Professional Documents
Culture Documents
of Hinduism
Art Gallery, gods and temples Scene from the Gita: Krishna and Arjuna with good pictures of some of the gods
The multiplicity that hides the cosmos' unity is called Maya; that is the reality humans perceive with their senses everyday. The overcoming of Maya to perceive true reality (Brahman) thus constitutes an important task in Hinduism... you and God are one... However, though Brahman IS the creation, Brahman is more than the sum of everything in the universe, says Hinduism.
The different gods and goddesses of Hinduism represent various functions or aspects or attributes of this One Supreme Divinity, they are not separate gods but they are valid to worship, according to Hinduism. For example, the goddesses are really the female aspects of God, because the Divine contains both masculine and feminine attributes... some gods are represented with several heads or 8 arms to represent the omni-potency and omni-presence of God... all in all, it is often stated that some Hindu teachers claim 330 million gods and goddesses! The gods of Hinduism do not exist as a person and they never existed, they are the result of divinization of novels or epics heroes, like the Greek or Roman gods... it is like making a god out of Hamlet or Sherlock Holmes who never existed, only in the mind of the writer... and this is recognized by most Hindu scholars: 1- So are the 33 gods of the Vedas pantheon mythology, including the Cosmic Trinity of Agni (god of fire), Vayu, (god of air), and Surya (god of energy or life). 2- So are the gods of the Puranas, including the Hindu Trinity, of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the savior and protector who incarnates 10 times), and Shiva (the destroyer of evil, and the creator of new life)... they never existed as persons and do not exist now, nor their wives and lovers also adored as gods, but who also never existed, only in the mind of the writers. 3- So are the Post-Vedas gods from the novels or epics Ramayana and Mahabharata: Rama is a hero of the Ramayana who never existed, only in the mind of the writer. Khrishna is the hero of the 18th chapter of the Mahabharata who never existed as a person, and does not exist now as a person... and so are the animal or planet deities... of course, a monkey or an elephant are not God! For Jews, Christians and Muslims to adore other than God is an idolatry... they are "idols", or "devils" says Psalm 96:5... do not adore idols... do not trust your life to devils, it is a prostitution against the real God, against the one who made the sun, and the atoms, and our hands and hearts, says the Bible (Leviticus 20).
and the members of the household Prajapati is the father of the gods and of the devils (asuras). Indra, the warrior god, with his band of Maruts, defeats the demons of darkness each morning so that the sun could rise. There is also the sky god Dyaus and a few goddesses, such as Aditi and Ushas.
Trinity":
1- Lord Brahma:
The creator god, with some similarities to God the Father of the Christians,... There are very few shines dedicated to him, in fact only one temple in all India. God the Father has also few temples dedicated to Him in Christianity. . Lord Brahma, the creator God of the Trimurti (Trinity). Painted as 4 males or 4 females, as shown in the picture, with 4 heads and 4 arms, symbols of his omni-presence and omnipotency, Each hand is holding a sacrificial tool (sruva), the Vedas (knowledge), a water pot (kamandalu) and a rosary respectively and appears seated on a lotus (a symbol of glorious existence). His vehicle is a swan (hans) which is known for its judgment between good and bad. Lord Brahma's consort is Goddess Saraswati, she is the Goddess of Learning.
