Hindu Vishnu

[Johnny Pneumatic]

We talk a lot about christianity here and in my view it's getting tired. Why don't we have a nice long educational thread on hinduism. What is supposed to be going on in this artwork or whatever you'd call it? Is Vishnu supposed to be a woman? What is the deal with the 330,000,000 gods? What are all those beings supposed to be doing? What do they have; gods of water buckets, car tires, cell phones, spear heads, rat teeth, lightbulbs and anal warts? In all seriousness though, why do they have so many? What were they thinking when they had 329,999,999? "Just one more then we'll stop"?

 

[Neutron Jack]

Is Vishnu supposed to be a woman?

I don't think so. That's just the artistic style.

What is the deal with the 330,000,000 gods?

I question that number. According to http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm, there are 786 million Hindus. That's one god for every 2.4 Hindus, which seems a bit high.

What are all those beings supposed to be doing? What do they have; gods of water buckets, car tires, cell phones, spear heads, rat teeth, lightbulbs and anal warts?

I don't think that, in Hindu mythology, every deity is necessarily the god of this or that.

 

[TeaBag420]

Clearly Randi was wrong about this.

 

[evildave]

Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

I don't think so. That's just the artistic style.I question that number. According to http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm, there are 786 million Hindus. That's one god for every 2.4 Hindus, which seems a bit high.I don't think that, in Hindu mythology, every deity is necessarily the god of this or that.

Eh, so what? Every Christian has their personal Jesus, so why not personal Hindu gods as well?

There are probably only hundreds of NAMED gods and characters in their mythos. Thousands, tops. The rest are the proverbial 'red shirts' from Star Trek. Walk-in or cameo gods, background gods. That sort of thing. Gods that are understood to exist.

Besides, why limit the quantity of gods to their believers on Earth?

There could be a mole of gods for every believer, or a mole of believers for every god, and those numbers are no limitation. Division by zero is also a distinct possibility when partitioning gods/believers.

 

[Atlas]

The Hindu Trinity Vishnu/Brahma/Shiva - Preserver/Creator/Destroyer is much looser and more rich than Christianity. I'm convinced that if you tried to sort it out you'd go mad. It's kinda designed that way.

But I've always thaought that they embraced the concept of transcendence and didn't care how you got there. Such that the religion is full of charlatans. There may only be 330 million gods but they all do double or triple duty - there roles change with the story and times.

But they seem to have a word for just about any kind of spiritual awakening you might get in your life. It's an ancient taxonomy of woo.
Some gods.

The Hindu pantheon, and it’s mythology, is frankly a mess when compared to Western mythologies. Endless variations of myths recast different Gods in the same roles, blend "good" and "evil", and generally create utter confusion. Of course, this only further exemplifies the transcendent message at the Hindu heart: all gods are aspects of one God (monoistic polytheism) and the difference between mortal and immortal suddenly melts away.

(Edit: I agree with Nuetron Jack. Vishnu is being presented stylistically. As the dreamer of the cosmos Vishnu may have attributes of both male and female.

 

[wittgenst3in]

Hey, look at the signature down the bottom left in the first picture! This was done by Vishnu himself!

What is supposed to be going on in this artwork or whatever you'd call it?

My interpretation (although I've never read the Gita, but I'm pretty sure that this is supposed to be a scene from it):

Krishna is sitting in the chariot on the battlefields, and Vishnu is giving Arjuna the cosmic eye (better than giving him the finger) allowing him to see the whole glory of himself and the cosmos.

I know the drum in his hand symbolises (IIRC) the cyclic nature of the cosmos, and the destruction and rebirth of the universe. I would wager all the items he is holding have a similar symbolic nature. I would be guessing that the pictures on his forearms are his various incarnations or avatars, and the faces above him are other gods.

 

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Re: Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

There are probably only hundreds of NAMED gods and characters in their mythos. Thousands, tops. The rest are the proverbial 'red shirts' from Star Trek. Walk-in or cameo gods, background gods. That sort of thing. Gods that are understood to exist.

Here is a link to the 330 million http://www.lib.unc.edu/house/mrc/films/full.php?film_id=9130

Also acccording to National Geographic they have 330 million. National Geographic is a skeptical objective source. You'll never find them saying that spirits and what not stuff is real, only that such and such culture believes in them. It's one of my favorite channels.

 

[EdipisReks]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

National Geographic is a skeptical objective source. You'll never find them saying that spirits and what not stuff is real, only that such and such culture believes in them.

this may be true of the religious content, but they are hardly a skeptical source. the national geographic channel LOVES playing woo woo garbage. they have "validated" dowsing and erik von daniken style crap many times on the tv channel.

 

[LW]

What are all those beings supposed to be doing? What do they have; gods of water buckets, car tires, cell phones, spear heads, rat teeth, lightbulbs and anal warts? In all seriousness though, why do they have so many? What were they thinking when they had 329,999,999? "Just one more then we'll stop"?

Local gods.

God who lives in the big tree no the main village square.
God who inhabits the stream passing the village.
God who inhabits the same stream at the point where it passes the next village.

Et cetera.

Ancient Romans believed that every house had a guardian spirit or spirits. In India they have similar guardian gods.

