Hinduism is NOT a Polytheistic Religion

Here I'd like to explain probably the most common misconception in Hinduism. This is that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. Please stop. Hinduism is NOT a polytheistic religion. There are NOT some hundred thousand Gods in Hinduism. Clear quotes from the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda and the Bhagavad-Gita declare that there is only one God and only He is worthy of worship. The immediate question that will arise in most minds will be "This is the first time I'm hearing this. What about all your other gods? What about Indra? What about Ganesh? Aren't they gods in your religion?" The answer is no.

It seems to me that part of the reason this misconception even came to be, is the "broken telephone" that occurs when one translates from one language to another. In Sanskrit and Hindi these deities are not (when referred to correctly) referred to as "Gods". They are referred to as "Devas". The "gods" (which is wrongly translated due to a lack of a better term) many people mistake to be the equivalent of the Almighty are actually not. A more accurate translation of the word "deva" is "celestial beings". These celestial beings are God-created beings whom in most cases are for more physically, intellectually, and/or spiritually advanced than we are. For lack of a better comparison, I suppose a close analogy would be to compare these celestial beings to the concept of "angels".

As stated in the Bhagavad-Gita, these celestial beings are not deemed (by God) worthy of worship (at least by the ideal definition of worship which is when one worships God out of pure love and devotion, for spiritual growth only as opposed to worship for material gains which many people of different people do knowingly or unknowingly and whether they do it to a named deity or not). These celestial beings are however very frequently worshipped in order to obtain their assistance in materialistic matters pertaining to wealth, success, happiness, health, etc. Likely the next question that would come to mind would be "Ok, if these deities are not God, then why worship them for material happiness at all? Why not just ask God directly?" The simple reason is that God may not grant any material boons to a requestor.

A very fundamental concept in Hinduism is that of complete emotional detachment from the material world. Anyone requesting anything materialistic is obviously attached to material pleasure (else why request it?). Attachment to material pleasure would never be condoned by God. It is one of the major goals of life to learn that everything in this material existence on earth is transient, temporary and exists only as a stage on which to perform your piece (this illusion is known as "maya"), so that you may learn the next spiritual lesson. Upon the true realisation of this ultimate truth a soul will finally see no pleasure or worth in this false reality and will eventually see that the only real truth is God. When the soul completely surrenders itself to God, true Moskha (liberation) is attained.

Another question that may come up is "If God is aware of the fact that these 'devas' are handing out material boons, then why doesn't he stop it?". To understand this, you must understand that in Hinduism there is no concept of sin = punishment. Only error=education. God prescribes total detachment from materialism. Meaning, "dont bother praying for the money, because you shouldn't even care about the money". If however, one is to choose money over God (as would be the case in someone who prays to a deva for money), then God is not threatened or angered by this. He sees that this mistake of ours is only out of our ignorance - like children. So though we may temporary benefit monetarily through prayer to the deva, in the long term (this lifetime or another) the karmic cycle will kick in, and teach us that there are more important things than money. When we learn this, the value of money will be lost to us, and the value of God will increase to us. Our education will (in that respect at least) be successful.

You are in the circumstances you are because of your previous deeds. Through the educational system of Karma, you've been now placed in the appropriate circumstances to learn why your previous mistakes were wrong. It would defeat the entire purpose of this world and the Karmic system if God were to toss presents to all those who request them. Live your life and live through all hardships. They are the fruits of your Karma.

In summary, the "gods" (properly called devas) are all beings like us but superior. They have the power (as we have the power to give to lower species) to bless us with material bliss, but as is clearly stated by Hinduism, no one is worthy of worship except God Himself. Only worshipping Him will take you to Him. Worship to any other deity can only be for materialistic purposes.
 

One may now be left with the question: "Ok, this addresses the Ganesh, Indra, Agni... etc issue, but what about the Holy Trinity? What about Brahma Vishnu and Shiva as a Trinity? Does that not imply that you have 3 Gods? Does this not imply that Hinduism is a 'Tri-Theistic' religion?". The simple answer is "no". Hinduism is still not polytheistic or 'tri-theistic'. The understand why this is true, please move on to my article on "Important Hindu Deities". After reading all the content on this website, your understanding should reach a level that allows you to see why words like "polytheistic", "monotheistic", "pantheistic" etc are not sufficient to explain Hindu religious philosophy and belief. Hindu Philosophy seems complex until one learns to transcend the foggy eyeglass of over-simplistic "book of rules" religions.

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