Each world religion acknowledges an Ultimate Reality that is eternal and unchanging. There are three fundamental ways in which it is defined: as a personal being (a personal and loving God), as an impersonal being (as origin and target of all personal beings) or as an eternal truth or principle that governs the universe. If the world religions are only parts of a global and unique spirituality, these three perspectives should be consistent with each other. Could they be mere manifestations of the same Ultimate Reality?
The Ultimate Reality in Hinduism
Hinduism is not a unitary religion, but a multitude of religious and philosophical trends. Three main patterns can be identified among them. First, there is henotheism, the religion of the ancient Vedas and later Vaishnavism and Shaivism, which states that many gods exist, but one of them is more important than the others. Second, there is pantheism, the perspective brought by the Upanishads and later Vedanta, which considers Ultimate Reality to be an impersonal transcendent being. Third, there is dualism, the perspective of the Samkhya and the Yoga darshana of Patanjali that acknowledge two ultimate realities. Let's briefly describe them following an approximate chronological order.
The Vedic gods
The oldest sacred scriptures of Hinduism are the four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Veda). They are four collections of hymns (Samhita) describing deities, their works and the praises that must be addressed to them in religious rituals. Each of the four collections of Vedic hymns is associated with three other kinds of Vedic literature - the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. Together they represent the most sacred religious literature (Shruti) of Hinduism. (NB: Remember that throughout the content of this website by "Vedas" we mean only the four collections of hymns, and not the whole corpus of Vedic literature.)
The hymns of the oldest Veda, the Rig Veda, are almost all praises addressed to gods. Among them it seems possible to discern two important generations. The oldest supreme god in the Vedas seems to be Varuna, the sustainer of creation and guardian of universal order. A hymn in the Atharva Veda proclaims:
This earth belongs to Varuna, the King,
and the heavens, whose ends are far apart.
Both the oceans are the loins of Varuna,
and He is merged within the small water drop.
If one will go away beyond the heavens,
still he cannot escape King Varuna;
His envoys move about here from the heavens,
and, thousand-eyed, they look upon the earth. (Atharva Veda 4,16,3-4)
Varuna is omnipotent and omniscient, and deeply involved in human affairs, as he punishes sin and inflicts diseases on those who are guilty of moral transgressions, though humans do not know the specific nature of their transgression. They lament:
O, Varuna, what was my chief transgression,
That thou wouldst slay a friend who sings thy praises?
Tell me, god undeceived and sovereign, guiltless
Would I appease thee then with adoration. (Rig Veda 7,86,4)
Punishment must lead to repentance and mending of one’s moral life. In order to avoid punishment people ask for forgiveness of sins:
A hundred are thy remedies, a thousand,
Wide be thy grace and deep, O sovereign ruler;
Far, far away from us drive off Destruction,
And make us free from every sin committed. (Rig Veda 1,24,9)
What appears to be a second generation of Vedic gods has Indra as the most important representative. He takes over all the functions of Varuna after saving mankind from the influence of the demon Vritra, the embodiment of the rough aspects of nature. Vritra had locked the waters in the sky, which caused a catastrophic drought on earth. At the humans' demand, Indra consumed a large quantity of ritual drink (soma), took the lightning (vajra) shaped by the god Tvashtri and, with the help of other gods, killed the demon and brought back the rain on earth (Rig Veda 10,113). That is why he is praised in the hymns:
Adorable Indra, our savior,
Vritra-slayer and furtherer of our highest aims,
May he be our protector from the end,
from the middle, from behind, and from in front.
Lead us to a free world, wise one,
where lie divine luster, sunlight, and security.
