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I wonder if polytheism helps people feel closer to their god.
Christianity and the Hindu religion both seem polytheistic to me, and their members seem to be very close to their gods. Christians feel they have Jesus constantly walking beside them and guiding them. All I know about the Hindus is that Ghandi prayed to his favorite god Rama as he was dying, so Gandhi must have felt very close to him.
Maybe the polytheistic religions let people have an all-powerful god at a distance, but also keep a personal god close to them at all times.
Islam and Judaism appear monotheistic, but they also seem like social clubs where the adherents just have to follow a bunch of rules. I wonder if their members think their god is as close and personal to them as Jesus is to the Christians.
Since I am an Atheist, I don't have a dog in this fight, but I really am curious what you all think.
I'm not into comparative religion and am mostly familiar with Islam. Muslims feel close to God because they pray and speak directly to him. "Him" is used for linguistic purposes. God does not have a gender. There are no middle men they confess to nor are there any idols they use as a placeholder. Although many Muslims are only Muslim by name, Islam is not just treated as a social club where members are given ID cards and that's that. It is their way of life (think Shariah). Like a country has rules and regulations, so does Islam. Islam would no longer be Islam if it were to continually go through changes and reforms, so Muslims stick to the teachings of the Quran and sunnah (way of the prophet) as it originally was. They also do not believe the Creator is part of the creation.
There are two main branches of thought about the relationship between the Jiva, life, and Brhman, which is the Existence, and which is causeless, eternal, transcends time and space, is everywhere, and there is nowhere that it is not present.
The world, and all life forms are also made of the the same Brhman which exists within since there is no place that it is not present. Life forms are made of material body and mind, intellect, consciousness, and Atma, the soul or spirit that is the awareness that we exist.
The world that we see as separate from us is due to Ignorance which is also causeless. The purpose life is to destroy that ignorance by knowledge of true self. Our true self is not the body and mind which are subject to decay and death, but the eternal Brhman which resides in us as Atma.
We realize this knowledge through conscious understanding, right attitude, right action, and meditation.
This is non-dualism, there is not two, but only one single existence. In Sanskrit it translates to Advaita, not-two.
The other branch is Dvaita, Twoness, which believes in a creator god: we are in essence the same Brhman, but Atma and Brhman will always be separate as two, Jiva and Deva. The purpose of life is to reach Heaven where we live a life in service to God. We reach it through right living, doing all the prescribed religious rites, devotion and prayer, purity and charity, pilgrimage etc.
Thanks.
I assume there is no historical timeline associated with both branches, which makes it very interesting.
First, let’s say Hinduism is supposedly about 5000 years or more years old, then what religion did people follow in the south east Asia prior to the introduction of Hinduism? Which begs the actual question, who is the first man on earth in Hindu mythology?
And second is this video that sheds some light on Brhman.
Thanks.
I assume there is no historical timeline associated with both branches, which makes it very interesting.
First, let’s say Hinduism is supposedly about 5000 years or more years old, then what religion did people follow in the south east Asia prior to the introduction of Hinduism? Which begs the actual question, who is the first man on earth in Hindu mythology?
And second is this video that sheds some light on Brhman.
It feels as if, per Jewish history, modern day Hinduism is actually a very, very twisted form of Abrahamic religions
I have not yet watched the video. I am curious why you would choose to see Hinduism through the lense of Abrahamic religion. The more i learn about Judaism and Kabbala, which is very little, the more i feel there is an affinity between the two thoughts and belief system. But i have not inquired with any depth.
The Harappa and Mohenjadaro archeological evidence shows worship of deities within the Hindu fold. I was also amazed to see what appeared like how Lord Shiva as depicted in Hinduism in the the museums in Greece. The pre-christian religion in Greece and theier philosophers are also very familiar when seen through Advaita lense. The world lost some very valuable thoughts by the imposition of Christianity.
I have not yet watched the video. I am curious why you would choose to see Hinduism through the lense of Abrahamic religion. The more i learn about Judaism and Kabbala, which is very little, the more i feel there is an affinity between the two thoughts and belief system. But i have not inquired with any depth.
The Harappa and Mohenjadaro archeological evidence shows worship of deities within the Hindu fold. I was also amazed to see what appeared like how Lord Shiva as depicted in Hinduism in the the museums in Greece. The pre-christian religion in Greece and theier philosophers are also very familiar when seen through Advaita lense. The world lost some very valuable thoughts by the imposition of Christianity.
The video is actually very short. And it’s interesting imo, and tries to answer the question.
I will be more than happy to listen to alternative if you have any?
As I stated earlier, it comes as a natural curiosity to me to know about origin of man when I hear about a religion. Whether the myth is true or not, is not the question.
In the Abrahamic religions, it starts with Adam.
Who does it start with in Hinduism if the philosophy is, let’s say is only 5000 years old?
I have been to Mohenja Daro archeological sites, and we obviously know that, it’s about 5000 years old.
I mean Gobekli Tepe is about 12,000 years old, the cave paintings in Arnhem Land platea Australia are said to be about 40,000 years old, so there was probably a religion existed before Hinduism, no?
So Hinduism doesn’t seem to have any legs when we wonder what’s the origin of man in this myth? Is that what we are saying?
The video is actually very short. And it’s interesting imo, and tries to answer the question.
I will be more than happy to listen to alternative if you have any?
As I stated earlier, it comes as a natural curiosity to me to know about origin of man when I hear about a religion. Whether the myth is true or not, is not the question.
In the Abrahamic religions, it starts with Adam.
Who does it start with in Hinduism if the philosophy is, let’s say is only 5000 years old?
I have been to Mohenja Daro archeological sites, and we obviously know that, it’s about 5000 years old.
I mean Gobekli Tepe is about 12,000 years old, the cave paintings in Arnhem Land platea Australia are said to be about 40,000 years old, so there was probably a religion existed before Hinduism, no?
So Hinduism doesn’t seem to have any legs when we wonder what’s the origin of man in this myth? Is that what we are saying?
I realized i have seen this video before, you might have posted it. The video is short and full of facile connections without any authority. True Hinduism is not the way hindus call religion. There was a river named Sindu, which also means a bay, which has disappeared, and traders coming into india might have called the people the encountered as the people of the Sindu. Even religion is not a thing, it is a western christian idea. It is not brahminism, no such thing. It is dharma, meaning order, what is right. There are far better sources than this video to understand Hinduism. What is your question anyway?
You have to remember Hinduism is not an organized religion as Abrahamic religions are, there is not even a concept of such a thing.
There is no special time line, hinduism in not bound by history or time. It is timeless.
Man is not any special form apart from the world. All life originated the same way, made of the very same stuff, just organized differently.
The theory of karma and the cycle of birth and death is an important aspect of being born human. The human birth is only for one reason - to work out the consequences of actions in previous births, and to realize one’s true nature which is that it is the same as Brhman. That is it.
ETA- The purpose of human birth is to stop the cycle of birth and death through this realization.
I wonder if polytheism helps people feel closer to their god.
Christianity and the Hindu religion both seem polytheistic to me, and their members seem to be very close to their gods. Christians feel they have Jesus constantly walking beside them and guiding them. All I know about the Hindus is that Ghandi prayed to his favorite god Rama as he was dying, so Gandhi must have felt very close to him.
Maybe the polytheistic religions let people have an all-powerful god at a distance, but also keep a personal god close to them at all times.
Islam and Judaism appear monotheistic, but they also seem like social clubs where the adherents just have to follow a bunch of rules. I wonder if their members think their god is as close and personal to them as Jesus is to the Christians.
Since I am an Atheist, I don't have a dog in this fight, but I really am curious what you all think.
I realized i have seen this video before, you might have posted it. The video is short and full of facile connections without any authority. True Hinduism is not the way hindus call religion. There was a river named Sindu, which also means a bay, which has disappeared, and traders coming into india might have called the people the encountered as the people of the Sindu. Even religion is not a thing, it is a western christian idea. It is not brahminism, no such thing. It is dharma, meaning order, what is right. There are far better sources than this video to understand Hinduism. What is your question anyway?
You have to remember Hinduism is not an organized religion as Abrahamic religions are, there is not even a concept of such a thing.
There is no special time line, hinduism in not bound by history or time. It is timeless.
Man is not any special form apart from the world. All life originated the same way, made of the very same stuff, just organized differently.
The theory of karma and the cycle of birth and death is an important aspect of being born human. The human birth is only for one reason - to work out the consequences of actions in previous births, and to realize one’s true nature which is that it is the same as Brhman. That is it.
ETA- The purpose of human birth is to stop the cycle of birth and death through this realization.
OK Thanks for that.
Moving on to the bold point.
Can you please elaborate little on this one? How does this process work?
I think some theist need to try and understand how a tree reacts to the different people that use it for shade. Maybe we could learn something from that dumb plant.
I think some theist need to try and understand how a tree reacts to the different people that use it for shade. Maybe we could learn something from that dumb plant.
plants are not dumb.
but then, wise humans realize that.
Good point. I'll concede that we do speak differently regarding the 3 persons of the Godhead. They are all fully God, but they do have some different roles. Of course, they're all the same God, so they share the same attributes of Love, Holiness, etc.
I wouldn't look to john melloncamp for theological distinctions. Most likely, he just needed two a two-syllable word (Je-sus) instead of one (God).
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