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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The thread on yoga and the discussion of hindu religion got me thinking whether hinduism is really polytheistic.

hinduism:
one supreme spirit/consciousness 
trinity - brahma, vishnu, shiva
devas (m) and devatas (f)
devotees pray, go to temples and shrines, make pilgrimages to holy spots, fast in the name of one or the other devas/devatas, expect miracles, have priests perform rituals and prayers on their behalf, have personal favorites, aims for union with the supreme spirit.

catholicism:
holy trinity - father, son, and the holy spirit
saints (m and f)
devotees pray, go to churches and shrines, make pilgrimages to holy spots, fast in the name of one or the other saints, expect miracles, have priests perform rituals and prayers on their behalf, have personal favorites, takes communion.

so many similarities but why is catholicism monotheistic but hinduism polytheistic?

[/quote]

I was raised Catholic and find a great deal of overlap between Catholicism and hinduism. When catholics pray for intercession of saints, they are essentially honoring saints a big souls of grace with much light to share, like darshan. They both have prayer beads, buddhists also. The both have processions with their honored god or saint as a figure in an argha nova (boat) that they bathe and decorate and display - ancient Egyptian religion had that as well.

[b]And hinduism is not necessarily polytheistic, is it?[/b] The Day of Brahma, the creator, is a physical universe with all manifestation and the jiva souls (smaller, various beings that proceed from the One) at play in incarnations. Then Night of Brahma is a sleep until the next Day.[/quote]

No, it is not necessarily polytheistic.  If in order to understand the one, it helps to have many, then you can have many.  You can also have none.  That is why you can be a polytheist or an atheist and still be a Hindu.[/quote]

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