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Detractors of Hinduism claim that it is a contradiction to say that God is One yet Many. Is this true? Keep reading to see my ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ of this claim.
This claim has two common variations:
1. It cannot be said that God has more than one form while still being one in essence, because this would be a numerical contradiction.
2. If God has many forms, then presumably they would be in competition with each other. This being the case, it would mean that God, who is also said to be one, is hostile to himself. This would imply imperfection, and God cannot have any imperfections.
๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐:
In Hinduism, God is one. He is also deemed to be limitless, so logically he can have several forms. If he does have several forms (as we believe) then this does not stand in conflict with the nature of his oneness, since what is one in essence can yet have more than one form.
This may be demonstrated with the following analogy to the sun. The sun emanates rays which, though innumerable, are yet inseparable from it. Nor can it be said that the rays are essentially different from the sun, for ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ต. Indeed the rays of the sun ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ the sun: many yet one. In the same way, God and his forms are also Many yet One.
Having established that God is one in essence, it may further be said that He has a ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ by which all of his other forms are upheld. This supreme form of God, which we call Paramatma, is the first cause and permanent underpinning of everything in existence; His other forms depend on Him for their existence but He does not depend on them; nor is He affected by them. Hence, God's perfection and supremacy remain untouched by His plurality. Therefore, the claim to the contrary is an artificial one that cannot serve as an objection to the concept.
This counterargument demonstrates the utter lack of substance of the charge in question. It can be used to refute missionaries and other detractors who seem to relish in using it.
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Shantanu Panigrahi
If you start off as a baby growing up into and towards a full adult at the age of 18, you are a ray and Parmatman is the Sun, distinct from each other. Now I do not know which school of Hinduism you subscribe to or whether you are just making an argumentative theological refutation of separateness and identical as in achintya bhed abheda tatwa, so I am not sure where do you think the Paramatman resides and is accessible to the ray as a god, but without the experience of searching for the Parmatman in your mind itself when it transcends the gunas and egos and desires and in actual fact all attachments of the body (the ray) one is the atman alone operating at the interface between the self and the Self as Paramatman; otherswise known as Om, the Supermind. The Parmatman lies dormant unless there is bhakti and devotion to the Paramatman whereupon advaita is manifest and the ray disappears leaving only mahatman acting as purnavatar purushottma. This is the Vishista Advaita Vedanta conception. One becomes a living God when the sadhaka engaged in satya-advaita yoga strives for the truth trhrough sanatan dharma of the relationship between the ray (from baby till 18 years of age) as he matures through life from life experiences and learings from a blend of scriptures and experiences. The rays in life forms are jivas (gods or asuras) so Hinduism has rightly said that there are 330 million gods, even more than that is possible. In other words the rays (gods/asuras) have to acquire oneness with the Paramatman and this is entirely possible; I believe as one such person, a purnavatar. What do you have to say to that?, Hindusim at its purest.