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Hinduism incorporates diverse views on the concept of God. Different traditions of Hinduism have different theistic views, and these views have been described by scholars as polytheism, monotheism, henotheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism, agnostic, humanism, atheism or Nontheism. Monotheism is the belief in a single creator God and the lack of belief in any other Creator. Hinduism is not a monolithic faith and different sects may or may not posit or require such a belief. Religion is considered a personal belief in Hinduism and followers are free to choose the different interpretations within the framework of Karma and reincarnation. Many forms of Hinduism believe in a monotheistic God, such as Krishna followers, Vedanta, Arya samaj, Samkhya school of Vedas etc, Many traditions within Hinduism share the Vedic idea of a metaphysical ultimate reality and truth called Brahman instead. According to Jan Gonda, Brahman denoted the "power immanent in the sound, words, verses and formulas of Vedas" in the earliest Vedic texts. The early Vedic religious understanding of Brahman underwent a series of abstractions in the Hindu scriptures that followed the Vedic scriptures. These scriptures would reveal a vast body of insights into the nature of Brahman as originally revealed in the Vedas. These Hindu traditions that emerged from or identified with the Vedic scriptures and that maintained the notion of a metaphysical ultimate reality would identify that ultimate reality as Brahman. Hindu adherents to these traditions within Hinduism revere Hindu deities and, indeed, all of existence, as aspects of the Brahman. The deities in Hinduism are not considered to be almighty, omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, and spirituality is considered to be seeking the ultimate truth that is possible by a number of paths. Like other Indian religions, in Hinduism, deities are born, they live and they die in every kalpa (eon, cycle of existence). In Hindu philosophy, there are many different schools. Its non-theist traditions such as Samkhya, early Nyaya, Mimamsa and many within Vedanta such as Advaita do not posit the existence of an almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God (monotheistic God), while its theistic traditions posit a personal God left to the choice of the Hindu. The major schools of Hindu philosophy explain morality and the nature of existence through the karma and samsara doctrines, as in other Indian religions. Contemporary Hinduism can be categorized into four major traditions: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism worship Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi — the Divine Mother — as the Supreme respectively, or consider all Hindu deities as aspects of the formless Supreme Reality or Brahman. Other minor sects such as Ganapatya and Saura focus on Ganesha and Surya as the Supreme. A sub-tradition within the Vaishnavism school of Hinduism that is an exception is dualistic Dvaita, founded by Madhvacharya in the 13th-century (where Vishnu as Krishna is a monotheistic God). This tradition posits a concept of monotheistic God so similar to Christianity that Christian missionaries in colonial India suggested that Madhvacharya was likely influenced by early Christians who migrated to India, a theory that has been discredited by scholars. Furthermore, many adherents consider these similarities to be superficial and insubstantial; for example, Madhvacharya postulates three co-eternal fundamental realities, consisting of Supreme Being (Vishnu or paramathma), individual souls (jīvātman), and inanimate matter.
References
- Klaus K. Klostermaier (2010). A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition. State University of New York Press. pp. 103 with footnote 10 on page 529. ISBN 978-0-7914-8011-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=8CVviRghVtIC.
- See also, Griffith's Rigveda translation: Wikisource https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_1/Hymn_164
- Gupra, 2007, p.36 note 9.
- Bhagawan Swaminarayan bicentenary commemoration volume, 1781-1981. p. 154: ...Shri Vallabhacharya [and] Shri Swaminarayan... Both of them designate the highest reality as Krishna, who is both the highest avatara and also the source of other avataras. To quote R. Kaladhar Bhatt in this context. "In this transcendental devotieon (Nirguna Bhakti), the sole Deity and only" is Krishna. New Dimensions in Vedanta Philosophy - Page 154, Sahajānanda, Vedanta. 1981 https://books.google.com/books?id=_Q0YAAAAIAAJ&q=Avatara+Swaminarayan+Krishna+origina%3B&dq=Avatara+Swaminarayan+Krishna+origina%3B
- Delmonico, N. (2004). The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12256-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=mBMxPdgrBhoC&pg=PA31&dq=Vaisnava+monotheism. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- Elkman, S.M.; Gosvami, J. (1986). Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Movement. Motilal Banarsidass Pub.
