In Hinduism, what is the relationship between dieties and mortals?

Answer 1

Everything in the universe is a manifestation of the Divine. To explain it a different way: creation itself came out of God...the basic component of the entire universe thus contains God in it. The Divine spark resides in all things. There is a saying in Hinduism that says "the entire universe is merely God's play...it is God playing with God. The cosmic dance is merely God dancing with God." However because we have gotten lost in the illusion that we are somehow seperated from God we don't realize our true nature and out of ignorance we do harmful things to one another and cause suffering.

That is the nature of the relationship between God and Creation.

In Bhakti Yoga the devotee of God is allowed to choose a more personal relationship to help in the process of lifting the veil of illusion and ignorance and reawakening ourselves to our true nature.
The following relationships are often the types that many Hindus who are strongly Bhakti oriented follow
God is a Parent (Mother, Father...fairly common outside of Hinduism, too)
God is a child (ever see a Hindu statue of baby Krishna or baby Ganesh, etc...this is the case...here the devotee is like the Parent who takes care of God who is their child).
God is lover, beloved (like in Song of Solomon for example in the Bible...here the devotee yearns and longs for the love of God, etc)
God is friend, best friend, companion (just like it sounds, fairly common for a lot of people to view God as their closest friend and ally)
God is enemy (it may sound strange, but Hindus believe that so long as your mind dwells on God, is focused on God, that God can still help shape your life and bring you back to Him...thus if one thinks of God as their enemy your mind still dwells on God).

The devotee chooses what relationship that best expresses their experiences with God. After choosing this relationship (if one is chosen...some choose to be more philosophical than relationship oriented) one then has a myriad of expressions of God to choose from. The one that you most closely identify with, etc, becomes your personal name and form of God (ishta devata). Say you choose Rama and you have a friend and she chooses Shiva and another friend chooses Durga. No problem because Rama, Shiva, and Durga are all just different expressions, different symbolism, of the one God. If your friend invites you to the Shiva temple you go and worship there and your friend gladly goes with you to the Rama temple because Rama is just a different form of the same, universal God. In Hinduism there is no "false" gods, there is only one God (people just look at the infinite God from different perspective, have different experiences, and set different spiritual goals). "There is one God though humanity calls It by many names." Rig Veda 1:164.46

Hope that answered your question.

Great question.

Peace be with you.

Answer 2

Well what do you mean by the relationship? Hinduism varies very greatly from one Hindu tradition to another, but my understanding of general Hinduism is that all of the Hindu gods are a part of the Brahmin. The Brahmin is All and it is the Ultimate. So the dieties or gods would be parts of the Brahmin that mortals would pray to for help in this world and for help for escaping the process of life, death, and rebirth so that they could become one with Brahmin.

I am someone who is very interested in Hinduism and I am only starting to get a general understanding of this very complex religion.

Answer 3

i echo the ideas given by Gabriel Zach..

Hinduism is so flexible that it does not force any dogma or relationships onto its followrs

So mortals can worship their God as they like, as Father, as Mother, As a child, as Friend or as a formless, genderless entity

God replies back in the same emotion !!