Friday, August 27, 2010

Why Hindus worship so many Gods?

Why do Hindus worship so many Gods?
A common question which often arises when a person is studying Hinduism is that... Why is it that the Hindus worship so many different Gods?

It is a popular quote in Hinduism that there are over 33,00,00,000 different Gods and Goddesses in the religion, so it is quite justified by one to think and question that why is it so? What is the need to worship so many Gods? and what does Hinduism say of this?

The belief in Hinduism, or to say, The one solid belief in Hinduism is that there is one omnipotent God, one God that has given birth to everything in this world, One God who exists and controls everything and is omnipotent (which means, present everywhere in the world) It is this one God who is on the top most level of everything and is the supreme power.

The other Gods defined in Hinduism can be expressed as the forms of this omnipotent God. One would ask, rather curiously, that why does this God need so many different forms if he is Omnipotent? Well! The answer to this question is contained within the question itself!

In order to be omnipotent, God has created his own forms to serve different purposes in the world. These Gods are different beings altogether, with one Goal to report whatever is happening in their field to the prime entity, and then serve the appropriate action (which, at certain levels could be defined by the supreme entity itself, but mostly it is up to this form to decide what to do)

These forms of God are made to be PERFECT in their field of work. The Supreme Being has blessed them to have no errors, so that their functions are carried out smoothly. According to the beliefs of Hinduism, there is a God made for every purpose literally.

Some people would maybe question, why are these forms termed as Gods then? They aren't all that powerful even. Well lets say, they have full control over what situation they serve, they can do anything they want in their field of work, they are spiritually purified beings and have no evil in them and the most of all, they are perfect in what they do, which makes them attain the status of a God.

Therefore, these Gods serve as the informants of the divine Supreme Being, and this is why Hindus worship them, there is literally one God, but these forms are also Gods and must be worshipped and given utmost respect, which is why in the Hinduism religion and culture, so many Gods are worshipped.

So this provides the answer to this question.

1 comment:

  1. Hello Maama,

    This is Pappu. I happened to stumble upon your blog. Very interesting I must admit. Totally agree with you on the reason for many Gods in Hindu religion!

    My friend in the math department would say this though: that all Gods other than the supreme entity are not any less powerful! This is because God by himself is "infinite". You distribute this power to infinite other "Gods", their individual power is infinite. :)

    Continue to publish your posts. I will read regularly. This is a highly informative blog! Thanks Maama

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