Hinduism – NOT “monotheism in disguise”
A few weeks ago, I came across a provocative comment by Richard Dawkins which mentioned that polytheism in Hinduism is essentially “monotheism in disguise”.
The comment prompted this post “Is Hinduism Monotheism in Disguise?” and my research (summarized below) on this topic.
I came to the conclusion that while Hinduism may display some monotheistic characteristics (or traces of montheism), it is decidely not monotheistic. In reality, to call Hinduism either monotheistic or polytheistic is too simplistic, not to say erroneous.
The best way to characterize Hinduism is to describe it as an umbrella for a broad range of beliefs including monotheism, monism, pantheism and panentheism.
As the website Fast Facts on Hinduism states “Hinduism is a decidedly theistic religion; the difficulty lies in determining whether it is a polytheistic, pantheistic, or perhaps even monotheistic religion. It should be noted at the outset, however, that this is chiefly a western difficulty: the Indian mind is much more inclined to regard divergent views as complementary rather than competing and Hindus are not nearly as concerned as are western thinkers with such labels and categories.”
The confusion about Hinduism at least partly stems from the fact that the most popular and well known view of Hinduism in the West is the “Smarta” view with its pantheon of Gods and Goddesses including Devi, Vishnu, Ganesh, and Siva.
The “Smarta” view is also the dominant form of thought in India today and underpins the renowned liberalism (very rare in other belief systems) in Hinduism.
Please read on for a fuller explanation of what these various terms (monotheism, pantheism, panentheism, atheism) mean and how Hinduism has elements of all of them.
Richard Dawkins was not just being simplistic in his comment, he was also plain wrong.Hinduism is NOT monotheism in disguise and we should strongly challenge simplistic statements (such as the one above) whenever we come across them to avoid misrepresentation of Hinduism’s core philosophy and beliefs.
Below are excerpts from various sources and references.
They outline how you find the various “-isms” in Hinduism (for a good list of definitions, read this article, “Thank the Mahadevas, Hinduism is not a monotheistic religion“)
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PANTHEISM and HINDUISM
From Pantheism in Hinduism:
It is generally asserted that Hindu religious texts were the oldest known literature that contained the ideas of Pantheistic doctorine[1]. In Hindu theology, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all things in this universe, and is also the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. This pantheistic doctrine is traceable from some of the more ancient Upanishads to later Advaita philosophy. All Mah?v?kyas(Great Sayings) of the Upanishads, in one way or another, seem to indicate the unity of the world with the Brahman. Pantheism is a key component of Advaita philosophy.
Other subdivisions of Vedanta do not strictly hold this tenet. For example, Dvaita school of Madhva holds Brahman to be external personal God Vishnu, whereas the theistic school of Ramanuja espouses Panentheism.
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PANENTHEISM and HINDUISM
From Panenthism in Hinduism:
“Some interpretations of Hinduism can be seen as panentheistic (Unlike) pantheism, which identifies God with the total reality panentheism holds that God pervades the world, but is also beyond it. He is immanent and transcendent, relative and Absolute. Certain interpretations of the Gita and the Shri Rudram support this view. For example, Lord Krishna‘s saying to Arjuna: “I continually support the entire universe by a very small fraction of My divine power,” has been interpreted to support panentheism. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, verse 42.)
The panentheistic view of Hinduism has been termed by some scholars as monistic theism.
From: “Thank the Mahadevas, Hinduism is not a monotheistic religion“
This Spiritual-Reality obviously cannot have just one (mono) form (theism). Therefore rather that a one dimensional or mono experience of Spiritual-Reality, the spiritual/religious tradition (Dharma) of Hinduism offers a full stereo range of expression of the eternal (Sanatana) flowing (Sindhu/Hindu) grandeur of Spiritual-Reality.
In other words, Sanatana Dharma/Hinduism truly believes that Spiritual-Reality flows through all things. Interesting to deny this animism (which is often deemed “primitive”), is to deny the very meaning of anima (soul).
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POLYTHEISM and HINDUISM
From Monotheism and Hindu Polytheism by Aaron Schwartz
“..for a Hindu it is extremely difficult to realize the possibility of existence of the only God whom he/she could worship or prayed to. It is beyond his/her understanding because the Hindu perceives other gods, which are not “his”/”her”, as various aspects of the god he/she worships. As a result, and it is necessary to underline this fact, polytheists, such as adepts of Hinduism, are more tolerant in relation to other religions or gods and they won’t proclaim Jihad (a sacred war) as Muslims sometimes do. Consequently, prosecution or proselytization of adepts of other religions can never exist in such a polytheistic environment as Hindu.
