The Hindu Goddess

The worship of female deities has a long history in India and today it remains one of Hinduism’s prominent religious features. In the Indus Valley civilization numerous female figurines suggest that women were given a sacred status by virtue of their capacity to nurture new life. The Vedic pantheon as well contains several goddesses. It is true that during the Vedic period male gods were in the ascendancy, but in later classical and medieval Hinduism, the worship of the Goddess came into its own and regained a central place in popular religion. Today, Shaktism, the worship of the Goddess, is regarded as a major Hindu religion alongside Shaivism and Vaishnavism.

The Names of the Goddess

When speaking of the female divine in India it is common to refer to the Goddess in singular. This is because all the particular goddesses are form of Devi or Mahadevi, the great Goddess. In myth and in worship there are countless goddesses, which are often treated as distinct deities, particularly at the popular level. Just as different gods represent the one God, so the different goddesses manifest the one Devi. Ultimately, Devi and Deva symbolize the trans-personal Brahman.

Although the name Devi is commonly used, more frequently she is known to devotees with various words meaning “mother”. Interestingly, however, not but a few goddesses have children. And those who do have children acquire them by unusual means.

We can classify the many manifestations of the Devi into two broad categories. The first is the category of consorts: those goddesses who are the wives and companions of the great gods. The second group comprises the independent goddesses, those who are not associated with male divine figures by way of marriage. A goddesses’ relationship to a male god determines her basic character. Those who are divine consorts are seem as benevolent, gentle and life-giving. The independent unmarried goddesses are malevolent, terrifying and lustful.

The Gods and Their Consorts

Each of the great gods of Hinduism is married. Brahma, the creator, is married to Saraswati. Shiva is married is to Parvati. Vishnu is married to Lakshmi. We can also mention the consorts of Vishnu’s avataras. Rama is married to Sita. Krishna’s consort is Radha. In temples, the male gods rarely appear without their female counterparts. But the goddesses, even the married ones, may appear without their husbands in temple icons. For example, Lakshmi is not only Vishnu’s wife, she is also the goddess of good fortune and wealth. At the start of a new fiscal year, business persons commonly worship her and pray for prosperity.

The Devi Saraswati is almost always worshipped alone and never with her consort Brahma. Saraswati is the goddess of music and education. Brahma, despite his status as one of the three cosmic deities, has very little role in popular Hinduism. Temples devoted to him are extremely few. Saraswati, on the other hand, is very important. She is often venerated at school festivals and prayed to before tests.

Unlike Lakshmi and Saraswati, Parvati is usually not worshipped alone, but together with Shiva. In mythology, Shiva has many different wives, such as Durga and a host of others. They can all be viewed as forms of Parvati. Shiva’s wives were probably local village goddesses that were incorporated into Shaivite religion.

The consorts of Vishnu’s avataras are revered mainly for their relationship to their male counterparts. Sita, the wife of Rama, is considered the ideal wife because of her fidelity and obedience to her husband. Radha, Krishna’s consort, is the image of the devotee with a passionate love for god.

The Independent Goddesses

It seems quite clear that the independent goddesses are not considered divine exemplars of femininity. Of course it would be a mistake to say that the gods and goddesses are necessarily, by virtue of being divine, images of the ideal human life. The goddesses and gods are different from us no matter how much like us they may appear.

The goddesses who are independent and autonomous often appear as celestial deities, like Vishnu and Shiva. Many of the myths about the Devi depict her engaged in activity akin to that of the great male gods, such as protecting the cosmos from powerful demons. Sometimes she is portrayed as accomplishing difficult tasks that the male gods cannot.

The great Durga Puja, celebrated in Bengal, is a nine-day affair that memorializes the victory of the devi as Durga over a powerful buffalo demon. This is one of the most popular festivals in Hinduism. The celebration is based on a story that tells how the gods were too impotent to defeat an army of demons. Vishnu and Shiva themselves were unable to control the demon army and had to create the goddess to do so. Thus Durga was born from the combined anger of these two great gods.

Durga proceeds to defeat the demon leader after a long and vicious battle. After her triumph she promises to return whenever the demons grew too powerful.

One of the striking differences between the gods and goddesses is their realm of activity. In general, the gods are seen as celestial. Goddesses are terrestrial. Although the earth is the stage for many of the gods’ activities, the link between earth and goddess is much stronger. This connection is shown in many ways. For example, the earth itself is a goddess. She is named Budeive, literally “earth goddess”, or more loosely “mother nature”. Rivers are also goddesses, such as the Ganga. As rivers, goddesses nourish the world with their water. The entire land of India is a goddess, Barat Natta, or “mother India”.