Valiant are the arms of thee, the powerful;
we will take to their vast shelter. (Atharva Veda 19,15,1-2)
It is important to notice that although Indra takes over the role of fertility god from Varuna, he fulfills it with much more effort than his predecessor does. Indra depends on the ritual drink soma, and consequently on the sacrifices done by people (which represents a weakness), and has to fight in order to maintain the universal order. His sovereignty over the world is not so striking as it was with Varuna. On the other hand, people appreciate him more than Varuna. They didn't understand Varuna's ways, but can influence Indra through the sacrifices and therefore get the earthly blessings they seek. Once proclaimed sovereign Lord, Indra takes over the title of maker of the universe, which he doesn't create, but rearranges after his conquest.
Two other gods of this generation, with less important roles in the Vedas, but who will play major roles in later theistic Hinduism, are Rudra (forerunner of Shiva) and Vishnu. Rudra has a dual aspect; on the one hand he is monstrous, murderous and savage; on the other hand he is benevolent, divine healer and protector of cowherds. Vishnu, too, has a minor role in the Vedas, being just one of Indra's helpers in his combat against Vritra and in building the universe. At the same time, he is an intermediary between gods and people, a role that will certainly develop in his later special position.
Along with praising the gods, there are passages in the Vedas that suggest another kind of Ultimate Reality of the universe, beyond the gods we have mentioned. One of the most important Hindu cosmogonies is that of the golden egg (Hiranyagarbha), an entity that was the source of all existing beings and worlds:
At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?
There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
Of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.
Other than that was nothing else at all.
Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
And all was Water indiscriminate. Then
That which was hidden by the void, that One, emerging,
Stirring, through the power of ardor (tapas), came to be. (Rig Veda 10,129)
There are two important aspects to be noticed here: 1) primordial water produced the One; and 2) the whole process was realized by the power of ardor (tapas). This idea is very important because it opens the way towards the notion of One (a primordial matrix that encapsulates all existence) and also toward asceticism, seen as a cosmic creative energy through which the unmanifested becomes manifested. Another important element is the preexistence of an impersonal reality (the One) against personal beings. Gods and men are said to have their origin in this primordial impersonal entity.
Considering an impersonal Ultimate Reality above the gods is a pattern that will dominate most Hindu religious elaboration. The cosmogony of the golden egg is continued in the Brahmana texts in a similar fashion as in the Rig Veda, adding the appearance of a creator (Prajapati) from the golden egg (Shatapatha Br. 11,1,6). Just as the golden egg appears as a result of ardor, this Prajapati created the world using the power released by his ardor. His words are fulfilled as a result of ardor and the material out of which he builds the universe is his own body.
A similar view is presented in the Purushasukta hymn (Rig Veda 10,90), which can be found in a similar version in the Atharva Veda (19,6) and in the Taittiriya Aranyaka (3,12). According to this hymn, the product of the golden egg is the giant Purusha. By his consuming himself in the fire of creation all of the worlds came into existence, including our physical world, the four-caste system, the animals and the duality of the sexes. There is no doubt that Purusha and Prajapati are equivalent, both being produced out of that impersonal One of the Rig Veda 10,129. This passing from a personal Ultimate Reality (represented by the gods) to an impersonal One is an important feature of early Hinduism that will have major implications for later developments.
