Re: I thank all Gods everyday that I am Hindu
:-).. A post based on heresay............ :-)
Please read some stuff before decrying other religion...
I have been planning to write this for sometime, finally got the energy and focus to pen this down...
Hindu's also believe in one GOD, it has three faces (as in you have multiple faces) Brahma - Creator, Vishnu - Preserver, Shiva - Destroyer.
All the incarnations (Ram, Krishna etc.) are messengers of higher on being (You can call that Allah, we call it brahm - or higher soul - that has three faces to it)
Other GODs are powers of material world, here the definition of GOD got confused. Since we call them
Bhagwan - Bhag is fate - giver of fate - this are the one's normally turned into IDOLs and worshipped. That is more to acknowledge the power of nature.
The one God (Brahm) is called Eshwar - One Person.
Since Christians came with simplistic one GOD concept they couldn't fathom multiple "Objects" Hindus pray, hence they called all of them GOD. Here is a difference between Ishwar and Bhagwan.
Hindu system talks about four phases of life
Childhood, Learning Phase, Family Phase, and Sanyas ( keeping them simple not using complex actual Sanskrit words)
Hence in old age a Hindu is suppose to take Sanyas, you still have many older Hindus just leaving for Holy places and spending last part of life in remote places in Haridwar, Varanasi or Himalayas.
Idols (of Incarnations) were introduced for humans to keep the rememberance of GOD during first three phases of life. So that he doesn't forget him while devoted and engrossed in material world. Hence the Idols and remembering of true power behind IDOLs rather than the stone, its just a stone/idols to keep the rememberance the ultimate being.
There isn't a temple of Brahma the creator normally. He is suppose to be the supreme being with no shape. << Please don't search internet, since you may find few temples of him across on this earth, as you find Prophets pics being sold in Iran.>>
Finally Hinduism isn't a religion of book. its more based on analysis and keeps evolving. It needs lots of reading, patience and understanding to fathom a religion that is more than 4000+ years old.