God in Hinduism
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Contents |
[edit] Ishvara
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (October 2007) |
The Sanskrit word for God[citation needed], that is used most commonly, is Ishvara (IAST: īśvara IPA: / iːʃvərə /, originally a title comparable to "Lord" or "Excellency" < from the roots īśa, lit., powerful/supreme/lord/owner, + vara, lit., choicest/most excellent). Hindus believe that Ishvara is only One. This must not be confused with the numerous deities of the Hindus known as devas, which are said to number up to 330 million. Deva may be translated into English as "God", "deity", "demi-god", "angel" or any celestial being or thing of high excellence, and hence is venerable. The word is, in fact, cognate to Latin deus "God".
In the two largest branches of Hinduism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism, it is believed that Ishvara, Bhagavan and Brahman are identical[citation needed], and God is in turn anthropomorphically identified with Shiva or Vishnu. God, whether in the form of Shiva or Vishnu has six attributes. However, the actual number of auspicious qualities of God, are countless, with the following six qualities being the most important.[citation needed] The ancient Brahmanical traditions in both demoninations perceive Ishvara as the Lord, Creator, Almighty, the Power that we worship and pray to.
The followers of Shaktism like to conceive the divine power of the Ishvara as a female goddess, the divine mother called Devi or Lalitha. A famous hymn, Lalitha Sahasranama, describes the 1000 names of Devi, worshipped as God the Divine Mother.
[edit] Bhagavan
The Sanskrit word Bhagavan is primarily used in Hindu scriptures in relation to the incarnations of God[citation needed]. Thus Krishna is often referred to as Bhagavan Krishna and other incarnations are often referred to with the praenomen Bhagavan[citation needed]. Bhagavan is also used significantly when referring to God's love and grace for and to Man[citation needed], specifically in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna is referred to as Bhagavan especially when revealing the path to the attainment of moksha to Arjuna. Bhagavan can therefore be seen as God in his personal relationship with each created soul rather than as Lord and Creator or the eternal cosmic spirit.[citation needed]
[edit] Brahman
The Vedantic school of Hindu philosophy also has a notion of a Supreme Cosmic Spirit called Brahman, pronounced as / brəh mən /. Brahman is (at best) described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, transcendent and immanent reality that is the divine ground of all existence in this universe. Brahman is actually indescribable. It is at best, "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", ie, Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss. Brahman may be called as God, or better, as Godhead or the Supreme Cosmic Spirit.
In dualist Hinduism, adopted by the majority Vaishnavite brahmanical tradition, Brahman is the impersonal aspect of God, sustaining and universal in scope and nature. Brahman is in all of us, according to dvaitas. Brahman is the term used by dualists to describe that aspect of God that makes our soul entwined with the divine, with God being the source but not the substance of both our souls and our interaction with God. Brahman in dualist traditions is identical with Ishvara and Bhagavan, the distinction being one of aspect rather than of nature.
Another major branch of Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta, served as the fertile grounds from which one of the first monistic philosophies of God was developed. According to Advaitins, Brahman is the only Ultimate Reality in this world, and everything else is an illusion. They believe that Māyā is that complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes the Brahman to be seen as the distinct material world. When a human being tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind, under the influence of Maya, Brahman becomes God (Ishvara as described as above). God is Brahman with Maya. He is Saguna Brahman or Brahman with positive attributes. He is one and unique. He is omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal, independent, creator of the world, its ruler and also destroyer. He is eternal and unchangeable. He rules the world with his Maya. However, while God is the Lord of Maya and she (ie, Maya) is always under His control, living beings (jīva, in the sense of humans) are the servants of Maya (in the form of ignorance). This ignorance is the cause of the unhappiness and sin in the mortal world. While God is Infinite Bliss, humans are miserable. God (Ishvara) always knows the unity of the Brahman substance, and the Mayic nature of the world. There is no place for a concept of central evil like Satan or devil in Hinduism, unlike Abrahamic religions. Advaitins explain the misery because of ignorance. God or Ishvara can also be visualized and worshipped in anthropomorphic form like Vishnu, Krishna or Shiva. The Advaita Vedanta philosophy continues with the view that once one becomes aware of the unity of being of Godhead, he will then be able to see beyond the illusions of division and separation from Godhead, and recognize his or her own inherent unity with the Brahman. See Advaita Vedanta.