The Ultimate Reality according to the Upanishads and Vedanta philosophy
Already in the Brahmana writings (Shatapatha Brahmana 6,1,1) it is stated that the whole universe has its origin in non-existence (asat), meaning that existence must be the product of some unmanifested potentialities. This topic is made clear in the Upanishads, which claim that the origin of all existing things is Brahman, the One of the Vedic hymns:
As the spider moves along the thread, as small sparks come forth from the fire, even so from this Self [Brahman] come forth all breaths, all worlds, all divinities, all beings. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2,1,20)
According to the Upanishads, the Ultimate Reality is Brahman. It (neuter gender) is at the origin of any physical, moral or spiritual activity (see also Brihadaranyaka Up. 4, 1-2; Chandogya Up. 3,18,1-6; Taittiriya Up. 2,6; 3,1). Paradoxically, Brahman has two aspects: immanent, or manifested, and transcendent, or unmanifested. For a better understanding of this concept, we can compare it to the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. The point of infinite mass out of which all celestial bodies is said to have originated, according to the astronomic theory, has its ideological correspondence with the unmanifested Brahman of Hindu cosmogony. However, in the manifestation of Brahman, the product is not only matter, but also living beings, gods and humans. The cause of the manifestation process is Brahman's desire to be multiplied: "Let me become many, let me be born" (Taittiriya Up. 2,6,1). (However, in a pantheistic context, this is a strange and contradictory idea, because the impersonal being cannot have desires. Probably a more accurate term would have been that of necessity of becoming manifested.) After the manifestation is completed, all its products tend to return to the initial state of unmanifestation, evolving from one level of manifestation to another. Then another manifestation will occur:
As from a blazing fire, sparks of like form issue forth by thousands, even so, O beloved, many kinds of beings issue forth from the immutable and they return thither too. (Mundaka Up. 2,1,1)
Similar to the day and night cycle, the transformation of Brahman between the manifested state and the unmanifested one is everlasting (Kaushitaki Up. 3,3).
The philosophical system (darshana) that follows the pantheistic teachings of the Upanishads is called Vedanta. The most important organizers are Badarayana (4th century AD) and Shankara (9th century AD); the one who conferred to it a pure monistic character as Advaita Vedanta - "the Vedanta of pure monism".
Shankara's vision of the relation of the Absolute with the phenomenal world is reflected in an old Hindu parable, that of the rope mistakenly perceived in the dark as a snake. As the coiled rope in the dark is thought to be a snake, in the same way the empirical world is mistakenly considered to have a distinct existence, independent of the Absolute, through the illusion (maya) produced by ignorance (avidya). As only the rope exists, not the snake, only Brahman has a real existence (sat) and is the true reality. The phenomenal world is real only if perceived as Brahman, as the "reality" of the snake's existence lays in the substratum that produced the confusion, namely the rope. The plurality of the phenomenal world is an illusion (maya), a veil that has to be put aside in order to perceive Brahman. The universe is not unreal, but has the same value as the snake in the parable - it produces confusion and causes humans to pursue a wrong spiritual direction. All that goes beyond this vision of the world is illusion, produced by ignorance.
Shankara tried to settle the relation of the Absolute Brahman (Nirguna Brahman - the One without any definable characteristics) with the origin of the world by proclaiming two distinct points of view: the absolute (paramarthika) and the relative (vyavaharika). In an absolute sense, Brahman is above any duality and external relation; nothing real exists outside him. But from our empirical and relative point of view, Brahman is the cause of the universe we know. In fact there is no real causality; the world is only an illusory sight of Brahman, as with the rope seen as a snake. Brahman's activity in the world and among human beings is nothing but lila, divine play. In conclusion, the Vedanta of Shankara is somehow different from Upanishadic philosophy; the universe is only a phenomenal appearance (vivarta-vada) of Brahman and not his transformation (parinama-vada). From a substantial manifestation, the universe becomes only a dream (or self-forgetting) of Brahman.
The gods of theistic Hinduism
According to the pantheistic view of the Upanishads and Vedanta, the gods are merely inferior manifestations of the supreme impersonal Brahman. However, they continued to play an important role for the average Hindu. The gods that are worshiped today are not the same as in Vedic times. The most important ones became Vishnu and his avatars (especially Rama and Krishna), Shiva and the goddess Kali.
Some pantheist thinkers consider that devotion is nothing but an easier path towards reaching the same impersonal union with the impersonal Ultimate Reality, towards attaining the extinction of personhood, the main source of illusion (maya). Since the adored god is nothing but a form of Brahman, the mystical union with him would be, in this case, nothing more than the same impersonal fusion atman-Brahman. However, the theistic Hindu thinkers strongly disagree with this. They see the personal creator God (Vishnu in Vaishnavism or Shiva in Saivism) as having no preceding origin. Consequently, the One of the Rig Veda, Purusha of the Purushasukta, and Brahman of the Upanishads are considered nothing but the supreme personal God (Vishnu or Shiva). He is both the creator and the substance of the world (as a result of creating the world out of himself), the One that both creates and disintegrates the world at will, and the target of all religious rituals and devotion.
