Development of Hinduism

SR No.: 007303
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M M Ninan
Publisher: M M Ninan
Total Pages: 582
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

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6. MONOTHEISM & REINCARNATION
The Phoenicians and Canaanites, further west along the Mediterranean coast, were also polytheistic, but they had different gods. Their most important god was Baal, and some reports say that the Phoenicians and Canaanites sacrificed their children to him. Their most important goddess was Astarte, another fertility figure. The Hittites arrived later, around 2500 BC, and had different gods because they were Indo-Europeans, but they were polytheistic too.
The first signs of monotheism in West Asia come from the Bible, where by around 1000 BC the Jews seem to have already thought that they should worship only their own one God. They clearly believed that there were many gods, but they should only worship theirs, and in exchange, he would take care of them against all the other gods. They may have gotten this idea from the Egyptians.
The next move toward monotheism comes from Zoroastrianism, also around 1000 BC. In Zoroastrianism the main god was Ahura Mazda, and his twin sons represented the Truth and the Lie; all the minor gods were on either the side of Truth or the side of the Lie. The most important of these minor gods was Mithra, who was the god of treaties and contracts, and of civilization
When the Persian king Cyrus converted to Zoroastrianism and then conquered a huge empire, many of his subjects also became Zoroastrians, and the old Sumerian polytheism more or less died out."
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/religion/monotheism.htm Dr. Karen Carr, Associate Professor of History, Portland State University
In spite of all these obvious historical realities, we find that the Vaishnavites at least are teaching just the opposite in the name of Truth. Here is a quote from a Dasi in America. You can judge what it means regarding what the ISKON is still teaching.
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