Hinduism is commonly percieved as polytheistic relegion. indeed most hindus would attest to this, by professinng beleif in multiple Gods. while some hindus believe in the existance of three Gods, some believe in thousands of God and some in 330million Gods. however,learned hindus,who are well versed in their scriptures, insist that a hindu should believe in and worship only one God.
common hindus believe in the philosophy of pantheism. pantheism conciders everything, living and non-living, to be divine and sacred. the common hindu therefore conciders everything as God. he conciders tree,the sun, the moon, the monkey, the snake as God and even human beings as manifestations of God.
Q. the Gods who cannot protect themselves but depend on others to do so for example monkys,needs some care taker shelter provider, trees need a farmer ,someone who could provide them water and so on, then how these Gods protect others, how they can fulfill the basic necessities of life, how can they bestow some favour?
Etymology of the Word “God”
(Anglo-Saxon God; German Gott; akin to Persian khoda; Hindu khooda).
God can variously be defined as:
the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship;
the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered;
the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god.
The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu; Sanskrit hub or emu, “to invoke or to sacrifice to”) is either “the one invoked” or “the one sacrificed to.” From different Indo-Germanic roots (div, “to shine” or “give light”; thes in thessasthai “to implore”) come the Indo-Iranian deva, Sanskrit dyaus (gen. divas), Latin deus, Greek theos, Irish and Gaelic dia, all of which are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios, Latin Jupiter (jovpater), Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), Latin Janus, Diana, and other proper names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is “the strong or mighty one.”
I think the fact that the Hindus worship so many gods, defying their own scriptures, is disturbing him.
“Ekam evadvitiyam”
“He is One only without a second.”
[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]1
“Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah.”
“Of Him there are neither parents nor lord.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]2
“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no likeness of Him.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]3
The following verses from the Upanishad allude to the inability of man to imagine God in a particular form, while the Hindus describe the appearance of their God so delightfully.e.g.
Vishnu among Hindus, is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the Chakra, i.e. a discus and one of the left arms holding a ‘conch shell’, or riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. As mentioned earlier this also goes against Svetasvatara Upanishad.
“Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam.”
“His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]4
people worship jesus as a statue so they can focus their devotion to jesus what is wrong with that?jesus on cross reminds his sacriifce
what is wrong with that?
you cant force people to adopt one and only way.
even mulisms offer prayers towards mecca to kabba a stone.
people salute their flags afterall it is a piece of cloth.
so what do you call a mosque? they're supposed to have a certain shape and orientation. is that not material symbolism, just like idol worship?
what about the symbolism of the green color?
what's with the ritual of muslims bowing their head / prostrated for prayers? are you saying that's not symbolism but calisthenics?
what's letting the beard grow and hair grow? more symbolism don't you think?
what's with the in paranthesis invocation of PUBH, inshallah etc.? aren't all these symbolisms - material and ritualistic gestures that perhaps add some psychological reassurance to the person involved.
So in what way do you think is worshipping in front of a black stone in white building inferior to worshipping / praying in front of someother object in a white mosque with green (or golden if you're a rich one) minars?
according to pantheism a hindu believer conciders every creation as his God. so it means that mosquitos and cockroaches are your God, and if they are then why do you use mortein or baygon spray. if trees and animals are your God, then it seems that your Gods are abused in the western world, trees are been cut down, animals are hunted, cattles are burnt alive due to mad cow disease. now one thing if cow is your God, then how it cathes up disease. what you are going to do about this?
there is wide range of practises and also includes tribal religens
some do dacrifice animals some dony. even islam comes within its
fold since it practised in india.there is no way you can ban one practise
while you allow others.
wahabi movement in saudi arabia try to reform polytheism
that is not possible in india.
Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was concerned with the way the people of Najd engaged in practices he considered polytheistic, such as praying to saints; making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques; venerating trees, caves, and stones; and using votive and sacrificial offerings. He was also concerned by what he viewed as a laxity in adhering to Islamic law and in performing religious devotions, such as indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women.
No Ch its not so clear. According to the third verse I posted, in hinduism, God cannot have any form. So when the hindus worship god in different forms then, according to you also, they are defying their own scriptures.
"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no likeness of Him."
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]3
We have people here who say idol worshipping is same as worshipping in a mosque :p . balram a mosque can be same as a temple, a place of worship. Muslims don't worship the mosque itself. Have you ever heard a Muslim saying:'O mosque, listen to my prayer"
Muslims do prostrate, but only infront of Allah. The mosque is a place to worship for muslims just like a temple is for hindus.
No Muslim worships the black stone in kabah. Muslims respect the black stone. Muslims never prostrste infront of anything (not even the black stone) except Allah. But the hindus worship the stones. They don't just respect them. They ask that peice of stone to fulfill their prayers, even though their own scriptures ask them not to do it. And as DON BRADMAN said, your post is completely meaningless.
"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."
[Bhagavad Gita 7:20]
The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.
rvikz, pantheism is not just a tribal religion. Its the main Hindu belief, followed by all the hindus.
To make things more clear: MUSLIMS WORSHIP ONLY ALLAH, WHO HAS NO FORM. Besides, when I said that Hindus worship more than one god, I didn't mean the statues, I meant different Hindu gods like Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and other countless number of Gods.
Dear Don Brad, your doubt is absolutely correct. I think that for a Hindu not only mosquitoes and cockroaches are God, being a creation of God, but the killing antidots, mortein or baygon are also God.
Now you may ask, that this way god is killing god. Yes, may be!
Have you read Gita…. Krishna says that He is the the Noun and he is the Object, He is the doer and he is the affective and most of all the He himself is the action being performed.
The is ONLY ONE God and no other, and God has no forms or shapes as cow, tree, statue, etc.!!! The concept of God in monotheistic religions, especially Islam, stresses the Almighty as a FORCE, not a SHAPE. I hope that clears things up ya, Chal and co.
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Dear Don Brad, your doubt is absolutely correct. I think that for a Hindu not only mosquitoes and cockroaches are God, being a creation of God, but the killing antidots, mortein or baygon are also God.
[/QUOTE]
Anand, how easy it is for you to say that God can kill a God. What I don't understand is that HOW CAN YOU CALL SOME WHO GETS KILLED, A GOD. A God is supposed to be all-powerfull. If some one gets killed then that someone is not a God in the first place. And according to the concept of pantheism everything is a God. Am I included in everything. If yes, then does it mean that I am a Hindu God. And if everything is God then who is the follower.
Yes rvikz, not only I but every Muslim agrees that the black stone in Kabbah is sacred. Every Mulim respects it. But respecting is different from worshipping. We respect our parents, it does not mean that we worship our parents. And if,according to you, hinduism doesn't ask you to worship idols THEN WHY DO THE HINDUS WORSHIP IDOLS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Why don't the hindus worship one God as their scriptures order them to.
I think everyone here would appreciate answers to the questions rather than useless posts diverting everyone from the questions. Thanks
The truth is that the Arabs were not only statue-worshippers but their idolatory was founded on the Hindu principle of triad, also known as Trimurti. Since the Prophet wanted to plant his own image in people's mind, it was not possible without aupplanting the Hindu idols, which had considerable appeal owing to their visual effect and the legendary magic, built-up over a period of many centuries. hadith (Prophet's sayings and record of his actions) provides cogent evidence to this effect:
"Jabir b. Samura reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: I recognise the stone in Mecca which used to pay me salutations before my advent as a Prophet and I recognise that even now. (Sahih Muslim: 5654