The best known piece of literature representative of Hindu theism is the Bhagavad Gita, where the worshiped god is Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is granted a fundamental theological importance. He claims to be eternal (4,6), "the supreme Lord of all planets and demigods" (5,29) and the source of existence: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from me" (10,8). He is not only the creator but also the substance of the universe (9,16-19; 8,4; 10,20-42). The cycle of permanent transformation between the manifested state and the unmanifested one is characteristic for Krishna too, as it was with Brahman:
At the end of an era (kalpa) all creatures disintegrate into my nature and at the beginning of another era I manifest them again. Such it is my nature (prakriti) to follow again and again the pattern of the Infinite manifestations and disintegrations. (Bhagavad Gita 9,7-8)
The excess of Krishna's superlatives and his identification with the whole of existence grants him a personal portrait that is difficult to grasp. (For more information on this debate on the character of Krishna see our special article on the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita.) A better Hindu theism will be founded later in time by the great theistic Hindu thinkers Ramanuja (1017 - 1137 AD) and Madhva (1238 - 1317 AD). They rejected the idea that the Ultimate Reality is the impersonal Brahman, who has no attributes, no initiative and no influence on man. As it is impossible to take Brahman as an object of worship, both thinkers accepted the god Vishnu as Ultimate Reality. He is not limited by karma, time, space or any other factor, and has an infinite number of attributes (unlike Nirguna Brahman), the most important being love, absolute knowledge, and compassion. According to Madhva, Vishnu is far from being the impersonal substance of the world. He is a personal god who periodically creates the world out of a primordial substance (prakriti) and dissolutes it at the end of a cosmic cycle. Regarding souls, their creation is periodic and dependent on the karma they acquired in previous existences. However, this means that the act of creation is not totally independent, as an act of God’s sovereign will. Vishnu is not free to create the world at will, but has to do it according to the karma that the souls have accumulated in previous ages, in order that they might work it out and finally attain liberation.
The Ultimate Reality in Hinduism
Hinduism is not a unitary religion, but a multitude of religious and philosophical trends. Three main patterns can be identified among them. First, there is henotheism, the religion of the ancient Vedas and later Vaishnavism and Shaivism, which states that many gods exist, but one of them is more important than the others. Second, there is pantheism, the perspective brought by the Upanishads and later Vedanta, which considers Ultimate Reality to be an impersonal transcendent being. Third, there is dualism, the perspective of the Samkhya and the Yoga darshana of Patanjali that acknowledge two ultimate realities. Let's briefly describe them following an approximate chronological order.
The Vedic gods
The oldest sacred scriptures of Hinduism are the four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Veda). They are four collections of hymns (Samhita) describing deities, their works and the praises that must be addressed to them in religious rituals. Each of the four collections of Vedic hymns is associated with three other kinds of Vedic literature - the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. Together they represent the most sacred religious literature (Shruti) of Hinduism. (NB: Remember that throughout the content of this website by "Vedas" we mean only the four collections of hymns, and not the whole corpus of Vedic literature.)
The hymns of the oldest Veda, the Rig Veda, are almost all praises addressed to gods. Among them it seems possible to discern two important generations. The oldest supreme god in the Vedas seems to be Varuna, the sustainer of creation and guardian of universal order. A hymn in the Atharva Veda proclaims:
This earth belongs to Varuna, the King,
and the heavens, whose ends are far apart.
Both the oceans are the loins of Varuna,
and He is merged within the small water drop.
If one will go away beyond the heavens,
still he cannot escape King Varuna;
His envoys move about here from the heavens,
and, thousand-eyed, they look upon the earth. (Atharva Veda 4,16,3-4)
Varuna is omnipotent and omniscient, and deeply involved in human affairs, as he punishes sin and inflicts diseases on those who are guilty of moral transgressions, though humans do not know the specific nature of their transgression. They lament:
O, Varuna, what was my chief transgression,
That thou wouldst slay a friend who sings thy praises?
