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Hinduism – The Gods

The Hindu Concept of God
• There are three various ways to interpret the Hindu concept of god which includes a polytheistic concept which is a religion of many gods, a monotheistic concept which means believing in only one god, and also a monistic concept where gods is an impersonal and unknowable entity. The belief of all three concepts is a quality scholars believe to be Hinduism’s ‘tolerant characteristic’
• The Rig-Veda (1200-900 BCE) the natural forces: Fire, Thunder, Dawn, Water, Earth, and the Sun.
• Rig-Veda hymns praised individual deities, but the Vedic sages believed that they represented different manifestations or aspects of the same Supreme Being.
Brahman
• The Supreme Being (Monotheistic Concept)
• The entity without form and quality. The soul of the universe from which all existing things arise and into which all return
• Essence of Brahman is divine, invisible, unlimited, and indescribable (Monistic Concept)
• Although Brahman is an entity without form, Hindus are free to imagine Him or Her in any way that is meaningful to them, and this is why Hindus worship various deities that they consider manifestations or expressions, of Brahman. (Polytheistic Concept is filtered because of this belief)

Hindu Deities
• The most prevalent manifestations of Brahman are gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva = Hindu Trinity. Each have a female counterpart
• Brahma – The creator of the universe.
Saraswati: Godess of learning and the arts.
• Vishnu – The preserver of the universe.
      Lakshmi: Godess of wealth and happiness.
• Shiva – The destroyer and restorer of the universe.
Parvati: Represents female energy: Durga - warrior goddess, and Kali -fierce destroyer     of evil)

Other Hindu Deities
Ganesha
• One of the best known and most worshipped deities.
• Son of Shiva and Parvati.
• Remover of obstacles.
• Human body and elephants head with one short elephant tusk, the other tusk is used to write the wisdom of the scriptures....