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Introduction
From its beginning, Hinduism has been undergoing evolution. At a very early stage of their civilisation the ancestors of the Hindus are believed to have been polytheistic. Earth, water, fire, wind, sky, sun, dawn, night, thunderstorm – all were deified and adored as gods. But while being praised by the Vedic hymns, each of these gods was addressed or referred to as the Supreme God, the Lord of all gods, and the Creator of this universe. According to the famous German Indologist Max Muller, the earliest ancestors of the Hindus were, therefore, not polytheistic; they were henotheistic.
Gradually the Indo-Aryan mind discovered some common ground behind this multiplicity of gods. The Nasadiya Hymn, or the “Creation Hymn” of the Rig-Veda tells us in beautiful and poetic language about a single primordial and extremely abstract principle designated THAT, from which the entire world has evolved. This principle is Pure Consciousness or Pure Spirit. It is beyond the world of space and time, beyond multiplicity, unfathomable and unknowable by ordinary human minds. That principle was there when neither the gods, nor men, nor anything else in creation existed. From that One and Only principle the world of Many has evolved. The Indo-Aryan genius at last arrived at the One and Only cause of everything, the One and Only God, who in Vedic Sanskrit is called Brahman. After that divine revelation the Vedic texts echoed the truth of the Oneness of Brahman again and again.
Vedic statements like “Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti” – “One alone exists, sages call It by various names,” not only emphasise the oneness of God, but also form a firm foundation of catholicity and tolerance in Hinduism. The idea of harmony of religions is a fundamental ingredient of Hinduism.
The great sage Manu declared, “One ought to know the Supreme Spirit Who is the Ruler of all, subtler than the subtlest, of resplendent glory, and capable of being realised only by the mediation of pure-minded ones. Some call Him Agni (Fire); others call Him Manu (Thinker); and others Prajapati (Lord of creatures). Some again call Him Indra (the Glorious); others Prana (the Source of Life); and still others the Eternal Brahman (the Great).
Nirguna Brahman
If we ask, “Who was there before creation?” then the logical reply will be that only the creator, or God, was there. But if we ask, “What was God like before creation?” then Hinduism’s reply will be that God was in a transcendental state of existence before creation. The word “transcendental” means that God’s existence was beyond our time, space and causation. Hinduism holds that when God created the world he created time and space along with it. His pre-creation existence must, therefore, have been beyond time and space since they pertain only to this world.
To make this idea clear, let us take the help of an analogy. Let us consider a person who has fallen asleep and is dreaming. In his dream world, he exists in dream space and dream time, both of which he created with his mind when he created his dream world. He no longer belongs to the time and space of his waking state. In the dream state he has transcended the time and space of his waking state.
In the same manner, God’s pre-creation existence must have been transcendental existence, because God then did not belong to the time and space pertaining to this world. God’s existence in that state may be called the True State of the Existence of God. In that state God is beyond all limitations imposed by time, space and causation. God in that transcendental state is eternal, infinite and changeless.
In Hinduism, God in this transcendental state of existence is called Nirguna Brahman, the Supreme Spirit, the Supreme Brahman, or the Impersonal and Attributeless God.
Nirguna Brahman cannot have a personality. Personality is a limitation. Being devoid of a personality, Nirguna Brahman is also beyond sex. Neither the pronoun “He” nor “She” can be used to denote Nirguna Brahman. The Vedas use the Sanskrit neuter pronoun Tat, the counterpart of the English word That, indicating that Nirguna Brahman is neither male nor female.
Transcending space, Nirguna Brahman is Infinite. Transcending time, Nirguna Brahman is Timeless or Eternal. Free from the ceaseless change generated by causation, Nirguna Brahman is Changeless.
Attribute or quality is a factor of separation. For example, the power of burning is a quality of fire. It separates fire from water, which lacks that quality. As Nirguna Brahman is One, Indivisible and Infinite, It cannot accommodate any kind of separation within Itself. Therefore, Nirguna Brahman must be attributeless, or free from all qualities.
Hinduism also uses the expressions “Absolute Truth,” “Consciousness,” and “Infinite Bliss” to mean Nirguna Brahman. But no matter what epithets are used. Nirguna Brahman can never be adequately described by the finite words and expressions of our world of limitations. Nirguna Brahman is indescribable. The great Hindu saint and philosopher Shankaracharya says that Vedic statements such as Sat-Chid-Anandam – “Brahman is Eternal Existence, Absolute Knowledge and Infinite Bliss” – are only hints about the nature of Nirguna Brahman. They are never the description of Nirguna Brahman.
