Understanding Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Introduction.

I belong to the religion of Hinduism. And I am very proud of being a Hindu. When I think about Hinduism, instantly my mind takes me to the festivals in Hinduism namely; Diwali, Holi, Krishnashtami, Shiv Ratri, Lakshmi Puja, Rama Navami, and many such festivals wherein we worship the gods or goddesses underlying in that particular festival.

In Hinduism, we have lots and lots of Gods and Goddesses that various people worship. The people in other religions are quite perplexed … as to how we worship lots of Gods and Goddesses in our Religion. The people of these religions worship or pray to one god, and wonder why Hindus worship lots of Gods and Goddesses. And the people of these religions just don’t understand the significance of Idols or Statues of Gods and Goddesses in Hinduism.

Perhaps this diversity in our beliefs and practices, to worship different kinds of Gods and Goddesses makes our religion Hinduism, the Mother of All Religions.

We Hindus do consider God as One, and we call him as Lord Krishna. In Bhagawat Gita, the sacred book of Hindus, Lord Krishna has himself said that he is the “Supreme Personality of Godhead”. A statement from such a magnificent personality like Lord Krishna is enough to say that God is indeed ONE.

So, we Hindus recognize Lord Krishna as the only and One “Supreme Personality of Godhead”. Then people of other religions may ask … why then we worship lots of Gods and Goddesses … and do pujas to the statues of those gods and goddesses? Good question. This is how I would like to answer those questions.

God and Guru.

We know that GOD is ONE. But, we Hindus consider that same God having many “Characteristics” or “Qualities” or “Avatars” which are INFINITE. If we claim that we can completely understand GOD then it would be a mistake. If we do such a thing like defining him in “few selected parameters” then it would mean that we are confining GOD to some few Characteristics. GOD is beyond all this and may I make it very clear … HE CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD.

God can only be REALIZED … and those persons who have realized GOD … or have Holy Spirit in them … and Called GURUS. I consider People like Lord Krishna, Shirdi Saibaba, Guru Govind Sahib, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti of Ajmer, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him), Gautama Buddha, Shri Raghavendra, Bahaullah, and many other people who have “realized god” or “have holy spirit” in them as GURUs.

Previously in the Introduction, I have said that Lord Krishna is the “Supreme Personality of Godhead”. And now I say Lord Krishna as GURU. One might ask why this discrepancy? Well … GOD himself is the greatest GURU or Teacher … right?

So, it would right to say, that GOD have “Conditioned” certain people … and have given the boon of “Some of his characteristics” in their nature … which makes them GURU. So, each such GURU has some unique Characteristics, which make them an “Avatar of GOD”.

To state one example, that is why, we consider Shirdi Saibaba as a GURU as well as “Kaliyuga Avatar”.

Let me confirm, all GURUs are UNIQUE. No GURU is the same as the other. But they all preach that “God is One” or “Allah Malik” or “God is Great”.

Understanding Gods and Goddesses.

We now know that Lord Krishna is Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Hinduism, we consider Lord Krishna as the Avatar of Lord Vishnu.

In Hindism, there is “Trinity” which consists of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, who are the Creator, Preserver and the Destroyer respectively.

One might find some inherent discrepancies in the above two lines.
If Lord Krishna is an Avatar of Lord Vishnu … then Lord Vishnu must be Greater than Lord Krishna … Right?
If “God is One”, then why do Hinduism have the “Trinity” namely Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva)?
Is Lord Krishna Wrong when he says in Bhagawat Gita that he is in fact the “Supreme Personality of Godhead”, if he is the Avatar of Lord Vishnu?

Well … Lord Krishna is right when he says that he is “Supreme Personality of Godhead”. As mentioned before, GOD has infinite “natures” or “Characteristics” or “Avatars” and his main “Natures” are “To Create, To Preserve, To Destroy”. These are the “Fundamental Characteristics of GOD”.

We Hindus worship these “Fundamental Characteristics of GOD” as Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.

All these Gods are essentially the “parts” of the LORD KRISHNA or Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, when we say Lord Shiva has performed “Thandav Nrutya/Dance”, it is with an underlying assumption that Lord Krishna has himself taken the Avatar of Lord Shiva and performed “Thandav Nrutya/Dance”.

We worship the Feminine Aspect of God, as Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Parvati, who are the consorts of the HINDU TRINITY respectively.

But, all these Goddesses are essentially “Characteristics” of Lord Krishna Himself. That is why he says in Bhagawat Gita, “He is the Parent, He is the Friend, He is Husband, He is Wife, He is the Lover and He is the Enemy”. “He is the Cause and Effect”.

Since, we humans have minute brains, we just do not have the capabilities to understand God in his entirety. So, to help us understand him … in the way he wants … he has given us his “Avatars” to us … like these Gods and Goddesses … to worship him through these Gods and Goddesses.

Significance of Statues or Idols in Hinduism

This is a very significant part in Hinduism. We worship Lord Rama and Lord Krishna using their statues. We pray to them, light incense sticks, offer flowers, pray Bhajans in front of these statues and finally when the prayer is done, we do “Shashtang Namaaskar” to these idols.

One might ask why do we take the help of Statues or Idols to worship our god. It is because it helps us to give form to our beloved Gods … or shall I say … Avatars of God, and we see that Avatar in these Statues.

During the time of Swami Vivekananda, the King of One Kindgom in India asked why we Hindus offer prayers to “Statues” or “Pictures” of Gods or Goddesses. Swami Vivekananda, then asked the minister of that King to spit on the photo of the King hanging on the wall. The Minister was furious at that suggestion. Swami Vivekananda then explains to the Minister, “The way you view your King being the same as his Photo, we Hindus believe the Gods as the same as their Statues or Pictures”.

Hinduism the Mother of All Religions

I know that this is a very contentious topic that I am about to discuss. The readers of this blogpost may view this as an “Attempt” to glorify Hinduism as the world’s greatest religion. I must state that I need not make such an “Attempt” … its because HINDUISM IS THE GREATEST RELIGION … it is the Mother of All Religions.

In Christianity, there were some Gurus, the foremost was Lord Jesus Christ. In Islam there was Prophet Mohammed. In Buddhism there was Lord Buddha. All these Gurus have their own teachings … and those teachings are regarded as the “religious teachings” of that particular religion.

But it is only in Hinduism, which does not have “One Theory” of GOD. There are many Theories … brought by many GURUS in Hinduism … which make it the “RELIGION OF HINDUISM”. Hinduism is a Vast Ocean … and this is the ocean which had given birth to the “Principles of other religions” worldwide. The genesis of this ocean is “Sanatana Dharma”.

I am Proud to be a Hindu.

Vamsi Krishna Karra