Why Hindus worship so many GODs?

Question

1)These Gods are of their own creation
(2)They do not believe in one God
(3)Their faith is not strong upon one God

Answer 1

There is one God in Hinduism. The terms most often used to describe the one God are Brahman and Ishvara. This God is both formless and multiform, nameless and yet all names.
"There is only one God, though humanity calls It by different names." Rig Veda
"What I am is utterly beyond your understanding, therefore worship me in whatever form you are drawn to and call upon me by whatever name you desire. I promise I will always come to you." Tripura Rahasya.

All the murtis (images, forms) have 108 names, except Vishnu which as 1000. These names are all qualities of God. The name Ganesh, for example, means "First Lord". The name Surya means "Sun". The name Durga means "difficult to approach". The name Krishna means "dark skinned one" (in the story Vishnu incarnates into two males one being light skinned and one being dark skinned...and Lakshmi, the female aspect of Vishnu, does the same).

Consider for a moment how many names you have: There is your given names, your family names, then there is names like brother, sister, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin, associate, friend, and so on.

Answer 2

Let me tell you something about Hinduism... It's 'Dharma' and not 'Religion'. 'Dharma' is a way of life. People call it 'Religion' but it's above the word 'Religion'. There is no exact translation for the word 'Dharma' in English language so 'Dharma' and 'Religion' are used as synonyms which is incorrect.
'Religions' generally have one holy 'Book'. eg. Christians have Holy Bible and Muslims have Quran. Hinduism comprises of many religions under one umbrella... Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs all follow Hinduism as a way of life.
Now let's turn to your question 'Why Hindus worship so many Gods?' If you have a road and there is a destination where you wish to go... you can choose a car or a bike or a scooter or a bullock cart. It's your choice. Hinduism is a path... you can pray X-God or Y-God... you will still reach where you wish to go.
Hinduism absorbs everything like a sponge... apart from all the Gods whom we worship you can also have your own photograph and pray... you will get what you want. That is the strength which we have. THIS is called faith.
We pray every form of energy, we pray all our machines, we pray all our books, pens, pencils... and all these things are equivalent to God for us. THIS is called faith.
If you are an Indian, have you noticed that whenever our foot touches the other person by mistake we do a 'namskar' by touching the other person with our hand and then touching our hand with our forehead. This is because we believe that the other person has God living inside him and when our foot touches the other person by mistake, we have insulted the God present in him/her. THIS is called faith.
You have asked a very sensitive question (specially with the attached comments) and still I and many others have taken their time to answer you... this is because we believe that by helping you we are worshiping God. THIS is called faith.
God bless you...

Answer 3

They have only one God.
But they see God in many forms according to his function(portfolio)
Brahma-creator
Vishnu - protector
Siva - Destroyer
These gods have many more avatars.These avatars take the forms of animals too.while on some missions.
So there is a meaning for everything.When they worship some animals it is the god who has taken that form.
To a casual observer it may be odd.It only shows the capacity of the Hindus to think differently with no barriers.
Moreover Hindus believe that God is everywhere and in everything in this universe.
If you read the Hindu mythologies you will know the richness,vastness and diversity of the contents.They nave many paths to seek God.That is why they easily accept the Gods in the other religions too.
They are not narrow minded.
I am an atheist,yet I understand and respect them.

Answer 4

I've heard Hindus worship 1 god. The rest of the gods is just and idea of HIM(i think). It's a very complecated religion. Hindu is one of the olders religion in the world.

Answer 5

Have you ever wondered why your name is different from your brother, sister, father, mother and so on? if yours is not a thinking religion who thought that its adherents cannot think clearly in multiplicities, it is better to have a single god. so as not to have any confusion.

for hindus one and many makes no difference. hinduism is not faith based dead religion. its a living religion, you need to live it daily. its originally known as Sanatana Dharma or Eternal religion. its presence itself is proof that it is eternal.

you may have problems with multiple gods. that is because you never ventured to know the world, other religions. that is your mistake.

god is the creation of man. that is the truth. when islam say god is one, they are making a wrong statement. i wil say with certainty that its wrong to depict god as one. god can never be one. because one always related to two, three or four. it cannot stay independent. so quran is wrong on that count of one god concept. faith is something akin to believing, something that you never experienced, seen, heard. how many muslims have really experienced god? the answer will be none.

to understand hinduism and eastern religions, please discard your quaranic or biblical background and approch it with an open heart and mind. to read hindu scriptures you need not become a hindu. i can guarantee you that we are not interested in having you in our faith. but when muslims make nonsensical statements , we are forced to retaliate. have you ever seen a hindu making a derogatory statment against another religions like muslims and christians do. you will not find that. for a hindu knows that by making such statements you will not gain anything.

Answer 6

The Bhagavad-gita As It Is has the answer.
"The less intelligent go to the demi-gods and the intelligent go to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead"

Mostly the less intelligent worship because they want something from gods be it relief from pain, money etc. etc.(a kind of business)
The intelligent are opposite, they want to give to God, for themselves they do not want anything. They want to give God something, service without expecting anything in return, rendering loving service.

Answer 7

The hindus worship many GODs because, Hinduism says to see GOD in every where including elements, living and non living things, and respect all. That's the reason they have

GODs and
Animal GODS such as Elephant GOD, DOG god, Snake GOD even they pray trees, etc.,

And FIRE, AIR, EARTH, SKY etc.,

Answer 8

forms r many but god is one. each form represents an aspect of goodhood. mainly, the aspect of creation, sustainence n desolution. this is beautifully said as bramha, vishnu and maheshwara. likewise, n ingenious way of making man to turn to god by having forms as goddess of wealth, lakshmi amd education, saraswati. but at the core all r one. each n everyone of us are different so how can one path be fixed for all. BUT the most important thing is in the end we have to realise that we r god. yes, the state of duality must b transended to state of oneness with god. as the vedas say, tat twam asi, thou art that, u r god n aham bramhasmi, i am god. this the goal that this religion leads to. how can it be low?

Answer 9

This is not really a question, isn't it?*
you look like jealous...
I think people with real faith don't loose time with this; true believers of each religions know that god is one , whatever the names we give

Answer 10

my friend,
let me give u example if ur having food as same pattern and same style in each and everyday what will do? certainly u don't like to eat same food everyday. in India each and every god have their own identity their own moral value. worship different type of god is not bad, Indian have faith for different type of god.they respect all religion.