why do we have so many Gods ?

hi hema durga

i happen to see your thread just now.

Hindu religion is very vast,ancient and deep too.

each concept which we need in life has been personified as gods in our religion. for example, wealth is lakshmi, knowledge is saraswathi and energy the shakthi, is parvathi.

these three are interlinked and cannot work without other .

there is no male female in Gods. Vishnu when described in male concept, He is vishnu and in female concept She becomes vaishnavi.

concept may change but the essence and might is same in all Gods. ultimatly there is only ONE and there is no doubt about it.

bharathy.g.

 

I will leave the true forms of answers to the the gracious experts we have here..

But from a social standpoint, I have had to constantly explain the Hinduism stand on "multiple" deities et all.. and I try to sum it like this, Hindus are taught that every creature on earth possess a some a tiny bit of essence of the Creator, meaning everything has a soul.. trees, animals, stone - so the underlying message is respect everything and harm none.

As everything on earth possesses the essence of the Supreme being, it is called under different names. We worship the different aspects of the same being.

In Islam, Allah (the term means God in Arabic) has 99 different names - though the commonly used term is due to lingustic reasons is Allah and they believe Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) did hear from Allah, which is why he is revered just like Hindus revere Rishis.

In Christianity, correct me if I am wrong, Jesus is worshipped far more than God. Jesus is considered to be an image of Chrisitianity and again, he is said to be son of God, and possesses the essence of the one "God". As in Chrisitianity, God is unseen, Jesus's image and crucifix is worshipped along with his mother. So does means thay they have multiple Gods as well right?

And then there are the Saints which both Chrisitianity and Islam believes in - considered to be messengers of God.

I apologize if I digress, but I feel humans associate God with an image, and different religions play in out in their own way.

 

Hema,

Just my two cents on why Hinduism has multiple gods.

Hinduism is one of the oldest religions of the world predating Christianity or Islam.Polytheism , belief in multiple gods is practised in any religion which antecedes Christianity,Islam or Judaism which are monotheist religions.

Not to sound derogatory, but Hinduism is also a kind of pagan worship where we idolize the forces of nature and embody them as Gods as they are the life-sustaining forces.Fire, Water,Earth and Air are what the ancients worshipped ,revered and shuddered at the thought of offending these mighty powers lest the wrath hit on mankind blazing everything in its path.

The pantheon of gods and avatars whom you are referring to have originated in some form as the guardian of these forces who exercise immense control over man indirectly by safeguarding us from the calamities.

Yes, the divine beings as you stated are the caretakers of this earth and love us all equally though they are worshipped under different names and forms.I would really not like to comment on the rules set to worship and slokhas meant to be recited to appease them.

I would advise you to pray to any god who is dear to your heart and not ponder on if you have followed the etiquette ,rules and norms.God being omnipotent and omnipresent is not constricted to answer to prayers done with lot of ostentation on selective days.So please pray whenever you can wholeheartedly and believe oneself.

Take care.

 

Dear Hema,

Firstly, please accept my sincere appreciation of your spiritual quests. I too went through this phase with a lot of questions going round in my mind. I got these questions when I was going through a particularly painful phase in my llife when I started questioning the very existence of GOD.

After reading many spiritual books & lot of searching, I found answers to all my questions in the books written by Swami Prabhupada , Founder Acarya of ISKCON.

I reverentially quote here two verses from Sri Brahma Samhita. Sri Brahma Samhita is a sanskrit text composed of prayers recited by Lord Brahma to Lord Krishna at the beginning of creation. There are more than 50 verses but I am reproducing 2 of them here which will give you some insight and answers to your spiritual inquisitiveness.

1) Isvarah Paramah Krishnah
Sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

Translation:
Krishna, who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal , blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

2) Agnir mahi gaganam ambu marud disas ca
kalas tathatma-manasiti jagat-trayani
yasmad bhavanti vibhavanti visanti yam ca
govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami

Translation:
The three worlds are composed of nine elements, viz., fire, earth, ether, water, air, direction, time, soul & mind. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda from whom they originate, in whom they exist and into whom they enter at the time of the universal cataclysm.

Hope this is helpful...

Rgds,
Krsnapriya

 

Dear Hema
According to me there is only one God. I recently read a book on Paramacharya and in that some one had asked His Holiness the same question. As far as I understand it, He has replied that "Just as the same human being is called father/mother,brother/sister, uncle,aunt etc we each of us call God by the name that appeals to us." that is all. I may be wrong but doesn't it solve some of the confusions in your mind?
What is in a name? As long as the name gives you peace of mind and solace from your trouble call him anything.
Lakshmi

 

[justify][justify][justify]dear hema

superb. all your questions are excellent and relevant. first of all thanks a lot for raising them frankly.i would like to answer one by one. i may be wrong or right.

you are confused between spirituality and rituals. these are two different things and yet related to each other based on the various religions. e.g. saying a shloka is a ritual in Hindu religion. similarly you can find many rituals in other religions. like Christians will put a cross around their upper body and will say "in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit, amen". similarly in Islam also they say some things like. likewise you will find endless rituals in all religions and the highest number of rituals in our Hinduism.

now my point, every ritual may be different but it is meant to connect you to god. god is a power. not a material thing. every religion has a name for this god because it gives a point of focus for humans. today we live in a scientific world so we can reason everything. but think about olden days, no electricity so no tv, radio, or any euipment, no schools, no proper infrastucture, no factories, or industries or infact nothing. just manual labour and living. this was the type of lifestyle may be centuries ago. for such people if you try to explain spirituality they will not understand. so our ancestors (all religions) tried to simplify by giving names for gods and how to go close to god by following the good habits and leaving aside bad habits. you can refer to books of any religion, all tell only about good human behaviour and leave bad or evil behaviour.

but as generations have passed, we humans have stopped following the good things and have started to follow only rituals. religion is not about rituals. it is about connecting to god and following a good and righteous life.

wait for my further replies ....[/justify][/justify]