The Buddha's teachings and Theravada Buddhism are essentially atheistic, although neither deny the existence of gods.
Some say the world will end in Fire; Some say in Ice, From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor Fire. He is considered to live atop Mt.
The understanding that time is relative is nothing new for the Hindu tradition. If it were to move even slightly closer to the earth we would burn to a crisp and if it were to distance itself from us, we would become popsicles. ©2020 Verizon Media. They also told him that all of his relatives and everyone he had ever known was deceased. For example, we plug our electronic gadgetry into power outlets. Each of these departments employs hundreds or thousands of individuals carrying out their respective duties and each sector has an individual or multiple individuals that oversees the activities of that one unit. Sometimes, the three may appear in the form of an avatar, embodied by a Hindu god or goddess. After their allotted span of time, most of them will also die and then different living beings are placed into those positions to continue overseeing their duties. The goddess Saraswati is the overseer of knowledge. These heads or "demigods" have also been endowed with abilities to grace humanity with certain boons and that's why so many people pray to the different gods to have their material wishes fulfilled.
Thus the list completes as having 33 types of gods. The number might be figurative but there are several names and forms for the multitude of gods. When seen from this perspective, 33 million is not that big a number. There is also a story from the Puranas which parallels Einstein's hypothetical experiment.
Indra also called Śakra, lord of the gods, is the first of the 33 followed by Agni. When a full day goes by for them, a full year has passed here on earth. Well Hinduism consists of a long list of gods which are worshipped whereas only 33 gods were mentioned in the Rig Veda.
They consists of the 12 Adityas, the 8 Vasus, the 11 Rudras and the 2 Ashvins. But the most popular of these gods and goddesses are important deities in their own right.
Aditi is mother of the Devas. If for some reason, there's a massive power outage, then the person in charge would have to take responsibility for its maintenance. The 33 Gods. The Buddha, who has eliminated all traces of these mundane frailties, reigns supreme. I find this explanation quite satisfying. It's safe to say that the number of individuals working for the United States government goes into the millions. A yogi, by the power of his trained mind, exited the earthly realm for the higher planetary realms, was informed by the inhabitants of these higher realms that millions of years had instantly passed on Earth in the mere moments since he had entered the higher realms.