Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and the Christian Trinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. In comparing Trinity and Trimurti, religious scholar, Anuradha Veeravali (Indian Philosophies, Encyclopedia of Religion) draws parallels between Brahma and God, Vishnu and the Holy Spirit, and Shiva and Jesus, but persists in the common idea that Christianity is a monotheistic faith while Hinduism is polytheistic. However, Bede Griffiths, a Christian priest living in India, has dared to challenge this firm notion of polytheism, offering comparisons between the Christian Trinity and a different Hindu Triad- Brahman /Atman/Purusha - to conclude that both faiths ultimately share a belief in the One Supreme power. Scrutinizing both comparisons- that between the Trimurti and Trinity and the one between the ‘other’ Triad and Trinity- we can establish that Hinduism, like Christianity, can be considered as a monotheistic faith.
Anuradha Veeravali argues that like the Christian concept of the Trinity of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit, a Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva also exists within Hinduism. Outlining the main functions of the three deities that make up the Hindu Trinity, the author parallels their roles with their counterparts in the Christian Trinity. Explaining this stand further, the author says that Brahma is analogous to God (in the Christian concept) as he, too, is regarded as the creator; Vishnu is the all pervading (Holy) Spirit, and Shiva’s like Jesus in Christianity and Mohammad in Islam: Shiva’s function, in her words, is to ‘destroy the duality of unity and plurality. Thus he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, marking at once the destruction of plurality and the realiza...
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...monotheistic religion. The creation of the world and the comparison of the Brahman with the Word clearly point towards a belief in the Brahman as the One Supreme power of creation. The analogies present between the fundamental concepts of Brahman, Atman and Purusha and the Trinity in Christianity lead us to believe that both these religions follow different paths to the same Universal Truth.
Works Cited
• Triads- Geoffrey Parrinder (Encyclopedia of Religion)
• Indian Philosophies- Anuradha Veeravali (Encyclopedia of Religion)
• The Great Triad- René Guénon, Henry D. Fohr, S. D. Fohr
• Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought- Wayne Teasdale
• A Survey of Hinduism- Klaus K. Klostermaier
• The Upanishads
• The Bible
• Britannica- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45474/avatar
• Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panini
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God. There are three of the most influential monotheistic religions in world history today known as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions share both vast similarities and differences. One significant similarity they share is the belief in one deity. The belief of one God gave many people guidance and purpose in their lives. For this reason, these three religions gained many followers and believers who had faith in God. Through faithfulness in God, many were promised eternal paradise. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the similarities and differences between the rituals, holy scripts, and salvation that these religions shared.
In our study of the Hinduism, the class visited The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC). This active temple is a house of worship that serves thousands of devotees as they pay hamage to a diverse variuety of Idol and spiritual gods. Taughted as one of the oldest religions in the world, it accepts all religious belief systems and God. In fact, the Temple is designed to accommodate any and many gods to include the practices and rites of the devotees. Our volunteer tour guide explained the Hindu theology in lthis way. There is one god identified as Para-Brahman. This god expressed his engery or power through three vessels called Trinity. This Trinity is represented by the deities of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Each deity has a purpose and function in the ordering of all things. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer, purger, or redeemer. Vishnu manifest through various incarnated avataras to preserve good. The incarnation Rama is the ruling deity of the temple. Additionally, our host explained good or bad karma ended at the death of a person but the soul or atman continued to the next existence. This cycle would continue until the alman dharma produced enough good karma to elevated the atman to salvation or Mosksha. Moreover, as the guide prayed to the sun god on our behalf, he verbally honored each member of the team as a god. When asked about the type of text or holy book the religion uses to support its rituals and practices, the host mentioned four. He commented a...
Many people believe Hinduism to be a polytheistic religion. This is due to the fact that there is so many gods that they can worship in. But in all actuality it is really a monotheistic religion that spawns off of one god to form many different gods or ideas to worship. The entire religion of Hinduism is based off of Brahman. Brahman is the idea that all reality is a unity. I will explain the concept of Brahman and four others and hopefully make Hinduism easier to comprehend.
Hinduism and Christianity are two religions that have been around for thousands of years. Both of these religions have developed many philosophies on different aspects that can be compared to show their similarities and differences. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things. Based on humanity, our society follows some of the rules also because of the religion and laws. From the holy literature, there have been many different concepts that have been pledged but they all are supposed to lead you to the same effects such as a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us humans, and some kind of freedom after death. Some of the main subjects that can be reflected upon after learning of the history and fundamentals of these religions are the paths to enlightenment and/or salvation, the style of treating women through religions aspects, and the afterlife. This paper will give an analytic comparison of these two religions relating to the topics.
Halverson, Dean C. Hinduism: A Religion Profile from International Students, Inc. : Colorado Springs, CO : International Students (1992): 8. Print.
