Hinduism: one god, Shiva, with many personalities...correct?!

[ampere]

DS, year 7, has put this in his RE homework- is it correct to say this?

[faeriefruitcake]

Brahman = one divine entity many personalities. Like facets on a diamond. Or salt in water, you can't see it but is present everywhere.

Hope that helps, Shiva is the Lord of the Dance

[ampere]

So the OP statement is incorrect? It should say 'Brahman'?

Ta!

[SantasMooningArse]

As FFF says: Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu are the trimurti: the three faces of God, or rather aspects of.

Brahman is indescribable: an absolute, but all tings are aspects of him / her / it.



However that's proper Brahamnistic faith- there is also village faith, a more pared down version (very patronising names I know but they were used by the Oxford Uni bloke lecturing my Uni lecturer so don;t feel quite qualified to change them)- and in village faith many see the gods as entirties as theya re. Village faith also develops new Gods- eg Santosi Ma, whom a stroy about was amde into a film in IIRC the 1960's, and then the Goddess evolved.

So that is the proper answer- depends on who is doing the believing. Oh adn whether the RE Teacher is up on fairly modern theories LOL as my world faith degree is 2008.

[nlondondad]

Its actually very common for religions to exist in two modes:-

The pattern of belief, which may be philosophically very sophisticated, and the pattern of belief of an ordinory devotee, without the sophistication.

It certainly happens in Christianity. And it is a well established feature of Hinduism.

You get it in Buddhism as well.

Not so sure how it works in Islam.