What is god like?

What is God like? Read why it is not worth believing in the Hindu and pantheistic (divinity of everything) conception of God

In the previous writings, we have been going through how the views of different religions differ from one another, concerning issues like will we be born back to this world again and again and what happens after we die. It has been established that the teaching of the New Testament and the Bible differs significantly from the teaching that prevails in Eastern religions and the New Age movement.

   But what do New Age or Hindu believers think about God? Does their view differ very much from the view that has prevailed in Western countries for centuries? We will consider these questions below.

THE DIVINITY OF ALL. If we try to briefly explain the Hindu concept of God, it can be summed up in the form: God (or Brahman in Hindu terms) is the same as the world. In Hinduism, people believe in the doctrine of the divinity of everything (pantheism) and that all things, including plants, animals, nature and humanity, are believed to be part of the same divine essence.

    This means that humans are gods, but so are cows, monkeys, snakes and elephants, and they are all worshipped. God is all there is, and there is nothing that is not God. The only thing that can prevent us from realizing our divine nature is maya, the illusion that most people are under.

    The same thing comes out well in the following quote. In it, Rabi Maharaj, a former Hindu guru and renowned yogi who began meditating at the age of five, explains this concept and how for him "God was everything and everything was God". In it he summarizes the common belief held by millions of Hindus today:

Snakes are gods to Hindus. I myself held a living, excellent macajuel snake in my room and worshipped it. In the same way, I also worshipped the ape god, the elephant god, and above all the cow god. To me God was everything and everything was God – except miserable non-caste people. My world was full of spirits, gods, and occult powers. Since my childhood, my goal was to give them everything that belonged to them. (1)

Rabi wrote that he also regarded himself as God – a logical conclusion if one believes everything is divine. He worshipped himself and took as his goal to teach the same self-worship to other Hindus. He did it so that people, after having realised this, could be freed from the never-ending circle of reincarnation:

I really sat before the mirror and worshipped myself. And why not? I was God. In the lovely and beautiful Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna had promised this divine information to everyone who practised yoga. This was nectar, which the thinkers drank. It was not a question of becoming God; it was simply noticing who I really was and who I had always been. When I walked on the streets, I felt that I was the master of the universe and that all my creatures bowed before me. (…)

   My goal was to teach gifted Hindus the truth about their divinity and release them from their chains of ignorance. I would become a guru, because a guru is a teacher, and without his assistance Hindus will not have any hope to be freed from the wheel of reincarnation. (2)

PROBLEMS WITH PANTHEISM. Pantheism – the doctrine of divinity of everything – is common especially in Hinduism. It is actually the second cornerstone of Hinduism along with the idea of reincarnation, and human beings have the goal of breaking free from the cycle of reincarnation by understanding their own divinity and connection to Brahman. Understanding this is called experiencing “enlightenment”. In brief, these two issues, reincarnation and the doctrine of divinity of everything, are inextricably linked in Hinduism.

   But several problems arise when considering this notion that everything is divine. Let’s look at a few of them. Let’s consider the following:

- Why do we not remember the past?

- Pantheism does not explain the beginning of everything

- It is untrue

- It nullifies the difference between good and bad

- It is in conflict with the law of karma

- Maya: what really is delusion?

Why do we not remember the past? The first problem with pantheism is the same as with the idea of reincarnation; we don't remember the past in that either. If everything is one with Brahman - including ourselves - then everyone should know and remember the whole course of history and things before their being in the body; it shouldn't be a problem.

   However, the problem is, if we are one with Brahman and eternal, why do we not remember the events before this life? If Brahman, which should comprise ourselves, has always existed, or at least from the beginning of creation, then everyone should well remember these early periods, but is it not true that we do not have the vaguest memory of those times?  The fact that we have no such memories should prove that our eternal connection with Brahman is not true. If it were true, we certainly would remember something about those times.

