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6. MONOTHEISM & REINCARNATION
Is Hinduism Polytheistic? http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/beliefs/theism.htm
Evidently, monotheism in Hinduism is a recent development. Even today the Hindu communities around the world is struggling to make sense out the mess of pantheism, henotheism and idolatry while the big wig in America and Europe are trying to call it monotheism by integrating everything together.
Hinduism is a decidedly theistic religion; the difficulty lies in determining whether it is a polytheistic, pantheistic, or monotheistic. In later Hinduism, the One is simultaneously many and vice versa. This is a reflection of the Christian Triune God and Hindu avatars retain these characteristics of the early Christian theology.
Monotheism is the worship of One God. Polytheism is the worship many Gods. Monotheism can be given many philosophical shades. In doing so what the Hindu Pandits of the 20th century has done is to equate Polytheism with Monotheism.
Monotheism = Polytheism. (see Hinduism : Monotheism and Polytheism Reconciled By Sri Swami Chidananda)
This is how it is done with a twist in logic. The basic assumption is the immanence of God in the universe. God is present in the Sun. Therefore, Sun is a God. God is present in the trees. Therefore, trees are Gods. In this process of logic, everything is God and if you worship the Sun, moon, the stars, rocks, and the idols, you are still worshipping the one true God. Here is the confusion between part and the whole. God is both immanent and Transcendent. So part cannot be equated with the whole. It will be similar to confusing my shirt with me. There is also the confusion between symbol and reality. The idol, the icon, the pictures and words are all symbols. However, if we assume that identity of the symbol with the reality what we get is idol worship. While symbols are powerful means of communication, idols can become means of veiling the truth.
"So is Hinduism polytheistic, pantheistic, or monotheistic? Contributing to the difficulty of answering this question is the fact that Hindus are not nearly as concerned as are western thinkers with such labels and categories. After all, it is a favorite Hindu saying that "The Truth is one, but different sages call it by different names." (A Quote taken from Rig Veda I, which was written after the first century A.D and this will be important to see how this idea came about.) Nevertheless, when Hindus do define their religion in these terms, usually for the benefit of curious westerners, they tend to do so in terms of monotheism and pantheism:
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