Posted in Daily Photo | 
cultural travel, culture, Nayagaon, Nepal, photography, Pokhara, priest, puja, Travel, village |
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Posted in Daily Photo | cultural travel, culture, Nayagaon, Nepal, photography, Pokhara, priest, puja, Travel, village
What a stunning capture!
I’m very curious about this photo. This man I presume is a Hindu priest. A priest as I know it in the christian tradition mediates between the faithful and God. Knowing that there are many Hindu Gods that exist, which God or Gods does this man mediate on behalf of?
As I understand it, Matthew, each family chooses the god they wish to follow, though most choose one of the three major gods first: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, and usually add other minor gods to the mix as well. Additionally, each god assists with particular issues. For instance, Saraswoti is the god of education, so a Hindu would pray to her if there were issues or education or learning at stake.
If you don’t mind me saying, the question you have asked is framed in such a way that it is very difficult to answer. The concept of God in Hinduism is so simple and complex at the same time. I am not quite sure if one can perceive someone as a “mediator” between God and it’s “faithful”. As far as I know, the following points may be useful to shed some light:
1. Just like the concept of Trinity in Christianity, Hinduism has a concept of Trimurty( 3 gods personified as creator, manager, and destroyer). It is very different how the three are defined in both religions.
2. To search more, you may go here: http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/beliefs/theism.htm
The term Hinduism also occurs sporadically in Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450), some 16th-18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata, usually to contrast Hindus with Yavanas or Mlecchas.-^,;
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