How do we know what Hindu gods look like?

Question

This question I ask with respect, but with sincere doubts. I believe mantras have true spiritual power, and truly do help us connect more deeply with God, if we choose our mantra/s by divine inspiration.

I'm looking to find some Hindu mantras to increase my spiritual energy. I am attracted to the meaning of Ganesh (remover of obstacles). I'm LDS (monotheistic, believe God is a divine human).

I feel in my heart that God would not have the head of an elephant... I believe there is vast truth in Hinduism, but I feel that there as aspects that aren't true.

I am trying to understand who Ganesh really is... Hindus say that all the gods are really (aspects of) One God.

Each Hindu god is given a certain visage (an image of how they look). Are the images of the Hindu gods believed to be truly representative of their actual appearance, or are the images just a way to remind ourselves of the qualities that each god helps us with?

(And should I capitalise god for Hindu gods?)

Thank you in advance for increasing my understanding.

P.S. I do believe in Jesus Christ, my Saviour. READING the Bible doesn't teach the truth... only reading it with a "spiritual eye" (with divine revelation to comprehend it) will bring understanding. The same is true in Hinduism, and of Vedic (and other) scripture...

czeko... Yes, I am indeed a very strong believer in the LDS faith. I believe in all truth, as witnessed through the Holy Ghost. This is in line with LDS doctrine, if not a commonly held view among LDS. See my profile for my favourite quote. I try to keep my curiosity within certain bounds... by keeping a check on pride. Sometimes it is hard to balance.

In the words of Joseph Smith:

"We believe all things, we hope all things..." ie an attitude of open-hearted faith, listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

BTW, I really like your answer. It is very thoughtful and thought-provoking. Thank you.

Rami, good point. LOL about the opinion thing.

jonnyx... Thanks. Interesting. I think I will have to confirm such with Hindu's, though. I would like to believe you are right.

no body... good point. Thx. BTW, my husband says this replying thing I do is "chatting" and he's surprised no-one has reported me.

cosmiccoyote... I agree. It's not God that says to stop learning and growing... it's humans. (((((love)))))

Vishal... Thank you! That is exactly what I wanted to know! Excellent description about gods and God, too!
<< happy sisterly kisses on your cheek !! >>

Disgustin' Justin, Arthur, Jayasri devi dasi ((hugs)) and Do or Don't There is not Try: I thank you all for insightful answers. Very much appreciated.

Um, I just want to reword something I said before ... I have made a mistake, I think. I said: "This is in line with LDS doctrine, if not a commonly held view among LDS." Actually, many LDS research outside of our faith, using the Holy Spirit as their guide. I am being arrogant (and completely wrong) to think I'm unique in this. LDS doctrine teaches us to be open-minded.

Answer 1

When hinduism came into existence, there was no other religion and hinduism had to cater to different type of people.

Hindu saints then told about god and his manifestations differently to different people.

As per Hinduism, God is One supreme consciousness spread evenly in the cosmos and beyond... and we call this One god Bramh or Turiya or Aum... and we dont make idol of this god and have no temple for him

But Hinduism tells one unique truth that the God does not create the Universe...rather he becomes the universe.

So all the gods, demi-gods, devils, planets, starts, and all living beings are actually him manifesting.

This God first manifests as a trinity of Brahmaa, vishnu and Rudra (shiva)... to create, preserve and destroy the universe.

To make common illiterate people understand god, our great sages devised the method of iconography....they made idols of different aspects of god...to show his attributes, his duty.

For Example Mother Kali is depicted as naked, black color with drinking blood and having a garland of skulls around her neck...with weapons in her hands and one hand in blessing posture.

There is no goddess Kali who is like this... but to show her attributes her idol is made like this... because Kali is the eternal energy who created the universe and who will eventually destroy the universe...

Black color shows where there is no light left when she rules... skulls denote all living beings will be destroyed and thier souls would rest with Kali.... blood drinking is same like physics telling us when Sun will become red giant all liquids from earth will evaporate... so she will drink the blood of living beings... and thus destroying them

One hand in blessing posture means..those who worship her will be saved from her wrath.

Same is the case with idols/pictures of other gods...like shiva, vishnu, etc.