2- Lord Vishnu, is the savior and protector of mankind, with some similarities to
God the Son for the Christians, he incarnates, like Jesus, but 10 times!, the last one, as Kalki, is still to come.... Vishnu is very popular, and shown as one of his 9 incarnations ("avatars"), as fish, tortoise, a boar... the last 4 incarnations were Rama, Balaram, Buddha and Krishna - (Incarnations) Avatars of Vishhnu The 2 wives of Vishnu are Lakshmi, goddess of fortune, and Prithvi, the Earth Goddess, both very popular. Lord Krishna - Krishna-2 : The last Avatar (Incarnation) of Vishnu. He is the central hero of the 18th chapter of the epic novel Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita There are three main stages in Krishna's worldly life. 1- Krishna is born in a prison in the epic, where his royal parents are being held by a rival king. His father works out a scheme to enable the baby Krishna to escape to a nearby village and replace him with another child. Krishna grows up as a mischievous boy within this village of cowherds, playing tricks on his family and friends. 2- As a youth in the epic, Krishna woos all the gopis (female cowherds) in the village with his good looks, charms, and attentions. Although Radha is his favorite, he dallies with the other gopis as well. 3- As an adult in the epic, Krishna regains his kingdom in northern India by killing King Kamsa, an act seen as the restoration of dharma. In the story of the Mahabharata., he then helps Arjuna (by serving as his chariot driver), and his brothers (the Pandava brothers) in a war to regain their rightful kingdom. On the night before a major battle, Krishna and Arjuna
have a long discussion about the nature of dharma and the cosmos, which is preserved within the Mahabharata as the Bhagavad Gita. At the end of the discussion, Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna as Vishnu. The exploits of Krishna are told and rehearsed in the Vishnu temples and in the annual festival of the Ras Lila. Lord Rama: The other major avatar of Vishnu is Rama, the central figure of another novel, the epic Ramayana. Lord Rama is one of the most commonly adored gods of Hindus. In keeping with the actions in the story, Rama (i.e., Vishnu) bears the attributes of trust, faithfulness, and strength. Along with Sita, his faithful wife, Vishnu as Rama continues to be worshipped in temples and in the annual festival of the Ram Lila. Lord Hanuman, the monkey-god, is the guardian spirit of the villages, the one who saved Sita, the wife of Rama in the Ramayana epic. At a Temple - Enlarge
- Two sons of Shiva:. - The first, Lord Ganesha has the head of an elephant and is the god of overcoming obstacles, which links him to good luck and prosperity, and the one who recorded the Mahabharata epic. - The second, Lord Skanda, becomes the divine warrior and thus the god of war.
4- Other gods:
Hindu Goddesses: Each God in the trinity has his consort. To Brahma is Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge. For Vishnu is Lakshmi, the Goddess of love, beauty and delight. For Shiva is Kali (Parvati) , the Goddess of power, destruction and transformation. These are the three main forms of the Goddess, as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the three main forms of the God as mentioned above... The three Goddesses are often worshipped in their own right as well as along with their spouses. Animal gods: Hindus see divinity in all living creatures. Animal deities therefore, occupy an important place in Hindu dharma. Animals, for example, are very common as form of transport for various gods and goddesses. Animals also appear as independent divine creatures... already mentioned are Lord Ganesha, the elephant son of Shiva, and Hanuman, the monkey-god, saved Sita, the wife of Rama, in tne Ramayana epic... a fish, a tortoise, a cow, a boar... Of course, all of these gods are not God, no one can make a star or an atom. and nobody sould adre or trust an imaginary "god". Planet gods, the Navagraha: There are nine deities also referred to as Nava (Nine) Grahas (Planets). These grahas are supposed to have a significant impact on the lives of an individual. The Hindu science of study of these planets is called the Vedic Astrology. Classical Vedic astrology uses the seven visible planets; the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, along with the two lunar nodes, the north and south nodes, Rahu and Ketu. Lesser gods: Personification of nature, like river and ocean gods, love and wealth gods, hosts of celestial beings... Lord Jagannath Lord Kartikeya or Subramania Lord Satyanarayana Lord Venkateshwara Lord Ayyappa Lord Satyanarayana Rama and Krishna never existed, like Hamlet or Holmes, never existed and they do not exist right now, they existed only in the imagination of the novelist. Jesus Christ is God, a person live right now... he is real, he can clean all our bad karma, forgive all our sins... he is the real Brahman made flesh who died on a Cross with love, to pay for all our sins, to clean all our bad karma, and resurrected to give us a new glorious life on
Earth, and an eternal life in Heaven, as the "person" we are, and without the need of any reincarnation... and it is free, just believe in Jesus!... He is at your side right now!... Christianity http://hindunet.org/god/Gods/brahma/index.htm, pictures http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm, pictures http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/hinduism_gods.shtml
Art Gallery of Hinduism The Jerome Bible Commentary, book by book 1,093 prophecies and types of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus and His Church Other Web Sites of Dr. Dominguez (over 300 in English and Spanish) Public domain text. May be distributed freely. No rights reserved