It is important to mention one final manifestation of the Goddess. This is the embodiment of the Devi as actual human women. Such incarnations of the Goddess are not uncommon. For some, specially powerful woman, such as Indira Gandhi, might be regarded as the Goddess in flesh. Sometimes the incarnation is a less well-known woman who is believed to personify the qualities of the mother Goddess.

Continues at: The Independent Hindu Goddesses and the Creative Power

A Summary of the Bhagavad Gita

The Gita is the universal mother. I find a solace in the Bhagavad Gita that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there , and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies - and my life has been full of external tragedies - and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad Gita."

Mahatma Gandhi

The Bhagavad Gita is probably the work of Indian literature with which Westerners are most familiar. Gandhi referred to it as his eternal mother. Despite its message urging war, he found in it support for his practice of non-violence.

The Gita is essentially a dialog between Vishnu, in his avatara as Krishna, and a warrior named Arjuna. Their conversation takes place on the battlefield, just as two armies are about to go to war. The combatants are the kauravas and the pandavas. They are fighting over the right to rule a Northern Indian Kingdom. The kauravas and the pandavas are members of the same clan, and it is precisely because the enemy numbers include his uncles, cousins and teachers; that Arjuna aggrieved.

When the battle is about to commence, Arjuna and Krishna, who serves as his driver, steer their chariot between the two armies and suddenly all the action is suspended. It is as if time has stopped, like a moment of eternity placed in the midst of time. Arjuna surveys the scene and begins to get melancholic and philosophical. When he sees his family members across the enemy lines, he drops his bow, having lost his will to fight.

Arjuna tells Lord Krishna that he cannot go to war. He has no desire to fight members of his clan whom he reveres. Arjuna concludes that such a battle can only lead to chaos. The term he actually uses is “adharma”. He sees no value in gaining wealth or earthly pleasure if this entails destroying his own family.

Fear of ruining the family remains a tremendous influence in individual behavior in India today. In South India, bottles of bear actually carry a warning label that frankly tells the purchaser: “Drinking liquor will ruin the family”.

Rather surprisingly, Krishna’s first response to Arjuna’s claims is to try to shame him. He taunts Arjuna and questions his masculinity, and commands him to get up and fight. Krishna tells Arjuna that fighting is his dharma. As kshatryia there is no greater honor or glory than to do battle.

When Arjuna still refuses to fight, Krishna tries another tactic. He tells Arjuna to think what people would say. According to Krishna: “People would tell of your undying shame. And for a man of honor, shame is worst than death.”

Arjuna does not respond to these appeals. He becomes much too thoughtful and philosophical to be bullied or shamed. Arjuna’s conflict is deep and genuine. His inner conflict is a familiar one. It is the dissonance that one feels when competing values clash. The most poignant dilemmas are not those between good and evil, which are relatively easy to solve. The problems in life arise when we must choose between the lesser of two evils, or the greater of two goods.

For Arjuna, the values he must negotiate are these: to refuse to fight and hence disobey his dharma as a warrior; or to go to war thereby inviting the negative consequences of karma, including family ruins, social chaos and continuous rebirth.

Arjuna wisely asks Krishna to be his guru. When such a moment of confusion arises one knows that a great opportunity of breakthrough has occurred. The student is prepared for insight.

Krishna’s first lesson recalls the teaching of the Upanishads. Indeed, Krishna essentially paraphrases a famous Upanishadic passage. Krishna’s point is simply the logical conclusion of a philosophy based on the immortality of the soul. Life and death are ultimately meaningless.

Arjuna pressures further. He is concerned with another matter now: the problem of karma. Perhaps it is true that one cannot kill the soul, but killing the body still is action and all action generates karma. How does one avoid the negative karmic consequences. Arjuna’s was schooled in the idea that karma of any sort cannot bring one to ultimate salvation.

Krishna now responds with another lesson. Krishna says: “It is not possible not to act. But it is possible to act without creating karma. One does this by performing all action without hatred or desire. Be intent on action, not on the fruits of action. Avoid attraction to the fruits and attachment to inaction. Perform actions forming discipline, relinquishing attachment. Be impartial to failure and success. These equanimity is called discipline or yoga.”

