Role Of Pantheism In Hinduism

Is Hinduism more monotheists, polytheist, pantheist, or something else entirely? Hinduism is one of the most popular religions in the world today. Hinduism is unique because they don’t have a scripture or a specific founder. Because of this, their general conceptions of God are different. Hinduism is a mix of all general conceptions. Hinduism in a way is polytheist, because they believe Kalpa. Hinduism is also monotheists and it is best to understand through their belief of God. At last, Hinduism is considered as Atheism because Jainism is part of Hinduism and Samkhya, a Hindu philosopher, also agrees with this philosophy.

One reason why Hinduism is polytheist is because they believe Kalpa. “Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are derived from the Brahman,

Brahma performs the function of a creator, Vishnu that of a preserver and Shiva that of the destroyer” (Puran1:4). This shows that Brahman manifests in three forms. Brahma is the one who created the world. Vishnu is the one who preserves the world. Shiva is the one who destroys it at the end. This is the lifetime of the universe, which is known as Kalpa. They all have their own occupation and function. There are three Gods involved in the life time of the universe, therefore, Hinduism in one way is considered as polytheism. In addition, Hinduism had about “three hundred millions of Gods,” (TheBuddhaGarden), which also shows their conception of polytheism.
However, Hinduism in one way is also considered as monotheists, it’s best to understand through their belief of God.

There are about three hundred millions of Gods in Hinduism, but “these gods are just an incarnation of one God— Brahman” (TheBuddhaGarden). This is similar to the Christian’s concept of Trinity. The bible used the word “God” to describe Father, son, and Holy Sprits, but there is only one God because there is only one universal form of all Gods. Accordingly, both religions believed that God has been manifested in different ways. Even though it seems like the Hindus are worshipping different Gods, whether it is Shiva or Vishnu, they are just different forms of Brahman and “Brahman is the supreme God that cannot be fully know or understood” (Cooper 1). Therefore, Hinduism in one way is considered as

monotheists.
At last, Hinduism is also considered as Atheism because Jainism is part of Hinduism. One Indologist describes the relationship between Jainism and Hinduism as “Historically, Jainism has always enjoyed a place under the umbrella of Hindu pluralism” (Elst 7.11). This simply means that Jainism is part of Hinduism. Therefore, part of Hinduism would be Atheism, a person disbelieves in God, because “Jains do not believe in a God” (BBC 1). In addition, Samkhya, a Hindu philosopher, also agree with the existence of Atheist belief in Hinduism:
“If the existence of karma is assumed, the proposition of God as a moral governor of the universe is unnecessary.

For, if God enforces the consequences of actions then he can do so without karma. If however, he is assumed to be within the law of karma, then karma itself would be the giver of consequences and there would be no need of a God” (Praveshika).

This means that God is not a superpower and therefore he doesn’t have the control over everything. If by doing Dharma gets good Karma, there is no need for God and thus God doesn’t exist in some Hindus’ mind. Consequently, Hinduism is neither monotheist nor polytheist or any other general conceptions of God. Based on these evidences, Hinduism in one way is considered as Atheist.

Overall, Hinduism is very complicated because it’s a religion with all general conceptions of God. Hinduism could be considered as polytheism, monotheism, Atheism, and all other conceptions. Maybe because of this uniqueness, Hinduism becomes a popular religion with millions and millions of

followers.