    The following discussion refers to the same thing. What was true for Job is also true for us. He also could not say anything about the foundation of the Earth, because he did not exist then. He was born and his consciousness was awakened much later after the Earth appeared. This thing clearly contradicts pantheism:

 - (Job 38:1-4) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.

4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.

Pantheism does not explain the beginning of everything. Another problem besides our forgetfulness is what was in the beginning and how it all started. What was the initial situation when there was no creation and no life on earth yet, because somewhere there must be a moment when Branham (everything) became present and visible? None of these things can be eternal, because otherwise the energy reserves of the stars and the sun, and thus life on Earth, should have ended ages ago. They must have appeared at some point because now they exist.

    Rabi Maharaj refers to the problem of the beginning in his book "Death of a Guru" (p. 45). He states that the pantheistic understanding is contradictory because Branham's appearance out of nowhere is difficult to explain and because it also contradicts the Hindus' own scriptures:

I had always clearly understood that God had always existed and that He had created all. However, the books of Veda taught that there had been a time when there was nothing and that Brahman had come from nothing. Gosine could not fit this together with a sentence of Krishna that is in the Gita: "That which is not can never become." This remained a mystery.

The view of non-existence in the beginning is supported also by other holy writings of the Hindus. This is how, for example, Rigveda explains the situation in the beginning when there was neither life nor extensive abodes of heaven. Similarly, another text states that the primordial state was non-being and invisible; and from this state Brahman then created himself:

At that stage there was neither life nor lifelessness, no extensive spaces of air nor extensive abodes of heaven behind them. Were there waters, the bottomless depths of the oceans? Who knows, who can now declare from what stage creation followed: He, the cause of existence, whose eye supervises everything, he alone knows it, or perhaps not even he knows! (Rigveda).

Before the world was born, Brahman existed as a non-manifested non-being. From this invisible he let visible things flow forth. From himself he created himself. (Taittira-upanishad).

A good question is that if one believes in pantheism, how can one explain that Brahman created himself and out of nothing? When the previous scriptures clearly showed that in the beginning there was nothing and that there was only emptiness, then what caused Brahman and creation to emerge from this emptiness and how did it create itself?

    For in order to cause its own existence, something must first exist. There must be something that brings about existence; there must be cause and effect. But the very fact that something could exist before its existence is impossible! It goes against the laws of logic, because someone's existence and non-existence can never be valid at the same time. It is as impossible as, for example, a book existing and not existing at the same time. Likewise, that is as impossible as to sleep and to be awake at the same time, or fly and be on the ground at the same time.

    You, who believe in the doctrine in question, which is contradictory to the beginning, should also consider the possibility that creation did not appear by itself, but was created by God - God who is not one with creation, but separate from it. The following verses refer to this important point. They show that God is separate from His creation, but also how He has created everything:

 - (Gen 1:1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

- (Isa 66:1-2) Thus said the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build to me? and where is the place of my rest?

2 For all those things has my hand made, and all those things have been, said the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.

- (Rev 14:7) Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

It is untrue. That pantheism is false is also shown by the fact that many people imagine themselves to be small gods (a natural deduction if one believes that everything is divine), but they are not able to create a star, a planet, or an object the size of the moon. This should not pose any problems if we are equal with God and have the same omnipotence. But why can't this be done? Doesn't this notion, which is so clearly at odds with reality, just prove that it is a blatant lie?

   The following discussion points to the same point. In it, Rabi Maharaj tells how it was difficult for him to defend the pantheistic notion that everything is part of God. He was embarrassed by the awkward questions asked by boys and had to stay on the defensive. In his book, he describes a problematic situation that clearly demonstrates the false nature of pantheism:

“Is it true that Hindus believe everything is God?"

   I nodded. I looked uneasily at the boys who represented different races and religions, who had come to pin me down. It soon became a regular habit, and other Hindu boys carefully avoided giving me any support. They actually seemed frightened or even ashamed.

   "Do you mean that a fly is God, or an ant, or a dung beetle?" The small group around me started to laugh.

