Hindu gods

that is why he is an atheist n'est pas?
Nothing a few days sans sunshine, air, water, trees, food, sleep, vacation couldn't cure...

that is why mankind is kanood by nature especially so the atheists (thankless wretches).. they have a strange sense of entitlement.
entitled for not just one day of pleasures but years, entitled to food, warmth, a change of seasons, their senses, their loved ones and etc etc... mother nature or father time, someone other than God gave it all to them because they are special comme Ça ...

yup just lucky..
is 'lucky' amenable to the scientific approach? the term is a bit esoteric-- so much luck to pass around, it is almost a shame not to investigate!

cheers

format_quote Originally Posted by Eeman

Dear brothers and sisters,

Salam alaikum.

The purpose for this thread is just to broaden my knowledge a little bit, i dont know if there are any hindu brothers and sisters amongst us in this forum but if i could get any responses from them if there are then it would be much appreciated.

Now i know the basics about hinduism and i know how they worship many gods, at first i intially thought just like Allah swt has through His grace and mercy given us the knowledge of His 99 beautiful names and attributes that this was a way hindus differentiate that by having so many different gods each one representing an attribute of God. But then conversing once with a hindu friend i realised that is not the case you guys just simply believe in different gods.

Now whilst i was conversing with this hindu friend of mine once about spirituality, she mentioned that she has been praying to the wrong god shiva and that he is destroying her life cos he is a male god who is a dominating god so that is why things are not going so well in her life and that she needs to stop praying to shiva and turn to another god who she named but i cannot remember the name but it was a female god that she was referring to.

now what i fail to understand is in every religion God is God no matter if you believe in one or a hundred. We believe in the existance of God cos God is that higher being that we need in our lives and to give a purpose to life altogether, to turn to and who helps us out. Now how can praying to one certain god be the wrong thing to do and how can this god destroy your life for being devout to him and praying to him? then seek another female god cos the male one is not answering your prayers???

i'm just a bit confused and would like someone with more knowledge about hinduism clarify that for me please.

one would assume in order for god to be god no matter how many you believe in, they would need to have godly attributes no matter which one you pray to they should bless you and help you. but that doesnt seem the case here somehow so how does that work?

ma salama

All the so many Gods of Hinduism are only various expressions of the one truth that is existence. Hindus begin by worshiping the truth in its many manifestations according to his or her preference or his or her tradition. The eventual aim of Hindu teachings is to awaken the worshipper to the realization that the worshipped is none other that the worshipper in his or her essence. It is only at this stage that the duality that causes worship ends. Till this point, all religions are essentially dualistic and hence idol worshiping religions, Islam included.

About your friend not being “satisfied” with one God and turning to another, that’s her personal experience and choice, based on her understanding. No two persons are likely to have the same experience in a given situation – similar, may be.

^^ do you think, every hindu believer have their own understanding about God??

how can.. how all of u unite in the name of Hindu religion..

we have hindu community here in Indonesia, it's exactly in Bali

but, hindu Bali have many differences with hindu India and other country.. they worship different God, but they have the same religion, which is Hindu..

this make me confuse...

format_quote Originally Posted by adeeb

^^ do you think, every hindu believer have their own understanding about God??

how can.. how all of u unite in the name of Hindu religion..

we have hindu community here in Indonesia, it's exactly in Bali

but, hindu Bali have many differences with hindu India and other country.. they worship different God, but they have the same religion, which is Hindu..

this make me confuse...

You are right; every Hindu can have his own understanding of God. There is no need to unite in the name of any religion (which is not to say that we have to be at war with each other in the name of religion. Unity would be natural and spontaneous in the affairs of men if we are benefited by the spiritual teachings of religion). Religion is a direct relationship between the worshipper and the worshipped, leading to the ‘merging’ of the worshipper and the worshipped.

format_quote Originally Posted by Trumble

I would have thought that any believer in God (or indeed any other conception of ultimate reality) would have their own understanding of Him/it?

Identification with and adoption of a particular religious identity is based on similarity of understanding, not identical understanding. The particular nature of some religions allows them to be a 'broader church' than others.

