Do the Gods even care about us or love us?

MonkeyFire said:

"God is love." Its in the bible.

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Welcome to Hinduism. Did you have a namakarana samskara, or did you, like many people, fed up with previous religions, just start practising on your own?

Fireside_Hindu said:

I think is we assume that God lives within us all - that we are, at the most basic level, Divinity itself, then I think the answer is has to be "Yes". However, it's a little weird because it's a non-dualistic answer to a dualistic question. The question assumes that God lives outside of us and separate from us to do the loving of us. I think that the very nature of divinity is love, and that the layers of the ego are what prevent us from feeling loved sometimes.

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Personally, I believe God is both immanent and transcendent. We use dualism to get to non-dualism. The Love is unconditional. If it's adharma, then it's patient Love.

StarryNightshade said:

So, at least when compared to western theology, do the Gods in Hinduism really love us? At least how we - as humans - understand love?

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I think they do. If I/we didn't think they do then I think there is no point in interacting with them.

There would be no point in praying, especially for their grace, help, blessings. Or even to thank them for what we have, because they wouldn't have given it. Believing this makes them no more than managers of the universe, creating and maintaining it for their own purposes. That's polydeism. This is not much different from what Heathenry reconstructionism believes.

I don't think they hover over us or micromanage; in fact I believe we have to pretty much scream at them to get their attention. Then they come running. Consider the story of Gajendra and the crocodile. It wasn't until Gajendra was desperate, and finally called on Lord Vishnu, who came running (flying, actually) on Garuda and freed Gajendra.

Jainarayan said:

I don't think they hover over us or micromanage; in fact I believe we have to pretty much scream at them to get their attention. Then they come running. Consider the story of Gajendra and the crocodile. It wasn't until Gajendra was desperate, and finally called on Lord Vishnu, who came running (flying, actually) on Garuda and freed Gajendra.

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I think that the key is surrender. Vishnu only descended when Gajendra stopped using his own personal strength and sought refuge in Vishnu. Similar thing with Draupadi.

The OP says how it is viewed in other religions that god loves humans.

I remember reading about Vaishnavism that it is akin to the notion of having a mother cat carrying around the child cat in her mouth (that is, god is so attached to us, he/she will care for us always)...

Here is a good article : Monkey vs. Cat Religions