From Hindu Views on Monotheism:
The Smartha philosophy (that) defines the mainstream of Hinduism allows for the veneration of numberless deities, but on the understanding that all of them are but manifestation of the ONE divine power. That ultimate power is termed Brahman or Atman, and is believed to have no specific form, name or attribute.
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MONOTHEISM and HINDUISM
From Are Hindus Monotheists?
This question should perhaps be rephrased as “Are some Hindus monotheists?”, for certainly some are not. It has been claimed that some sects within Hinduism are essentially monotheistic. There are two objections to this view: the first, that Hindu monotheism, so-called, is, on inspection, usually pantheism; the second objection is that when the Hindu pantheist takes one of the Hindu gods as the origin of all other beings, he is including other gods, both objections being illustrated in this example:
“Arjuna saw the entire universe, divided in many ways, but standing as (all in) One (and One in all) in the body of Krishna, the God of gods. (11.13) Then Arjuna, filled with wonder and his hairs standing on end, bowed his head to the Lord and prayed with folded hands. (11.14) Arjuna said: O Lord, I see in Your body all the gods and multitude of beings, all sages, celestial serpents, Lord Shiva as well as Lord Brahma seated on the lotus. (11.15)” (Bhagavad Gita [1])
It might be argued that this is monotheism, and it might also be argued that this is pantheism and polytheism.
From Hindu Views on Monotheism:
Monotheism can be divided into different types on the basis of its attitude towards polytheism: inclusive monotheism claims that all polytheistic deities are just different names for the single monotheistic God; Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism, follows this belief and holds that God is one but has different aspects and can be called by different names; exclusive monotheism, on the other hand, claims that these deities are false and distinct from the one God, either invented, demonic, or simply incorrect, as Vaishnavism, a denomination of Hinduism, regards the worship of anyone other than Vishnu. Exclusive monotheism is a well-known tenet in the beliefs of the Abrahamic religions.
However, even Vaisnavites, like other Hindus, have tolerance for other beliefs because Lord Krishna, avatar of Vishnu, said so in the Gita. Few views illustrate this view of tolerance: Krishna said: “Whatever deity or form a devotee worships, I make his faith steady. However, their wishes are only granted by Me.” (Gita: 7:21-22) Even the famous Rig-Vedic verse (“-ekam sad vipraa bahudhaa vadantya i.e. Truth is One, but sages call it by many names) illustrates this theme of tolerance. This is in contrast with some beliefs of other religious traditions, where one must believe in God being one aspect and to totally reject or disdain other beliefs.
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ATHEISM and HINDUISM
From: Thank the Mahadevas, Hinduism is not a monotheistic religion
.Hinduism are the religious actions or acts (ism) of the Hindus. The Hindu religion is vast in its spiritual/religious philosophy (darsanas), mythology (puranas), doctrines (samhitas & shastras), rituals/practices (sadhanas), ceremonies (samskaras) and Spirit Beings (MahaDevas).
From the perspective of Hinduism in discussing the various theological isms, it is important to keep in mind that “Theism” denotes “God,” and very literally, there is no “God” in Hinduism.
Literally, in Hinduism, there is no “theology.” In this sense, Hinduism is atheistic.
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Here is a list (non-exhaustive) of some of the REFERENCES I used:
- http://www.classicalyoga.org/thank_the_mahadevas_hinduism_is_.htm
- http://www.answers.com/topic/monotheism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism#Panentheism_in_Hinduism
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Below are some DEFINITIONS (excerpted from various sources)
From http://www.answers.com/topic/monotheism
monotheism (m?n‘?th??z?m) [Gr.,=belief in one God], in religion, a belief in one personal god. In practice, monotheistic religion tends to stress the existence of one personal god that unifies the universe. The term is applied particularly to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as Zoroastrianism.
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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism
In theology, monotheism (Greek ?????(monos) = single and ????(theos) = God) is the belief in the existence of one deity or God, or in the oneness of God. In Western context, the concept of “monotheism” tends to be dominated by the concept of the God of the Abrahamic religions
Monism is the metaphysical and theological view that all is of one essence, principle, substance or energy and that there is one, universal, unified set of laws underlying nature. (this is very similar to the fundamental tenet of Sanatan Dharma – B Shantanu).
