How Many Gods Are in Hinduism?

Hindu texts do not give one count of gods that every Hindu uses. In Swami Paramananda’s commentary on the Kena Upanishad, Brahman is “the Absolute, the One without a second,” and Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are names that “no one of these can fully represent the Whole.” Christians confess one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus is God.

Key points

• Paramananda writes, “There is a Brahma, the first person of the Hindu Trinity; but Brahman is the Absolute, the One without a second.”
• He names “Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Siva the Transformer” and says no one of them fully represents the Whole.
• The Kena Upanishad in his translation says the wise who see the same Self in all beings become immortal.
• Edwin Arnold’s Bhagavad Gita has Krishna say he takes visible shape from age to age.
• Deuteronomy 6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version says the LORD our God is one LORD.
• What do Hindus believe? quotes the Gita passage. The Trinity is the Christian confession.

What Paramananda wrote

The verse of the Kena Upanishad (Swami Paramananda) says:

The wise seeing the same Self in all beings, being liberated from this world, become immortal.

Kena Upanishad

Paramananda’s commentary beside the next section, which is his explanation and not the verse, says:

There is a Brahma, the first person of the Hindu Trinity; but Brahman is the Absolute, the One without a second, the essence of all. There are different names and forms which represent certain personal aspects of Divinity, such as Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Siva the Transformer; but no one of these can fully represent the Whole.

Kena Upanishad

A Rig Veda line about one reality with many names was not on a page this project could fetch, so it is not quoted. Counts such as “330 million” are not in the texts quoted here, so this page does not repeat them.

What the Gita says

Edwin Arnold’s Bhagavad Gita has Krishna say:

When Righteousness Declines, O Bharata! when Wickedness Is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take Visible shape, and move a man with men

Edwin Arnold’s Bhagavad Gita

What do Hindus believe? quotes the longer passage.

The Christian claim

Deuteronomy 6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version (King James Version) says:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version

Exodus 20:3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Exodus 20:3 · King James Version says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Isaiah 44:6Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.Isaiah 44:6 · King James Version says, “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Christians confess that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the Son became flesh once (John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version, John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.John 1:14 · King James Version). That is not three gods, and it is not one person taking the names of three offices. The Trinity states it. Jesus is God.

Frequently asked questions

So how many gods does this page claim Hindus worship?

It does not invent a number. Paramananda’s commentary distinguishes the Absolute, Brahman, from the named forms Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and says none of those names is the Whole. The Kena verse quoted above speaks of one Self in all beings.

Is “the Hindu Trinity” the Christian Trinity?

Paramananda uses the phrase “the Hindu Trinity” for Brahma as a person. He immediately says Brahman is the Absolute and that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva cannot fully represent the Whole. The Christian confession is that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the one God, and that the Son is Jesus. The Trinity is that page.

Does the Bible allow other gods?

Exodus 20:3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Exodus 20:3 · King James Version says there shall be no other gods before the LORD. Isaiah 44:6Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.Isaiah 44:6 · King James Version says beside him there is no God.