Tell me, god undeceived and sovereign, guiltless
Would I appease thee then with adoration. (Rig Veda 7,86,4)
Punishment must lead to repentance and mending of one’s moral life. In order to avoid punishment people ask for forgiveness of sins:
A hundred are thy remedies, a thousand,
Wide be thy grace and deep, O sovereign ruler;
Far, far away from us drive off Destruction,
And make us free from every sin committed. (Rig Veda 1,24,9)
What appears to be a second generation of Vedic gods has Indra as the most important representative. He takes over all the functions of Varuna after saving mankind from the influence of the demon Vritra, the embodiment of the rough aspects of nature. Vritra had locked the waters in the sky, which caused a catastrophic drought on earth. At the humans' demand, Indra consumed a large quantity of ritual drink (soma), took the lightning (vajra) shaped by the god Tvashtri and, with the help of other gods, killed the demon and brought back the rain on earth (Rig Veda 10,113). That is why he is praised in the hymns:
Adorable Indra, our savior,
Vritra-slayer and furtherer of our highest aims,
May he be our protector from the end,
from the middle, from behind, and from in front.
Lead us to a free world, wise one,
where lie divine luster, sunlight, and security.
Valiant are the arms of thee, the powerful;
we will take to their vast shelter. (Atharva Veda 19,15,1-2)
It is important to notice that although Indra takes over the role of fertility god from Varuna, he fulfills it with much more effort than his predecessor does. Indra depends on the ritual drink soma, and consequently on the sacrifices done by people (which represents a weakness), and has to fight in order to maintain the universal order. His sovereignty over the world is not so striking as it was with Varuna. On the other hand, people appreciate him more than Varuna. They didn't understand Varuna's ways, but can influence Indra through the sacrifices and therefore get the earthly blessings they seek. Once proclaimed sovereign Lord, Indra takes over the title of maker of the universe, which he doesn't create, but rearranges after his conquest.
Two other gods of this generation, with less important roles in the Vedas, but who will play major roles in later theistic Hinduism, are Rudra (forerunner of Shiva) and Vishnu. Rudra has a dual aspect; on the one hand he is monstrous, murderous and savage; on the other hand he is benevolent, divine healer and protector of cowherds. Vishnu, too, has a minor role in the Vedas, being just one of Indra's helpers in his combat against Vritra and in building the universe. At the same time, he is an intermediary between gods and people, a role that will certainly develop in his later special position.
Along with praising the gods, there are passages in the Vedas that suggest another kind of Ultimate Reality of the universe, beyond the gods we have mentioned. One of the most important Hindu cosmogonies is that of the golden egg (Hiranyagarbha), an entity that was the source of all existing beings and worlds:
At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?
There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
Of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.
Other than that was nothing else at all.
Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
And all was Water indiscriminate. Then
That which was hidden by the void, that One, emerging,
Stirring, through the power of ardor (tapas), came to be. (Rig Veda 10,129)
There are two important aspects to be noticed here: 1) primordial water produced the One; and 2) the whole process was realized by the power of ardor (tapas). This idea is very important because it opens the way towards the notion of One (a primordial matrix that encapsulates all existence) and also toward asceticism, seen as a cosmic creative energy through which the unmanifested becomes manifested. Another important element is the preexistence of an impersonal reality (the One) against personal beings. Gods and men are said to have their origin in this primordial impersonal entity.
Considering an impersonal Ultimate Reality above the gods is a pattern that will dominate most Hindu religious elaboration. The cosmogony of the golden egg is continued in the Brahmana texts in a similar fashion as in the Rig Veda, adding the appearance of a creator (Prajapati) from the golden egg (Shatapatha Br. 11,1,6). Just as the golden egg appears as a result of ardor, this Prajapati created the world using the power released by his ardor. His words are fulfilled as a result of ardor and the material out of which he builds the universe is his own body.
