What are your thoughts on the monotheistic schools of Hinduism, and where does respect end and Shirk begin?
So, full disclosure, I am a Hindu. I want to know what you guys think of the following ideologies in Hinduism.
Advaita Vedanta: The most common one, which in Islamic language is....shirk, I guess? It basically has one singular god, the Brahman, and every other god/demon is a manifestation of that singular god. Even humans and animals are just manifestations of Brahman in Advaita. There's no concept of "soul" in a sense; our existence and our sense of being is a lie fabricated by "Maya", which is the concept of illusion personified.
Vishishtadvaita: In this school of thought, God, or Vishnu (Hinduism is very fluid and flexible in the naming aspect of things; Vishnu, while commonly a deity of our pantheon, can also just means God in a broad sense. Same with Shiva and Shakti) is the entirety of the universe. All the souls and matter of the universe is His body, and God functions as the soul of this body. But, souls aren't completely separated from God, and exist more as attributes or perspectives of Him; in a sense, each living entity is a way of God to perceive Himself.
Dvaita Vedanta: Dvaita Vedanta is the most similar to Sufism. It emphasizes "God" as a completely distinct, separate reality from us, in the form of five distinctions: God vs Soul (Souls don't melt into God, as in Advaita Vedanta), God vs Matter (Matter and the material world is completely separate from God) , Soul vs Soul (Each Soul is different and unique), Soul vs Matter (Soul and Matter are not intertwined), Matter vs Matter(Different forms of matter exist with different qualities). God is, this, completely separate from us.
Now, here's the second part of the question; though most of these traditions seem similar to Sufism (and Dvaita to even broader Islam, in a sense), there is a difference; Brahman, per our traditions, is completely beyond humans. As in, no characteristic associated with Humanity can be part of Him. Love, Consciousness, Will, all such qualities are Emanations of more fundamental, primordial qualities that define Brahman, and whatever emotions or feelings humans have are merely imperfect imitations of God's psyche. What are Sufism and Islam's thoughts on this?
P.S. This question seemed interesting to me because it isn't discussed as much as the polytheistic aspects of Hinduism. That Hindus have their own version of "Shirk" and that associating Human qualities in any way, shape or form to God is something not truly known to most non-Hindus (and admittedly, to most Hindus as well).
Side Note: There's also a common misconception amongst most people of Abrahamic Faiths about Hinduism's polytheistic nature. The lower gods, or devas, aren't similar to the Pre-Abrahamic Gods of Levant like Ba'al, Anat etc. They function more like ministers with superpowers. A level beyond these are Primordial Gods like Vishnu, Brahman, Shiva, Shakti etc. The closest analogy that exists for them across all Abrahamic traditions is probably Metatron; they exist as different primordial aspects of God, and are explicitly tasked with keeping the system running and making sure the cycle of Creation and Destruction keeps on going. They aren't truly "conscious" in that sense, or at least their true forms aren't. They form avatars to make sure the universe progresses from one Yuga to the Next. In the end of each cycle, they die and are reborn for upkeeping the new universe.
So, what are you guys thoughts on the monotheistic side of Hinduism?