Earlier today, while browsing through Apollo’s blog, I came across this post, “Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion“ in which he has reviewed Richard Dawkin’s latest book. I have not yet read the book (although a lot of people are talking about it) but this excerpt from Apollo’s post caught my eye:
“But paradoxically Richard Dawkins asserts that the polytheism of the Hindu faith is nothing but ‘monotheism in disguise’.
(Richard Dawkin’s quote) There is only one God – Lord Brahma the creator, Lord Vishnu the preserver, Lord Shiva the destroyer, the godesses Saraswati, laxmi and Parvati(Wives of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), Lord Ganesh the elephant god, and hundreds of others, all are just different manifestations or incarnations of the one God (Quote End).
This is somewhat puzzling to me and It is best left to people more knowledgeable on the Hindu scriptures to say whether Dawkins is right or wrong in this matter.“
It caught my eye because Munish in his comment on my post, “India as a role model for global peace and prosperity” had said a similar thing which had set me thinking.
So in the tradition of this blog (which began as a personal quest for knowledge), I will attempt to find an answer that either supports Richard Dawkin’s contention or refutes it. In either case, I hope to learn something….
As always, if there are readers out there who are knowledgeable enough to comment on this (and I think there are), please do so…
More soon…
Filed under: A Hindu Identity, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Hindu Dharma, Sanatana Dharma, Spirituality & Philosophy
I have talked to couple of learned hindu friends about monotheism in hinuism. They said Bhrama, visnua and Maheshvra are three rup of a one person and their wivers are made from them them so these 3 bhagvans are 1. Rest of all which we call bhagvan like hanumna, ganesh are not bhagvan but “dev”.
Ummahlover, hopefully, my latest post has clarified this a little bit:
http://hindudharma.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/hinduism-not-monotheism-in-disguise/