   “You laugh, because you do not understand,” I proudly said. "You see only a delusion, but you don't see the One Real being – Brahman.”

   "Are you God?" A Portuguese boy asked, unbelievingly.

   I did not dare to hesitate or to withdraw – I would have looked even more ridiculous. "I am," I answered firmly, "and so are all Hindus. They just have to be aware of it."

 How can you be aware of things that are not true?" he quipped, snorting contemptuously. "You didn't create the world, did you!" (3)

It nullifies the difference between good and bad. Another problem with the pantheistic view is that it nullifies the difference between good and bad. Since Brahman the all-inclusive divinity contains both good and bad, the difference is missing. This difference is deemed only an illusion; morals become relative because good and bad lose their opposite nature and become one.

   The notion of the disappearance of the distinction between good and bad can be seen in own writings of Hindu teachers. Swami Vivekananda has referred to how good and bad are the same:

“Good and bad are one and the same" (4) and "also murder is God" (5)

Guru Bagwan Shree Rajneesh – while explaining the Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus – also refers to the idea that our deeds are meaningless:

Kill, murder, completely conscious of the fact that nobody has been murdered and nobody has been killed. (6)

What does this perception lead to? The fact that there is no separation between good and bad leads us to ask where such a point of view will lead, if it is implemented in practice. Would it not lead to an increase in suffering? It would cause social anarchy and raise personal suffering because no difference between cruelty and kindness, or love and hate would be acknowledged. This notion of the oneness of everything is is therefore not useful, but causes harm. It is aptly referred to by the following words of Jesus, which he uttered at the time:

- (John 10:10) The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

You who believe in this doctrine should ask yourself if it is really true and from what source? If, when put into practice, it causes harm to others, is it not from an evil source? Is it not from the enemy of the soul, as the previous words of Jesus show, because this doctrine, when put into practice, does not bring about anything positive?

    In addition, you should consider the following words from the book of Isaiah, which talk about the same thing. They clearly warn that we should not call evil good and good evil, which is what this doctrine leads to. For doesn't the previous notion take us exactly to this, to claiming evil as good, if we really believe in it?

- (Isa 5:20) Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

It is in conflict with the law of karma. If we continue the problem of good and bad, i.e. the previous doctrine (in Brahman, good and bad are the same), it contradicts another important tenet of Hinduism: the law of karma. The contradiction arises because, according to the law of karma, people's bad deeds follow them into the next life: they are punished in the next lives for the bad deeds they have done in the past. In Rauni-Leena Luukanen's well-known book "Kuolemaa ei ole" (p. 186) this notion appears very clear:

An important teaching is: A man reaps what he has sown. We are responsible for everything we have done. (…) People do not generally understand the meaning of the law of Karma.

Therefore, one should rightly ask how these two things: the law of karma, whose consequences one tries to avoid by doing good deeds, and Brahman, in which there is no difference between good and evil, can be simultaneously valid?

    If people aim to get in connection with Brahman by avoiding the consequences of the law of karma, how can it be achieved since these two things are opposites and there is an obvious contradiction between them? It's a similar pair of opposites as if you were trying to be sleep and awake at the same time. It probably wouldn't work.

    Don't you run into irreconcilable contradictions if you try to apply these two things - the pantheistic image of God, where good and evil are the same, and the law of karma, where they are opposites - at the same time? How can it be successful?

Maya – what really is delusion? Another premise that has been connected to the pantheistic view is that we are under a delusion, maya, which prevents us from seeing our connection with Brahman. It has been said that only illusion, maya, prevents us from seeing our true position, and that we cannot trust our reason and perception. Because of this, many strive to get rid of the illusion and to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation.

    However, a good question is, how can one know what is delusion and what is not? For if our reason is delusion, then can we trust even the doctrine that everything is delusion and only the things above are reality? The possibility of making a mistake in this matter is more than likely because our senses may have already deceived us, at that point when we believed the notion that all reality is a delusion. It is good to take that fact into consideration.

