We are given with tons of choices on what to buy for yourcamperlife. All are intended to make everything more convenient and comfortable. Sometimes, it even becomes confusing on what to buy for our trip due to the sheer number of options. Given the slight dilemma, what more if this is translated to religion?
The Many “Gods” of Hinduism
If in some religion, they only believe in one true God or savior, then you’d be surprised with Hinduism. Well at least that is what most people believed in. The truth is, Hindus believe in one supreme God only who made the universe. It just so happens that they call it by different names.
The reason behind this is that, citizens of India who have different cultures and languages have distinct understanding of their God. Through history, there have been 4 major Hindu denominations that took over which are:
- Saivism
- Shaktism
- Smartism and;
- Vaishnavism
For the Saivites, Siva is their God. For Shaktas, it’s Goddess Shakti who is the supreme while for the Smartas, it’s Deites and lastly, for the Vaishnavites, it is Lord Vishnu. Because of the hgue diversity of the Hindus with regards to their god, they’re profoundly tolerant of the other religions and respecting that each pathway to the god they believe.
Among the distinctive understanding in Hinduism is, God lives in remote heaven but is in everyone’s soul, waiting to be discovered.
An Elaborate Explanation
Henotheistic and Monotheistic can be considered Hinduism. But never were Hindus became polytheistic in a sense that there are several equal gods. Henotheism means one God. Meaning to say, it’s the worship of just one god without having to deny the existence of the other gods. Hindus believe in the only all-pervasive god who is energizing the whole universe and sees him as the life in every soul in the planet.
It is indeed confusing to have clarifications about this topic because even Hindus themselves feel the same thing. Unless you are really serious to learn about it, you may try to embrace the religion itself. It can give you a better perspective of what is it about.