Ishvara
When man tries to think of the infinite Brahman with his finite mind, he unknowingly projects the limitation of his finite mind on Nirguna Brahman. As a result, Nirguna Brahman appears to become finite to him. The human mind can never think other than in human terms. It unknowingly projects human characteristics or qualities on Nirguna Brahman. Thus impersonal Nirguna Brahman acquires a personality very much resembling a human personality, no matter how glorified. Impersonal Nirguna Brahman appears to become Personal Brahman or Personal God. In reality Nirguna Brahman does not undergo any change or modification whatsoever. Personal God is no other than Impersonal God or Nirguna Brahman experienced through the veil of time, space and causation. It is like a person looking at the blue sky through three pairs of glasses, red, green and pink. When he uses his red glasses, the sky look reddish; when he uses green glasses, the sky looks greenish; and when he looks through his pink glasses, the sky appears pinkish. In reality these colours are projected by the viewer’s coloured glasses on the sky. The sky does not change colour at all. Similarly, the finite minds of people, like so many coloured glasses, project their limitations on Nirguna Brahman. The changeless and infinite Nirguna Brahman appears to acquire limitations like personality. In reality Nirguna Brahman does not undergo any change whatsoever. From Nirguna Brahman’s standpoint Nirguna Brahman remains changeless. The idea of Personal God is therefore not the ultimate truth about God according to Hinduism. It is a relatively lower concept of God. Nevertheless, Personal God and Impersonal God are not essentially different from each other. Just as the reddish sky and the greenish sky are really the same sky, so also Personal God is no other than Impersonal God. They are essentially the one and the same.
Personal God in Hinduism is called Saguna Brahman or Ishvara. From the standpoint of man posited in the world of time, space and causation, Ishvara or Saguna Brahman is the creator of this world. He is omnipotent, omniscient and all-pervading. By His mere will He manifests Himself as the manifold universe. Although formless, by His divine magical power, Maya, He assumes various forms. By His maya He has created the world with good and evil in it. Even though the world is in Him, He is beyond the good and evil of the world. He is like a cobra, which is not affected by the poison in its mouth. Its poison affects others only.
Ishvara is not only the creator, but the preserver and destroyer as well. Creation, preservation and destruction go hand in hand in this world. Ishvara, therefore, has three basic aspects: (1) the creator aspect, (2) the preserver aspect and (3) the destroyer aspect. These three basic aspects of Ishvara are given the names Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. When Ishvara creates, He is called Brahma; when He preserves, He is called Vishnu; and when He destroys, He is called Shiva.
Ishvara is sexless. Yet the Hindus can look upon Ishvara as both father and mother. According to the devotees’ mental attitudes they can establish other relationships with Ishvara as well. They can look upon Ishvara as friend, child, or even husband or sweetheart, for such relationships are nothing but mental projections on Ishvara. Many great women saints of Hinduism considered themselves to be spiritually married to God. They looked upon God as their Divine Husband or Divine Sweeheart. Some women saints looked upon God as their Divine Child. Many saints of Hinduism like Kamalakanta, Ramprasad, Shri Ramakrishna and others looked upon God as the Divine Mother. Such relationships were purely mental and completely devoid of any kind of association with the physical body.
According to Shri Ramakrishna, the famous 19th century saint of India, such attitudes toward God can generate feelings of great closeness between God and the devotees, and thus hasten God-realisation.
Ishvara is also the originator and upholder of the eternal moral order in this world. This moral order or basic law, which is called Rita in Sanskrit, maintains the regularity and orderliness of everything in this universe including the stars and planets.
Deities in Hinduism
Aside from the three basic aspects, Ishvara has endless powers or aspects. One or more of these aspects can be personified as a deity in Hinduism. For instance, when a Hindu thinks of Ishvara as the giver of knowledge and learning, that aspect of Ishvara is personified as the deity Sarasvati. In the same manner, the deity Lakshmi personifies Ishvara as the giver of wealth and prosperity.
It should be clearly understood that the deities are not so many different gods, they are the personifications of various aspects of one and the same Ishvara.
Devas and Devis: Beings with Shining Bodies
Certain created beings who has done a lot of meritorious work while on earth are promoted after their death to hold various exalted positions. These exalted beings acquire special bodies which give out light. The Sanskrit word div means “to shine.” These beings, therefore, are called Devas (masculine) or Devis (feminine) depending upon whether they are male or female.
The greatest of the Devas is Hiranyagarbha, who has infinite powers. He was the first being created by God (Ishvara). Even though a created being, Hiranyagarbha has almost God-like powers. He is Cosmic Intelligence. By Ishvara’s will, Hiranyagarbha created this world. Hiranyagarbha is the first manifestation of God (Ishvara), therefore, he deserves the adoration of all. All other Devas and Devis exist in Hiranyagarbha, because Hiranyagarbha is infinite and comprises the entire world. Adoration of any one of them, therefore, is like adoring Hiranyagarbha himself. Sometimes the Puranas deify Hiranyagarbha and raise him to the level of Ishvara. Then he is called Brahma, the creator.