Krishna maintains that the true effects of karma conform to the will and the heart, not the action itself. Thus, an equanimous disposition frees one from bondage to karma. Krishna says: “Action imprisons the world unless it is done as a sacrifice. Free from attachment, Arjuna, perform action as a sacrifice”.

When Arjuna asks how one may learn to perform karmaless action, Krishna tells him that it takes discipline and proceeds to discuss over the span of many chapters the entire panorama of Hindu practices. Krishna discusses the value of asceticism, renunciation, study of the sacred Vedas, the sacrifices of the Brahmins, fasting, prayer, meditation. One can get a comprehensive view of the entire Hindu world just by reading the Gita.

The discussion continues. Arjuna makes objections and Krishna responds. At one point Arjuna becomes terribly confused and frustrated, and he plied to Krishna: “You can fuse my understanding with a maze of words. Speak one truth so I may achieve what is good”. Like all of us, Arjuna longs for clarity and simplicity. He just wants to know what to do. Simplicity, however, is not forthcoming. Krishna continues to spend many words as rich and as complex as Hinduism itself.

I think that this richness and this lack of clarity is one of the reason for the Gita’s vast appeal. Every Hindu finds something of value here. They find some wisdom that pertains to his or her place in life. The Brahmins find their sacrifices on it. The sannyasis see the renunciation and asceticism value. The warriors have their dharma affirmed. All ways of genuine spirituality are embraced and accepted.

As the dialog proceeds, Krishna’s lessons begin to focus more and more on himself. Now the teaching becomes increasingly characteristic of the path of devotion. Krishna encourages Arjuna to focus his mind, will and heart on God, and to let all else go.

“Men who worship me, thinking solely of me, always disciplined; win the reward I secure. The leaf, the fruit, the flower or the flower that he offers with devotion, I take from the man and respond to his devotion. Whatever you do, whatever you take, whatever you offer, whatever penances you perform, do it offering it to me. You will be freed from the bonds of action, from the fruit of fortune and misfortune. Armed with discipline, you will join me.”

For Bhakti practice what is done is not as important as how it is done. All that matters is that one does all things with faith and devotion to the god. It doesn’t even matter whether or not one is devoted to the god Krishna by name. One can worship other gods as long as they do so with fidelity.

The tradition has come a long way from Vedic times, when the priest insisted that the mantras of sacrifice had to be pronounced at just the right pitch.

As the teaching started to center more and more on the path of devotion, Arjuna feels his doubt melts away. In a climatic moment he asks Krishna to grant him the ability to see him in his full glory as god. Krishna gives Arjuna a divine eye with which to gaze on the gods form. The passages that describe this great vision are fascinating and memorable. The narrator tells us: “The light of a thousand suns would arise in the sky at once. That would be like the light of that great spirit. Arjuna saw all the universe in its many ways and parts, standing as one in the body of the gods of gods. Fulfilled with amazement, his hair bruising on his flesh, Arjuna bows his head to the god and joins his hands in homage.”

The Director of the Manhattan Project said that when he saw the atomic bomb detonated in the desert of New Mexico he immediately recalled the first two lines of this passage, comparing the light of Krishna to a thousand suns rising at once in the sky.

Arjuna’s response to this awesome vision is characteristic of such experiences as recorded in the history of religions. Ruddolf Otto called such events “experiences of the holy”. Otto said the experience of the holy is marked by a highly ambivalent reaction, just as we observe in Arjuna.

Arjuna is both terrified and fascinated with the sight. What Arjuna sees accents the absolute utterness of divinity. “I see no beginning, or middle or end to you. Only boundless stream in your endless arms. The moon and the sun in your eyes, your mouths of consuming flames. You alone fill the space between heaven and earth. Seeing the many mouths, eyes and your great form, the world trembles, and so do I.”

Now Krishna speaks: “I am time grown old, creating world destruction, setting in motion, to annihilate the worlds. Even without you, all these warriors raide in hostile ranks will cease to exist. Therefore, arise and win glory. Conquer your foes and fulfill your kingship. They already are killed by me. Be just my instrument, the archer at my side.”

After this vision Arjuna arises and goes to battle, claiming that his doubts have been dispelled.

We should try to get clear what precisely resolves his misgivings. Has he been persuaded by Krishna’s arguments or by the vision of Krishna and his manifest form? Is he convinced by seeing that Krishna embraces all things in life and death? What about Arjuna’s first uncertainty about fighting against his own clan? I’m not the first to thing that much in the Gita is left unsettled despite the fact that Arjuna himself seems to have gained clarity.

