A devotee’s question: I really get confused about whether there is one God or multiple Gods in Hinduism like Shiv, Vishnu, and Brahmā. Are there many Gods? Is there one God? Please explain.
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: There is only one God, but that one single God has infinite power and infinite potential to reveal Himself or Herself in infinitely different ways.
There is a statement from the Vedas (the eternal Divine scriptures of Hinduism):
अनन्त-नामरूपाय…
Anant-nāmarūpāya…(The One who has infinite names and forms).
God has infinite forms and infinite names. However, there is only one single God. There can’t even be two Gods. If there were two Gods, those two Gods would each limit each other. Where one God finished, the other God could start. But God, by definition, is absolute and omnipresent. So there can only be one God.
However, just as we, limited beings, have the ability to reveal part of our knowledge or our knowledge in full, we also have the ability to exert part of our strength if we’re playing with a child, or exert our full strength if we’re competing with an equal or someone who is stronger than us. This is just a simple worldly example.
If we have the ability to do that, then God also has the ability to reveal Himself partially or reveal Himself fully, or reveal one aspect of His power or another aspect of His personality.
Thus, God reveals Himself in many, many forms.
Here, you were asking about Shiv, Brahmā, and Vishnu. These are all forms of the one same God.
So there is only one single God.
Jai Shree Radhe!