According to the article, Decoding the Trinity “In Hindu mythology, there are three worlds, three Goddesses, and three Gods. The three Gods include Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva who create, sustain and destroy. What is most baffling about this triad is that the sustainer and destroyer are worshipped, never the creator” (Pattanaik). This supports my claim because each Hindu follower would choose a god to worship, and each god had a different way of doing things. Each Hindu would not do the same thing as another Hindu would because they both have different gods. And Lastly, the creator of the universe which is the god Brahma is the Creator God he creates everything. Also according to the same article, it states, “The root of this bafflement lies in a template that spellbinds the modern mind. It is the Western template, informed greatly by the Bible, where God is the creator making the Devil the destroyer. To understand the Hindu trinity one needs to break free from this Western template” (Pattanaik). Since the Vedas’ are the holy scriptures in Hinduism they play an important role in a Hindu life. This in-depth explains what goes on for the Hindu people and what is beneficial for
Both Islam and Christianity are coinciding in that they are monotheistic, meaning they only believe in on...
Hinduism is both a monotheistic and a polytheistic religion, on some accounts, even atheistic. This all depends on how the practice is interpreted and exercised. Because it is the oldest religion, its specifics often get confused due to the followings of its old scripture.Hinduism is similar to Christianity with them each having around a billion followers. Also, they both seek a sort of salvation, and though Hindus do not have a set clergy, they both have priests. In contrast, worshipping for Hindus include meditation, unlike that of Christians, who engage in prayer. Christians worship but one God, yet with Hindus that is blurry margins. Salvation for Hindus is known as constantly worshipping until enlightenment, and reincarnation continues until
Hinduism and Christianity are two religions that have been around for thousands of years. These religions have developed philosophies on certain subjects that can be compared in order to show their similarities and differences. Some of the main subjects that can be reflected upon are the paths to enlightenment or salvation, the religions' treatment of women, and the concept of the afterlife. This paper will give an analytic comparison of these religions through the discussion of these topics.
Christianity inherited from its parent religion, Judaism, a monotheistic belief that there is only one true God, who is personal, the creator of all things, all-powerful, holy, loving, forgiving, and yet opposed to sin and evil. Christian monotheism, however, is fundamentally shaped by belief in Jesus. Christianity can be under-stood as a doctrine concerning Jesus, an experience of communion with Jesus, an ethic taught by Jesus, a community in relationship to Jesus, and a social institution emerging from the life and ministry of Jesus. Alongside the stress on Jesus is an experience of life in the Holy Spirit. From the earliest period Christians have worshiped God as
In Christianity one of their primary beliefs is the idea of a Triune God, which means the belief of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one entity not three separate beings. This would result in God being indivisible and could not be divided into three different parts for an ...
The conception of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is monotheism, the belief in the existence of a single indivisible God. The three of religions maintains that there is only one God, who is active in and concerned about the world. These religions are also patriarchal, male-dominated, which has resulted in God being described as “He.” However, how Christians, Judaism and Islam conceptualize God in their respective theologies is actually quite different. In Christianity, God is the supreme creator and ruler of the universe. Christians believe God is infinite, omnipotent, all-powerful, perfect, personal, eternal, unchanging, holy, all-knowing, and all-loving. Their idea of God is shown in the belief of the Trinity. God is one, but with three aspects: God is Father, the creator, ruler, and sustainer of all life, and divine judge; God is the Son, who is Jesus, God made incarnate and savior of humanity; and the Holy Spirit, who is God working in the world. Both Muslims and Christians love and respect Jesus, however, the major difference between Islam and Christianity is the Christians insistence on the supposed divinity of Christ. In Christian scriptures, God never claimed divinity while the emphasis in the Islamic theology of God is “absolute unity;” God is sublimely one. Muslims think that by believing in the Trinity, Christians believe in three Gods. For them, God is One God. Judaism views the existence of God as a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the universe, and the existence of the universe is sufficient proof of the existence of God.
In addition, what makes Hinduism even more complex, is that fact that it is also “viewed as a monotheistic religion, because it recognizes only one supreme God: the panentheistic principle of Brahman that all reality is a unity. The entire universe is seen as one divine entity who is simultaneously at one with the universe and who transcends it as well. [Still others] view Hinduism as Trinitarian because Brahman is simultaneously visualized as a triad - - one God with three persons” (Robinson, 1995):
Hindu’s believe that just as the traditional Christian God did, that all their Gods have taken a physical form to live here on Earth. There are many Gods and Goddess throughout Hinduism so I will focus on the three main ones. The most important of these Gods is Brahman. He is considered to be the one true God and the creator of everything. He is formless, limitless, and eternal, and is believed to be a real entity that encompasses everything, seen and unseen, in the universe (Srinivasan). The second member of the Hindu trinity is Vishnu. This God is the preserver, and he maintains the order and harmony to the universe, which is periodically created by Brahman and destroyed by Shiva (Srinivasan). He is worshipped in many forms and is an important, yet somewhat mysterious God. The third God of the trinity is Shiva who is the God in charge of destroying the universe to prepare for its renewal. Followers believe that any negative energy in the vicinity can be ridden by just the utterance of this God’s name. Devotion to specific Gods on based on the individual’s own life and growing up or needs they may need addressed. Although, even when only devotion of one God is given, the others are always acknowledged. Hindus believe that the Gods all exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments, and personal devotions create a closeness to them (Nine Beliefs of
In Hinduism some of the things I found most fascinating is that the idea of God in Hindu is compounded and how they worship. There is one Supreme God and his form is unlimited. The Supreme God’s qualities and forms are represented by the numerous deities that stem from him. The deities God can form can be either male or female, allowing Hindus to pray to a god or goddess.