Hinduism: What is Brahman?

Today we talked the Hindu concept of Brahman.

Brahman is frequently described as the "universal soul" or an all-encompassing force in which we all live.

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It can be difficult for people not raised within the Hindu tradition to understand the idea of Brahman, because many non-Hindus are more familiar with the idea of "God" or "gods." Brahman is not the equivalent of God.

Hindus do, however, believe that there are many (thousands!) of gods and goddesses within Brahman.

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Three of the primary Hindu gods are Brahma the Creator (try not to get confused between Brahman and Brahma; it can be tricky, since the two words are so similar to each other), Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer.

The students had a lively discussion about Brahman and other Hindu beliefs, focusing on these questions:

Ryan: If Hindus believe in thousands of gods and goddesses, how does each Hindu choose the specific god or goddess that he or she will worship? (Gardiner asked a great variation on this question: If you believed in Hinduism, which god or goddess would you choose to worship?)

Halle and Lucas: Why do you think many of the Hindu gods and goddess have something that humans don’t have (for example: four heads, four arms, blue skin, etc.)?