Note that Monism is often erroneously confused for pantheism or panentheism ***
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism
Pantheism (Greek: ??? ( ‘pan’ ) = all and ???? ( ‘theos’ ) = God) literally means “God is All” and “All is God”. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God;
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From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism#Panentheism_in_Hinduism
Panentheism (from Greek: ??? (“pan” ) = all, en = in, and theos = God; “all-in-God”) is the theological position that God is immanent within the Universe, but also transcends it. It is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe. In panentheism, God is viewed as creator and/or animating force behind the universe, and the source of universal morality. The term is closely associated with the Logos of Greek philosophy in the works of Herakleitos, which pervades the cosmos and whereby all things were made.
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A short excerpt from Hayek on Monotheism by Atanu Dey (emphasis added):
Hayek highlights the essential intolerance of monotheistic faiths. He favored Eastern religions over Western religions. However, he mischaracterized Buddhism as polytheistic; Buddhism is atheistic.
Misunderstanding and mischaracterization of Indic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) as “polytheistic” is sadly too common. Indic religions are neither monotheistic nor polytheistic. The “god” of Abrahamic religion is entirely different from the “god” or “gods” of Dharmic faiths. Most unfortunately, people are ignorant of that basic distinction.
this is a very well researched post. indeed Hinduism simply cannot be boxed into any simplistic category.
Why do we need all these ‘-isms’ and confusion, when Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) clearly and repeatedly states That Thou Art (Tat Tvam Asi).
Forget Dawson. He’s an intolerant monotheist himself! All militant “new” atheists are for that matter.
And as always, monotheists think everyone is or should be monotheistic, which explains his ludicrious claim.
A monotheist cannot even begin to fathom or comprehend polytheism. It’s like having a deep sea fish explain life on land.
As a former atheist, I know that atheists see the world in essentially christian terms. They simply do not really understand the hinduist (or various hinduist) stands on God, and mistake them for the christian ones.
Any one who claims to be ‘atheist’ should ask himself how he defines God. If you are ‘not X’, you have to define X. You cannot define X in both the cristian AND the hinduist terms.
Jai Ganesja.
Just getting chance to read your website again! I will have to come here regularly.
You have indeed performed great research!
I agree that Hinduism certainly is not *exclusive* monotheistic. From your research, our practice is of Smartha. By definition, there can not be a “your” God or “my” God. There can only be God. To many, God pervades all beings and throughout the universe. But again, it is God.
So in this narrowest of sense, there is only one God (mono?). I am not sure if Hinduism can be polytheistic. To be so, there would need to multiple gods, all “equal”.
Your research has certainly enlightened me to the different forms of theisms. Excellent!
I think we get different energy from different body, like sun gives us light, moon gives us coldness, trees gives us shades, clouds gives us rain, river gives us wtaer etc. etc….So there is more than one soursce of energy. I believe all these sources as God. Because they have power of surviving or distructing Human society. Just see Tsunami, earthquake, flood etc., etc…. So we respect all that body who gives us life, strength and survivorship. We Hindus have slokas for every body which gives us life. We have slokas for river, mountains, earth, sun, planets etc., etc..Because each and everything has life init which have helped human to survive. So by that persepective I dont see there is only one God.
Even each human has different level of energy.
Do we like if credit goes to only one person at our workplace? No, nobody likes that. All have equal contribution in making a work Great.
So as per me those who says there is only one God, sees the world differently and those who says there are many Gods sees the world differently.
This is my way of taking life, readers may not agree.
Munish: thank you – and, yes, do come regularly…you will always be welcome here!
Indian: thats a good point.
It was good to see such a precise post on something very difficult ot grasp.
The way I see it, Hinduism trangresses the boundaries of any theism, and reaches a universal “monism”. The mantra “soaham ahamsah” probably describes this view better than anything else. But Hinduism, as you have written, provides an umbrealla. This is probably because a wide range of perspectives need to be respected to co-ordinate a society and/or a nation.
Thank you Ritwik.
Richard Dawkins as usual doesn’t have enough strength to confront uniqueness of Hinduism. The concept of God in Hinduism beats the hell out of even ultra or super ultra modern thinkers. The proof lies in what Schopenhauer has to say about Hinduism. It is easy to confront monotheism, but the idea of “all thing being part of God” and all that exists is God only, is too good to be confronted. Hence the best anybody writing on God can do is to ignore the Hindu philosophy of God. I doubt if you ask Richard Dawkins specific question on Hindu concept of God and how he can handle that, he will do anything other than ignore it.
