g. Is Hinduism monotheistic?

The Truth is One, The Wise Refer to It in Many Ways. In Sanskrit: Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahudha Vadanti.

The search for a single Truth is a core part of the Hindu tradition. So also is the understanding that the single Truth can be expressed in multiple ways of truth (with a small t).

Pop quiz: Why are leaves green?  One correct answer is that they contain chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is green colored. Another correct answer might be that leaves are green because they absorb red and blue color, and reflect the green color.  Both are correct answers, but only one might be considered right depending on whether you are writing a quiz for Biology (Chlorophyll) or Physics (color theory).  

Why shouldn’t there be more than one way to approach the truth? Who would disagree with something this obvious? That person will be who is trained to look only for a single right answer. 

Truthfully, monotheism’s invention is a more recent, and political, invention. The Hebrew Bible is not monotheistic (Yale’s Christine Hayes has a wonderful course on it), even though modern interpretations tend to read a type of monotheism into old texts.  The modern insistence on a “single Truth” runs counter to all mystical traditions that know that there are as many ways to know the truth as there are people. 

The habits of thought resulting from monotheism have led to the modern education system, where we are taught to seek a “single right answer” to the quiz question. Is that always correct? Should we accept this way of thinking? The “single right answer” is true only for a very small fraction of mathematical truths. In the vast majority of life’s truths, there are multiple truths all competing for attention, and all equally true, but only from a certain perspective. 

Hinduism certainly arrived at that conclusion; a single Truth can be expressed in myriad ways. Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahudha Vadanti.

Other reading material: Yale’s Christine Hayes, 

Relevant videos: Swami Nikhil Anand Is Hinduism Monotheistic, Why Does Hinduism Have So Many Gods, How Many Gods Are There,

Contributor: Gaurav Rastogi

Location of this post (1g): https://www.hinduspeakers.org/ufaqs/is-hinduism-monotheistic/