A similar view is presented in the Purushasukta hymn (Rig Veda 10,90), which can be found in a similar version in the Atharva Veda (19,6) and in the Taittiriya Aranyaka (3,12). According to this hymn, the product of the golden egg is the giant Purusha. By his consuming himself in the fire of creation all of the worlds came into existence, including our physical world, the four-caste system, the animals and the duality of the sexes. There is no doubt that Purusha and Prajapati are equivalent, both being produced out of that impersonal One of the Rig Veda 10,129. This passing from a personal Ultimate Reality (represented by the gods) to an impersonal One is an important feature of early Hinduism that will have major implications for later developments.
The Ultimate Reality according to the Upanishads and Vedanta philosophy
Already in the Brahmana writings (Shatapatha Brahmana 6,1,1) it is stated that the whole universe has its origin in non-existence (asat), meaning that existence must be the product of some unmanifested potentialities. This topic is made clear in the Upanishads, which claim that the origin of all existing things is Brahman, the One of the Vedic hymns:
As the spider moves along the thread, as small sparks come forth from the fire, even so from this Self [Brahman] come forth all breaths, all worlds, all divinities, all beings. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2,1,20)
According to the Upanishads, the Ultimate Reality is Brahman. It (neuter gender) is at the origin of any physical, moral or spiritual activity (see also Brihadaranyaka Up. 4, 1-2; Chandogya Up. 3,18,1-6; Taittiriya Up. 2,6; 3,1). Paradoxically, Brahman has two aspects: immanent, or manifested, and transcendent, or unmanifested. For a better understanding of this concept, we can compare it to the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. The point of infinite mass out of which all celestial bodies is said to have originated, according to the astronomic theory, has its ideological correspondence with the unmanifested Brahman of Hindu cosmogony. However, in the manifestation of Brahman, the product is not only matter, but also living beings, gods and humans. The cause of the manifestation process is Brahman's desire to be multiplied: "Let me become many, let me be born" (Taittiriya Up. 2,6,1). (However, in a pantheistic context, this is a strange and contradictory idea, because the impersonal being cannot have desires. Probably a more accurate term would have been that of necessity of becoming manifested.) After the manifestation is completed, all its products tend to return to the initial state of unmanifestation, evolving from one level of manifestation to another. Then another manifestation will occur:
As from a blazing fire, sparks of like form issue forth by thousands, even so, O beloved, many kinds of beings issue forth from the immutable and they return thither too. (Mundaka Up. 2,1,1)
Similar to the day and night cycle, the transformation of Brahman between the manifested state and the unmanifested one is everlasting (Kaushitaki Up. 3,3).
The philosophical system (darshana) that follows the pantheistic teachings of the Upanishads is called Vedanta. The most important organizers are Badarayana (4th century AD) and Shankara (9th century AD); the one who conferred to it a pure monistic character as Advaita Vedanta - "the Vedanta of pure monism".
Shankara's vision of the relation of the Absolute with the phenomenal world is reflected in an old Hindu parable, that of the rope mistakenly perceived in the dark as a snake. As the coiled rope in the dark is thought to be a snake, in the same way the empirical world is mistakenly considered to have a distinct existence, independent of the Absolute, through the illusion (maya) produced by ignorance (avidya). As only the rope exists, not the snake, only Brahman has a real existence (sat) and is the true reality. The phenomenal world is real only if perceived as Brahman, as the "reality" of the snake's existence lays in the substratum that produced the confusion, namely the rope. The plurality of the phenomenal world is an illusion (maya), a veil that has to be put aside in order to perceive Brahman. The universe is not unreal, but has the same value as the snake in the parable - it produces confusion and causes humans to pursue a wrong spiritual direction. All that goes beyond this vision of the world is illusion, produced by ignorance.