Like shiva-linga depicts shiva as a round no form stone... linga is not penis linga means unmanifested, unanamed form. So by shivalinga hindus worship God in his unmanifested, attributeless form... when God was before manifesation of the Universe.

There is a mythology behind Ganesha as his head was cut by Shiva and then an elephant's head was fixed...but the greater truth behind this too is iconography.

in ancient india elephants were used to remove big trees and remove boulders etc... elephants were also known to be the most intelligent animals...which science accepts too.

Ganesha with a trunk here depicts the removal of obstacles with violent force like an elephant removes big trees with his trunk.

Ganesha is worshipped to remove obstacles and to get wisdom.

Answer 2

It depends on the deity. In general, most representations of Hindu gods are metaphorical in nature.

However, I do remember hearing a story about Ganesh's head as a child. The story is that for some reason his father cut off his head, expecting that it would please his mother. When his mother discovered what had happened, she was very angry. She told his father to go get his head back, but he could not, so he replaced it with an elephant. Thinking about the story now, I suspect it might just have been a way to explain to a child why someone had an elephant's head.

In general, the depictions of Hindu gods are meant to symbolize the aspects of life that each god effects, and not be taken as literal depictions of how they appear. Ganesh, for example, is often seen holding an ax and a noose, to symbolize the potentially mortal obstacles we face throughout our lives, and his ability to remove such obstacles (like chopping down a tree). I think the elephant head is supposed to represent wisdom, but I can't remember completely.

Answer 3

To answer your question as respectfully as you asked, you need to step back and question yourself.
Why do you think that God should be like a human being in the first place? Because you are limited by your vision,experience,creativity. Great scientists initially believed that we all need Oxygen and Sunlight or Water to live and they applied this theory to all living things and extrapolated to other planets and started looking for such elements in the universe to establish the existence of life. They are correct only until some one else discovered some life forms that are existing without any of these and at abnormally high temperatures thus changing the perception of our belief and opening a new dimension.
Now with our limited knowledge how can we imagine an omnipotent personality and give him a shape.So everyone is limited only by his creativity and God can be of any shape.It doesn't make sense to visualize him with a human head either. Hinduism gives you the freedom to pray God in whatever form you want to see him, to invoke whatever response you are looking for with the right mantra.
Please change your perception and step back a little bit and think at a cosmic level not within the confines of this planet.

Answer 4

I think that many Hindus have shown some artistic freedom in their interpretation of what the various gods of Hinduism look like. Ganesha is a friendly, elephant-headed god who removes obstacles from the paths of people who call on him. He is "Lord of Ganas" and son of Shiva and Parvati and the keeper of the thresholds of space and time. He is honored at the doorway and at the outset of any venture. I don't know much more besides that. Sorry I'm not aware of any Hindu mantras to increase your spiritual energy.

As for your last question, I think they are just symbolic representations of what the gods look like. I was checking out some pretty attractive pictures of Vishnu and his consort, lakshmi, in the avatars of Krishna and Radha, the Hindu ideals of love...I also found an image of the Hindu Trimurti: a stylized and symbolic representation of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, the threefold manifestation of the Ultimate Reality, Brahman-Atman.

Answer 5

I've been wondering about this myself, ever since I read an English translation of Ramayana and wondered why none of the other characters ever passed comment upon the hero of the story being blue. From what I gather (and do correct me if I am wrong) Hindu gods are drawn the way they are drawn in order to represent their qualities, and in this dimension they are not visible at all. (Hindus believe in parallel dimensions). So Vishnu, for example, is blue to represent mystery and depth (someone on YA told me that), and has 2 backward facing arms to represent his dealings in the spiritual world (as opposed to his front-facing arms which represent his dealings in the physical world). Rama the hero of Ramayana is drawn blue because he was thought to be Vishnu incarnate, he wan't blue in the story. Hanunaman, on the other hand, had a tail because he was a monkey.