- Dimock Jr, E.C.; Dimock, E.C. (1989). The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal. University Of Chicago Press. page 132 https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYa1BtUTm0C&pg=PA132&dq=Svayam+bhagavan&sig=jcyEA-4tyPoddQmWg-FnYKDBgEY
- Kennedy, M.T. (1925). The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal. H. Milford, Oxford university press. https://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.24847.
- Flood, Gavin D. (1996). An introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 341. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0. https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo. Retrieved 2008-04-21. "gavin flood." "Early Vaishnava worship focuses on three deities who become fused together, namely Vasudeva-Krishna, Krishna-Gopala and Narayana, who in turn all become identified with Vishnu. Put simply, Vasudeva-Krishna and Krishna-Gopala were worshiped by groups generally referred to as Bhagavatas, while Narayana was worshipped by the Pancaratra sect."
- Dalmia-luderitz, V. (1992). Hariscandra of Banaras and the reassessment of Vaisnava bhakti in the late nineteenth century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-41311-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=BE40dp6SCFUC&pg=PA281&dq=Vaisnava+monotheism. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- Gupta, Ravi M. (2007). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-40548-5.
- Knapp, S. (2005). The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment and Illumination -. iUniverse. "Krishna is the primeval Lord, the original Personality of Godhead, so He can expand Himself into unlimited forms with all potencies." page 161 https://books.google.com/books?id=a2KPChj7lTwC&pg=PA161
- Dr. Kim Knott (1993). Contemporary Theological Trends In The Hare Krishna Movement: A Theology of Religions. http://www.iskcon.com/icj/1_1/knott.html. Retrieved 2008-04-12. ..."Bhakti, the highest path, was that of surrender to Lord Krishna, the way of pure devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead".
- K. Klostermaier (1997). The Charles Strong Trust Lectures, 1972-1984. Crotty, Robert B.. Brill Academic Pub. p. 206. ISBN 978-90-04-07863-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=F_0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA109&dq=Svayam+bhagavan. "For his worshippers he is not an avatara in the usual sense, but Svayam Bhagavan, the Lord himself." p.109 Klaus Klostermaier translates it simply as "the Lord Himself"
- B. V. Tripurari (2004). Gopala-tapani Upanisad. Audarya Press. ISBN 978-1-932771-12-1.
- Gupta, Ravi M. (2004). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta: Acintyabhedabheda in Jiva Gosvami's Catursutri tika. University Of Oxford.
- Mahony, W.K. (1987). "Perspectives on Krishna's Various Personalities". History of Religions 26 (3): 333–335. doi:10.1086/463085. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086%2F463085
- Klostermaier, K. (1974). "The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin". Journal of the American Oriental Society 94 (1): 96–107. doi:10.2307/599733. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F599733
- See McDaniel, June, "Folk Vaishnavism and Ṭhākur Pañcāyat: Life and status among village Krishna statues" in Beck 2005, p. 39
- Bryant, Edwin Francis (2007). Krishna: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-514891-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=0z02cZe8PU8C&pg=PT32.
- Matchett, Freda (2001). Krishna, Lord or Avatara?: the relationship between Krishna and Vishnu. 9780700712816. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7007-1281-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=1oqTYiPeAxMC&pg=PA4.
- Matchett, Freda (2000), Krsna, Lord or Avatara? The relationship between Krsna and Visnu: in the context of the Avatara myth as presented by the Harivamsa, the Visnupurana and the Bhagavatapurana, Surrey: Routledge, pp. 4, 77, 200, ISBN 978-0-7007-1281-6, https://books.google.com/books?id=1oqTYiPeAxMC
- Lester, Robert C (1966). "Rāmānuja and Śrī-vaiṣṇavism: The Concept of Prapatti or Śaraṇāgati". History of Religions 5 (2): 266–269. doi:10.1086/462526. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086%2F462526
