Is Hinduism Monotheistic?

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I was a bit stunned recently while listening to a professor at a California State University lecturing on Hinduism. He strongly asserted that, “Many people mistakenly think that the Hindus are polytheistic, worshipping a number of gods; this is not precisely the case. The Hindu people are monotheists.” Oh Really?

So, the question that I am addressing in this Coffee Talk is simply this: is Hinduism monotheistic? While this question is easy enough, the answer is not as simple as it may seem at first blush. It actually becomes all the more confusing and complicated when we add the question of Hinduism’s pantheistic and monistic teachings.

Certainly the belief systems of the Hindus varies depending on which sect they belong to. However, even with the multiple philosophies, there are a few points that are common to all Hindus: belief in Dharma, reincarnation, karma, moksha (liberation and bliss, i.e., nirvana, from the cycle of rebirth), the power of mantras, many manifestations of gods and goddesses, and the idea that the essential spark of the divine (Brahman) is in every human and living being (Atman). All of these allow for a multiplicity of spiritual paths that are suposed to lead a person to the One Unitary Truth.

Henotheism, Monism, Monotheism, Pantheism, and Polytheism
A larger and more complex question is this: is Hinduism henotheistic, monistic, monotheistic, pantheistic, or polytheistic? Or, is Hinduism an amalgamation of more than one of these? Oddly, Hinduism seems to have characteristics of henotheism, monism, monotheism, pantheism, and polytheism. I say that this is odd is because a religion cannot be both polytheistic and monotheistic. A religion with multiple gods is polytheistic. Polytheism is the doctrine of or belief in more than one god or in many gods while monotheism is the doctrine or belief that there is only one God. (For now, this generalized definition of monotheism will suffice, but there is more to the definition of monotheism as we shall see below.) Thus, it is simply a logical impossibility for a religion to be both polytheistic and monotheistic. The reason some argue that Hinduism is not polytheistic is that Hinduism’s many gods are not thought of as separate gods in and of themselves; rather, they are seen as emanations from the one single Supreme Being (Brahman). The Upanishads depict Brahman as the eternal, conscious, infinite, omnipresent, spiritual source of the universe. However, while it may be philosophically argued that they are not polytheists per se, they are polytheistic in practice.

Polytheism and Henotheism
The primary reason that Hinduism is viewed as a polytheistic religion is the great number of Hindu gods. The Vedas describe the mythologies and rituals related to multiple deities. Furthermore, modern Hinduism has three main deities: Shiva, Vishnu, and Shakti (the Mother Goddess). Also, modern Hinduism has a myriad of local community gods.

Next, some Hindus have chosen to worship only one of the many Hindu gods, but at the same time they continue to acknowledge the existence of the other Hindu gods. However, the selection and worship of one god among many gods is not monotheism but henotheism. Henotheism is the belief in and the worship of one god while accepting the existence of other gods.

Monism and Pantheism
It is often pointed out that the many gods of Hinduism are simply various forms (or emanations) of a single Supreme Being (Brahman). This is where the idea of monotheism comes in. After all, belief in a single supreme being is monotheism. The claim is that the many gods of Hinduism are in reality all part of the one, single, Supreme Being. Therefore, some argue, Hinduism is monotheistic. But is it?

Hinduism is certainly monistic and pantheistic. Monism is “The doctrine that mind and matter are formed from, or reducible to, the same ultimate substance or principle of being” (“Monism” American Heritage® Dictionary, Internet). No statement on this topic (i.e., Hinduism’s monism) could be more clear or more in keeping with the dictionary’s definition than Noss’s statement in A History of the World’s Religions, when he states: “The All-Soul [deity] is the very stuff of which the human soul is formed. And the Upanishads vary in considering whether this stuff is mental or material stuff. . . . We may therefore equate Brahman, the objective All, and Atman, the inner self, and call the ultimate reality henceforth Brahman-Atman, recognizing thereby that the objective and subjective are one” (Noss 94).

Next, Pantheism is defined as “the doctrine that God is the transcendent reality of which the material universe and human beings are only manifestations” (“Pantheism” American Heritage® Dictionary, Internet). Pantheism is simply the view that god is identical with the universe and entirely immanent in the world: god is the universe and the universe is god. Many Hindus believe exactly that.

Pantheism and monism are fair and accurate representations of Hindu ideology (philosophy and theology). The philosophical texts of Hinduism promote a pantheistic view of ultimate reality. They (specifically the Upanishads) explain that there exists a single Supreme Reality, called Brahman. The ultimate revelation of the Upanishads is that the self (Atman) is identical with Brahman. Morales explains: “The empirical reality that we perceive around us is composed of matter. Whether we are referring to the buildings we reside in, the many possessions we strive for, or the very bodies with which we identify so intimately, all objects are composed of the prakriti, or the prime material energy, of God” (Morales, Internet). A more monistic-pantheistic statement would be hard to find.

