Hindu Gods Provide A Link With All Ancient GodsPosted by Craven Morin on April 22nd, 2021 It's been just over three decades since I have walked this earth, and I'm already fed up of the arguments over the validity and supremacy of different pantheons and Gods. I sometimes wonder how, as a collective, we could possibly have fought and continue steadily to fight over this singular question for millennia! I still come across people and publications that defend the presence and purpose of their own pantheons and perspectives on divinity. I myself result from a more elaborate pantheon of elaborate gods and goddesses, and have seen my contemporaries argue over their dominance and importance. It's an outdated argument, and it is time we moved on. Instead of fighting and bickering over the differences inside our names and perspectives of divinity; instead of tearing down one mind and person from another, think about we build bridges instead? Instead of fighting over whose God is real and whose isn't, how about we sit together and ponder over precisely how a singular concept were left with so many names, faces and versions? Wouldn't that be an infinitely more rewarding and inspiring endeavor! Many get lost in the Hindu pantheon - it really is vast, elaborate and intricate. To the present day mind, it is even utterly unnecessary. But if you turn back and look into history, the Hindus weren't the only culture to offer an elaborate pantheon - we are just one of the few who've survived to date. From the ancient Egyptians to the Mayans and Aztecs, from pagans in Europe to the Polynesian tribals in the Pacific - we encounter pantheons and spectrums of gods and goddesses just as colorful, powerful and diverse because the Hindu pantheon today. One could argue an elaborate pantheon is really a natural extension of a developed group of religious or spiritual beliefs - one which celebrates and engages with the myriad expressions of God through the experiences, elements and landscapes we inhabit and encounter. But there were just as many movements that have taken the precise opposite route - focusing on a singularity of experience and concept when viewing, discussing or engaging with God. These elaborate pantheons might seem at odds with the 'singular' concepts of God, but really they are not in conflict. The Hindus for instance make reference to their Gods as avatars - types of the purest essence that is God, specialized in purpose, power and presence. Each God in the Hindu pantheon represents an element of the whole that is God. This isn't very far off from the ancient Egyptian term because of their Gods - neteru; in the Egyptian pantheon as well each character was an element of the supreme power, and not God in totality himself. Just like a whole ocean can be contained in a single drop, even if the drop is not the complete ocean, the avatars and neteru are simply as revered and God him/herself, worshipped and regarded as powerful, sacred beings. Even with more info of forms and faces, names and traditions to select from, an understanding and relationship with God as one presence exists in these traditions among others like them. This isn't where the similarities end; a closer inspection and experience of these traditions and religions reveal overlaps in the pantheons. Taking the Hindu and Egyptian pantheons again for instance, one finds a reverence for the Divine Feminine in her fierce forms. The Hindus call her Durga - the protector of life and all things pure - installed on her lion (or tiger); in her even more fearsome and destructive aspect she actually is called Kali. The Egyptians call her Sekhmet - the lion goddess - the harbinger of justice when humanity goes askew; like Kali, Sekhmet too drinks the blood of these that fall to her fire and force. This is just one of the many examples you'll find. For across time and space bridges have and continue to exist - in one religion and pantheon to another, from one heart and mind to some other. If only we look, we will find just how much we have in common- even though the names and types of God differ and vary.Like it? Share it! More by this author |