   Secondly, it is worth asking that if all perceptions are part of an illusion, how can we be sure that the desired enlightenment and the information resulting from this state of mind are not also part of an illusion - similar to e.g. the visions of many mentally ill people, where illusion and reality have become confused? Does this possibility not exist?

   This possibility is addressed by Rabi Maharaj in his book "Death of a Guru". He brings out the possibility that perhaps the state of bliss, which he is trying to reach, is nothing but a delusion, because he cannot trust his own reason and observations. This possibility is at least worth consideration, as well as the possibility that the pantheistic view itself is a ‘maya’ (a delusion or a lie).

If senses were also a maya as the Vedas taught, how could I trust in any teachings? How could I even believe that everything is a ‘maya’ and only Brahman is real? How could I be sure that the bliss, which I tried to reach, was not a delusion, if I could not trust my observations or my deductions? In order to accept what my religion taught, I had to deny everything that my brain said. But what about other religions? If all was One, then they were all a part of the same whole. From this seemed to follow that god is confusion, because it is the Truest Reality. My thoughts were in disorder.

THE BIBLE'S DESCRIPTION OF GOD differs greatly from the pantheistic view. Among the differences are at the very least: the God of the Bible is a personal God, He is the only God, He is eternal, He created all, and He is not one with His Creation. Consider the following Bible passages:

God is an eternal God, who has always existed:

 - (Gen 21:33) And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

- (Isa 40:28) Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

God has created all and is not one with His Creation:

- (Rev 4:11) You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.

- (Rev 10:5-6) And the angel which I saw stand on the sea and on the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

6 And swore by him that lives for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

- (Mark 13:19 ) For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created to this time, neither shall be.

- (Acts 17:16 ,22-27,29-30) Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

22 Then Paul stood in the middle of Mars’ hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I to you.

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

29 For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by are and man’s device.

30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:

There is only one God:

 - (1 Tim 1:17) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

- (Isa 45:21) Tell you, and bring them near; yes, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time?  have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.

- (Isa 46:9) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Other verses addressing the same subject:

 - (Ex 20:2-3) I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 You shall have no other gods before me.

- (Isa 14:13-14) For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

- (Eze 28:2) Son of man, say to the prince of Tyrus, Thus said the Lord GOD; Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God

- (Rom 1:22-23,25) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things.

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

- (Acts 12:21-24) And on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne, and made an oration to them.

22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

The futility of idols and idolatry:

- (Ps 115:3-8) But our God is in the heavens: he has done whatever he has pleased.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

8 They that make them are like to them; so is every one that trusts in them.

- (Isaiah 44:9-20) They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

10 Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

12 The smith with the tongs both works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms: yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretches out his rule; he marks it out with a line; he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

14 He hews him down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain does nourish it.

15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto.

16 He burns part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied: yes, he warms himself, and said, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

17 And the residue thereof he makes a god, even his graven image: he falls down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and said, Deliver me; for you are my god.

18 They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

19 And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread on the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

- (Jer 10:3-5) For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

- (Jer 10:8-15) But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.

10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

11 Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

13 When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
 

- (Gal 5:19-21) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Contentions, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

- (Rev 21:8) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

- (Rev 22:14,15) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
 

THE IDEA OF ONE GOD. We should understand that the idea of pantheism and the idea that there are many gods are not part of the original legacy of the human race. Instead, these are distortions that have been caused by the fact that people stopped worshipping the one God and abandoned their original legacy.             

   By comparison, the worship of the one almighty God is a much older idea; it is our legacy, left to us by our earliest forefathers. This is not a Western idea; it is a concept that originates from the earliest history of the human race. In the book of Genesis we find an apt reference to this:

- (Gen 4:26) And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call on the name of the LORD.

We can find several pieces of evidence of the worship of one God in the history of peoples. One good example is that Wilhelm Schmid (1868–1954) compiled 4,500 pages of evidence on the monotheistic view of God among "primitive" tribes. At least 1,000 similar examples have been found since Schmid published his books.

   This means that many primitive tribes have retained original information about the Sky God and the highest, true God as part of their tradition.  In many cases, the more primitive the culture, the better this information has been retained. This is not a rare phenomenon: almost all peoples have had an idea of a single God but have rejected His worship and started to worship other gods instead. The general direction has been from one God to several gods.

There is another fact – a more powerful one and in our opinion also a more conclusive one – that proves that the current fetishism and polytheism are deteriorations of a more pure form of religion. Any form of fetishism or polytheism is based on monotheism. This is why monotheism (belief in one God) was not achieved by the human race after centuries of development. Instead, monotheism used to be the religion of all peoples. This is not a guess: it is a fact and the scientific truth. There is plenty of evidence in global history of the original religion becoming corrupted. It can be seen even in the major religions of the world that their original purity has been destroyed.

   (...) The works of learned people and serious researchers include even more pieces of evidence proving that the ancient religions of Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Babylon, India, Persia and China, as well as the current oriental philosophies, all started out as a monotheistic religion, but degenerated over time into polytheism and also into fetish worship.  We have plenty of evidence about this by professional scientists, people who have studied ancient documents such as the cuneiforms of the Sumerian, Acchadians and other peoples, and the hieroglyphs of Egypt. (7)

Furthermore, many peoples living in the east who currently worship many gods -- such as the people of India, Thailand and Burma (in Burma the tribes of Karen, Kachin, Lahu, Wa and Kayan) -- have retained traditional stories about one God, the Fall, the Flood and the confusion of languages. All these are contained in the Holy Bible. Similarly, in China the worship of Sang Thi, who is the Lord of the Heaven, was common for hundreds of years before the practice of Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism. Sang Thi was the main object of faith:

The Chinese call Him Sang Thi – the Lord of Heaven.

   Some researchers believe that Sang Thi may be linguistically related to the Hebrew word Shaddai – El Shaddai, the Almighty.

   In Korea He is known as Hanamin – the Great.

   The belief in Sang Thi/Hanamin existed for who knows how many centuries before the birth of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. In fact, in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics we learn that the first mention of religion in Chinese history states that Sang Thi is the sole object of religious activity. This reference has been dated to around 2,600 B.C. – almost 3,000 years prior to the rise of Confucianism or any other form of organised religion in China. (8)

Let's study a quote about beliefs in India. A significant thing in this quote is that it shows that the people of India also used to believe in a single God but slowly abandoned Him. They gradually drifted from monotheism to polytheism:

But old Veda books and Veda songs give us the decisive evidence. It is true that already in the earliest period of Veda there are references to many gods, such as the god of rain Indra, the god of wind Vayu, the god of storm Marut, the god of sun Surya, the goddess of dawn Ushas and the god of fire Agni. But these were regarded as different appearances of the one and only highest being.

  Professor Max Muller describes phenomena of this early Veda religion with the following words: "The polytheism of Veda is preceded by monotheism; and even while praying to these countless gods, in the mist of godless statements there looms a memory of one, great, infinite God, like the blue sky behind wisps of cloud." During the early times of the Veda religion, Hinduism was religiously and morally uncorrupted. There was no system of caste or any ideas concerning reincarnation, image worshipping, legal child murders, burning of widows, devil worshipping, or any absurd philosophic meditation. Instead, there are several sublime points in the early Veda-songs; from many of them echoes a well-known tradition of creation, the Fall of Man and the Flood, which belong to the very first concepts of the mankind.

   (...) This is what the Indo-Aryan original monotheistic belief was like. Polytheism and fetishism were not known at the time. If we were to study the road down from this original belief of God – like we can study the road that took centuries in India – we would have a book of several hundred pages on our hands. Many people in India now worship spirits and objects, even the Aryan Hindu. This is a result of the same kind of development that occurred in Egypt, among the Semitic tribes and other peoples: not upwards but downwards. (9)

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