Monotheism
The shortcoming of the definition of monotheism given above is that while monotheism literally means belief in the existence of one God, the term also means a belief in the one God who created all else (all other than himself; he is the uncaused cause) and that he is distinct from and transcendent over (beyond) the universe. True monotheism has no elements of pantheism or monism in it.

For example, the Jews never applied elements of pantheism or monism to their view of God. The firmness of Jewish monotheism is that there is an infinite, qualitative difference between the Creator and creation. Again, in true monotheism there is an infinite, qualitative difference between God and creation.

T. J. Meek has such a strong and clear statement on this issue that it will be educational to quote him at length:

If monotheism means anything at all, it means, as the dictionaries assert, "the belief that there is but one God," and if this means anything at all it means that a monotheist is one who believes that there is only one God (with a capital g) and definitely does not believe in the existence of any others. Hence there cannot be grades of monotheism. A man either believes in the existence of one God only or he does not. There can be grades of approximation to monotheism, but not of monotheism itself. It is accordingly most unscientific to call something monotheism that is not monotheism, and yet this is continually being done. For various reasons the world came to think that monotheism is a higher form of religion than polytheism or henotheism. Hence the word is often applied to a form of religion that is not strictly monotheistic by the false argumentation (so common today) that you can make something almost anything that you wish by calling it that (Meek 22).

Stated more succinctly, the Catholic Encyclopedia defines monotheism well: “In contrast with Pantheism, it is belief in a God of conscious freedom, distinct from the physical world” (Emphasis Added, New Advent, Internet). Another excellent definition comes from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “Theists believe that reality's ultimate principle is God — an omnipotent, omniscient, goodness that is the creative ground of everything other than itself. Monotheism is the view that there is only one such God” (emphasis added, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet).

Conclusion
In attempting to distinguish and categorize the important elements of the Hindu concept of god, we find an astonishingly numerous and complex variety of ideas. Next, when attempting to inventory, delineate, and label the characteristics of the Hindu god(s), some may very well object and say that our assessment is quite unfair. However, the task of this Coffee Talk is concerned primarily with answering the question, is Hinduism monotheistic?

Taking all of the above into consideration, we now briefly review and come to our conclusions:

1. It appears that Hinduism can reasonably be described as henotheistic: “the worship of a particular god, as by a family or tribe, without disbelieving in the existence of others.”
2. It appears that Hinduism can reasonably be described as monistic: “mind and matter are formed from, or reducible to, the same ultimate substance or principle of being”: Brahman.
3. It appears that Hinduism can reasonably be described as pantheistic: “that God is the transcendent reality of which the material universe and human beings are only manifestations”: Atman.
4. It appears that Hinduism can reasonably be described as polytheistic: “the doctrine of or belief in more than one god or in many gods.”
5. It appears that Hinduism cannot reasonably be described as monotheistic: “the belief in a single (one and only) God of conscious freedom, creator of but distinct from the physical world.”

Hinduism is primarily pantheistic-monism with polytheistic and henotheistic elements. The god (Brahman) of Hinduism is most often worshipped in the form of multiple deities.

As Meek has said, “There can be grades of approximation to monotheism, but not of monotheism itself” (Meek 22).

While Hinduism has an approximation to monotheism, i.e., a single ultimate reality of Atman/Brahman, this can at best be described as a pantheistic-monistic monotheism.

However, a pantheistic-monotheism or monistic-monotheism — while perhaps an approximation to monotheism — is not monotheism.

 

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References

“Henotheism” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000. 8 June 2007 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/henotheism>

“Hinduism” Religion for Schools, 2001. 7 June 2007 <www.world-faiths.com/Hinduism/hinduism.htm>.

Meek, Theophile James. “Monotheism and the Religion of Israel.” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 61, No. 1. (Mar., 1942), pp. 21-43.

“Monism” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000. 8 June 2007 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/monism>

“Monotheism” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005. 10 June 2007 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monotheism >

Morales, Frank. University of Wisconsin-Madison, “The Three Gunas: The Metaphysical Grounding of Physical Reality.” HinduNet Inc. 1994-2003. 10 June 2007 <www.hinduweb.org/home/dharma_and_philosophy/vvh/vvhtriguna.htm>

New Advent. “Monotheism” The Catholic Encyclopedia. 2007. 10 June 2007 <www.newadvent.org/cathen/10499a.htm>

Noss, David S., A History of World's Religions (10th Edition). Prentice Hall, 1999.