what is the concept of god in hinduism?
913159
The truth (Ultimate Reality) is one, Sages call it by different names - there is one God, (Supreme Reality) perceived differently.\n\nSupreme Reality - Brahman has two aspects, transcendent (impersonal) and immanent (personal).\n\nIn the impersonal aspect Brahman is without attributes (nirguna Brahman).\n\nIn personal aspect (saguna Brahman) the God is creator, preserver and controller of the universe.\n\nSaguna Brahman is worshipped in male and female form.\n\nHindu Deities represent various perceptions of a one God.\n\nHindus believe in monotheistic polytheism, rather than polytheism.
735633
God does not have a "meaning" in the sense that you are asking. Your question is asked in a way to say "what is the human perception of God." While God can be perceived in many different ways by people, He is still seperate and distinct from them. His "meaning" comes from who He is. He is Holy, Just, Righteous, Faithful, Vengeful, Loving, Kind, Merciful, True, etc. These facts are known through His inspired word, the Bible. Through people, God wrote the Bible in order to display who He is, to us.
956420
Hinduism has many gods and goddess. Do your homework...
767679
That is the idea.\n\n" It cannot be described, and the most one can say is that It is absolute existence, absolute knowledge, and absolute bliss (sat-chi-ananda). \n\nIt is unborn, self-existent, all-pervading, and the essence of all things and beings in the universe. It is immeasurable, unapproachable, beyond conception, beyond birth, beyond reasoning, and beyond thought".\n\n God cannot be defined in terms of any specific manifestation, nor indeed in terms of their sum total. He is beyond all possibility of definition. \n\n"Though I manifest Myself in all things, I am identified with none of them".\n                                            -The Bhagavad Gita
281438
"God" A term designed by humanity to describe a postulated preternatural being usually complete with special divine powers.\n\nYou asked Who is the God? And you mentioned a few names, Jesus, Allah, Buddha and Mahadeva. (one of the faces of Shiva) Well, let's look at them.\n\nJesus is the proposed son of man. God the father, (Yahweh or Allah) made flesh and sent to Earth to free man from sin. The source of the teachings of Jesus and what he believed is exclusively found within the documents known as the gospels. If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your god, as is his father (Yahweh) and the holly spirit. \n\nAllah, or 'god' is the proposed being that created the world. This is the same god of Hebrew torah and the Christian old testament. If you are a Muslim, then this is your god. Then again, technically, if you are a Christian or Jew, this is still your god sicne the same name can be found is all three faiths. \n\n"Mahadeva" or more accurately Shiva, is "the Pure One" or the "One who purifies everyone by the utterance of His name." And is one of the primary gods of the Hinduism and the head god of the Śaivism, a branch of Hinduism. If you subscribe to the Hindu faith, then Shiva is your god.\n\nBuddha, the enlightened one, was once stopped on the road and asked by a man, "Sir, are you a god." The mans asked the Buddha when he saw how peaceful he appeared.  "No." Said the Buddha.  "Are you a demigod then?" asked the man. "No." replied Buddha.  "Then are you great man?" asked the passerby. "No." replied the Buddha again. "Then what are you sir." The man final asked. "I am the one who is awake." Replied Buddha as we went on his way.  Buddha is not a god. He is not thought of as a god and he did not think of himself as a god. Buddha was a man that sought and found the truth and was awakened form the dream of life & death. He was a great teacher, but he was not a god, a profit or a savior, for according to Buddhism, no one can be saved by anyone except themselves. \n\nSo, who is god?  That's not something anyone can tell you. You need to look and find out for yourself. Who do I think god is? I don't. I think god is a man made myth used to scare people into doing what churches want them too.  This is why the history of god based religions is so bloody. Still, if the belief in a god helps a person feel better, then perhaps it is not a total waste. \n\nI hope this helps.
581558
God is only one, but there are 3 crores of deities in Hindu religion. Deities used to live in this world when this world was heaven. They are special and the most clever beings on this earth. Most of the Hindus worship these deities same as Christians worship Jesus or Muslims who admire muhammed or Ibrahim. The 5 million which u was taking about are not God.
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May be some buddhists followed traditional Brahma statues.\n\nIt is Buddha and four faces just symbolise that he was extraordinary.\n\nThe reason why the Hindu deities are represented in this way is simple: it is to show that they are gods, that they differ from human beings and have more and greater powers that they. A symbol such as a multi-armed image, graphically portraying God's astounding versatility and superhuman might. The use of symbolism extends to every detail of the image of a deity.\n\nIt is obtuse to confuse Hinduism's images with idolatry, and their multiplicity with polytheism. They are runaways from which the sense-laden human spirit can rise for its "flight of the alone to the Alone." \n\nBehind the lush tangle of religious imagery, is a clear structure of thought. Hinduism, in its plethora of symbols and images, is endlessly complex and therefore endlessly misunderstood, but its true mission is both simple and universal: soul-enlightenment. Hinduism is goal-oriented, not way-oriented. In other words, its focus is the ultimate attainment, Self-realization, in God. Symbolism helps the seeker to concentrate his mind on the worship and meditation of god.\n\nGod's innumerable forms, and the acknowledgement of His Presence in everything, are an expression of the extraordinary vitality of India's collective imagination down through the ages.