@Pankaj
You should read Scott Adams’ Debris of God. Very interesting and addresses the issues that Richard Dawkins wont.
Um. That’s a very long and drawn out response to a misunderstanding; Dawkins never asserts that Hinduism is monotheistic.
His point was that, in Britain, the tax exempt status for religion only applies to monotheisms. He stated that Hinduism may want to attack that position, help atheism get the status removed from religious institution – but that it would probably be more expedient to “pretend” to be a monotheism in the same way that Christianity is – making the secondary point that some versions of Christianity are technically polytheisms.
Ten points for going out of your way to rebut your own misconception, though.
Well-written exposition of the sublime features of the Hindu faith and where it stands in comparison with other systems of spirituality, particularly those practised in the West and/or are of Abrahamic origin. In a nutshell, the sages of the Vedas have always strived to present an inclusive view of God/Divine Reality and in their quest have repeatedly stressed the importance of seeing God/Divine Reality through lenses of varying powers and functions. In today’s world, which is so much ravaged by hatred based on one’s view and understanding of God, as opposed to one’s investigative and introspective realisation, comprehension of the fact that God/Divine Reality is not time and space bound and can be pursued from diffrent standpoints depending on one’s understanding will certainly usher in an environment of co-operation, progress and scientific achievements.
Moreover, in light of all unholy developments of the recent past, ranging from terrorist attacks to whimsical destruction of natural environment, we humans need to understand the above truth so as to prevent the process of secular and spiritual descension, as, after all, more men have been killed or subjugated in perpetual intellectual slavery in the name of God than anything else on earth and, given the very informative nature of the author’s exposition herein and his attempts to clear some misconceptions about Hinduism, he deserves much applaud and thanks.
A brief excerpt from ‘The Rig Veda and Hindu Polytheism’ by Dr. Vijaya Rajiva:
Hindu Polytheism is the gift of the Rig Veda to the Indian subcontinent and which is the reason why the land is called Punya Bhumi (sacred earth) by Hindus. Polytheism as a world wide phenomenon in ancient times was destroyed by the proponents of One goddism, the belief in the ONE god (a male one) of the Abrahamic faiths.
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Only in the Indian subcontinent and in places in the far East has polytheism continued as an unabated tradition.
…The belief in the existence of many gods and goddesses as an ongoing, continuous and widely prevalent tradition of religious practice is unique to Hinduism and commenced with the Rig Veda (conservatively dated anywhere between 2000-1500 B.C., though some scholars put it earlier still).
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The 1008 plus hymns of the Rig Veda are invocations to a variety of gods and goddesses ranging from Agni, Indra, Varuna, the Viswa Vedas, Sarasvati (invoked 78 times) and they represent the Vedic worship of the terrestrial, atmospheric and cosmic powers.
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It is time for Hindu polytheists to ask why the belief in the ONE god is superior to polytheism or even whether such a belief is necessary.
The ONE god is an abstraction. No mortal has either seen or heard this entity.
..As a belief, therefore, it cannot be superior to the polytheistic belief in the existence of many deities in the universe.
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“A supreme cause has to be beyond number, otherwise Number would be the First Cause.
..If “God” is one he is not beyond number anymore than if he is two or three or ten or a million.
…we may be nearer to a mental representation of divinity when we consider an immense number of different gods than when we try to stress their unity, for the number one is in a way the number furthest remove from infinity (Alain Danielou, ” Indian Gods: Hindu Polytheism”, 1964, p.7)”.
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Do read in full
Another excerpt..this from The Upanishads: Happy Hunting Ground of the ONE god-ists by Dr Vijaya Rajiva
..the contemporary interest in mining the Vedas as a source of similarity with monotheist faiths can be traced back to the process known as Inculturation, whereby a native culture is slowly infiltrated until it is finally defeated. This process resulted in the loss of Greece and Rome, and subsequently other native cultures in the Americas and Africa.
The Vedic-Agamic tradition alone has remained unshaken by Inculturation,…
…A revisiting of the Upanishads by Hindu intellectuals is called for. Some preliminary points are suggested. The Mahavakyas of the Upanishads cannot be bent to the monotheist agenda. And they do not try to.
