One god in Hindu Vedas
Na dvitityo Na triyaschthurtho naapyuchyate|
N a panchamo Na shshtah sapthmo naapyuchyate|
Nashtamo Na navamo dashamo naapyuchyate|
Yagna yetham devamekavritham veda||
Sa sarvassai vi pashyathi yachha praanathi yachhana|
Tamidam nigatam sah sa yesha yeka yekavrideka yeva|
Ya yetham devamekavritham veda||
Atharva 13.4[2]19-20
There is no second God, nor a third, nor is even a fourth spoken of
There is no fifth God or a sixth nor is even a seventh mentioned.
There is no eighth God, nor a ninth. Nothing is spoken about a tenth even.
This unique power is in itself. That Lord is only one, the only omnipresent. It is one and the only one.
Ma chidanyad vishamsata
Indramit srotha vrishanam sacha suthe
muhurukhya cha samshata ||
Atharva 20.85.1
Meaning: Do not praise and worship others, do not be cursed, praise and worship only God Almighty, unite in this world, sing His glory, again and again.
Yeka yeva namasyo vikvidah | Atharva 2.2.1
Meaning: Among all men and women, there is only one. Who is worthy of worship, and also worthy of worship.
Na tvaam anyo divyo na parthivo na jato na janishyathe |
Yajurveda 27,36
Meaning: Oh my God! There is no one like you in this world or in another. No body like you was born nor will it ever be born in the future.
Bhagwad Geeta
The most popular among all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagwad Geeta. Consider the following verse from the Geeta :
"Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures."
[Bhagwad Geeta chapter 7 verse 20 (B.G. 7:20)]
The Geeta is referring to people who are materialistic and therefore worship demigods i.e. besides the True God.
Upanishads:
The upanishads are also considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus. Consider the following verses from the Upanishads :
i) "Ekam evaditiyam"
"He is One only without a second" [Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]
ii) Consider again, the following verses from the Upanishads :
"Na casya kasuj janita na cadhipah."
"Of Him there are neither parents nor Lord"
[Svetasavatara Upanishad 6,9] [ part II page 263.]
iii) Consider the following verses from the Upanishads :
"Na tasya pratima asti"
(There is no likeness of Him.)
[Svetasvatara Upanishad chapter 4:19]
"Nainam urdhvam na tiryancam na madhye na parijagrabhat na tasy pratime asti yasya nama mahad yasah."3
"There is no likeness of Him whose name is great glory".3
[The principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan pg 736 & 737]
[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, the Upanishad part II page no 253] Compare the above verses with the following verses of the Holy Qur'an
"And there is none like unto Him."
[Holy Qur'an , 112:4]
"There is nothing whatever like unto Him."
[Holy Qur'an ,42:11]
iv) The following verses from the Upanishad allude to the inability of Man to imagine God in a particular form :
"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canaiam. Hrda hrdistham manasa ya enam, evam vidur amrtas te bhavanti".
"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye. Those who through heart and mind know Him as abiding in the heart become immortal".
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]
The Holy Qur'an refers to this aspect in the following verse:
"No vision can grasp Him But His grasp is over
All vision: He is Above all comprehension,Yet is acquainted with all things".
The Vedas
[Holy Qur'an 6:103]
Vedas' are considered the most sacred amongst all the Hindu scriptures. There are 4 main vedas. Rig Ved, Yajur Ved, Sam Ved and AtharvaVed.
1. Yajur Ved
i) Consider the following verses from the Yajur ved :
"Na tasya pratima asti" "There is no image of Him"S [Yajurved 32 : 3]
It further says "as He is unborn, He deserves our worship."
"There is no image of Him whose glory verily is great. He sustains within Himself all luminous objects like the Sun etc. May He not harm me, this is my prayer. As He is unborn, He deserves our worship"
[The Yajurveda by Devi Chand M. A. pg 377]
ii) "He is bodyless and pure." Is mentioned in Yajurved 40 : 8:
He hath attained unto the Bright, Bodiless, Woundless, Sinewless, the pure which evil hath not pierced. Far-sighted, wise, encompassing, he self-existent hath prescribed aims, as propriety demands, unto the Everlasting Years".
[Yajurved 40 : B]
[Yajurveda samhita by Ralph I. H. Griffith pg 538]
iii) It is also mentioned in the Yajur Veda :-
"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste"
"They enter darkness, those who worship natural things", for example air, water, fire etc "They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol, etc".
[Yajurved 40 : 9]7
iv) It also mentions a prayer stating
"Lead us to the good path and remove the sin that makes us stray and wander"
[Yajurveda chapter 40 :16]B
2. Atharva ved
Consider the following verses from Atharva ved :-
i) "Dev maha osi"
"God is verily great" [Atharvaveda 20 5B :3]
"Verily, Surya, thou art great; truly, aditya, thou art great.As thou art great indeed thy greatness is admire: yea, verily, great art thou,O God".
(Atharveda Samhiti vol 2 William Dmight Whitney pg 910)
A similar message is given in Qur'an in Surah Rad :
"He is the Great, the most High".
[The Holy Qur'an 13 :9]
3. Rig Ved
i) The oldest of all the vedas is Rig veda. It is also the one considered most sacred by the Hindus. The Rig Ved states that "Sages (learned Priests) call one God by many names".
[Rigveda 1:164:46)]
ii) The Rigveda gives no less than 33 different attributes to Almighty God, Many of these are mentioned in Rigveda Book 2 hymn 1
Amongst the various attributes given in Rigveda, one of the beautiful attributes! Mentioned in Rigveda Subh II verse 3 for Almighty God is 'Brahma'. 'Brahma' means 'The Creator'. Translated into Arabic this word it means 'Khaliq'. Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as 'Khaliq' or 'Creator' or 'Brahma'. However Muslims definitely do not subscribe to the view that 'Brahma' is Almighty God who has four heads (nauzubillah), Muslims take strong exceptation to it.
Describing Almighty God in anthropomorphic terms also goes against the following verse of Yajurveda :
"Na tasya Pratima asti' (There is no image of Him) [Yajur Ved 32 : 3]
Another beautiful attribute mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3 (R.V. 2:1:3) is Vishnu. 'Vishnu' means 'The Sustainer'. Translated into Arabic it means 'Rabb'. Again, Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as 'Rabb' or 'Sustainer' or 'Vishnu'. But the popular image of Vishnu among Hindus is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the 'Chakra' ie a discus and one of the left arms holding a 'conch shell', riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. Muslims can never accept any image of God. As mentioned earlier this also goes against Yajurveda chatper 40 verse 19.
iii) Consider the following verses from the Rigved:
"Ma chidanyadvi shansata"
"O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One.
[Rigveda Book B :1:1]10
[Rigveda samhiti vol ix, pg 1 and 2 by swami Satyaprakash Sarasvati and satyakam Vidhya Lankar]
iv) "The wise yogis concentrate their minds; and concentrate their thought as well in the Supreme Reality, which is Omnipresent, Great and Omniscient. He alone, knowing their functions, assigns to the sense organs their respective tasks. Verily, great is the glory of to Divine Creator". [Rigveda 5:B1] 11
[Rigveda Samhiti volume 6 page 1802 and 1803 by Swami SatyaPrakash Saraswati and Satyakam Vidhyalanka]
Brahma Sutra of Hindu Vedanta:
The Brahma Sutra of Hindu Vedanta is:
"Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan"
"There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit".
Thus only a dispassionate study of the Hindu scriptures can help one understand the concept of God in Hinduism.
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