Describe the unique features of early Hinduism.

What will be an ideal response?

Hinduism is markedly different from the religions of the West. It identifies the sacred not as a superhuman personality, but as an objective, all-pervading Cosmic Spirit called Brahman. Pantheism, the belief that divinity is inherent in all things, is basic to the Hindu view that the universe itself is sacred. While neither polytheistic nor monotheistic in the traditional sense, Hinduism embraces all the Vedic gods, a multitude of deities who are to this day perceived as emanations of the divine. Hindu religious texts, such as the Upanishads, teach enlightenment through meditation.

Unlike the nature deities of Mesopotamia and Egypt, Brahman is infinite, formless, and ultimately unknowable. While Mesopotamians and ancient Egyptians regarded human beings as separate from the gods, Hindus, guided by the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita, asserted the oneness of matter and spirit. Unlike the Hebrew Yahweh, Brahman assumes no personal and contractual relationship with humankind. Brahman is the Uncaused Cause and the Ultimate Reality.