Tat tvam asi (That thou art) and Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman) are prime examples. Whichever school of thought, whether the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Sankara or the Vedanta of Ramanuja, the notion that the Self and Brahman are intimately related to the point of identity is something Abrahamic monotheists could never accept. No need to labour this point.
Hindus have to stress that the worship of deities of the Rig Veda is in a continuum with the Self-Brahman equation.
What is dismissed by monotheists as pagan worship of the elements (personified) is in fact part of the Upanishads, which refer to the Vedic deities as the world of Devas. This can be seen in each of the 108 Upanishads.
…Each of the 108 Upanishads shows the line of continuity with the Vedas. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the longest and densest, is a good way to see how and why the Upanishads and the Rig Veda are integrally related. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the concluding section of the Satapatha Brahmana, the prose commentary of the Yajur Veda.
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Contrary to misconceptions promoted by monotheists, the Upanishad does not in any way downgrade or dismiss Vedic ritual. In fact, it explicitly states that the rituals and religious practices of the Vedas are necessary for the individual to simultaneously relate to the reality of Self and Brahman.
Dr. Vijaya Rajiva is correct in stating this. In fact a number of scholars ( western also) have noted this aspect of appropriation of ‘Vedas’. Read what H.W.Tull ( another ‘western’) religious scholar says regarding this –
“The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, represent the beginning and end points of Indology-with its peculiar emphasis on the Vedic texts-during this period. Müller and Keith are also exemplars of what is perhaps the most curious feature of Indology in the latter half of the nineteenth century, namely, the often begrudging marriage of German and British scholarship. The discomfort that arose from this alliance was sharpened by the subject matter itself, India, into what might be termed the disease (appropriating Müller’s term) of Indology. This disease, which combined alternating phases of awe and revulsion toward the Indian tradition, can be seen in the approach Indologists of the last century took to the Vedic texts; by representing the earliest portions of the Vedic tradition as belonging to their own glorified past, they separated it (and further affirmed their appropriation of it) from the later Hindu (beginning with its representation in the BrÄhmaṇa-texts) tradition-a tradition they characterized, and abandoned, as nothing more than “twaddle” and “stupid” myths.
In fact, it should be noted that religions, which claim to be ‘monotheistic’ , as per their definition themselves are not ‘monotheistic’. (not considering the superiority of such mono-isms’)
This gave raise to ‘unitarianism’ [read the story of missionary who got converted to ‘unitarianism’ from ‘Christianism’ by Raja Ram Mohan Roy]
Some links and points to support the contention that you can still be a Hindu even if you don’r believe in God.
1] There are references and thoughts in the Vedas that question the belief in “God” and/or talk of a time existed before/without them…
2] Apart from that Sankhya, parts of Mimansa, Carvaka (Carvaka was pure Atheism) schools of thought are atheistic in nature.
All predate Buddhism (also atheistic in nature).
3] The Indian Nobel Prize-winner Amartya Sen, in an interview with Pranab Bardhan for the California Magazine published in the July–August 2006 edition by the University of California, Berkeley states:
“In some ways people had got used to the idea that India was spiritual and religion-oriented. That gave a leg up to the religious interpretation of India, despite the fact that Sanskrit had a larger atheistic literature than what exists in any other classical language. Madhava Acharya, the remarkable 14th century philosopher, wrote this rather great book called Sarvadarshansamgraha, which discussed all the religious schools of thought within the Hindu structure. The first chapter is “Atheism” – a very strong presentation of the argument in favor of atheism and materialism.â€
4] According to Markandey Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India and former judge of the Supreme Court of India, eight out of the nine systems of Hindu Philosophy are atheistic, as they do not have a place for God in them. Only one of the nine systems, Uttara Mimansa, which is also called Vedanta, has a place for God in it (Eighth Nehru Memorial Lecture in JNU, N Delhi).
5] One of the most ardent proponents of “Hindutva” Veer Savarkar, was an atheist.
Also read: Atheism and Hindutva – Carvaka to Savarkar by Pulakesh Upadhyaya
What Would Krishna Do? Or Shiva? Or Vishnu?, an interview with Jonardon Ganeri, currently a visiting professor of philosophy at New York University Abu Dhabi and the author of “The Lost Age of Reason: Philosophy in Early Modern India 1450–1700, By GARY GUTTING AUGUST 3, 2014