Conclusion

The battle commences and Arjuna and his brothers, the pandavas, ultimately win. Significantly, the Gita itself ends before we know the battle’s outcome. The question of who wins and who looses is not the issue in the Gita. Nor does the Gita really solved the problem of war. The two sides are not identified as good or as bad. There is no clear favorites here. War is, by almost any standard, tragic, according to the Gita. And yet, the context of war is significant in the Gita because the battlefield is really a metaphor for the soul itself, the mind and its struggle.

Ordinary Hindus restling with the issues of dharma is a much more present reality than the subjects of the Vedas or even the Upanishads. As a metaphor for the self and its eternal struggles, perhaps the Gita is a reminder that often there are no clear avenues of choice. Our decisions must be made in ambiguity and uncertainty.

The Way of Devotion

Hinduism affirms multiple ways of conceptualizing the divine and many spiritual disciplines for achieving the ultimate goal of release from the Samsaric world. We explored the Way of Action, which provides the great majority of Hindus with a manner for improving future rebirths in order to attain a life from which moksha can be realized. We’ve also studied the Way of Wisdom, which provides those who are so inclined with a path for gaining enlightened freedom in this very life. The way of wisdom, however, is arduous, and it doesn’t appeal to everyone. Many Hindus find the Way of Devotion more compelling.

The approach of the devotional path is to focus one’s passionate nature on the love of a personal deity. Bhakti, the term for devotion, tells those who take this path that the love of god is paramount above all things. From a complete whole-hearted love for god all good things come.

The way of devotion became important during the late classical and early medieval period. At this time, new texts were added to the cannon of Hindu writings. These writings include the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the two great epics of India, much like the Iliad and the Odyssey in ancient Greece. Also composed and accepted was a collection known as the Puranas. This collection, assembled between 300 and 1000 A.D., provided the sources for much of the mythology of the Hindu gods and goddesses. Consequently, these texts were very important in shaping Hindu piety and the Bhakti movement, and continue to influence popular Hinduism.

We will discuss the Bhakti path by means of the Bhagavad Gita, probably the most popular religious text among Hindus. Although it is not the most sacred or most authoritative Hindu writing, the Gita is widely read and extremely well-known. Many Hindus have it completely memorized.

Studying the Gita will not only provide us with an exposition of the path of devotion, but will also demonstrate how Hinduism embraces the other ways to god as well.

• The Hindu God Vishnu: Before adventuring into the Gita itself, let’s first get acquinted with the god Vishnu, who in his manifestation as Krishna, is one of the story’s central characters. According to Hindu mythology, Vishnu is a member of a cosmic triad, the three gods who have the responsability for creating, maintaining and destroying the universe. The destroyer we have already discovered in the figure of Shiva. The cosmic creator is Brahma. The god who sustains the cosmos between the times of creation and destruction is Vishnu.
  
  
• A Summary of the Bhagavad Gita: The Bhagavad Gita is probably the work of Indian literature with which Westerners are most familiar. Gandhi referred to it as his eternal mother. The Gita is essentially a dialog between Vishnu, in his avatara as Krishna, and a warrior named Arjuna. Their conversation takes place on the battlefield, just as two armies are about to go to war.

The Hindu God Vishnu

According to Hindu mythology, Vishnu is a member of a cosmic triad, the three gods who have the responsibility for creating, maintaining and destroying the universe. The destroyer we have already discovered in the figure of Shiva. The cosmic creator is Brahma. The god who sustains the cosmos between the times of creation and destruction is Vishnu.

Vishnu and Shiva are each at the center of a vast religious following among Hindus. The religion of Vishnu is known as Vaishnavism, and it is the most popular Hindu religion. Brahma, on the other hand, does not have a significant following. Do not confuse Brahma, the personal creator god, with Brahman, the Upanishadic term for the absolute reality that is beyond conception.

Vishnu was a deva in the Vedic period, but he was not specially prominent. The Vedas referred to him as the younger brother of Indra, and called him the three-stepper. Other sources relate the story of how Vishnu acquired this epithet. Bali, a demon king, invited the gods to a great sacrifice in their honor. Bali offered to fulfill any wish of each of his divine guests.

Vishnu, who appeared only as a dwarf, asked only be given as much land as he could take with three steps. Bali reluctantly agreed. Vishnu suddenly grew to immense proportions. His first step covered the earth. The second step reached the sun. According to the story, there was no space left for a third step. Bali then lowered his head in acknowledgement of Vishnu’s superiority.

