I was just wondering since I am from america and I am american how many Gods do people worship in the indian culture in India. I am really courious to know this, please have serious answers.
2007-02-15 12:00:51 · 10 answers · asked by MizzSweetness 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I am an American and have been studying Hinduism for the past year and half. It is one of the most fascinating religions I've ever learnt about. Actually it is more of a way of life rather than religion per say.
In Hinduism, there is also the formless aspect of God just like in Christianity. God is in everything. There is nothing in this universe that is without God. This is the same in Native American spirituality and other religions, only it just has different names: Allah, God, Jah, Tunkashila, etc.
About the forms of God such as: Krishna, Durga, Kali, Shiva, Ganesha, Hanuman, Rama, Vishnu, Lakshmi, and so on, these are really aspects of God. Just like how I would be a daughter to my mother, a sister to my sister, a best friend to a friend, a wife to my partner, a business associate to my boss, and so on. I would not be a lover to my mother and not an associate to my sister. Despite having these different roles with different people, I am still the same person as a whole.
This is the same way with God. Everybody has different mental tendicies and emotional needs. Some of us need to relate with God in an intense, deep, passionate and emotional way while some want to only relate with God in an intellectual, dry way. All of these different forms suit many different people and mental tendencies, but all gods and goddess are actually the same from the same source. It is just God sort of putting on a costume, a form for us to have something to focus on mentally with our minds. They are only symbolic that aid our focus and spiritual growth. We're human, we need something to look at, something to see, to grasp that we can interact with in order to feel closer to God. These forms are just a bridge towards the formless aspect of God. It does not matter which form one uses, all that matters one thinks of attaining the goal of self-realization.
Even focusing on a guru as representative of God is still as effective because the guru is too a bridge to God.
Some of these gods and goddesses are actually the same form but have many different names such as Vishnu (the Creator) whom incarnated here among us in human form as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Narashima, Vamana, etc.
Some gods and goddesses are not ever incarnations such as Vishnu but are just symbolic aspects of God. The aspects of the Divine Mother are: Durga (the warrior), Lakshmi (abundance), Kali (active principle of the Supreme Energy), Saraswati (creativity, wisdom & knowledge), and many more.
Some Hindus only worship one form, while some worship many forms. Some might even change forms over life. Worship one form for awhile and then change it all of suddent later on. It is a personal prefrence, and there is no wrong way. Hinduism is really about finding the right path that best fits your needs. That's what I love about it, is the fact that we do have choices to find the path that we most identify with.
One should worship the form that they are in love with the most because feelings are powerful and effective in strengthening the relationship with God. I worship two forms right now predominatly: my Satguru (True Master) Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) and Krishna. Amma works with me, guiding me spiritually. I am in love with Her. To be in love with your guru means you are in love with God. I am also falling in love with Krishna. I am strangely attracted to Him lately. I had no interest in Him before, but it seems like He is calling me. I feel a balance between the two because Amma to me represents the feminine aspect of God while Krishna is the masculine aspect.
I also worked with Goddess Kali in working on my ego. She destroys our ego. But right now, I'm not focusing on her as my needs are changing at the moment. Whenever I need help with removing obstacles, I ask Ganesha for help with that as he is the remover of obstacles. It is just like how we do in real life whenever we need help with something. When we need help with money matters, we go see an accountant, when we need medicine to get better, we go see a doctor for that, for unconditional love and nurturing, we go to our mother, and so on. God plays these roles with us too.
Really the number of Gods that Hindus worship is irrelevant. It is not important. Even worshiping God in a piece of rock is as effective because God does reside in that rock. When we see the Divinity in all of creation, we end up being with God every moment. What really matters is that one has a form that they have the strongest attraction and love for thinking of God with love is what gives us salvation.
2007-02-15 15:42:01 · answer #1 · answered by Amma's Child 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Lord Siva, Lord Brahmä, the creator of the Universe, the goddess Käli, they offer animals in sacrifice, Durgä, the material nature, Ganesha ,Surya the sun god, Indra, the demigod of rain.
There are other demigods but they are not worshiped; like Varuna, the demigod of ocean, Vayu, the demigod of the wind and Jamaraja, the demigod of death.
These are demigod who assist the Supreme God in the material affairs. The Supreme God is KRISHNA!!!
Read the Bhagavad gita as it is, i can send you a copy.
2007-02-15 12:42:37 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are different religions in India. If you really want to know, do some research and then clarify your answer with a specific religion.
2007-02-15 12:04:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They have a holy trinity the same as Christianity but they give their three Gods different names and Characture. Then they also have some sub Gods who handle differnt types of prayer. It's a great religion in a lot of ways, just not one that I agree with.
2007-02-15 12:05:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
How many different gods are worshipped in america?
2007-02-15 12:11:38 · answer #5 · answered by Assad 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
People over there worship different forms of god not different gods.
2007-02-15 12:04:15 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
THREE GODS - Muhammad, the Quran, and Allah.
Its called the Islamic trinity because the Quran is "uncreated" and thus must be a God.
The Quran says to obey Allah AND Muhammad, thus since only deities can deserve obedience equal to toher deties, Muhammad must also be a God.
2007-02-15 12:05:08 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Given that everyone has their own perceptions of life, I would say in excess of one billion
2007-02-15 13:36:09 · answer #8 · answered by tillermantony 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well if your seek there are 11 gods and if your hindu i think there are 12 u christ or jesus ?
2007-02-15 12:13:25 · answer #9 · answered by TheCrazyCanadian 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
morpheus, are you an idiot!!!!
go to wikipedia it will explain everything
2007-02-15 12:08:35 · answer #10 · answered by agnobles 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