Why Differences among the Gods ?

[jijaji]

A common question encountered by Hindus is that why the Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses. I suppose they mean that one generic god should be good enough. Very reasonable question. Yes, Hindus do have a generic God, namely Nirguna Brahman, a nameless, formless God or Entity without attributes. Here attributes do not connote a moral dimension. It means that the human mind is so limited to fathom the depth, breadth, and configuration of a God that God is considered to be without attributes.

 

All Hindu Gods are names and forms of this Nirguna Brahman. Generics are as good as patents. But who is listening? A car with four wheels, a roof , an engine and a steering wheel takes you where you want to go. But why do people go shopping and test-driving different makes and models of cars. You like one car and not the other. This is called "liking". Hindus call that "Ishta". Hindus go shopping for their Ishta-devata, meaning a god of their liking. We have more gods to choose from than you can ever imagine. True democratic values. It is all about choices. Hindus also know that just like a car, God takes a person from this material world to a spiritual world, or heaven if you like. Hindus would rather have a reliable, patented, certified, documented, tested and true God loaded with options. These brand-name Gods come in different colors, shapes, power, options and warranties. Periodic maintenance includes festivals, fasts, yogas, prayers and pilgrimages. We believe in one God, but have given Him many names, forms, and attributes. When was the last time you thought of your father or mother as a formless abstract concept? A form and a name help connect a name to a form. It is difficult to imagine God / Goddess as formless and nameless, though He or She is such. The mental image of a form and a name helps the mind to anchor and focus on God. According to Sankara, who believes in a formless and nameless Brahman, image worship, chanting of mantras, meditation, and contemplation on one's own self are the many means towards realization, but sequentially the latter is better than the former and the last is the best and the highest form of worship. When realization is attained, the means mean nothing and fall by the way side.

 

Do you want to worship a God who sits in His impersonal glory in the celestial palace up there in deep freeze, out of reach, looking down, dispensing justice and not caring? Not so. You want somebody who is personable, friendly, close and understanding, but not awe-inspiring, forbidding, formidable and punishing. He wants to be regarded as kind, loving, caring, helping and just being fun to be around Him . That is the reason why Hindus have given names, forms and attributes to God, to whom they can relate. The resulting personal gods come from that one Nirguna Brahman, with special emphasis on their individual attributes. Carbon is the common element between graphite, diamond, soot, charcoal, buckyballs (Buckminster Fullerines), etc. They are of one and the same basic element, but of different attributes and usefulness. Same is true of different gods.

 

Hindus were / are known to worship gods ranging from wind, earth, fire, to Nirguna Brahman. Would you like to explain the intricacies of Dvaita and Advaita philosophies to a snake worshipper? I don't think so. But such a foregoing supposition runs counter to the notion that we are all equal in the eyes of God. God by His very nature and attributes must be an egalitarian. Ecclesiastic and scriptural elitism must rise above sophistry, and be rendered into sops worthy of easy digestion and understanding by one and all. Should the scriptural naive worry about superimposition, sublation, time, space and causation? One sees the all-powerful God in the snake and the other sees God in Nirguna Brahman. Their love for God is equal. And the Love that God has for both are equal. It is the love and devotion that matter. And not the object one worships.

 

The Self is the same in the snake worshipper and the yogi practicing Jnaana yoga. The Self at both ends of the spectrum and in between is limited by the excellence of the mind. But all have the potential for eventual moksa.

 

If one wants to worship an egg as God, one should have that freedom. It is all about freedom and choice. Hinduism has a god for everyone ranging from an atheist and animal worshipper to a monist. The very fact an atheist denies the existence of God is a declaration that he is God Himself. That is what is meant by Tat Tvam Asi, That Thou art .

 

Another question that is asked as to why Hindu Gods have extra body parts, is relevant here. Good question. Let me tell you right off that God did not ask for any appendages or body parts. Man realized the limitations of his own body and body parts, and the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence of God. How is man going to translate these awesome attributes of God in physical and mental terms? Man knows those body parts that he owns himself.

 

According to Sruti mantras, God does not have any of the anthropomorphic features or human body parts. He is Consciousness. He has no hands but accepts any devotional offerings. He has no feet, but can go anywhere. He has no physical eyes but can see anything. Brahma-samhita says that each of the special senses of God and other organs are omnipotent and "omnifunctional", meaning that His eye can see, hear, eat, taste, grasp etc. He impregnates by His glance. He is the undeclared and the Real Father of all living beings. He is the soul in each one of us. We share His DNA base by base.

