Is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic?

A revision of my prior insistence on Atheism–not in the usual manner of dismissing spiritual reality, but the insistence that all "Gods" are just powerful spirit entities

Transact with God or Surrender to God

Hinduism is often contrasted with the Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—as being polytheistic, while those are seen as monotheistic. If you track these three, it almost seems like they become more and more insistent on the existence of a single God. For instance, the core Muslim declaration, the Shahada, states: “La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah”—“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.” This emphasis on monotheism has historically led to conflicts with Hinduism, particularly regarding the concept of idolatry.

In many Abrahamic traditions, idolatry—the practice of creating physical representations of God and worshipping them—is considered a grave sin. In contrast, in Hinduism, it’s very common for people to go to these idols (murtis) and ask for very personal things—success in business, babies, getting rid of diseases, and whatnot, in exchange for offerings of sweets, incense and money to the middlemen (priests). Historically, the Vedic religion is essentially a Fire religion. You set up these big fires (yajnas) and then offer really nice things—fragrant things—to appease the deities and achieve some end result. You could say, you are transacting with the deities. I present this as a contrast to the surrender to the ultimate will of God aspect of the monotheistic Abrahamic creeds. In the assault of Christianity on Paganism, there’s a similar dichotomy between spiritual (as in engaging with spirits) rituals and surrendering to the will of one God. The latter has gotten historically distorted at times, of course, like when the Catholic Church introduced indulgences.

The Present Structure of My Metaphysics

Reflecting on my own metaphysics, I see existence as comprising two primary realms: the physical and the spiritual. The physical realm is characterized by tangible, objective consensus, while the spiritual realm is more elusive and inhabited by disembodied beings. I don’t think objective consensus is impossible in the spirit realm, just more elusive because it needs the development of strong super sensory capabilities to distinguish what you are seeing from what you are projecting. The entities themselves are also disembodied in the sense that if they do have “bodies”, those are different from the bodies that human beings have. These can include deceased humans, mythical creatures (including dragons, demons, fairies), ascended master spirits, Deities, and perhaps the One God?

I now believe that myths are real—not in a physical sense, but as entities existing in the spiritual realm. Beings like dragons, elves, and fairies occupy this non-physical domain, occasionally bridging into our reality, through the narration of their stories – the myths. As for disembodied beings, they can be reached through smells and sounds. This is why offerings in Hindu rituals focus on fragrant substances and chanting.

Addictions & Compulsions as Spiritual Possessions

The interplay between the physical and spiritual realms can profoundly affect human experience. When individuals are empathically connected to surrounding spirits, they may inadvertently take on the spirits’ suffering, leading to feelings of malaise or depression. In severe cases, these spirits might even possess individuals, driving behaviors such as addiction or other compulsive actions. And you may feel out of control, because in those moments, you are actually not the main agent of your physical body. Some spirit beings have taken over. In response, people often build this lifestyle of numbing, of disconnection from their own bodies, which increases the openings in their physical body to external spirits. The parts of your body that you are not connected to, you have less sovereignty over and something else resides there. Some of the most horrible acts like suicide, or murder, or rape are committed, when the human being has just completely left their body. And these possessing spirit beings are so miserable, and suffering, and all they remember is the delight of consuming food, sex and attention from when they had physical bodies. And then they try to meet those desires through the bodies that they possess, but actually it doesn't fulfill any of their needs, because it is not their body. And I wonder – what is it that makes my body mine? And why is it that when a spirit possesses my body and wants to binge eat through me, it doesn't reach them in a manner that satiates them? Perhaps it does temporarily? I'm not sure. I’m not sure what defines that ownership or sovereignty on the body.

Spiritual Hierarchies

Just as in the physical world, you have evolved humans and less evolved humans, a similar hierarchy exists in the spirit realm. There are various levels of beings: Lower spirits. Mythical creatures. Dead humans who haven't yet made the transition. Ascended spirits like the Buddha and Jesus. Enlightenment of the kind that the Buddha attained is conscious agency over the choice to be reborn after death. Jesus exercised that too. Track how reactive you are in your day-to-day life and then imagine how challenging it’d be to maintain conscious agency over the impulse to be reborn at the moment your soul is being ripped away from the physical body that it so identified with at the moment of Death. The core identification that is the source of all other identities. And then there are Deities—powerful “devas” such as Ganesh, Kali, Hanuman. Zeus and Indra. And here I come to the big open question in my spiritual exploration. Is one of these Deities God?