I agree with you. While religion is an individual and personal involvement with the unfoldment of one’s spirituality, congregational activities in the pursuit of spirituality have always been an aid. Incidentally, spirituality is the very antithesis of identity. In the end, all identity is dissolved and man becomes free in the celebration of existence.

format_quote Originally Posted by Faye

So Hindus worship themselves? Strange concept...

Also, do Hindus have some form of religious law, like Shariah in Islam, or is it just following cultural traditions/customs?

How about Prophets?

(pls excuse my ignorance, but as you can see, i am trying to correct the matter)

1. To say Hindus worship themselves is not correct because the individuality of an individual is based on the individual's ego or self-awareness. This self is usually referred to as the lower self and what is talked about in spirituality is the higher Self. It is our higher Self that reveals the eternal that we are. When such a realization occurs, worship becomes superfluous.

2. Hindus have had great lawgivers and probably the most famous was Manu. His laws were codified into what was called the Manusmriti and it attained notoriety in the modern age due to its rather unequal classification of castes. Now Manusmriti for all practical purposes has been discarded, particularly after India adopted a constitution and since most Hindus in the world are in India, the Indian constitution may well be said to be the law guiding Hindus in civil matters. Moreover, the Indian constitution has sanctioned the general validity of the personal laws of its various religious communities, including its Islamic community, to some extent. This is not a failure of Hinduism because Hinduism has always stated that civil laws would tend to change from age to age due to changing social realities. It is the immutable spiritual laws, called shruti, that is quintessential in Hinduism. This is unlike Islam, where both its spiritual laws and civil laws, encoded in Shariat, are immutable. For example, since the Quran has already given a husband the right to beat his wife, that right can never be denied to a Muslim husband even under changed modern circumstances.

3. In Hindu culture there are people who have risen to the level of having seen or grasped the highest of truths directly and they are called Rishis. I suppose parallels between them and Prophets can be drawn.

format_quote Originally Posted by - Serene -

They believe in 3 main Gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva [Creator, Preserver, Destroyer] and those three Gods are part of one main God- Brahman. Like we have attributes of Allaah, they have assorted those attributes of their Gods with gods with little 'g', to make up the god with big 'G'.

There are gods and gods in Hinduism as there are all sorts of worshippers. Hinduism may say there are many Gods (or expressions of divinity) and Islam may say there is only one God, but the key difference between Hinduism and Islam is that while Hinduism says Gods and worshippers are one and the same and the separateness is only due to man's ignorance or delusion (maya), Islam says that God and worshippers are eternally separate. Muslims of course would say that the Islamic position alone is true. But Hindus would not say that only one position is true. Hindus would say that the positions are not contradictory and are in fact complementary. When we are in a particular situation, the separateness (or duality) exists and when we are in a different circumstance, non-duality is inevitable.

Greetings Venugopal,

I would urge you to refrain from commenting on Islamic teachings before understanding them. Earlier you called Islam an "idol worshipping religion", and later went on to say:

format_quote Originally Posted by K.Venugopal

For example, since the Quran has already given a husband the right to beat his wife, that right can never be denied to a Muslim husband even under changed modern circumstances.

Both of these concepts are absolutely false and demonstrate nothing but sheer ignorance. Please bear this in mind in future posts.

Regards.

format_quote Originally Posted by K.Venugopal

There are gods and gods in Hinduism as there are all sorts of worshippers. Hinduism may say there are many Gods (or expressions of divinity) and Islam may say there is only one God, but the key difference between Hinduism and Islam is that while Hinduism says Gods and worshippers are one and the same and the separateness is only due to man's ignorance or delusion (maya), Islam says that God and worshippers are eternally separate. Muslims of course would say that the Islamic position alone is true. But Hindus would not say that only one position is true. Hindus would say that the positions are not contradictory and are in fact complementary. When we are in a particular situation, the separateness (or duality) exists and when we are in a different circumstance, non-duality is inevitable.

When it comes to idols, they are nothing but hollow statues that you create with your own hands. And they are worshipped as gods even thought they bring you no harm nor benefit.

Allah says:

He (Allah) to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.

Yet have they taken, besides him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection. [Quran 25:2-3]