 

God's extra body parts are symbolisms for extraordinarily divine qualities. The Gods also hold their body parts in certain special ways to convey a meaning or Truth. This is called Mudra / symbol. Let me explain a common symbol or mudra that we use everyday in our interactions. When you oppose the thumb with the forefinger at their very tips to form a circle with the other three fingers extended, we mean that everything is perfect or that the intended goal was achieved. This particular mudra is called Bhadra Mudra, symbolizing silence. A Guru, seated in front of his disciples, in Bhadra Mudra pose, is telling the pupils that reflection upon a Truth in silence is more revealing than a whole lot of verbiage. It also means the union of the individual soul with the Higher Soul, namely Paramatman.

 

Vishnu holds the discus, the lotus flower, the conch and the club by the right upper and right lower, and left upper and left lower hands respectively. The conch represents the origin of primal sound OM, and the call Vishnu makes to draw the attention of man to His Higher Self. The club represents His power to inflict punishment or subdue. The discus represents the time - wheel of Time - that resides in Him.. It also stands for mind, concentration, and control of body. The lotus flower is the symbol of purity and peace. The fully blossomed lotus also represents the blossoming of the Vijnana, intuitive divine wisdom on a man who turned a leaf and became a yogi. This carrot and stick approach - the lotus flower and the club - helps the soul go forward to its destination, namely moksa, without accumulating any karma on its long march.

 

Brahma, the God of creation, has four heads and four hands. All for good reasons. Each head represents one veda, book of revelation. Since he is the creator, his hands symbolize the evolving constituents of prakriti namely the mind, the intellect, the ego, and consciousness - manas, buddhi, and ahankaara - (this triad is called chitta). He is seated on a lotus flower, which represents the unfolding of this universe, and wisdom. Lord Vishnu created Brahma. Brahma by virtue of His portfolio had to be very proficient both in cerebral and physical ways. Just imagine that each head is an independent processor or thinking apparatus. All four heads / processors put together have an awful lot of brain power. You may call it one-God or one-man Think Tank. Hey, He is involved in creative process. He needs that redundant brain power.

 

Siva has a third eye in His forehead. It has multifarious functions. It is the epitome of divine vision and wisdom and when open, the annihilator of the universe with dissolution of duality, forms, and names. The third eye also is the destroyer of darkness (Tamas), and the epicenter of wisdom (Jnana). That glabellar meditative locus is also a plane in Kundalini Yoga.

 

Ganesa, the elephant-headed God can create and remove obstacles for man and gods. Lord Ganesa was all ears, when He was taught vedanta. And that is why His ears are large, and He is a good listener. He has the memory of an elephant. Once He hears, He never forgets. That is the reason why Sage Vyasa dictated Mahabharata to Lord Ganesa.

 

[Lord Ganesa used His mouse, His mouse pad, and the keyboard so adroitly and so fast, that Vyasa had to think, compose and dictate the verses as fast as Lord Ganesa scribed them on the computer. It was a challenge for Vyasa. It is understood that Lord Ganesa wrote Mahabharata at a rate of 1 Gig in one nano second. Such feat. Vyasa had a little problem keeping up with Lord Ganesa, but he managed. ----Author's humorous note]

 

His trunk is so versatile that it has the delicacy and sensitivity to pick up a blade of grass and the strength to lift heavy objects. His trunk is symbolic of his highly evolved intellect, discriminative wisdom, and unparalleled awareness of the inner workings of gunas- sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. His two tusks represent the dualities, such as pleasure and pain, love and hate, good and evil, right and wrong and the trunk between these two tusks symbolize the discriminate choice he makes between dualities. The broken tusk symbolizes transcendence of the dualities. His extraordinary and humongous appetite symbolizes the zest for life under all conditions in the context of roasted karma - puffed rice representing fried karmic seeds.

 

From bhagavadgitausa.com

 

 

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PEACE NOW

[animesh]

Jijaji,

I can understand the logic behind differents ways of worship. But, don't you think that there are some ways which are very bad. As an example, now and then, I read in newspapers about human sacrifice in some village in order to please a goddess. I bet that if you talk to people who indulge in such acts, they can tell you many legends to justify what they are doing. Should such inhumane acts be allowed to continue in the name of religion?

 

One more question:

In the first post of this thread, you have mentioned about a few Puranas. Could you tell what Matsya Purana contains? Bhagwatam mentions that Matsya Purana is the teachings imparted by Lord Visnu to King Satyavrata when the former was in His fish incarnation. Are the teachings and stories in that Purana more or less the same as those in Bhagwat Purana?