One Message: ONE GOD!

There is scarcely a single culture among the tens of thousands of human cultures which does not have a concept of a divine being – one who creates and protects and provides.

Many cultures have a pantheon of divine beings, or gods. Though the religion has developed this multiplicity of gods, when there is a revealed scripture available it gives a different picture. In fact, the Quran tells us that monotheism is

“the natural instinct placed into the people by God.” (Quran 30:30)

As an example, Hinduism is often viewed in the West as a ‘pagan’ religion, far from the monotheism we espouse. But it is clear from the following passage from the Bhagavad Gita that the reality of the one God is at the root of Hinduism, in spite of the way it is usually practiced:

The Blessed Lord said: “By Me all this world is pervaded in my unmanifested aspect; all beings have root in me, I am not rooted in them…

“Hidden in nature which is mine own, I emanate again and again all this multitude of beings, helpless, by the force of nature. Under me as supervisor nature sends forth the moving and unmoving; because of this…the universe revolves.

“The foolish disregard me, when clad in human semblance, ignorant of my supreme nature, the great Lord of beings; empty of hope, empty of deeds, empty of wisdom, senseless, partaking of the deceitful, brutal and demonical nature.

“Others also, sacrificing with the sacrifice of wisdom, worship me as the One and the Manifold everywhere present… To those men who worship me alone, thinking of no other, to those ever harmonious, I bring full security. They who worship the shining ones; to the ancestors go the ancestor-worshippers; to the elements go those who sacrifice to elementals; but my worshippers come unto me…”

What then are all the gods of a religion like Hinduism? Again, its own scripture explains.

This time from the Upanishads:

Then Vidagdha Sakalya asked him: “How many gods are there, O Yajnavalkya?” He replied…”three and three hundred, three and three thousand.”

“Yes,” he said, and asked again: “How many gods are there really, O Yajnavalkya?”

“Thirty-three,” he said.

“Yes,” he said, and asked again: “How many gods are there really, O Yajnavalkya?”

“Six,” he said.

“Yes,” he said, and asked again: “How many gods are there really, O Yajnavalkya?”

“Three,” he said.

“Yes,” he said, and asked again: “How many gods are there really, O Yajnavalkya?”

“Two,” he said.

“Yes,” he said, and asked again: “How many gods are there really, O Yajnavalkya?”

“One and a half,” he said.

Cont’d on page 2