My Diminished Perspective: A View On Polytheism

So right now, I'm in the process of reading four books. "Hinduism" by I.G Edmonds, "Einstein and Buddha" by Thomas J. McFarlane, "Jesus, Interrupted" by Bart D. Ehrmand and "Islamic Fundamentalism" by David M. Haugen. I'm trying to get a basic understanding of the main religions in the world and those are what I'm starting with. Here's a list of religions I like, 1 being the most interesting to me and 4 being the least interesting to me.

1. Hinduism
2. Buddhism
3. Islam
4. Christianity

No offense to the religions lower on the list, but I've been around Christianity my whole life, and I still find it very interesting, but when I explored Hinduism, a door was opened to me.

What I've Learned:
When I started reading the book on Hinduism, I was very interested in the deluge myth (great flood), that is common across many religions.

• Bible (Christianity) - The Flood (Noah's Ark); Genesis:6-9
• Qur'an (Islam) - The Flood (Nuh's Ark; Local, as opposed to global, flood); Sura 71
• Shatapatha Brahmana (Hinduism) - Manu & Vishnu (Matsya Avatara, means Vishnu in fish form); Manu is warned of a great flood that will cleanse the earth.
• Epic Of Gilgamesh - Tablet 11 (Still looking into further)

When reading into Hinduism, I noticed many myths that seemed to be very imaginative and mystical. Compared to Christianity, it felt very lighthearted and highly symbolic. It got me to thinking about it like this; Split the Earth into 2 hemispheres, Eastern and Western Hemisphere. Split your brain into left and right hemispheres as well. Left brain corresponds to the more concrete thoughts and analytical side. This represents the monotheistic religions, as the right brain represents the abstract, creative thoughts, that point towards the polytheistic religions. The myths about different gods being reincarnated as animals or "Avatars", is a very abstract concept, but it really gets the point across and sticks with you! I'm really enjoying the stories about how the Hindu sects choose which god they think is best, and the deluge myth as well. I am still learning more about Hinduism and its many epic myths, and I am keeping an open mind. I don't have much else to say about the subject, but I would like to leave you with one of the Puranas (proving Vishnu's superiority). Note: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Siva (the destroyer) are the 3 main gods in Hinduism.

(Taken directly from "Hindusism" by I.G Edmonds)

Some wise men in ancient times argued over which god was the greater. They took the question to Bhrigu, one of the ten sages. Bhrigu did not know the answer, but agreed to test the gods to find out.
He went first to Brahma. Bhrigu purposely did not pay respect to the god. Brahma's wrath was terrible to behold.
Next, Bhrigu went to Siva. again he failed to give the god his rightful respect. Siva was so angry that he would have killed the sage if Siva's wife had not begged for Bhrigu's life.
Finally Bhrigu went to Vishnu. He found the god asleep with his head in the lap of Lakshimi, his wife. Bhrigu kicked Vishnu to awaken the god. Instead of being angry, Vishnu begged the sage's pardon for putting him into the trouble of having to kick his god awake. Then he gentley massages Bhrigu's foot, which was bruised from kicking Vishnu.
The sage then reported back to the wise men that Vishnu was the greatest of the gods. "He overpowers by the greatest of all weapons," he said. "This is gentleness and generosity."

With that I conclude this post. Tell me what you think in the comments!

Note: I know someone is going to bring this up, so here it is. Hinduism can be considered monotheistic or polytheistic, depending on a individuals personal beliefs.