[edit] Characteristics of God
The number six is invariably given, but the individual attributes listed vary. One set of attributes (and their common interpretations) are:
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- Jñāna (Omniscience), defined as the power to know about all beings simultaneously;
- Aishvarya (Sovereignty, derived from the word Ishvara), which consists in unchallenged rule over all;
- Shakti (Energy), or power, which is the capacity to make the impossible possible;
- Bala (Strength), which is the capacity to support everything by will and without any fatigue;
- Vīrya (Vigor), or valour which indicates the power to retain immateriality as the supreme being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations; and
- Tejas (Splendor), which expresses his self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by his spiritual effulgence; (cited from Bhakti Schools of Vedanta, by Swami Tapasyānanda.)
A second set of six characteristics are
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- Jñāna (Omniscience),
- Vairagya (Detachment),
- Yashas (Fame),
- Aishvarya (Sovereignty, derived from the word Ishvara),
- Srī (Glory) and
- Dharma (Righteousness).
- Other important qualities attributed to God are Gambhīrya (grandeur), Audārya (generosity), and Kārunya (compassion).
[edit] Forms of Worship
In Hinduism there are two principal methods of worship[citation needed]:
- To worship God through meditation on a deity (murti).
- To worship God without deity worship.(eg. non-anthropomorphic symbols such as linga, saligrama, Ayyavazhi, or through meditation)
The early Upanishads presented the conception of the Divine Teacher, guru on earth. Indeed, there is an understanding in some Hindu sects that if the devotee were presented with the guru and God, first he should pay respects to the guru since the guru had been instrumental in leading him to God. Hence many gurus have the epithet of Bhagwan, a term often confused with God.[citation needed]
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- Hari Bhakti Vilasa mantra ( 4.344)
- Prathamam tu gurum pujya tatas caiva mamarcanam
- Kuran siddhim avapnoti hy anyatha nisphalam bhavet
- One does not directly worship one's God. One must begin by the worship of the Guru. Only by pleasing the Guru and gaining his mercy, can one offer anything to God. Thus, before worshiping God, one must always worship the Guru.
Chanted prayers, or mantras, are central to Hindu worship. Many mantras are from the sacred Vedas, and in Sanskrit. Among the most chanted mantras in Hinduism are the Vishnu sahasranama[citation needed] (a prayer to Vishnu that dates from the time of the Mahabharata and describes him as the Universal Brahman), Shri Rudram[citation needed] (a Vedic hymn to Rudra, an earlier aspect of Shiva that also describes Him as Brahman) and the Gayatri mantra, (another Vedic hymn that initially was meant as a prayer to the Sun, an aspect of Brahman but has other interpretations. It is now interpreted as a prayer to the impersonal absolute Brahman)[citation needed].
[edit] Sanatana Dharma
It is important to add that in Hinduism (Sanatana Dharama) God is considered the Supreme Being, and many views of God range from pantheism to dualism to monism and monotheism. His appearance, in its entirety, cannot be comprehended by the common man. His appearance with form is only a manifestation of certain characteristics. The various forms of God or deities which apparently give Smarta Hinduism a character of polytheism, are regarded as mundane manifestations of One Brahman or Ishvara, only to facilitate his devotional worship.
Ayyavazhi prefers almost a similar theory to Advaita Vedanta. However, Kashmir Shaivism, one notable Saivite branch disagrees and focuses on panentheism. Furthermore, it rejects the Maya (illusion) theory by stating that if God is real, then His creation must be real and not illusory.