Shankara tried to settle the relation of the Absolute Brahman (Nirguna Brahman - the One without any definable characteristics) with the origin of the world by proclaiming two distinct points of view: the absolute (paramarthika) and the relative (vyavaharika). In an absolute sense, Brahman is above any duality and external relation; nothing real exists outside him. But from our empirical and relative point of view, Brahman is the cause of the universe we know. In fact there is no real causality; the world is only an illusory sight of Brahman, as with the rope seen as a snake. Brahman's activity in the world and among human beings is nothing but lila, divine play. In conclusion, the Vedanta of Shankara is somehow different from Upanishadic philosophy; the universe is only a phenomenal appearance (vivarta-vada) of Brahman and not his transformation (parinama-vada). From a substantial manifestation, the universe becomes only a dream (or self-forgetting) of Brahman.
The gods of theistic Hinduism
According to the pantheistic view of the Upanishads and Vedanta, the gods are merely inferior manifestations of the supreme impersonal Brahman. However, they continued to play an important role for the average Hindu. The gods that are worshiped today are not the same as in Vedic times. The most important ones became Vishnu and his avatars (especially Rama and Krishna), Shiva and the goddess Kali.
Some pantheist thinkers consider that devotion is nothing but an easier path towards reaching the same impersonal union with the impersonal Ultimate Reality, towards attaining the extinction of personhood, the main source of illusion (maya). Since the adored god is nothing but a form of Brahman, the mystical union with him would be, in this case, nothing more than the same impersonal fusion atman-Brahman. However, the theistic Hindu thinkers strongly disagree with this. They see the personal creator God (Vishnu in Vaishnavism or Shiva in Saivism) as having no preceding origin. Consequently, the One of the Rig Veda, Purusha of the Purushasukta, and Brahman of the Upanishads are considered nothing but the supreme personal God (Vishnu or Shiva). He is both the creator and the substance of the world (as a result of creating the world out of himself), the One that both creates and disintegrates the world at will, and the target of all religious rituals and devotion.
The best known piece of literature representative of Hindu theism is the Bhagavad Gita, where the worshiped god is Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is granted a fundamental theological importance. He claims to be eternal (4,6), "the supreme Lord of all planets and demigods" (5,29) and the source of existence: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from me" (10,8). He is not only the creator but also the substance of the universe (9,16-19; 8,4; 10,20-42). The cycle of permanent transformation between the manifested state and the unmanifested one is characteristic for Krishna too, as it was with Brahman:
At the end of an era (kalpa) all creatures disintegrate into my nature and at the beginning of another era I manifest them again. Such it is my nature (prakriti) to follow again and again the pattern of the Infinite manifestations and disintegrations. (Bhagavad Gita 9,7-8)
The excess of Krishna's superlatives and his identification with the whole of existence grants him a personal portrait that is difficult to grasp. (For more information on this debate on the character of Krishna see our special article on the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita.) A better Hindu theism will be founded later in time by the great theistic Hindu thinkers Ramanuja (1017 - 1137 AD) and Madhva (1238 - 1317 AD). They rejected the idea that the Ultimate Reality is the impersonal Brahman, who has no attributes, no initiative and no influence on man. As it is impossible to take Brahman as an object of worship, both thinkers accepted the god Vishnu as Ultimate Reality. He is not limited by karma, time, space or any other factor, and has an infinite number of attributes (unlike Nirguna Brahman), the most important being love, absolute knowledge, and compassion. According to Madhva, Vishnu is far from being the impersonal substance of the world. He is a personal god who periodically creates the world out of a primordial substance (prakriti) and dissolutes it at the end of a cosmic cycle. Regarding souls, their creation is periodic and dependent on the karma they acquired in previous existences. However, this means that the act of creation is not totally independent, as an act of God’s sovereign will. Vishnu is not free to create the world at will, but has to do it according to the karma that the souls have accumulated in previous ages, in order that they might work it out and finally attain liberation.
