Hindu views on Pantheism

Hinduism is often related to Pantheism for its known pantheistic elements.

Classification

Hindu religious texts are the oldest known literature containing pantheistic ideas.[1] There is no single founder of Hinduism, nor there is single prominent scripture. Central belief is reincarnation, that Ātman experiences transmigration through number of births, the reality is Brahman, who is infinite. Therefore everything, including humans, deities, plants, earth are part of it.

Advaita Vedanta

The Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism teaches that the Atman (true self) is indistinct from Brahman (the unknown reality of everything). The branches of Hinduism teaching forms of pantheism are known as non-dualist schools.[2]

Other views

In Hindu Sanatana Dharma theology Brahm/Parabrahma is the one unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all things in this Universe.[3] If one adds two whole parts the result is one whole and if one whole is subtracted from another whole the result is another whole – it means there is one whole universe and it is all pervaded by Trimurti.[4] Since the universe has come forth from the Divine, all things and beings are sacred and must be treated so in human thought and action. The Divine sleeps in minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals and thinks in humans.[5]

The idea of pantheism is traceable from the Puranas which are the nearest allegorical representations created for the masses whereas Vedas were for the highly literate. All Mahāvākyas (Great Sayings) of the Upanishads, in one way or another, seem to indicate the unity of the world with the Brahman.[6] It further says, "This whole universe is Brahman, from Brahman to a clod of earth."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Plumptre, Constance (1879). General sketch of the history of pantheism, Volume 2. London: Samuel Deacon and Co. pp. 3–5, 8, 29. ISBN 9780766155022.
  2. ↑ Bhaskarananda, Swami (1994), The Essentials of Hinduism: a comprehensive overview of the world's oldest religion, Seattle, WA: Viveka Press, ISBN 1-884852-02-5
  3. ↑ Harold Koenig, Dana King, Verna B. Carson. [ Handbook of Religion and Health]. Oxford University Press.
  4. ↑ Ikechi Mgbeoji. [ Global Biopiracy: Patents, Plants, and Indigenous Knowledge]. UBC Press. p. 53.
  5. ↑ W.W. Hunter. [ The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products]. Routledge. p. 98.
  6. ↑ "A Survey of Hinduism: First Edition", by Klaus K. Klostermaier, p. 201
  7. ↑ "Hindu Literature: Or the Ancient Books of India", P.115, by Elizabeth A. Reed