Except for Hiranyagarbha, these beings are not spiritually illuminated or liberated souls. They acquire exalted positions as a result of their meritorious deeds done on earth. When the effect of their meritorious deeds is worn out they have to be born again as human beings.
Presiding Devas or Devis
Hinduism speaks of presiding Devas or Devis – in Sanskrit, Adhishthatri Deva and Adhishthatri Devi – who control various animate and inanimate domains of this universe. These domains can be either subtle or gross, or very large or small. For example, Indra is the presiding Deva or the controller of the arms and hands of all people. Similarly, Hiranyagarbha is the presiding Deva of the sum total of all individual minds in this universe. Or, in other words, Hiranyagarbha considers the sum total of all minds as his own mind. In the same way, the presiding Deva of the sum total of all material bodies in this universe is Virat. Virat considers the entire material universe as his own body. To explain, let us consider a human body. A body is like a skin-bound universe for all the minute life forms existing in it. We also know that a human body has white blood corpuscles. They seem to have a keen sense of duty to protect the body from harmful intruders. As soon as some germs enter the body, the white blood corpuscles attack them. Had it been possible for someone to talk to a white blood corpuscle and say, “Look, you live in a skin-bound universe. There is a being who thinks that this universe is his body. He is the presiding Deva of your universe.” Then the white blood corpuscle would most probably say, “Are you kidding?”
We are very much like that white blood corpuscle. Our mental conditioning makes it hard for us to accept the idea of a presiding Deva or Devi, but it will not be prudent to dismiss the idea as ridiculous. If we are unbiased, we have to admit that the existence of such beings is not impossible. Hinduism asserts that such beings do exist.
Divine Incarnations
According to Hinduism, when religion declines and irreligion prevails, God out of His compassion incarnates on earth to revitalise religion. Then He is called a Divine Incarnation, or Avatara in Sanskrit. Since the beginning of creation God has incarnated many times and He will again do so in the future whenever such necessity arises. The first few times God incarnated in the form of subhuman beings. He incarnated first as a fish, then as a turtle, and after that as a boar. Then He incarnated as a combination of beast and man. All His subsequent incarnations were in human form.
Science tells us that early life forms on earth were fish or aquatic animals. Then came amphibians such as turtles. They were followed by land animals like boars. After them the first ancestors of man made their appearance. They were not quite human; they were a combination of both man and animal. Gradually they evolved into human beings. The resemblance between the Divine Incarnations of the earlier period and evolving life forms on earth is indeed quite striking.
One may wonder why God incarnated in forms other than human. To explain this, Hinduism draws our attention to the fact that all creatures were created by one and the same compassionate God. God’s infinite compassion, which causes His descent on earth as a Divine Incarnation, should be the same for both human and subhuman beings. Otherwise God becomes biased and partial, an idea which is not acceptable.
A Pauranic scripture of Hinduism, the Shrimad Bhagavata, mentions the possibility of innumerable Divine Incarnations. Some other scriptures mention only ten.
The Vedas, however, do not speak of Divine Incarnations. They speak of the Rishis or sages. But not all sages were of the same spiritual caliber; a few of them outshone the others in their spiritual attainments. In a later period when the different schools of Hindu philosophy were developed, these exalted sages came to be known as Adhikari Purushas – persons endowed with superhuman power or authority. The Adhikari Purushas, though human, could not be put in the category of other human beings because they were extraordinary. Sankhya, the most ancient school of Hindu religious philosophy, would call an Adhikari Purusha Ishvarakoti or Kalpaniyamaka Ishvara.
The phenomenon of a Divine Incarnation has always been present, but was not interpreted correctly during the Vedic period or when the Sankhya or other schools of philosophy were developed in India. Only in the much later Pauranic period was the phenomenon correctly interpreted. The post-Vedic Adhikari Purusha, Ishvarakoti, or Kalpaniyamaka Ishvara was no other than the Divine Incarnation of the Pauranic period. This is the view of some Hindu scholars.
God incarnates on earth to fulfill two purposes: (1) to inspire and (2) to liberate. He inspires mankind through example. He willingly takes upon Himself human limitations. Then through intense spiritual practice He goes beyond them and manifests His spiritual perfection. It should be understood here that as He is perfect from His very birth, the Divine Incarnation does not really need any spiritual practice to attain perfection. Nevertheless, to inspire others He goes through various spiritual disciplines and thereby manifests His perfection to set an example for mankind. Just as a hen, which itself is not hungry, may pick at and gobble up birdseed to teach its young ones how to eat, so also a Divine Incarnation, for the sake of mankind, goes through various spiritual austerities in order to teach them how to attain perfection through spiritual practice.
The Divine Incarnation liberates from their sins those who completely surrender to Him, and helps them attain perfection. Shri Krishna, a Divine Incarnation, says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Abandoning all rites and duties take refuge in me alone. Do not grieve; for I shall liberate you from all sins.”