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one god too many forms. just like different facets of a diamond. did you ever heard of the story of an elephant and 4 blind folded persons. each of them was touching different part and expling differently about it. that is how the different relegions describe god.\n\n  posts above me have explained it beautifully. i just want to add thatn hinduism rather includes than excludes. do you know jesus was almost going to be an avatar ? britishers jumped to save it from indianization and in their words currption. \n\n  a grat deal of this harmony is credited to Gupta dynasty. the Gupta kings worked very hard and wisely. this unity was the result of many wise and great men who intermingled different sects and  resultent hindu philosophies. you will get Suprme God as well as Suprme Goddess . and they are not rivals. they make each other complete. they made up even new gods to stop arguments and lead them to monothism. we have an Ardhnarishvar (half man half woman ) idols to represent that they are one. that is combination of a male God and Mother Goddess and it defused tention about if god is a he or she. the god Harihar (Hari + Har)repesented both Lord Shiva and  Lord Vishnu. Hari means Vishnu Har means Shiva. it united two main sects of shaivites and vaishnavas ... result is that all the avatars are form of either vishnu or shiva. but they are one so all gods are one. all the goddesses are form of one goddess Shakti . and Shakti and Shiva are a couple and united they are Ardhanarishwar so again only one god in the end...besides that Upanishads say god has no form. thats ok because he has no definite form thats why he can appear in any form. \n\nif you are atheist thats fine too. just do good work. God is too great to punish someone because he does not believe him. he does not need their confirmation.\n    \n  Great teachers taught  to respect mutual beliefs and the feeling has been strengthened with time. thats how there are so many relegious schools flourished in India. That is our heritage we are most proud of .\n\neven many muslim asctetics in India helped this feeling. some sufi saints followed the local culture and mingled the basic concept of hinduism and islam. unfortunately not many muslims followed them.
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Yes, God is God no matter what you call him (or her) or how you choose to worship.\nI wish everyone understood this!
16599
God is the concept for idealising perfect good\nEvil is the concept for idealising perfect Bad\nbut\nHuman is a reality between the two
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The meaning of God is that it is the highest being ever. \n\nHence there cannot be two highest beings, the meaning of highest takes the notion of number 1. There should not be two number 1s existing. There is only a number 1.\n\nHence there should be only 1 highest being, God existing.
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God. (cheating) This explanation is what everyone eventually resorts to when the other answers fail. Now, before I go any further, I should make clear that I'm not talking about any of the gods defined in various religions. Throughout all of human history, we've been trying to explain existence. But nobody has ever succeeded. And it's likely that nobody ever will. So we create the concept of God, whose only necessary property is being "that which explains existence." \n\nThis doesn't tell us much about god, though. It doesn't mean that any particular religion is correct. It merely defines god as something which answers The Question, because we have not been able to. \nplease read this http://www.toykeeper.net/philosophy/knowledge
1017422
Namaste! (the divine in me reverently bows and honors the divine in you)\nHinduism has managed to stay around because it's central message and teachings are still relevant. Most people outside of Hinduism, sadly, are very misinformed or misunderstand Hinduism. NonHindus think that Hindus worship statues and pictures, yet this is not true. Those images are just symbols and Hindus are not worshipping them, they are using them to focus their mind on God and all that the symbolism is used to remind us of about God. For example, that elephant headed image, called Ganesh (the name means "First Lord" and reminds us to keep God as a priority), the elephant head is a symbol. In ancient India elephants were used to clear the forests to make roads, to knock down buildings that needed to be rebuilt. They were basically the ancient version of the modern bulldozer. Thus the symbolism of the elephant head is to remind us that God removes the obstacles that stand in our way of getting closer to God. And that's not where the symbolism with Ganesh stops. People find it odd that the images always have so many arms and hands. In each hand they hold something or they make a gesture. These also are symbols. Even the very color of the figure in the image is symbolism. The mythological stories are just symbolism for the deeper philosophical and theological teachings of Hinduism (sort of like Jesus's parables in the New Testament). \n\nYou might be surprised to know that Hinduism advocated evolution. Why? Because it's sacred texts describe, in poetic imagery, the teachings that everything in the universe starts out very small and that it gradually changes and changes and changes over time. The sacred texts even say that one day our sun will grow very large and turn red. It will engulf the planets before finally collapsing on itself. Eventually the entire universe will do collapse on itself, having expanded as far as it goes, and thus once expanding as far as it can go it will then start to shrink and return back to the source...God. Everything in the universe manifested out of God (the Hindu sacred texts make it sound very similar to the Big Bang) and everything