 

[Ribbitalu]

I wonder if the counters were careful not to count the same gods more than once. I've seen Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh (the fun loving elephant headed god), and others portrayed differently in various parts of India, such as different skin color, riding different animals, different number of heads/arms, etc. When I asked about why one god rides a peacock in Mumbai and not New Delhi, they explained that it is simply a regional (local) difference.
These local differences can be very strong in many parts of India, where people do not know of the world outside their village.

Thought I doubt this would bring the number up to millions. I asked my husband (non-practicing Hindu) about the millions of gods -- is there a god for hormones? for mosquitoes? for making really good naan bread? He really didn't like my questions at the time, but now he is also questioning the number of gods

 

[wittgenst3in]

I wonder if the counters were careful not to count the same gods more than once.

Loving it Cancerwoman.

This reminds me of the episode of the British show "Dads Army" where they have to do a roll call for the supervisor, with half the group stuck in a tunnel. They decide to have the soldiers running past the captain and just looping around to the other door, coming past twice.

 

[Ribbitalu]

revolving gods

It is similar to a situation comedy.....they just dress one god up in different clothes, paint them blue/pink/peach, maybe slip in some gender ambiguity -- tada! New god!

Ok, The Abrahamic religions seem really boring now.....

 

[Beerina]

Re: Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

Eh, so what? Every Christian has their personal Jesus, so why not personal Hindu gods as well?

There are probably only hundreds of NAMED gods and characters in their mythos. Thousands, tops. The rest are the proverbial 'red shirts' from Star Trek.

Vishnu: Go down and fix that supernova. And be careful!

Redshirt: Ok!

You decide what happens next...

 

[Beerina]

Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

Local gods.

God who lives in the big tree no the main village square.
God who inhabits the stream passing the village.
God who inhabits the same stream at the point where it passes the next village.

Et cetera.

Ancient Romans believed that every house had a guardian spirit or spirits. In India they have similar guardian gods.

At this point, what differentiates a "spirit" from a "god"? Do they all sit at the same round table as Vishnu and Shiva during their annual convention? Or do some of them serve the wine and deserts, in which case they're spirits?

 

[Beerina]

Re: Re: Hindu Vishnu

> This reminds me of the episode of the British show "Dads Army"

Thank Shiva I got to live in Europe for a year and a half. I got to watch shows like this, the original Dear John, Only Fools and Horses, etc. etc. etc. What a riot!

Imagine there were groups equally as big as the Beatles or Rolling Stones still in England, but you had never heard a song by them. That's how funny these shows are. There's more to British TV than just reruns of Keeping Up Appearances and Are You Being Served...

 

[Kumar]

To look at & handle so many 'modern addtions/concepts/theories' so many type/forms of "GODs" may be necessary.

 

[Vikram]

We talk a lot about christianity here and in my view it's getting tired. Why don't we have a nice long educational thread on hinduism. What is supposed to be going on in this artwork or whatever you'd call it? Is Vishnu supposed to be a woman? What is the deal with the 330,000,000 gods? What are all those beings supposed to be doing? What do they have; gods of water buckets, car tires, cell phones, spear heads, rat teeth, lightbulbs and anal warts? In all seriousness though, why do they have so many? What were they thinking when they had 329,999,999? "Just one more then we'll stop"?

Vishnu is supposed to be male. That's just artistic stylism at work.

And yes, Hinduism does believe that there exist 330 million gods, though only a handful of them are named. I myself know a few prayers that mention that number.

Hindu mythology is a wonderful compendium of tales. As a result of the generation-to-generation verbal transmission of these stories, there have been additions and enrichments, and the end product is a dazzlingly diverse and astonishingly wise array of interconnected fables. Many of the primary gods (the ones with names) have complex personalities and quirks. There is, in fact, a god named 'Naradmuni' whose sole raison d'etre is to be a gossipmonger. He provokes quarrels and wars between gods/humans. As literary works, hindu scriptures are a fascinating read.

Of course, the problem starts when one begins to believe that
the things mentioned there actually happened...

 

[Soapy Sam]

Vikram-"And yes, Hinduism does believe that there exist 330 million gods, though only a handful of them are named. I myself know a few prayers that mention that number."

How often does one have to say these prayers. (I'm assuming 5 times a day is NOT part of the package.)

I'm kind of a Hanuman fan , myself.

 

[Vikram]

Vikram-"And yes, Hinduism does believe that there exist 330 million gods, though only a handful of them are named. I myself know a few prayers that mention that number."

How often does one have to say these prayers. (I'm assuming 5 times a day is NOT part of the package.)

I'm kind of a Hanuman fan , myself.

To the best of my knowledge, most religious Hindus just pray once a day, in the morning. Of course, there exist cults like ISKCON that require people to chant all day. I know people like that, who are constantly muttering under their breath as they go around daily activities.

You're a Hanuman fan? Do you actually emulate his principles? He practiced celibacy all his life due to his devotion to Rama.

 

[Soapy Sam]

No, I just like monkeying with people. Technically I'm celibate,(old definition), but I draw the line at chastity. I'm a Zeus fan too.