One God or Many Deities?

In my previous essay on this subject, I wrote that all of these things—these deities—are just different spirit entities, and that there is no God. But I believe now that there might still be one God. Or at least, that’s what seems to be repeated often in the different scriptures we have. However, sometimes these powerful spirit entities can lie. I experienced this directly when I discovered a possession within my system—something I’ve written about before—the sinister joker entity that was lodged in me and that I released through IFS, UB (Unburdening). It lied to me for a bit, claiming it was Archangel Michael. I still don’t know if it was actually the shadow of the archangel. I’ve wondered now if every spirit has a shadow—perhaps with the exception of God. Like, maybe God is one and whole, and the rest of the spirits have duality in them. They have a good side and a bad side. You see this if you study astrology. All of the different planets in astrology are essentially spirit beings—really powerful spirit beings that possess us, grasp our consciousness, and influence how we act. That’s what the Sanskrit word graha means. That’s how we refer to planets. Graha is something that grasps. In astrology, it’s so evident that each of these entities has a good side and a bad side. So I think there are many of these spirit beings and deities. Deities are just really powerful spirit beings. But they still have both good and bad sides, as is quite clear in the stories we have of, say, Indra or Zeus. Zeus is the king of gods in the Greek pantheon, and Indra is the king of gods in the Hindu pantheon. I wouldn’t even use the word “gods” here—I would use “deity.” In Hinduism, we use the word deva. Both Indra and Zeus were known to try to fornicate with—and, really, I think—rape the wives of sages. So yes, I think all of these spirit beings have a duality to them. The deities have a duality. Previously, I concluded that all spiritual entities were merely deities without an overarching singular God. And that most encounters with God, were actually encounters with really powerful spirit beings who did have healing powers but then wanted something relational in return. The relationality of what they want in return may not be clear to the devotee at the point of the “divine” encounter. And the possessive flavor of these deities is so clear to me when I sit with the core of the Islamic prayer: La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah. I’ve sat wondering: What “god” was this that came to Muhammad and told him to present this one line? Why is this line emphasized so much? The line that insists that all other Gods be rejected. If it was God speaking, God who knew his own Oneness and Uniqueness, then why would he even be bothered to say that to Muhammad? And yes, I’ve wondered if it was just a really powerful spirit entity that wanted to be served. That duality I’m speaking of is, I think, most evident in Islam—in the purity of its faith, and in the horrific things that have been done in its name. So that’s where I had landed.

But then I started reading the Srimad Bhagavatam, which is a scripture that focuses on Vishnu. I read through the Hindu creation story, and it seems like all the deities, including the trinity, come from one God—Vishnu. And that’s who everyone returns to at the end of the day. They seek his help. But even Vishnu and Shiva have this dual relationship. Of Light and Dark. Perhaps it is that once the Wholeness of God takes the form of a Duality, God turns into a Deity?

An artistic depiction of the 10 avatars of Vishnu

Exploring other perspectives, I delved into Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and Christian mystic from the 18th century. Swedenborg claimed to have had visions of the spiritual world and documented the architecture of heaven and hell. He asserted that in heaven, even belief in the Holy Trinity is rejected.

And this is where the Buddha’s work becomes interesting—because it seems like he didn’t even bother with this question. Or he presented a pathway that doesn’t bother with it. Is there one God or many? Often, he would just decline to answer questions that didn’t directly help alleviate suffering. And from what I’ve read of his life, he classified this question as one of those—it doesn’t help alleviate suffering. He also deemphasized rituals. Perhaps he saw the hidden cost of those transactions? Interactions with spirit beings presenting as benevolent but really hiding their own need for nourishment through fragrant offerings and the sound of their own names. Or is it that my perceived deemphasis of rituals in Buddhism comes from Western Abrahamics presenting a neutered version of the Buddha’s story to suit their own colonial motivations? A musing for another time.