Faith Freedom International

[Unknown 435]

Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism

Hinduism is characterized by not only one Supreme God but also by many gods and goddesses, such as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Lakshmi, Parvathi, Saraswathi and so on. In Hinduism they are regarded as the manifestation of Iswara, the Universal Creative Consciousness, the One Supreme, or the Saguna Brahman.

In addition to gods and goddesses, in Hinduism we also come across the worship of many objects such as trees, plants, rivers, lakes, snakes, hills, the various planets, some stars, constellations, the sun, the moon and so on. Many saints, babas and sages also are objects of their veneration.

The Hindus worship the gods and goddesses variously adding further complexity to the manner of worship in Hinduism. They may worship them all or only some of them at a time, or venerate each of them separately as the Supreme God himself.

Generally, the present trend is that most of the Hindus believe and worship many gods simultaneously in the hope of receiving blessings from many of them. Some times this may even create confusion in their minds as to whom to worship in a given situation. But most of them resolve these problems in their own individual ways.

There are traditions according to which each Hindu god is to be worshipped on a particular day in a week, month or year and many follow these traditions. There are certain specific rules and regulations to be observed by the devout Hindus while worshipping them, which involve performance of specific rites, rituals and chanting. Many observe these rules with great sincerity.

Polytheism is an integral part of Hinduism, despite of opposition from certain intellectual quarters over the centuries. After contacts with Islam and the Christianity of the British, attempts were made by some educated Hindus like Raja Rammohan Roy and Keshab Chandrasen to discourage polytheism.

The reformist movements like Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj were products of such a reaction. But their impact did not last long as is evident from the way present day Hindus visit the temples and worship various gods, observe the festivals and celebrate the glory of gods and goddesses, perform pujas and vratas whenever the occasion demands.

They may listen to numerous discourses delivered by enlightened persons, go through numerous books on religion, but they hold their gods and goddesses to their chests dearly and worship them with deep devotion and sublime faith. There is a certain purity of approach and innocence of faith in this practice that is rarely seen else where.

The average modern Hindu, who is devoted to his religion is very clear in his mind as to his approach in this matter. He worships the gods and goddesses because he believes in them and is sure of their existence in the higher worlds of God's creation.

He conducts himself in tune with the supposed expectations of his beloved gods. For him life without them is simply a sacrilege, which he is sure he cannot afford. It is not the for the sake of society or family, though that is not entirely absent, but for himself and his own welfare he worships them and holds them with highest regard in his mind.

On a given day a devout Hindu, may worship his gods or goddesses in the morning, noon or in the evening or whenever he chooses to, even while his mind is busy with worldly matters. He may worship them in the comforts of his own house or visit the near by temple or shrine.

In the past there were violent clashes and heated debates among groups of devotees worshipping different gods as was the case between Vaishanavites and Shivites. But presently there seems to be a total reconciliation and integration of these divergent beliefs into one acceptable whole. Today a majority of the Hindus accept different gods whole heartedly as a part of one large Divine family without any sense of conflict or rancor in their minds.

The gods belong to different worlds and planes of existence and assist the mankind in various ways. At the highest level are the Trinity, namely Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesa, each ruling a particular divine kingdom.

Brahma is the creator, who rules Brahmalok, (the world of Brahma), and engages Himself in the process of creating forms and breathing life force into them. For various reasons Brahma is not worshipped the way the other two gods of trinity are worshipped. There are in fact very few temples built in his honor.

But his consort Saraswathi, who is the goddess of learning is worshipped by many, especially the students or the brahmacharis of the Vedic schools. She is frequently found in the company of Ganesha and Sri Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and the consort of Lord Vishnu, and receives honors and prayers along with them.

Vishnu is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the worlds and looking after their welfare. He rules Vaikunth. He has a number of followers all over the world who venerate Him as the Supreme Lord. A number of temples have also been built in His honor right from the post Mary period.

Though He was a minor deity in the early Vedic period, He became very popular with the rise of Vaishnavism during the subsequent periods. Some of His incarnations are also worshipped in many parts of India and they attract wider following among people than Himself as Vishnu.

Most famous among his incarnations are Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, the heroes of the epics, the Ramayana and the Bhagawatha. They have millions of devotees all over the world. Lord Balaji, is also equally famous. His temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh is reckoned to be the richest in the world and attracts huge number of devotees throughout the year.

Lord Vishnu is also worshipped as Dhananjaya, Narayana, Anantasayana, Kapila, Narasimha, Varadaraja, Srinivasa and Jagannatha (of Puri temple).

His consort Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is equally popular. She is worshipped in many households regularly, especially by the seekers of artha or material wealth. She is also worshipped variously as Padma, Kamala, Sita, Narasimhi, Varuni etc.

Lord Siva is the destroyer of the worlds. He is the supreme yogi who is easy to be pleased. He is as popular as Lord Vishnu and He is the chief deity of Saivism which also became popular in the same period as Vaishnavism.

In fact a long rivalry existed between the two, each side claiming their supreme deity to be the Supreme Lord of the universe. While Vaishnavism caught the imagination of the householders and seekers of material comforts, Saivism caught the imagination of the renunciates and seekers of knowledge. Today both these gods are extremely popular across the length and breadth of Hindu society.

References to Siva can be found in the Rigveda where in He is referred as Rudra, the god of anger. According to some Siva is not the same as the Rudra of the Vedas. Whatever may be the truth, Siva is also known as Rudra because of His nature to show bouts of occasional temper.

His anger is the anger of righteousness, not to be confused with the petty anger of the human beings. It is born of out of a specific divine purpose, to destroy something in order to create something new. It is the manifestation of an energy whose intent is to create purity of purpose and harmony of structure in the object of destruction, but not to destroy some thing for the sake of destruction only. He is the destroyer of negativism and egoism and purifier of the consciousness with His abundant grace.

He resides in kailash atop an icy mountain. The ice signifies the ignorance of a frozen and static consciousness (the waters of Hindu scriptures). The word "Si" means cool (sheetal) and the word " va " to live (vasa). The word "Siva" therefore means, He who lives on the top of cool mountains ( of frozen consciousness).

He is not worshipped generally in his original physical form (as a mula murthi), but mainly as Sivlinga, the phallic symbol signifying creation as the combination of Purusha and Prakriti. He is also worshipped variously as Nataraja, Dakshinamurthi, Ardhanarishwara, Virabhadra, Chandeswara, Pataleswara etc,.

Many Hindus worship the navagrahas or the nine planets mainly to ward off adversity and evil influences. Generally they are not worshipped in homes but in temples. These planet gods play a key role in Hindu astrology.

The navagrahas are : 1. Surya (the sun), 2. Soma or the moon, 3. Managala, Kuja or Angaraka, (mars), 4. Budha (Mercury), 5. Brihaspati (Jupiter), 6. Sukra (Venus), 7. Sani (Saturn), 8. Rahu and 9. Ketu. People generally worship these planet gods to appease them and ward off evil and negative influences.

The Ashtadikpalas or rulers of the eight directions also need special mention. They are not generally worshipped as individual deities but addressed in many invocations, as a part of some important rituals and Vedic ceremonies.

They also play a vital role in Vasthu Shastra (the science of construction). East is ruled by Indra, west by Varuna, North by Kubera and South by Yama. Among the intermediate directions, north east is ruled by Iswara, north west by Niruthi, south east by Agni and south west by Vayu.

The description would be incomplete without the mention of three deities who have become very popular in modern times, namely 1. Vignesha, the son of Siva and Parvathi, the leader of the devas, 2. Hanuman, of the Ramayana fame who is known for his devotion and love for Rama and 3. Karthikeya or Swami Ayyappa or Kumaraswami who is the second son of Shiva and Parvathi and has a wide following in many parts of India especially in the south.

Worship of Divine Mother is equally popular in India. As the ruler and creator of the worlds she attracts a large following across the length and breadth of the country. She is worshipped both in her peaceful forms and her fierce forms. On the positive side, she is the personification of love and peace, providing solace to Her devotees.

Though She was known originally for her fierce form and association with esoteric rituals of tantricism, Shri Adi Shankaracharya brought her into the public glare through his famous work "Saundarya Lahari" and his travels to various parts of the country and made her acceptable to a majority of Hindus in Her most benign form as the Mother of unbound love.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, one of the greatest saints ever born on earth, proved through his own personal experience that any one with true devotion and purity of their hearts and minds can seek her blessings and guidance.

She is worshipped as Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Uma or Parvathi. In her fierce forms she is worshipped as Kali, Karali, Bhairavi, Bhavani, Chandi, Durga etc. The many schools of tantrism regard Her as the Supreme Deity and worship Her in various manners.

She is most popular as Goddess Durga in eastern India and else where also. During the Durga Festival She is worshipped continuously on a grand scale for nine continuous days during which many devotees observe complete fasting, taking nothing but water during the whole period.

The Hindu gods are real and true manifestation of the Supreme Self. They are a part of Hindu consciousness. They impart beauty, variety and charm to the very practice of religion. It is difficult to conceive of Hinduism without their presence.

[Vaishnav]

Who ever wrote the title obviously has little idea of what he /she / it is talking about. The concept of Brahm/Brahman is no reltaivley new invention or any idea borrowed of Islam or christianity.

[Unknown 435]

christianity believes in origin of universe like the bigbang and hinduism does not believe in a universe that was created.

[Vaishnav]

[Mr §ingh]

[Unknown 435]

The concept of yugs in itself signifies that there will be renewal and reformation of the universe.

...LOL hahahahaha, what a load of crap! hinduism does not believe in bigbang.

[Mr §ingh]

[Vaishnav]

[Mr §ingh]

[Jessy]

[Jessy]

Here numskull. more education for you.

www.rediff.com/news/jan/29sagan.htm

But the main reason that we oriented this episode of COSMOS towards India is because of that wonderful aspect of Hindu cosmology which first of all gives a time-scale for the Earth and the universe -- a time-scale which is consonant with that of modern scientific cosmology. We know that the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the cosmos, or at least its present incarnation, is something like 10 or 20 billion years old. The Hindu tradition has a day and night of Brahma in this range, somewhere in the region of 8.4 billion years

[Jessy]

Fool, Hinduism is in convergence with the latest theory of quantum physics which is string theory. Buddy you are dealing with the wrong religion. Go abck to chursh and continue with your own brainwashing.
http://www.p-i-a.com/Magazine/Issue6/Intuition_6.htm

Intuition: Consciousness and the "Theory of Everything"


Connections Through Time, Issue 6: January - March 2000


Can the reality of consciousness be included in a fundamental theory of our universe? Physicists recognize that superstring theory is not intended to be a theory of "Everything" as often characterized in the popular press. It is, however, a powerful unifying theory that might explain some very fundamental aspects of our universe in a deeper and potentially far-reaching manner. For example, the idea that there are more "dimensions" than the 3-space and 1-time possibly opens the way for consciousness to be included in an expanded theory that accounts for the scientific measurements of precognition and other intuitive realities.

The avenue is open for a truly unifying model that treats time in a very different fashion. Here are some quotes from an article by K.C. Cole, Science Writer, in the Los Angeles Times, 16 November 1999, entitled, "Time, Space Obsolete in New View of Universe".
"The history of physics," says Harvard physicist Andrew Strominger, "is the history of giving up cherished ideas."

No idea has been harder to give up, however--for physicists and laypeople alike--than everyday notions of space and time, the fundamental "where" and "when" of the universe and everything in it.

Einstein's unsettling insights more than 80 years ago showed that static space and fixed time were flimsy facades, thinly veiling a cosmos where seconds and meters ooze like mud and the rubbery fabric of space-time warps into an unseen fourth dimension. About the same time, the new "quantum mechanical" understanding of the atom revealed that space and time are inherently jittery and uncertain.

Now, some physicists are taking this revolutionary line of thinking one step further: If their theories are right, in the words of Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, space and time may be "doomed."

Concurs physicist Nathan Seiberg, also of the institute: "I am almost certain that space and time are illusions. These are primitive notions that will be replaced by something more sophisticated."

I've been in physics for 35 years, and this is the first time I've felt I'm involved in a scientific revolution," said Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind. "In the last five or six years, I really have the feeling we're doing something as crazy, as interesting, as new as the revolution that Einstein wrought."

"That means . . . space-time is an uncertain concept, so you've lost your firm footing," said Strominger. "And that is a deep conceptual issue we have not yet come to grips with."

Now string theory appears to be propelling this evolution one drastic, perhaps inevitable, step further.

"The notion of space-time is something we've cherished for thousands of years, and it's clearly something we're going to have to give up," said Strominger.

Black holes, said Princeton physicist John Archibald Wheeler, "[teach] us that space can be crumpled like a piece of paper into an infinitesimal dot, that time can be extinguished like a blown-out flame, and that the laws of physics that we regard as 'sacred,' as immutable, are anything but."

"When we talk about space and time, we think there is something there, and we live in it," said David Gross, director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics. The idea that space and time might be illusions, he said, "is very disturbing. Where are we? When are we?"

"The real change that's around the corner [is] in the way we think about space and time," said Gross. "We haven't come to grips with what Einstein taught us. But that's coming. And that will make the world around us seem much stranger than any of us can imagine."

The universe is stranger, more mysterious, than mathematical theories can currently explain. The models don't even mention many significant aspects of our universe, e.g., consciousness. The Eastern views of the universe (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism) have developed over thousands of years based on the experiences and teachings of their "scientists" using consciousness itself to explore the inner spiritual self. The Eastern models do not use mathematics and they are not designed to predict quantitative data about the outer physical world. Nevertheless, their models have much to teach us and the challenge is to incorporate this wisdom into physics theories and worldviews.
Eastern world view essence is unity and interrelation of all things and events. - the basic oneness of the world - Brahman, Dharmakaya or Tao.

We know we are conscious beings with a spirit that somehow transcends the material world. We know that we think, feel, and experience intuition. Science, Western science, has shown that consciousness can gather information via remote viewing and precognitively. It seems pretty clear that a synthesis of some sort is necessary between the Western and Eastern world views, or paradigms, concerning reality.

Peter Russell writes about consciousness and a new superparadigm:
... consciousness cannot be so easily sidelined, science has made various attempts to account for it. Some have looked to quantum physics, some to information theory, others to neuropsychology. But the failure of these approaches to make any appreciable headway into the problem of consciousness suggests that they may be on the wrong track. We may need to challenge some of our most fundamental assumptions about the nature of reality. New paradigms emerge because they make sense of apparently conflicting observations. We might expect the same with a new superparadigm, though on a grander scale. The synthesis that emerges could turn out to be much more than an integration of diverse theories within the prevailing scientific model. We could see the synthesis of the seemingly incompatible worlds of science and spirit in a radically different worldview -- not so much a larger umbrella as a new umbrella.




Online References
Peter Russell's site is here.

The om or (aum) symbol is closely related to all the sounds (how about "string vibrations") in the universe. More info on the meaning of "om" can be found here and by clicking on the om graphic.