In iconography, Vishnu is identified by the symbolic attributes he carries in each hand. In one hand he has a conch shell or Shankha, which represents his power to create and maintain the universe. In another, a sharp-spinning discus-like weapon, signifying the purified spiritualized mind. In a third he has a mace or Gada, which symbolizes Vishnu's divine power. In the fourth he holds a lotus flower or Padma, which represents represents spiritual liberation and divine perfection.

Vishnu’s Avataras

Vishnu’s most salient feature is his avataras or incarnations. The word avatara literally means to descend into. According to Vaishnava mythology, the god descends to earth and assumes an earthly manifestation at critical junctures in the world’s history. Tradition maintains that Vishnu has done this nine times in this era, and would do so again before the end.

Vishnu’s previous avataras include a boar, who carried the earth out of the primordial waters; a fish, that rescued the first human named Manu in the Hindu flood story; a turtle, a dwarf and a man-lion. He also appeared as the Buddha in his 9th incarnation. Thus the Buddha, the sage and teacher of Buddhism, has become incorporated into the Hindu pantheon.

Finally, in his tenth avatara Vishnu will return at the end of the age as Kalki, a horse-riding apocalyptic judge.

From the standpoint of religious practice, Vishnus’s most important avataras have been Krishna and Rama. Both figures are widely revered among Hindus. As Rama, Vishnu appeared on earth as a royal figure who defeats his wife’s abductor in the great epic the Ramayana. Rama is regarded as a great example of moral conduct and his marriage to Sita is appalled as the Hindu ideal.

Krishna’s Popularity in India and in the Western World

Krishna is a name that many Westerners would recognize. In the last half century, many in the West have become familiar with the name Krishna due a movement known as ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The Hare Krishna (as it is also known) was founded in 1966, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. It belongs to the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, a devotional tradition based on the teachings of a 15th century saint and reformer named Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The focus of this tradition is abstinence of karmicly negative activities, such as eating meat, abusing sex and intoxication. It also involves the frequent chanting of the name of god. Its from their chanting that these Vaishnavites acquire the name Hare Krishnas, which is the name of one of the mantras that they recite.

Krishna’s popularity in India derives from two sources specially. One is his image as a playful and adventurous young man. One of the most delightful pieces of Vaishnavite literature is the Gita Govinda. This book tells the story of Radha’s passionate love for him. It is easily some of the most erotic literature in world religion. The Gita Govinda illustrates how on the path of devotion one might long for god as a lover longs for his beloved.

The other source of Krishna’s popularity is his role in the Bhagavad Gita. This text, which is usually translated as “Song of the Lord”, is probably composed between 1400 B.C.E. and 100 C.E. Its author or authors are unknown. Although it is usually read as an independent story, the Bhagavad Gita is actually part of the Mahabharata, which is probably the world’s longest epic poem, with around 100,000 verses. The Gita has been a great influence on Indian thinkers throughout its history, but it has also impressed many intellectuals in the West, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Stearns Eliot.

The Hindu God Shiva

In our discussion of the Indus Valley civilization we encountered the figure of the meditating horned man, who many identified as Shiva. Shiva also has connections with the Vedic tradition as the god Rudra, who was also called “the howler”. Today, Shiva is at the center of one of the three most prominent religions within the Hindu family of religions. Shaivism is the name of this religion and its followers as known as “Shaivites”. The other two major religions are focused on Vishnu and the Goddess.

The iconography and mythology of Shiva depict him as an extremely paradoxical and immensely complex deity. He is both the destroyer and creator of the universe. In Hinduism, the world itself undergoes birth, death and rebirth. Different gods are associated with different functions in cosmic creation and destruction.

Shiva is movement and tranquility. Light and darkness. Male and female. Celibate and promiscuous. One scholar in fact calls him the “erotic ascetic”. He afflicts with illness and yet he is the physician that possesses a thousand medicines. He is wild but he is compassionate.

These paradoxes serve to symbolize the limitlessness and freedom of the divine. They also suggest that the kinds of things that we might ordinarily consider oppositions are in fact closer than we might think. Destruction must precede creation. Birth comes before death, which leads again to birth.

The Images of Shiva

Three prominent images of Shiva illustrate this theology: Shiva as a meditating yogi, as lord of the dance or Nataraja and then as the half-woman lord.

