Contrary to popular belief in the West, Hindu deities are not "individual gods", indicating a polytheistic faith. They are, rather, different representations of particular aspects of the one god, the source, known as Brahman. The "human" or physical representation of Brahman's aspects or attributes in the form of deities is a vehicle for the devotee to focus his or her attention, devotion or meditation on that particular aspect or attribute in a form more easily visualized and held in the mind. The many deities of Hinduism, which may be seen as reflecting different aspects of Brahman, are represented by images. Use is made of such features as posture, dress, multiple arms and symbolic objects to represent each deity. It should be noted, however, that there may be a range of different ways of representing a particular deity, particularly when the deity is seen to represent several different qualities. In some cases, symbols are used to show that a deity belongs to a particular 'family', e.g. there is a range of deities associated with Vishnu. In addition some symbols belong to the common heritage of Hinduism or more generally of India. The image only becomes a "murti", an embodiment of Brahman, through a special act of consecration when it is installed in the temple or home. It then becomes a focal point for worship. Some images are consecrated on a 'permanent' basis and will continue to be used on the temple or home shrine unless they become damaged. Broken or damaged images are discarded as they no longer fulfill their purpose of representing the deity. Sometimes an image will only be consecrated for a specific period of time, e.g. a festival, after which it will be destroyed, perhaps as part of the concluding ritual of the festival. Each deity is associated with a 'vehicle', a bird or animal on which it travels. The vehicles are used in Indian religious art to reflect and at times to extend the powers or qualities of the deity with which it is associated. These are often better expressed by an animal than by a human being. The vehicle also represents the close relationship between all living things. There is a range of views within Hinduism about images of the deities. Most accept that within the context of worship they mediate the presence of Brahman/the particular deity and help the worshipper to visualize the deity. To those outsiders who find it difficult to empathize with the brightly colored plastic images which feature in many Hindu homes, some Hindu writers point to the very 'concrete' mental images of God held by many worshippers in other traditions, e.g. God as 'an old man in the sky'. Perhaps the very fact that there are so many images makes the point that each can tell only a very small part of the whole story. These sites have pictures of the major deities and what their representation means. http://www.iloveulove.com/spirituality/hindu/hindudeities#Brahma http://www.muktinath.org/hinduism/ Brahma (pic missing in first link) Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yes, though it is often considered polytheistic, it actually has one God expressed in multiple forms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
You are right , Sam ..... I still remember on one of my travels in India - that the indian government made the indian railway print on the backside of the tickets : Remember that Allah, the christian God and Brahman are one and the same !!! Do not confuse Brahman with Brahma though !!! Brahman : the infinite one god - unification of all hindu gods ... Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the trinity gods of hinduism ..... Brahma : the creator Vishnu: the preserver Shiva : the destroyer Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: http://webhome.idirect.com/~aum108/bharat.html On the reverse side of this ticket is a quote from Gandhi: "The Allah of Islam is the same as the God of Christians and the Ishwar of Hindus".
Thank you very much for the information , and this nice link - it makes me remember India again ..... As far as I remember there was 3 different versions of the text on the tickets (I travelled by train all over India ) I am pretty sure one of them mentioned Brahman .. As you know Brahman is divided into 2 forms : 1) Nirguna Brahman = god without form (the infinite truth) 2) Saguna Brahman = god with personal attributes = Ishwar I find religion very interesting (and entertaining ) - I used to work as an university lector in religion, before going into medicine and psychiatry ....
Probably the best link I have ever seen about the major religions Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Ofcourse not complete, but very,very good - still need the new translation of the christian bible directly from hebrew (king james version is full of translation errors ) - and under eastern churches I really missed : E.A.Wallis Budge : The book of the mysteries of the heavens and the earth Still I found the book of Enoch , by using the searchfunction of this link , very good .... just checked out christianity ...... Anyway - extreeeeemely usefull link !!! Thank you Sam Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
WOW - it is his birthday ....!!!!!!!!! I always thought Gandhi was one of the most important persons in the last millenium - still to this day , I do NOT understand why he did not receive the Nobel price of peace !!!!!!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva hindu trinity sounds similar to the catholic holy trinity , father,son and holy spirit which is also similar to the ancient egyptian trinity isis,horus and seb which is incribed inside the catholic eucharist! I think at a particular stage of time there was a sharing or transfer of religious information by travellers or philosophers in these lands. I've also read the book of enoch and found it to be very strange apart from the other biblical books. There are very descriptive accounts by enoch on meeting God which raises alot of issues since enoch never died and was one of the earliest decendants of adam , I think 7th generation. He described at seeing God's face as"terribly frightening" and metallic with a fire glow....probably a robot or something from an alien planet! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Guess why the catholic church regards it as gnostic! One account that refers God actually wanting enoch to write down his secret knowledge on books and then having him specifically bury these books on earth. This was at the same time the nephilim or fallen angels also shared their knowledge with the earth inhabitants. This knowledge was forbidden by God for unknown reasons but he willfully gave them to enoch probably explains why enoch was taken away from the earth. According to certain other references enoch did hide these books and some sources say they are linked to freemasonary and other crafts. Some could be magic and something more.
If you like graphic mythology I strongly recommend the Amar Chitra Katha. They are a collection of all Hindu mythology (and some history) in graphic comics. Cool! http://www.amarchitrakatha.com/store/mainpage.asp
I have a copy of the Baghavad Gita that my brother got from some krishas in an airport. Nice paintings.
Krishna to Arjuna: Behold My mystic opulence! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Arjuna is a very interesting character. He was the most attractive of the Pandavas and was the best of archers. He received his education in archery from Guru Dronacharya. There is an interesting story reagarding his skills:
I've studied Hinduism and this sounds slightly incorrect to me. The Hindu Devas, Suras, and other beings are simply that - other, higher beings. They do not make up Brahman, rather Brahman is the basis of reality. In fact there is really not much special about the devas and suras as it is said that humans by attaining liberation can become higher and superior to the devas, because even the devas are subject to happiness and distress. Everything, from a thought, to a rock, to you and I are an aspect of Brahman. It's impossible for something not to be an aspect of brahman, brahman is all there is in reality, the only objective, unchanging reality or truth. It being unchanging and objective makes it alpha and omega, the beginning, middle, and end, the way, the truth, it is the only thing that really exists. The personal aspect of Brahman is Ishvar, who is formless, inconcievable to the senses, a spiritual master is anyone who is situated in Brahman (or the kingdom of God).
I was being simplistic here, but aren't the Mahadevas called as gods under Brahman? And I believe there are differences in thought based on the schools. In Advaita Vedanta, they differentiate between Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman. In Dvaita Vedanta, they consider the world to be Saguna Brahman. This is probably the one you refer to. The Trimurti, (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) though are believed to be representatives of different aspects of Brahman or the Parabrahman.
