Film Info: Part of “The Long Search”, a BBC series hosted by Ronald Eyre – 52 minutes
Distributor: Ambrose Videos has the entire series on DVD for $99
Summary: Traces the Indian religious experience in two highly contrasting locations: the bustling city of Benares where millions come to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges, and the small village of Bhith Bhagwanpur, unvisited except by professional story tellers and itinerant priests. The film concentrates its attention on the Hindu approach to God. But which God? For there are 330 million of them.
The concept of 33 koti, while referring to God, is prevalent among the Hindu masses. ‘Koti’ in Sanskrit has several meanings and Million is not part of any ancient Indian language. Taking the concept out of the cultural context and adding meanings to suit the contextual requirement is unacceptable. The number 330000003 refers to the number of deities, God being the one, attribute-less. The sacerdotal class conversant with scriptures continue to think that it refers to symbol ॐ. ‘Om ityetadaksharam idam sarvam, tasyopavyakhyanam bhutam bhavat bhavishyaditi sarvam omkara eva. Mandukya Upanishad:1
I think what the summary was referring to was to what a man being interviewed said that there could be 330 million gods, he wasn’t actually being literal, it’s just what the man said. Additionally, he wasn’t being disrespectful. If you actually took the time to watch the documentary, you would see that he was a scholar and a professor that was trying to explain as best he could the concept of deities in India to a man who had the preconceptions of the western civilization views of religion, which obviously greatly differ to those of Hinduism.
Sincere thanks for answering.
I think 330000003 is a symbolism used to explain yet another symbol.