God in Hinduism
[6] Hinduism comprises a wide range of beliefs about God and Divinity, such as henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, agnosticism, atheism, and nontheism.
Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism worship the Hindu deities Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi as the Supreme God respectively, or consider all Hindu deities as aspects of the same, Supreme Reality or the eternal and formless metaphysical Absolute, called Brahman in Hinduism, or, translated from Sanskrit terminology, Svayaṁ-Bhāgavan ("God Itself").
Hindus following Advaita Vedānta consider ātman, the individual soul within every living being, to be the same as Vishnu, Shiva, or Devi,[12][13][14] or, alternatively, identical to the eternal and formless metaphysical Absolute called Brahman.
[25] Hindus following Dvaita Vedānta consider that the jīvātman (individual self) and the eternal and formless metaphysical Absolute called Brahman in Hinduism exist as independent realities, and that these are fundamentally distinct.
[39] The latter term is an extension of "henotheism", from καθ' ἕνα θεόν (kath' hena theon) — "one god at a time".
The Vedic era conceptualization of the divine or the One, states Jeaneane Fowler, is more abstract than a monotheistic God, it is the Reality behind and of the phenomenal universe.
[45] In late Vedic era, around the start of Upanishadic age (c. 800 BCE), theosophical speculations emerge that develop concepts which scholars variously call nondualism or monism, as well as forms of non-theism and pantheism.
Ishwar Chandra Sharma describes it as "Absolute Reality, beyond all dualities of existence and non-existence, light and darkness, and of time, space and cause".
[52] Influential ancient and medieval Hindu philosophers, states philosophy professor Roy Perrett, teach their spiritual ideas with a world created ex nihilo and "effectively manage without God altogether".
The major schools of Hindu philosophy explain morality and the nature of existence through the karma and samsara doctrines, as in other Indian religions.
Many forms of Hinduism believe in a type of monotheistic God, such as Krishnaism with polymorphic theism, some schools of Vedanta, and Arya Samaj.
[15][64] Several medieval Muslim scholars, such as al-Biruni and Amir Khusrau, described Hinduism as fundamentally monotheistic in nature, and attributed polytheistic worship to a lack of education.
[65] Madhvacharya (1238–1317 CE) developed the Dvaita theology wherein Vishnu was presented as a monotheistic God, similar to major world religions.
[70] Furthermore, many adherents consider the similarities to be superficial and insubstantial; for example, Madhvacharya postulates three co-eternal fundamental realities, consisting of Supreme Being (Vishnu or paramatman), individual Self (jīvātman), and inanimate matter.
According to Jan Gonda, Brahman denoted the "power immanent in the sound, words, verses and formulas of Vedas" in the earliest Vedic texts.
[81][88] Brahman is a Vedic Sanskrit word, and it is conceptualized in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, as the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".
[98] In dualistic schools of Hinduism such as the theistic Dvaita Vedanta, Brahman is different from Atman (Self) in each being, and therein it shares conceptual framework of God in major world religions.
[113] The two had parallels in the ancient pantheistic unmanifest and theistic manifest traditions, respectively, and traceable to Arjuna-Krishna dialogue in the Bhagavad Gita.
[114] Nirguna and Saguna Brahman concepts of the Bhakti movement has been a baffling one to scholars, particularly the Nirguni tradition because it offers, states David Lorenzen, "heart-felt devotion to a God without attributes, without even any definable personality".
[123] The term is seldom used to refer to other forms of Krishna and Vishnu within the context of certain religious texts such as the Bhagavata Purana, and also within other sects of Vaishnavism.
The theological interpretation of Svayam Bhagavān differs with each tradition and the literal translation of the term has been understood in several distinct ways.
[135][137] Gaudiya Vaishnavas and followers of the Pushtimarg tradition and Nimbarka Sampradaya use the Gopala Tapani Upanishad,[138] and the Bhagavata Purana, to support their view that Krishna is indeed the Svayam Bhagavan.
[122] In other sub-traditions of Vaishnavism, Krishna is one of many aspects and avatars of Vishnu (Rama is another, for example), recognized and understood from an eclectic assortment of perspectives and viewpoints.
