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Hinduism is the only polytheistic religion with 330 million Gods and Goddesses.

I have a question regarding Gods and Goddesses in Hindu religion. If I understand Hinduism is the only polytheistic religion with 330 million Gods and Goddesses. I am not clear why do we need so many Gods and Goddesses and how can we please all of them in order to achieve ultimate goal of spiritual life " Param Brahma"?

One Curious Person

Dear Friend:

First of all you need to realize God is omnipresent. Hinduism believe that God can take any shape, size or form as needed to insinuate people about His existence. As is pointed out in Rig-Veda "Truth is one, and the learned call it by many names". In fact Hindus believe in one God, that is "Param Brahma" with millions of forms.

He is the only God reincarnated to different forms for demonstrating His omnipresent. Publisher of Hinduism Today, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami mentioned that Hinduism is in love of one energy, which comes from God and flows through all our bodies. He believes that Hindu Sanatan Dharma promotes "One World One God".

This manifestation of one Supreme Divinity to a number of Gods and Goddesses is little confusing in the beginning. Once someone embraced the concept it will be easy to understand. A simple illustration of our daily life can make this point even more clear. For instance, even though "I" am one person, I have a different names and roles portraying various personalities and behaviors relevant to the time, place, and situation. I am a friend, father, a son, a worker, boss, a good person, a bad person etc. I am everybody, and I act differently in various environments. In Hinduism, one God has incarnated to 330 million forms portraying different activities. In other words the different Gods and Goddesses in Hinduism represent various functions of this One Supreme Divinity.

In fact the presence of many forms of the God allows people with different passion, interest, desire, and ambition to pursue divine path. For instance, a student can worship God Saraswati for the success of his educational endeavor, while a businessman can worship Luxmi for the success of his business. If someone is involved in both activities he/she can pray both Gods for the success of respective endeavor. In Bhagwat Gita, Lord Krishna says "No matter who you address, I am the only one to respond your prayer".

In addition, Hinduism is only religion that embraces many feminine forms of the Divine attributes; like Kali, Durga, Luxmi and Saraswati. These represent different feminine qualities and functions of the Divine, which contains both male and female energies. For example, Kali portrays the destructive energy for devils, Luxmi the nourishing, and Sarasvati the creative, while Durga is the Divine Mother in her protective role. In essence, the Sanatana Dharma recognizes both masculine and feminine attributes on Supreme Divine. Without recognizing the feminine aspect of Divinity one cannot claim to know God. Masculine and feminine are the two sides of the Divine attribute that recognizes the universality and completeness.

The Main point is Gods and Goddesses are the manifestations of same Supreme God. One can achieve "Param Brahma" by devoting to one or many forms of one God.

If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us.

Dr. Krishna Sijapati

President - American Hindu Association