Why are there so many goddesses in Hinduism, and how do they relate to each other?

Answer 1

All the goodess r the avtaars of Maa Shakti( mother power).
They r all one n the same.
They appered or took avtaar to kill or destroy evil n save mankind during different times( i.e during these billions of years of earth)
The evil was of different types n with different powers. So Maa had to take specific avtaars.

Answer 2

There are NOT so many Goddesses.Vedic religion(so called Hinduism) beleives that Brahmam(Universal Soul) has no form-no name-no-attributes.In humans all are not Ph.Ds.There are people who have not studied beyond Elementary School.They can not comprehed a Formless, Nameless, Attributeless Universal soul.So Hinduism gave "Freedom" to the Devotees to select any form,any name, any attributes according to the Devotee's wishes calling Brahmam as GOD(Eeswara) or GODDESS(Sakthi).There is a group of devotees who beleive Brahmam can assume ONLY female form alone.They are called "Saakthaas" (Sakthi=Goddess).The Supreme Mother is addressed by 1000 names in 1000 forms(Lalitha Sahasranaamam).It is why People who do not know get confused.

P.S:- The worship of the Supreme Mother is known as "Sri Vidhya"--The Kundalini Yogam,(Many persons ignorantly talk as "Root Chakra,""Shoot chakra","Fruit Chakra" etc) Sri Chakra Upaasana, (in two dimensions),the same in 3 dimensions is "Meru",the Nava Aavaranam, Nava Chandi,Nava Kaali,Nava Raathri(in village/ rustic language Dasara),Devi Mahaathmiyam,Chandi Homam,Lalitha Sahasranaamam, Lalitha Trisadhi(only those who have "Initiation=Upadesam can recite this), sri.Bala(Upadesam is needed),Durga Sooktham,Sri.Sooktham,Soundarya Lahari--these are all connected to Sri Vidhya or Saaktham (Worship of Goddess)

Answer 3

1.why are there so many different people... all individuals.

A: many reasons... primarily they all want to live. and they have a job... they are here to help the whole world...

2.why are there so many jobs....

A: earth is a big place and there is a lot to be done so we all can live in a nice place.

now recapitulate your jurisdiction of thinking to a larger field...
bigger than the earth, lets say a universe.

your Q:

so many different positions to fulfill ... no need for one individual Goddess to try to do every thing .... right!
Besides some may not want to do some things while others are happy to do the task... just like you and me.

they relate... just that way... they are all relatives... all part of a great and merciful family that provides and protects all of us.

peace be with you.

OB1

Answer 4

They each possess a different Quality of Rajarajeshwari, the Divine Cosmic Mother.

Answer 5

It was originally Inannas reign. The world was divided between the "gods". Inanna took what we know as India as part of her lot. Inanna being a goddess.

Answer 6

Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, has no beginning--it precedes recorded history. It has no human founder. It is a mystical religion, leading the devotee to personally experience the Truth within, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are one. Hinduism has four main denominations--Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism.

The following nine facts, though not exhaustive, offer a simple summary of Hindu spirituality or about Hinduism.

1 Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
2 Hindus believe in the divinity of the four Vedas, the world's most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God's word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion.
3 Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
4 Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
5 Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be deprived of this destiny.
6 Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments and personal devotionals create a communion with these devas (divine beings) and God.
7 Hindus believe that an enlightened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry, meditation and surrender in God.
8 Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsa, noninjury, in thought, word and deed.
9 Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine paths are facets of God's Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.


GOD AND LORDS IN HINDUISM

God is a one being, yet we Hindus understand Him in three perfections: Absolute Reality, Pure Consciousness and Primal Soul. As Absolute Reality, God is unmanifest, unchanging and transcendent, the Self God, timeless, formless and spaceless. As Pure Consciousness, God is the manifest primal substance, pure divine love and light flowing through all form, existing everywhere in time and space as infinite intelligence and power.God is all and in all, great beyond our conception, a sacred mystery that can be known in direct communion.

Hindus believe in one Supreme Being. In the Hindu pantheon there are said to be three hundred and thirty-three million Lords(divine beings). The plurality of Lords are perceived as divine creations of that one Being. So, Hinduism has one supreme God, but it has an extensive hierarchy of Lords.

Hinduism views existence as composed of three worlds. The First World is the physical universe; the Second World is the subtle astral or mental plane of existence in which the devas, angels and spirits live; and the Third World is the spiritual universe of the Mahadevas, "great shining beings," our Hindu Lords. Hinduism is the harmonious working together of these three worlds.

Do God and the Lords have Gender?

Esoterically, it must be admitted that none of the Gods has a wife. Their consorts are not to be considered as separate from them, but as aspects of their being, as their shakti or power. The Mahadevas who live in the Third World cannot be likened to men and women who live on the earth. They exist in perfectly evolved soul bodies, bodies which are not properly differentiated by sex. They are pure beings made of pure consciousness and light; they are neither male nor female. To better understand these Divine Gods, we sometimes conceive them as being the man if they are strong in expression or the woman if they are gentle and compassionate. There are no husbands and wives in the vast, superconscious realms of the Third World. The husband/wife notion is a puranic myth. The term Goddess can refer to a female perception or depiction of a Third World being (Mahadeva) in its natural state, which is genderless, or to a Second World being residing in a female astral-mental body. For example, Lakshmi and Sarasvati are not wives of Vishnu and Brahma, but personified powers of a sexless Deity who extends abundance and learning through the motherly empathy of a female form.

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