Universal powers and principles are personified by

various Hindu gods?

Write Question Details
Want Answers2
Comment
Share
Downvote
1 ANSWER
ASK TO ANSWER

Ramkissoon Ramnarine
Edit Biography Make Anonymous

Write your answer, or answer later

Pradip Gangopadhyay, Ph.D, atomic and space Physics

1 upvote by Vinay Kumar.

Hindu Devatas are not personifications or even pure persons. The best description of
Hindu Devas that I have come across is that of Swami Tapasyananda:
Worship of a God who is not also the Absolute is idolatry, and a mere Absolute,
who is characterless and is irresponsive, is not better than matter. The Vedanta
accepts the Supreme as both Personal and Impersonal.When the votary in the
course of his spiritual development becomes de-personalized on
achieving the elimination of his ego-based body-mind, he will be able to
understand the true Impersonal. Till then, that is, so long as he is a
person, the Impersonal and the Absolute can only mean for him a
Personal Being who is much more than what he, a person, has grasped
or can grasp of Him. To illustrate, the Impersonal-Personal Divine of the
Vedanta is the ocean and the God of adoration of the devotee is like a big field or
backwater into which the water of that ocean has flowed. The many deities that
form the object of worship of Vedantism are like these tanks and backwaters in the
analogy. They are so many manifestations of the Personal-Impersonal Sat-chitananda in the thought structures of those who adore Him, or are forms adopted by
Him for the achievement of cosmic purposes in his world-play. The worship of

these forms with an understanding of the infinitude that informs their finitude ......
is the only form of true worship that the human mind is capable of, so long as man
remains a limited person. The other ideas of the Divine which Semitic religions
hold their so called boasted monotheism is only a form of disguised idolatry;
for when it is said that Jehovah is a jealous God, or that there is no God but Allah,
it is obvious that the Supreme Being is being identified as an exclusive individual
and not as an expression of an Infinite Being in terms of the human mind. When
the link with the Infinite is forgotten, a Deity, whether it is a monotheistic entity or
a polytheistic being becomes a mere idol. Real worship of the Supreme Being is
possible only when the principle of Vedantic theism is understood that principle
being the perception of the Infinite Personal-Impersonal Being through a limited
manifestation of Him.
A Vedantic Deity is never aggressive, demanding the overthrow of other deities.
But, a monotheistic Deity, always a jealous God, cannot tolerate
another Deity. As Toynbee has pointed out, the monotheistic Deity of
the Semitics is only an apotheosis of the group or tribal consciousness
of certain people, a sentiment that held together societies before
nationalism took its place. Just as the nationalistic patriotism is eager
to absorb all other countries, that form of group consciousness
masquerading as monotheism wants to supplant all other religions
and establish its Deity in their sanctuaries. Proselytism, for which
many religions stand but which has no place in the Vedantic scheme, is
the consequence of the Infinite Being but a personalisation of the group
consciousness of a people.
The principle enunciated above in regard to Deities is applicable also to worship of
God in holy images, which critics, who are practicing real idolatry, have
stigmatised as idolatry. The Vedantins God is not an individual as the Semites. He
is the Universal Spirit who has manifested as All-Nature. He is one with all, and if
a person with faith wants to see Him anywhere, He is present there. Like water
running all through the ground, He is everywhere; and if the well of faith is dug,
He becomes available for worship. A holy image is thus a point at which His
real presence is available for imperfect man to apprehend and
commune with. It is not a mere means for practising concentration as
some apologists say. It is much more. It is a point of real communion
with the Divine when the eye of faith reveals Him as accepting the
worship and offering made by the devotee.
[Adapted from Swami Tapasyanandas introductory remarks in A Primer of
Hinduism by D.S.Sarma]
Written Sun. 41 views.
Upvote1

Downvote
Comment