fact that most religions of the world are classified into one of the three theories of religion depending on the numbers of gods they believe in; namely monotheism, polytheism and henotheism.

A religion that believes in one god is monotheistic, many gods is polytheistic and a religion that believes in the existence of many gods but it’s members may choose to worship one or two gods of their choice are known as henotheistic religions. Hinduism is one very unique religion which belongs to all of the categories that represent the three  theories in religion. Hinduism is monotheistic is one sense, polytheistic in another and henotheistic in a very general way. 

A core concept in one of the most ancient Hindu texts, Upanishads, is the concept of one ultimate underlying supreme cosmic reality residing in the universe known as “Brahman”. Brahman is the one and only indivisible eternal divine spiritual substance in the universe. If a Hindu believes ‘only’ in this highest spiritual substance ‘Brahman’ which is genderless, than he is monotheistic. This concept of god is that of an impersonal god, who has no form or physical quality.

The Brahman represents itself in millions of different ways; each representation of Brahman is named as a god which could be either feminine or masucline. These are energies that oversee every aspect of the functioning of the universe. When one experiences god in these forms, one thinks his faith in Hinduism is polytheistic. These gods could be elements from nature like the sun, moon, wind, fire, rivers, mountains, trees or they could be personal gods that existed in some time in a form of an animal or a human or a semi human. These gods do have a physical form, a name, a quality ascribed to them. Each of these gods represent some special power or symbolize a certain character trait very typical to them.

Lastly when someone chooses to worship one of the many divine forms of the Brahman, one participates in the Hindu religion in the henotheistic sense. Hindu henotheism is an attitude of worshipping one god without denying the existence of other gods. That one god could be any element from the nature of a physical god.

The number thirty three has a significance in the Hindu scriptures. The Rig Veda, a very ancient hindu text, talks about eleven gods belonging to the realm of heaven, eleven belonging to earth and eleven to the waters. Again these are the most distinctively known gods but there are more than thirty three. 

Here we have seen there is not a hierarchy of gods in Hinduism but there is a hierarchy of belief systems. No one god is higher than the others, all gods enjoy equal status in the Hindu culture. Hinduism is a kaleidoscope of beliefs and the number of gods you believe in defines your lens of looking at the divinity.

Other reading material:

Relevant videos: Swami Nikhil Anand Hinduism Q & A: How Many Gods Are There, 

Contributor: Mona Rawal

Location of this post (2c): https://www.hinduspeakers.org/ufaqs/how-many-gods-hindus-have/