Answer 6

,According to The Supreme Lord Krishna who is also Jehovah, Vishnu, Rama, Allah,) He has many names. The demi gods are his superintendents and servants running this material creation under Krishnas guidance. He can do everything on His own but they want to serve in this way and He allows. Ganesha is not God he is a servant of God. His head was cut off by lord Shiva by mistake and so lord shive replaced it with the first head he saw which was an elephant. Lord Shiva is most powerful demigod but not God. and His wife Parvati, or Maya or Dhurgha is the material energy of God. They are great servants of God. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) Those who worships the demi gods are less intelligent and that He is the source of the demi gods. There are many mantras that invoke different gods but they are not God. This is what lord Jesus was talking about in the Bible that we should not put anyone on the same level or higher than God. We should not worship idles in the forms of demigods. It is just not necessary for spiritual advancement nor even for material desires being God is the source of everything. We know what they look like because The Vedas where given by Lord Krishna explains in detail what they look like. If one wants to control their mind or make the most slpiritual advancement in this age it is recommended to chant the Mana Mantra (the Great Mantra for deliverance from all suffering and illusion) The benefits of allother pure mantras are within the maha mantra.Most recommended by God Himself. Hope this helps, Mum. write me for a direct link on the mantra.

Answer 7

No one has seen how God look's like....... everyone is serching ,,,,,,, the person we love the most , and we cant seee him /her... we dont know what it is...(God)

so they came up with Image's ,,, one God having diffrent aspect's ... God can be called distroyer , preserver ,remover of obstacles ,shakti... so on and on.....

ALL the stories we have are just to connect people to God,,,,,,,, they are really cute and full of knowledge.... stories are not real ,,,,, but all those stories carry a true meaning.....

they are like movie's which are not true but there meaning are very much applicable.....

Image's and stories connect people , but moral of the story remain's same.........Knowledge is immense

Form or formless is just an outer appriance ,,just a physical aspect,,,, but true meaning of life is...... love , care and compassion .....

Ganesha is an aspect of God which remove's obstacles...
he having a form or elephant head is just an outer appriance ,, just a physical aspect ,,, the main thing is Ganesha is a aspect of God which removes obstacles....

and u dont have to use
capitalise

If you are not able to understand all these thing's..... and it seem's confusing,,, then

You can pray to formless God , i,e paramatma , or ishwar.....

u can worship God in any form , it's abt ur convinence.... God will answer you,,,,,,, if u have trouble praying God with elephant head,, dont pray.... pray God in formless

God sees his follower's convenience , if the follower is happy with a stone ,God is happy....... if follower is happy with a formless God ,, God is happy...

For God it does not matter in which form u worship him..... he see's only ur heart and love,,,,, ur devotion.....ur soul and rest is just all PHYSICAL.......

Answer 8

Do you know what physics or chemistry look like?? Pictures on cover of phyics or chemistry books are NOT physics or chemuistry, are they??

But you can say what physics or chemistry deal with.

But then, are they supplementary, complementary or antagonists to each other? Yes, yes and no.

Same with Hindu Gods too. Same with their representation.

Answer 9

No matter if you read Bible,Quran or Bhagwat Geetha,you will be connected to God.....Believing and not believing on Ganesha is your personal matter,but it is written in vedic texts about him and i totally believe in vedas.

Ganesha is God of wishdom and knowledge,he is also remover of obsticals as you said.I feel that he is Lord Brahma incarnate and last but not the least,,,GOD IS ONE!!!

Answer 10

God is a being no one has ever imagined. Christians believe God came as the form of a man (Jesus) who says that he doesn't come as something else ( Animals). God loves his creatures all the same, Man, Animal, Fish. It's all the same. Just because we have opinions doesn't mean we're special.

Answer 11

Bagavad Gita ch;10 verse 08 ;- I am the ONE source of all.
The aspect of BRAHMAN ( not Brahma) is the root of all existence, DEVI & DEVAS (GODS & GODESSES). You are welcome to capitalize from;-Images & Mantras;-
1.http://www.indiaetzone.com/6/devas devis hinduism
2.www.cosmicmusic.com
3.search.rediff.com.images
Your view is correct. that all gods are aspect of one God.
Ganesh is son of Goddess Parvathi , Elephant head was given by his father Lord Shiva.nswers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=ApdqdmMG2zh_CQs.Z3bNE.7d7BR.;_ylv=3?link=answer&qid=20071207135823AAvuI0X&u=o&update=update&prev_ans_page=2