Monotheistic Hindus?

[Jainarayan]

I prefer Panentheism over Monotheism.

I don't see a conflict between them. Panentheism literally means "all is in God". From Greek, pan=all, en=in, theos=God. I believe there is only one God (Krishna/Vishnu) and all is in Him as well as He transcends all... immanent and transcendant.

"By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." Bhagavad Gita 9.4 *

(* He is the source of all, yet nothing is the source of Him.)

"Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages." 10.2

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts." 10.8

"But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." 10.42

 

[themo]

The idea of God in monotheist middle eastern religions(Judaism, christianity, islam) are not the same as panentheism.

For example christianity or islam is monotheist, They say God is "above" and He is not in his creation, he is somewhere else "above"... Though with his power he can do anything on earth and he is watching us "from above" and he is so near to us yet God is not in his creation. He is distinct and seperate from his creation. We are not "in" God as Bhagavad Gita says, God does not "pervade" us we are outside from God according to judeo christian tradition.

Gita says "everything emanates from me" or:

15:7 "The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind"

Those are beautiful verses, but monotheists never use those kind of words.

 

[Jainarayan]

The idea of God in monotheist middle eastern religions(Judaism, christianity, islam) are not the same as panentheism.

For example christianity or islam is monotheist, They say God is "above" and He is not in his creation, he is somewhere else "above"... Though with his power he can do anything on earth and he is watching us "from above" and he is so near to us yet God is not in his creation. He is distinct and seperate from his creation. We are not "in" God as Bhagavad Gita says, God does not "pervade" us we are outside from God according to judeo christian tradition.

On the face of it the Abrahamic religions are pantheist, though I'm sure there are varying views. As I am not Abrahamic, what they believe is of no matter to me.

Gita says "everything emanates from me" or:

15:7 "The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind"

Those are beautiful verses, but monotheists never use those kind of words.

I do. I am monotheist and panentheist.

I don't know what you're trying to get at or prove.

 

[themo]

don't know what you're trying to get at or prove

Nothing... I was a strict monotheist (ex-muslim) and I know pantheism/panentheism and monotheism are so different. But if you want, you can reconcile even materialism and monotheism I don`t care.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Nothing... I was a strict monotheist (ex-muslim) and I know pantheism/panentheism and monotheism are so different. But if you want, you can reconcile even materialism and monotheism I don`t care.

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider yourself now, religion-wise?

 

[themo]

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider yourself now, religion-wise?

Nothing yet. That`s why I`m asking and learning.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Ah, that's good.

 

[Jainarayan]

Nothing... I was a strict monotheist (ex-muslim) and I know pantheism/panentheism and monotheism are so different. But if you want, you can reconcile even materialism and monotheism I don`t care.

But they are not different. Monotheism = one God, regardless whether you believe that everything is within God, or everything is God.

Polytheism, one the other hand, is incompatible with either pantheism or panentheism, imo.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

It's a HUGE stretch, but I think panentheism can be compatible with polytheism if you interpret polytheism along the lines of emonationism...if that makes any sense at all.

 

[Gaura Priya]

Vaishnavism, as far as I know and remember, has always been panentheistic monotheism, emphasising the personality and personal-ness of God. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 12, that although His impersonal form also can bring liberation, it is in His personal form (as Krishna, Vishu, or even Lord Ramachandra) that *everyone* can worship Him and dwell in His abode at the end of one`s life, through constant devotion to Him.

 

[Jainarayan]

emonationism...if that makes any sense at all.

That makes absolutely no sense.

Only bcause I don't know what emonationism is :biglaugh:

Brb... looking it up...

emanationism
philosophical and theological theory that sees all of creation as an unwilled, necessary, and spontaneous outflow of contingent beings of descending perfection-from an infinite, undiminished, unchanged primary substance. Typically, light is used as an analogy: it communicates itself continually, remains unchanged, and shares its brightness in proportion to the nearness of its object. Emanationism precludes creation out of nothingness. Some scholars classify emanationism with pantheism despite their dissimilarities; however, emanationism does not hold that God is immanent in the finite world

Mind = blown!

 

[Gaura Priya]

[snip]emanationism does not hold that God is immanent in the finite world

How is that possible? :sarcastic

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Yeah, I spelled it wrong. I normally read back through my posts before I post them to check for errors, but I missed that one. But you found the right one though.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Emanationism is a way for God to be present in the world, through a progressive series of intermediaries. Or at least that's the way I've always understood it. And one progresses back toward God through the intermediaries.

 

[Jainarayan]

How is that possible? :sarcastic

Beats me. I looked it up and copied it from dictionary.com. That's why I wrote Mind = blown

 

[Gaura Priya]

Emanationism is a way for God to be present in the world, through a progressive series of intermediaries. Or at least that's the way I've always understood it. And one progresses back toward God through the intermediaries.

According to the dictionary definition of emanationism, it seemed that it was implying rather an impersonal force that emanates, but can not be immanent in creation.

But that definitely leaves out hardcore polytheism as found in religions like Asatru.

The apparent 'polytheism' in Hinduism isn't really polytheism per se. Th normative, popular Hindu perception is that these divinities, the devatas, are different archetypal aspects of God's nature, ultimately coming to an impersonal Brahman conception of God.

To the literal Vaishnava, one will see these different devatas such as Ganesha, Parvati, and Durgadevi as helpers in maintaining the order of the cosmic manifestation, but that they all eventually receive power from Lord Vishnu Himself.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

According to the dictionary definition of emanationism, it seemed that it was implying rather an impersonal force that emanates, but can not be immanent in creation.

But that definitely leaves out hardcore polytheism as found in religions like Asatru.

The apparent 'polytheism' in Hinduism isn't really polytheism per se. Th normative, popular Hindu perception is that these divinities, the devatas, are different archetypal aspects of God's nature, ultimately coming to an impersonal Brahman conception of God.

To the literal Vaishnava, one will see these different devatas such as Ganesha, Parvati, and Durgadevi as helpers in maintaining the order of the cosmic manifestation, but that they all eventually receive power from Lord Vishnu Himself.

I said you had to really stretch it out HUGE to make it fit. But after I posted that, I thought about it for awhile, and came to the realization that it doesn't really work. Oh well, I tried.

 

[Madhuri]

Nothing... I was a strict monotheist (ex-muslim) and I know pantheism/panentheism and monotheism are so different. But if you want, you can reconcile even materialism and monotheism I don`t care.

I also see panentheism as a form of monotheism. Perhaps what you see the distinction between Abrahamic religions and panentheism is that the Abrahamic religions are dualistic, whereas panentheism is not. But monotheism by definition is not categorised as either dualistic or monistic or other. It can be any or all.

PS: I am also panentheistic. Makes sense to me.