The great yogi image accents Shiva’s ascetic aspect. It provides a model for many Shaivites who seek to practice asceticism. Shiva is depicted here in a meditating posture. His eyes are half-shut to the world, suggesting that he is in the world but no of it. He wears wild animals skins, emblematic of his primal energy. His home is in the Himalayas.

The Meditating Shiva

He carries a trident that represents control over mind, body and intellect. Around his neck is a tamed cobra symbolizing his triumph over the ego, because the ego, like the serpent, harasses us with desires. In the top of his hair lies the goddess Ganga. From here, the river Ganges flows softly to earth, suggesting Shiva’s compassionate nature.

The Nataraja is one of the best known images of this Hindu deity. The image depicts Shiva’s cosmic dance during the auspicious occasion of the Maha Shivaratri, the great night of Shiva. Shiva dances the night away dispelling the ignorance of the night. Now, the ascetic yogi is a dancer. He dances wild and free as indicated by his flying hair, but his face is tranquil and composed. His forearms indicate his great power, and each of them expresses a meaningful gesture. In one hand he holds a dhamaru (a two-headed drum). In the other he holds a flame. With the drum he sounds the world into existence. With the flame he destroys it in order to create another.

Shiva as Nataraja

One hand is upraised in a gesture that tells the devotee to fear not. The other hand points down to the uplifted foot, where the devotee may find refuge. It is an invitation to approach. His feet also make significant gestures. With a planted foot he crushes the demon of ignorance and sin. The lifted foot symbolizes his freedom from the world. Surrounding the entire image is a ring of fire.This is Samsara, the phenomenal world.

One final image of Shiva illustrates his endogenous nature. All the great gods of Hinduism have their essential female counterpart. This female aspect of the divine is depicted in a variety of ways. One of the more interesting ways is illustrated in the image of Shiva as the half-woman lord. In it, Shiva’s endogeny is shown as a single individual with male and female halves. Such an image suggests the all-encompassing nature of the divine. It reminds one of the limitations of anything in human experience to capture it.

Shiva as the half-woman lord

How Many Gods do Hindus Believe In?

The American philosopher William James once remarked that he thought that the issue of the “one” and the “many” was one of the most difficult and yet one of the most important philosophical problems. Most Westerners probably have little idea of what James is talking about or why it is important, but the issue may be quite familiar for Hindus, who have struggled with it for thousands of years.

For James, the question was whether it is philosophically better to conceive reality as a whole or as a collection of various events, experiences and things. In other words: Is reality one or is it many?

The same concern applies to our conceptions of god or ultimate reality. To Hindu ways of thinking, James’ dichotomy is a false dilemma. Reality can be both, one and many. It depends all upon how you look at it.

A famous story from the Upanishads relates how a great sage was questioned about the number of devas or gods. The sage answered by providing his interlocutor with a conventional pious answer: 3306. The interlocutor was not satisfied and pressed for another answer. The sage offered another answer: 33. This is the traditional number of Vedic gods. Once again the questioner was not satisfied. He asked again. The sage offered the number 6, then 3, 2, 1 and a half, and finally 1.

How many gods are there according to Hinduism? Although a Hindu tradition puts the figure at 330000000, perhaps a better answer would be simply: as many as you like. Although the questioner stops with the number one, the passage does not say that the other answers are wrong. Indeed, the sage continues to explain rationally each of his previous answers. By this account they are all true.

The many devas are just different expressions of the one reality: Brahman. At this level, the devas are said to represent ultimate reality as it is known or as it is revealed to human beings. Brahman is ultimate reality as it is unknown and unknowable.

The many gods of Hinduism are ways to enrich the understanding of the divine. To Hindu ways of thinking, ultimate reality is so far beyond our imagination that a single image, or even a handful of images would not do. If it must be portrayed, then many images and symbols succeed better than just one or a few.

Alain Daniélou once commented that 330 million is closer to infinity than 1.

The very number of gods and their complex manifestations serve to astound and overwhelm the human mind. That reminds us of ultimate reality’s unspeakable nature. With just a few images the human mind may be more likely to come to believe that they are not merely symbols but the reality.

Even though the Hindu pantheon is immense, individual Hindus do not give worship to all the gods equally. Those who wish to worship god usually have an Ishta Devata, a personal deity of choice. Often this personal god is the deva worshipped by one’s family or one’s village. It is certainly not uncommon for family members to be devoted to different gods. One’s decision to worship a specific god is uniquely one’s own and may be based on a special affinity that one feels for the deva. It might also be suggested by one’s astrological horoscope.

