Concepts of Hinduism
Rahul Das
I attended a class on Hinduism for kids during the spring break, 2014. My mom took my brother
and me to the class every evening from 6:00 Pm to 8:30. It was a very difficult class, but I
learned a lot about Hinduism. My mother said that she herself did not know a lot of things that
were taught in the class, and she was glad that she attended the class with us!
Swami Nikhilanand first taught us about the universe. A unit of the universe is Brahmand.
Branmand is made up of Swarg (heaven), Mritulok (Earth) and Patal. Each Mritulok also has its
own Narak (hell). Each brahmand can be loosely described as planetary system. Each of the
brahmand is controlled by maya, and is attached to material wants. Devas (celestial gods - they
are different from divine God) inhabit swarg, humans live in Mritulok, and asuras (demons) live
in Patal. Narak is another domain - it is the domain of suffering. According to scriptures, there
are 28 levels in narak, depending on the intensity of suffering. At the end of the life cycle of the
brahmand, it will be destroyed and new brahmand created.
There is infinite number of brahmands in the universe. Devi Bhagwat Puran says, "Sankhyachet
rajasaamasti na vishvaanaam kadachana". It means the counting branmands in this universe is
like counting dirt particles in the brahmand - it is infinite in number. Hence, the number of souls
in the universe is infinite, as number of brahmand is infinite.
Each brahmand has three govornors - Brahma who creates, Vishnu who protects, and Shiva who
destroys it at the end of the lifecycle of the brahmand. There is one Vishnu, one Shiva and one
Brahma in each brahmand, so there are infinite Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma in the universe. All
the Vishu, Shiva and Brahma in turn answer to the "One Supreme God" of the universe - he is
called Maha Vishnu. Vishnu and Shiva are divine God, while Brahma is a celestial God (devata).
The Supreme and Divine God has three qualities - Sat (Eternal), Chit (Alive) and Anand (Bliss).
We see the Sat quality of God in the form of Vishnu (along with female form Vishnu represented
in Lakshmi), Shiva (along with female form Shiva represented in Parvati) and Durga (Shakti).
The Chit quality of God is in "Nirakar Brahm" or formless. The Anand quality is found in the
divine love between Ram and Sita or Krishna and Radha. So, in total, there are six forms of God:
1) Vishnu 2) Shiva 3) Durga 4) Nirakar Brahm (Formless), 5) Ram and Sita and 6) Krishna and
Radha. We may pray to God in different forms, but we must realize that there is One God. God
comes to us in whichever form we want them. Ramkrishnadev said, "Jato mot, Tato poth" - there
are many ways that lead to God.
Life of each brahmand is finite, it is created (born) and destroyed (death) like us mortals. The
divine world, which encompasses all the brahmands is everlasting - it is existing since the
inception of universe and will exist forever. A mortal can go to divine word by surrendering to
God. But, we must realize that the whole universe is inside God, and we are in God and God is
inside us!
We can relate to God in five ways, depending our personal inclination and preference. The five
ways are: