Hinduism is known for its many Gods unlike other religions of this world. Any Hindu follower, young or old, can rattle out the names of at least a dozen Hindu Gods within a minute. To an ordinary person, where is the knowledge coming from? Awareness of the presence of a number of Gods comes right from childhood. Parents first plant a thought about concept of God when the child is about 2 to 3 years old. They teach the child to clasp its tender hands and pray to God either in the temple or puja room of the house. When the child grows a year older and is able to understand conversations and dialogues, the concept of God is first enhanced as a bestower of desires and punisher of wrong deeds. In fact, the parents project God as a threat more often than a bestower to control the mischief of the playful child. As the child grows and attains ability to distinguish and remember, parents slowly introduce the concept of many Gods, why a particular God needs to be worshipped and what benefits does one get from that God. Prayers now become specific to the God. Parents advice the child to pray to Goddess Saraswati for knowledge (especially during exams), Goddess Lakshmi for wealth, Lord Ganesh for removing obstacles, Lord Hanuman for courage, Lord Ram for righteousness, Lord Krishna for happiness, so on and so forth.
Temples, big or small, have multiple deities with one main deity in the sanctum sanctorum. Every God has at least one temple where he/she is the main deity. Thus temples effectively promote our belief system in many Gods. Even in the puja room of a household there will be idols or photo frames of many Gods with one God being the primary one typically called the “kula deivam” or family or community God
This belief system inevitably leads to a question as to which God to worship to gain maximum benefit, material or spiritual. Here is the short answer: As all Gods are one and the same, one can worship any God.
Sounds absurd, isn’t it? This is because many Hindus are not aware of the most fundamental and essential truth of our religion, the Brahman. Those who know the Vedas know that Brahman is the Supreme Being, the Paramātma, the Omnipresent. To know more about Brahman, read my other blog titled “Who is the Hindu God?”. All the other Gods that we know are manifested and personified forms of that Supreme Being. To know more, read my other blog titled “Why so many Gods?”.
As the source of all Gods is Brahman, why not worship Brahman rather than “Ishwara” or Personal God? Worship of Brahman is extremely difficult for normal human beings for the following reasons
- Brahman has no name, no form: We can immediately relate to our Personal Gods like Lord Krishna, Sri Lakshmi, etc because they have a name and they also have a form. Personal Gods have temples and in those temples, the deities are beautifully decorated with flowers and ornaments to capture our mind’s attention. Once the attention is yoked, a very strong personal bond is formed between us and the God. However, our mind which is a function of our senses cannot relate to the nameless and formless Brahman and fails to create this very bond that is the source of faith in God. Imagine temples and puja rooms with no idols or photo frames !! How are we to worship Brahman? Traditional forms of worship in temples do not apply to the Supreme Being, the Brahman. Even the great sage Dattatreya who lived 4000 years ago (late Vedic period) and who is considered to be an incarnation of The Trimurthi says this in his composition ‘Avadhuta Gita’: “How shall I salute the formless Being, indivisible, auspicious, and immutable, who fills all this with His Self and also fills the self with His Self?” Such is the difficulty of worshipping Brahman
- Brahman can only be experienced through inward self reflection by means of concentration and meditation. Brahman cannot be experienced through prayers
- Realization of Brahman requires renunciation of the worldly affairs. Our mind must be free from sensual desires and must not be affected or attached to the objects of sense. This is pretty much inhuman to do except for the few mahātmas
Given these difficulties, Bhagavad Gita emphasizes on worship of Personal God to reach Brahman. Note that this Personal God can be any God and not just restricted to Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva. All that is required during worship is the faith in that Personal God
Interestingly and conveniently for us, this inquiry comes from the great warrior Arjuna himself. The divine conversation is given below from the Bhagavad Gita (chapter 12)
“arjuna uvāca
evam satata-yuktā ye
bhaktās tvām paryupāsate
ye cāpy aksharam avyaktam
teshām ke yoga-vittamāh”
Meaning: Arjuna inquired: Who are considered to be more perfect, those who are always properly engaged in Your devotional service or those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested?
“sri-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āvesya mano ye mām
nitya-yuktā upāsate
shraddhayā parayo petās
te me yuktatamā matāh”
Meaning: The Supreme Personality of Godhead (Krishna) said: Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect
To conclude, worship any God as you wish but worship with faith to reach the Supreme Being, the Absolute Brahman