Devotees worship their particular deity as the supreme god, but they do not feel compelled to deny the reality of the other gods or even their supremacy for their followers. In this manner, both the one and the many are preserved.

The Power of Symbols and Images in Hinduism

Our discussion of the way of wisdom focused on the idea of Brahman. Brahman is the name for the absolute ultimate reality in Hinduism. It is so far beyond our human capacity to conceive that all efforts to think and speak about it are futile. It simply cannot adequately be conceptualized and described. It can only be realized.

The renouncers that seek to realize Brahman give up everything to which they were attached, including images of the divine and religious rituals. However, anyone who knows much about India knows that Hindus are anything but silent about gods. India is a land of an astounding array of divine images. There are pictures and statues of members of the Hindu pantheon everywhere you go. In public buildings, on buses, in taxis and on the sides of the road. The gods and goddesses of Hinduism cast a watchful eye over everyone. This is without mentioning the images in the temples and homes, where the gods are usually worshiped.

The tension we observe in these two impulses is a familiar one in world religious history. It derives from what may be the central religious endeavour: to conceptualize that which is beyond conception. There are two approaches that can be taken in the face of mystery. One approach is to say nothing at all. To think nothing, to imagine nothing. That is the mystical approach, the approach of the path of wisdom. The ultimate is unutterable. Say anything about it and it becomes distorted.

Once I got to the two final pages of a book and realized that they were completely white, except for these words printed neatly in the center of each page: “This page left intentionally blank”. I couldn’t keep myself from bursting into laughter. Saying the page was blank made it no longer blank. By simply uttering a truth, these words told a lie. This is the anxiety that some religious folks have about discussing or depicting God or ultimate reality.

A Zen saying puts it very succinctly: “Open mouth already a mistake”.

Images are Everywhere

There is another approach that is more characteristic of the mainstream of the world religions. This method is based on the belief that we are not at liberty to discard language, symbols and images of the divine. If we are to relate at all to ultimate reality, we must think about the unthinkable. We must imagine the unimaginable.

Even those traditions that consider themselves iconoclastic, such as the Western monotheism, still use images and theological language. One of the Ten Commandments forbids the making of graven images of the Biblical God. Yet, linguistic metaphors and images are used in abundance throughout the Bible.

As Aristotle wrote: “The soul never thinks without an image”.

Certainly, this is the most common approach among the religions of the world. The mystical traditions of image-less silence may appeal to some, but by far most religious persons need symbols to guide their spirits.

Many may make the great mistake of believing that our concepts are actually adequate to describe God. This is the sin of idolatry: confusing divine reality with what is merely the product of our minds and hands. If we are to speak at all about the divine, it must be done in such a way as to reveal truth without creating a lie.

Hindu Images

Now we will explore how Hindu theology tries to mediate divine reality to devotees by means of symbols and images without slipping into idolatry. This discussion is intended to bridge our explorations of the path of wisdom and the path of devotion. The way of wisdom gives expression to the religious impulse towards silence and unity. The way of devotion manifests the impulse towards symbol and plurality. This discussion seeks to show how and why the Hindu tradition embraces both.

We will also explore several aspects of Hindu theism that seem to be the greatest stumbling blocks for Westerners. Why do Hindus worship so many gods? Why do they make images of their gods?

The practice of creating icons of the devas often seems scandalous to many in the Western world. Many today continue to refer to physical representations of the divine not as images but as idols.

The easy identification of divine images with idolatry actually portrays a very superficial understanding of the nature and function of religious iconography. Images of the devas can be anthropomorphic or non-anthropomorphic. The countless array of non-anthropomorphic symbols include natural phenomena, such as stones, trees, rivers, even celestial bodies.

Other prominent non-anthropomorphic representations are the lingams, that symbolize the presence of Shiva; the footprints of Vishnu; and Yantras, which are geometric designs signifying the goddess.

Brahman pervades all there is, therefore, anything can manifest the divine reality and can yield access to the sacred for those who have the eyes to see it.

The Anthropomorphic Images

The anthropomorphic deities are those that appear human-like. Certainly, depicting divine reality as human-like is an extremely common practice in world religions. Humanity can conceive no form more beautiful and more sublime than the human. To imagine ultimate reality in some measure like us: with intelligence, will, emotions, perhaps even a body; helps us to grasp the mystery and to relate to it in ways not possible with non-anthropomorphic representations.

