I’m not Hindu but I just want to point out that religious syncretism is not “dishonest” in Hinduism. For a Hindu, “more is more and more is better.” The Hindu mind is dualistic (atman is brahman) and thus not so interested in making sure that all the stories about different gods are logically compatible in the way a devout Catholic or other monotheist would be. Some gods like Brahma and Vishnu mutually created each other according to Hinduism. This is why Hindus are perfectly willing to accept Jesus as a God (specifically an avatar of Vishnu) but not as the God. One doesn’t have to agree with this, but understanding it avoids projecting unto others a Western conception of psychology.
The parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant applies here. This is a Jain version:
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.”
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.
“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.
“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
“It is like a big hand fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, “What is the matter?” They said, “We cannot agree to what the elephant is like.” Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said.”
“Oh!” everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
How can a finite human mind encompass an infinite God? At most it can encompass a part of Him.
rossum