Introduction
Westerners have a misconception about Hinduism that they worship 330 million gods [1, 4]. For that, many ignorant Hindus give a justification that actually we have one God (with capital “G”), and 330 million representations of the same God, for which we orthographically use gods (with small “g”); however, we see one “God” in each and every particle of this universe, i.e., in space and time, animals, minerals, trees, mountains, and geometrical patterns. Dwivedi, in his poem, “My God” succinctly expresses this Hindu conception/misconception:
“My God is just an idea.
He takes His birth from my language,
When I speak He becomes a sound,
And like an atom He flows in my ears.
His light makes me see things around,
And his presence I feel everywhere.
He is my truth, my culture.
Sometimes He makes my language hyperbolic.
He is simply fantastic.
He is sea, earth, and fire,
A demon, animal and human.
He is in my thoughts, beliefs, and feelings.
He is like love, irrational,
Yet...
References
Dowson J (2014) A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion: geography, history and literature. D.K. Printworld, New Delhi
Dwivedi AV (2015) Gods in Indian popular jokes. In: God and popular culture: a behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment industry’s most influential figure, vol 2. Praeger, Santa Barbara
Ganeri A (2009) Hindu. Franklin Watts, London
Gibson L (2003) Hinduism. Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, Austin
Heiney EB (1940) A Hindu myth. Hathaway Printery, Coatsville
Johnson D, Johnson J (1977) God & gods in Hinduism. Compton Russell, London
Keith AB (2007) The religion and philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
Klostermaier KK (2007) A survey of Hinduism. State University of New York Press, Albany
Pattanaik D (2008) Myth =: Mithya: a handbook of Hindu mythology. Penguin Books India, New Delhi
Radhakrishnan SS (1927) The Hindu view of life. G. Allen & Unwin, London
Rasamandala D (2008) Hinduism. Smart Apple Media, North Mankato
Ring DM, Educational Resources Information Center (U.S.) (1990) Hindu mythology: gods, goddesses, and values. U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Educational Resources Information Center, Washington, DC
Streissguth T (2002) Hinduism. Lucent Books, San Diego
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dwivedi, A.V. (2018). God, Overview. In: Jain, P., Sherma, R., Khanna, M. (eds) Hinduism and Tribal Religions. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_390-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_390-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1036-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1036-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities