Padmanabhan Janakiraman
Member
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF HAVING SO MANY GODS ?
Hinduism is generally associated with a multiplicity of Gods, and it does not advocate the worship of one particular deity.
The Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism amount to thousands, all representing the many aspects of only one supreme Absolute called “Brahman”.
However, people who don’t know this misinterprets the fact that Hinduism has a multitude of Gods! What one should understand is that although there are many manifestations of Brahman in the forms of deities each deity is really an aspect of the Brahman or, ultimately Brahman itself.
The common tendency of every human being is to have variety. Variety of food / dresses / buildings / songs / paintings / colors / sports / literature / ….. change is the order of the day. For the change we need more than one. Hence we need many forms for many varieties. So ancient Indians thought that if many god concepts / pictures/ forms were designed variety of literature / temples / Vedas / stories / paintings / methods of worship / customs and rituals / keerthans / guidance for personal + family + society + national integration and development are possible through these.
In the religions where monotheism practice exist how many literature are there ? How many varieties are there ?. Evaluate them. How ever in Hindu dharma these polytheism is only for the lower level.
At Higher Level, Hindus understand GOD IS ONE.
At a higher level it converges to monotheism. Thus the concept of god could be utilized for the growth and progress on all subjects connected with human life.
Shankaracharya came down to uplift mankind through different ways, one such is idol worship!
Unlike the yogic/tantric/karma path, one can enjoy the fruits of this idol worship soon. It may be hard for a layman to worship the god who is formless, nameless and characterless.
One may find worshiping this unimaginable form hard, So the noble forms of Almighty are adopted for idol worship which have a form and name. Rituals (like alankara, abhisheka, unjal,..) to each deities of such are specified in the scriptures.
This post is for sharing knowledge only, no intention to violate any copyrights.
Hinduism is generally associated with a multiplicity of Gods, and it does not advocate the worship of one particular deity.
The Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism amount to thousands, all representing the many aspects of only one supreme Absolute called “Brahman”.
However, people who don’t know this misinterprets the fact that Hinduism has a multitude of Gods! What one should understand is that although there are many manifestations of Brahman in the forms of deities each deity is really an aspect of the Brahman or, ultimately Brahman itself.
The common tendency of every human being is to have variety. Variety of food / dresses / buildings / songs / paintings / colors / sports / literature / ….. change is the order of the day. For the change we need more than one. Hence we need many forms for many varieties. So ancient Indians thought that if many god concepts / pictures/ forms were designed variety of literature / temples / Vedas / stories / paintings / methods of worship / customs and rituals / keerthans / guidance for personal + family + society + national integration and development are possible through these.
In the religions where monotheism practice exist how many literature are there ? How many varieties are there ?. Evaluate them. How ever in Hindu dharma these polytheism is only for the lower level.
At Higher Level, Hindus understand GOD IS ONE.
At a higher level it converges to monotheism. Thus the concept of god could be utilized for the growth and progress on all subjects connected with human life.
Shankaracharya came down to uplift mankind through different ways, one such is idol worship!
Unlike the yogic/tantric/karma path, one can enjoy the fruits of this idol worship soon. It may be hard for a layman to worship the god who is formless, nameless and characterless.
One may find worshiping this unimaginable form hard, So the noble forms of Almighty are adopted for idol worship which have a form and name. Rituals (like alankara, abhisheka, unjal,..) to each deities of such are specified in the scriptures.
This post is for sharing knowledge only, no intention to violate any copyrights.