The danger, though, in personalizing the divine world in this fashion, is to bring it too close to the human. Making it too much like ourselves until it seems finite. Hindu images of the gods endeavour to avert this danger by incorporating elements that remind devotees that gods are also not like us. Many of the Hindu images seem simultaneously human and non-human. Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles, has a human body but the head of an elephant. Lord Rama, a manifestation of the god Vishnu, appears to be completely human, but his blue skin reminds us of his divinity. Durga looks like a woman, but her eight arms tell us she is not.

Each of these instances helps give shape to the unseen and allow Hindus to glimpse some aspect of the divine. Durga’s many arms, for example, indicate the great power of the god. For many Hindus (many that cannot read), an image of a god is the source of their theology.

The Hindu Gods

Which are the most important Hindu gods? First, how do Hindus define the word god? There are about twenty Sanskrit words for the English word god. The most commonly used word is deiva. A deiva is a divine being or a supernatural power but not necessarily an omniscient and omnipotent being. Deivas are not moral exemplar nor law givers like Yahweh or Allah in the Western monotheistic traditions.

According to Hinduism’s cretion story, they were created after the world’s creation and they are subject to its laws. By tradition, the Veda is said to mention the existence of 33 different deivas. These deivas dwell in different parts of three levels of the world and most of them have specific divine functions associated with the fundamental concerns of the Aryan civilization.

Major gods, for example, address anxieties concerning floods and agriculture. War gods respond to threats from outside the community. Other gods help preserve internal communal stability by enforcing compliance with the order of Rita (the cosmic order).

Some devas have more than one function, such as Agni, who is the god of fire and the mediator between human and the gods. It is not necessary to talk about each one of the gods of the Hindu pantheon, as some are more important than anothers. To give you a flavor of the range of Vedic theology, let me acquaint you with some of the more interesting primary devas.

Indra

In terms of the sheer number of hymns addressed to him, Indra is the most important deva in the Rigveda. One quarter of the over one thousand songs are composed in his honor. His popularity probably reflects his importance to the Aryan community.

Indra is a god of war, similar in some respects to Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible. Indra, like Yahweh was the god who gave success in battle, and he was believed to lead the Aryans in war.

Indra

He he is also the god who controls the monsoon rains. One of the Vedic myths tells how the heroic Indra slew Vritra, the demonic dragon that controlled the primordial waters; and how he released the waters to create the world.

Agni

Next to Indra in popularity is the deva Agni, the divine fire. Nearly one fifth of the songs in Rigveda are addressed to Agni. The word Agni is quite easy to remember when one recognizes the English cognate, ignite, is also associated with fire.

Agni, the god of fire

Agni was unique among the devas in that he dwelled in all three levels of the world: heaven, the midspace and the earth. Because of this mobility, Agni served as the mediator between the gods and humans. Through the ritual fire he carries sacrifices to gods and through the fires of cremation he transports the dead.

Varuna

The deva Varuna was the guardian of Rita, the principle of cosmic, moral and ritual order. Varuna enforces Rita, but he did not create it. The gods are subject to Rita just as humans are. The Aryans imagined Varuna sited in a large palace in heaven from where he watched the world and punished those who violated Rita. He was thought of as all-seeing and is described as the thousand-eyed one.

Because of his role as custodian of Rita, sinners sought to appease Varuna through pleasing ritual sacrifices.

Varuna, the custodian of Rita

Soma

Like Agni and Varuna, the Deva Soma had an empirical manifestation. Soma appeared to the Aryans as a particular plant whose juices were used in ritual. Drinking Soma induces ecstatic experiences. Through Soma one was able to see the gods, to feel a sense of immortality, courage and even sexual virility.

Rudra

Rudra was known as the “Howler”. Rudra had no friends among the gods and he dwelled in wild and terrifying places. He despised human beings and often afflicted them with sickness and misfortune. Aryans often left their offerings to Rudra outside the village and they implored him to stay away.

Paradoxically, Rudra was also a hero. This kind of paradox we shall encounter frequently as we study the gods of classical of Hinduism, specially the god Shiva. In fact, scholars believe that the vedic deva provided a prototype for the later god known as Shiva.

Although there were many gods the Aryans worshipped, they often treated one god or goddess as the supreme deity. Max Muller, the 19th century scholar of the Veda coined the term henotheism to describe this practice. Henotheism is a sort of synthesis of polytheism and monotheism in which one god is worshipped without denying the existence of the other gods. This approach to divine worship continues throughout much of Hinduism today.