Vedanta

As a religion, Hinduism though has many deities, the prime focus remains upon an impersonal Godhead, Brahman. He is an omniscient, omni present and a universal spirit whose existence is and has always remained absolutely infinite.

A sum total of the entire universe, Brahman, is a non monotheistic God with no specified characteristics. Originally a Sanskrit word, Brahman literally means neuter (as opposed to masculine or feminine) gender. This theory of a neuter Brahman is emphasized time and over again by an ancient branch of Hindu philosophy termed Vedanta.

Taught by the Vedas, the basic teaching of Vedanta remains the divinity of nature. Vedanta stresses the presence of Brahman in every living being. Therefore, the followers of Vedanta consider religion to be a quest for the internal divine power in us.

Vedanta stresses that we must not worry about being lost as we are the parts of the divine God and can never be lost. It is just that we need to discard this black robe of ignorance to enable ourselves to observe our close union to the Supreme.

Raising the flagship of equality to all religions, Vedanta acknowledges that all approaches to God are valid. It believes that types of spiritual practices ultimately lead to the same state of self-realization. Therefore, one must consider all religions and sub religions as equal. Self effort is the basic principle that is imbued deep into this Vedantic philosophy. The individual efforts of self realization are stressed in Vedanta which can be done by the employment of Yoga methods.

The views on God of all the Hindus differ depending upon the division of the religion they belong to. Differing in their conceptions, contemporary Hinduism is divided into four major divisions, namely, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism.

The followers of the Vaishanvism cult consider Vishnu the presiding God of the universe, whereas the Shaives believe Shiva to be the Supreme Godhead followed by the devotees of Shakti, the power.