will eventually return to it). Terms like Supreme Soul, Cosmic Consciousness, Ultimate Reality, and so many others are sometimes used along side the word God. Hindus say that all religions in the world are just different perspectives on the same thing...on God. That each is just approaching, experiencing, and looking at God from a different angle. God can be called by any name and devotees can use whatever symbols, be they images of a half elephant headed and half man or something abstract like the linga or the yantra. It doesn't matter. No matter what name you call God by, God hears your prayers. No matter what form you are using to focus your mind on, symbolism you are using to remind you of God, God knows you aren't worshipping the actual image or statue, etc. You are worshiping God. Hindus call their religion "Sanatana Dharma" or "The Eternal Religion". They say this, not to be arrogant, but because they truly believe that that every religion, including the one their religion is founded upon, has the capability of making a person realize the universal truths of the innate nature of their inner Self. Hindu teachers will point to people from various religious traditions like St. Terese from Christianity who said that when she looked in the mirror all she could see was God, Rumi from Islam, the Buddha from Buddhism, Mahavira from Jainism, Ramakrishna from Hinduism, and so many others. Hindus even make the case that a person needn't have a religious tradition to realize the universal truths of the innate nature of the inner Self and point to some who later became ended up teaching within the Hindu tradition itself (again, it's very diverse and tolerant). Swami Vivekananda is one such example. There is even a saying that a Hindu teac
700151
Universe is a creation of God. And only thing that can create itself is God and all others are His creation. This is what a Hindu believes.
592283
A very good question.  \n\nMuch debate has gone up about the POLYTHEISTIC nature of Hindu.  The religion is known to have so many gods it is debated that there is no god at all to Hindu (among western academics), though it is so obviously a religion.\n\nGodhead is the name for the form of god in Hindu.  Godhead is in all things, all objects, all shapes, and all places.  In Hindu, god is worshipped in many shapes, the shapes of the many gods, and yet it is a general, universal god they celebrate, even though it is multitudes of gods.\n\nI understood it best when I heard a (poor) translation of a Hindu prayer, I will try to recall here: \n\n"God forgive me for these sins I commit, \nFor I am human.  \n\nYou are in all things, \nAnd I worship you in these things, \nYou are in all forms \nAnd I worship you in this form, \nYou are in all places, \nAnd I worship you in this place.  \n\nGod, forgive me for these sins I commit, \nFor I am human."
273036
The One True God is the One who is the ultimate creator, and everything leads to him. The one that is true to me is Cathicism, you need to find what you truly belive in. There are many religons but they usually come from one root. The main one's I know of are Cristanity, Islam, Budisim and Hinduisim, just to name a few popular ones.
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I am a Hindu. It is against my religion to try to convert you to Hinduism and it is even more spiritually damaging for me to try to explain to you what I have experienced and understood of God. Hindus say that God is infinite...vast...big....and because of this each of us merely gets a glimpse of the whole, we only touch a small portion of the whole. \n\nThe story that is often used is about three blind men who each walk into the forest and come across an elephant. The first blind man comes across the elephant but is only able to touch the elephant's tail. The second comes to the elephant and is only able to touch the elephants nose before it runs back into the forest and the third only gets to touch its ears. Each of these three goes back to their respective villages where the people have never seen an elephant and tell about what they experienced. Is any of their experiences invalid? God is like the elephant and we are like the blind men who only touched a part of the elephant. Each of our experiences, our understandings, is valid for us. Therefore what I say about God is from my own experiences and understandings. You should search your own experiences and understandings. Perhaps God is not the in the personal form for you. Perhaps you see beyond the need for forms and names and divinity and see the Impersonal, formless, nameless One. Whatever it is, it is.\n\nThe Upanishads talk a lot about Brahman (the term they use for both the impersonal and personal form of the One...the Ultimate Reality, Cosmic Consciousness, etc). The question is asked "How do we know that Brahman is real?" and the answer comes that "You exist, therefore Brahman exists." This is better understood when you consider that the text has up to this point said that the entire universe came out of Brahman and that the Atman (usually translated as soul in English) within each of us is also Brahman...everything is Brahman and yet Brahman also pervades the universe. You could say, from a scientific viewpoint that Brahman was what was before the Big Bang (and even science can't really describe what that is and thus Hindus say that we as humans can often experience it, but cannot usually put it into words). The three words that come up in Hinduism a lot for Brahman are sat-cit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). In Buddhism and Jainism they talk about the Void, the Nothingness...as the terms are translated. Yet in every sense the Void, the Nothingness, the One...Brahman...etc....this is God, too.\n\nIn the words of eastern religions: search for yourself, test what you hear, and if it does not work for you, move on.\n\nPeace.