Why so many Gods for Hindus ???

Why so many Gods for Hindus ???

 

 It is a pertinent question on non-Hindus & Hindus minds alike.

For this we may have to go to the origin of the word Hindu.  Hindu is not the name of the founder of the religion like in Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism etc…  it is one word definition for the kind of way of living practiced in the land mass down south of the River Sindu… In fact the word , Hindu , had been fixed on the way of living practiced in this land by foreigners like  Chinese of those days, who couldn’t define the traditions and practices that has been followed in this land in one single word. So they were only left with one identity to call the practices followed in the land below the Sindu river as Hindu.

I could practically validate this theory with my personal experience in my visit to China. Our company had sent four of us office colleagues regarding a technical know -how visit to China. Our team had one Tamil-Christian, who is die hard religious to the essence that he was not eating anything that is offered to Hindu Gods.  All of us had broached on the subject of religions and the beliefs and practices till we touched the base at Shanghai, where our Chinese Friend Mr. Sun received us and took us around for sight-seeing.  In one shopping area, Mr. Sun met some of his local friends by chance, so his friends were seen talking to him enquiring his well-being. In between they were talking between themselves pointing us.  After the conversation, I enquired our friend Mr. Sun, what they were talking about our team. He explained that his local friends asked him where we are from ? and he replied that we are from India.  I became curious to ask him that he has not used the word INDIA or INDIANS in his conversation but only he used INDU is the only word we could recognise in the local dialect they were talking. Mr. Sun explained that in the local language indu refers to anyone from India.

Hindus’ Invasion of China

After this conversation, we turned to our Tamil Christian friend to go & tell that Chinese friends that he was not a Hindu but a Christian. Our friend was very much perplexed to answer or explain. There we realised that China & the then Hindusthan or Bharat or the Pallava – Chozha – kings were having trade relationship for several thousand years between two old civilizations. There is a saying in whole of China , Tibet, Japan & Korea that Indu has not even sent one soldier but could capture their imagination with the religion of Buddha.  Though they all revere India as it gave them Buddhism, Karate, Kung-fu, Yoga etc… but they are not referring to India as Buddha or a Buddha country, as their ancient travelers have recorded that the People from this part of the world worship many different forms of Gods including formless ones, even sun & moon, animals & human beings. It was too difficult for them to define the practices here & condense them in one word.  So they used the geographical identity practiced below the river Sindu as Indu which derived the word  HINDU.

How many Gods do Hindus worship ?

If Advaita or Non dual philosophy to be followed, all the 130 Crores of Human Beings & may be about 5000 crores of all the living beings living at this point of time are God forms only in India alone. In 1910, when one of the World’s greatest poet, Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi lived, he asserted that Bharata Mata (Divine Motherland) has 30 Crores Faces based on the population living at that time.

The way of life, sanathana Dharma, which was followed in Ancient Bharat (India), every individual was allowed to pray to any form or formless or to look at the light of the lamp or any of the five elements.  Tulasi- a herb, Peepul – a tree, Elephant,  fish, tortoise, lion, tiger, peacock, mouse, eagle, snakes,  Tallest to shortest, Fair skinned to Dark skinned, Male or Female, everyone was / is worshiped as a god form.  It was very difficult for any foreigner to comprehend or to give a definition to the worships in this land. Every family had their own deity, who could have been an ancestor, warlord, or a protector of this family at one point of time. Same way each village had a deity, who was once a protector, who mostly sacrificed his life for protecting that village or region.  

But this was an incorrigible or unfathomable to people who are forced to focus in one form or one name as in Christianity or Islam. One point focus was done for a particular purpose for people who cannot focus in many forms or their prayers’ intensity diluted when looking at many forms.  Even in Vishishtadvaitam the emphasis is given to focus only on Vishnu & not on any other form. There were many single pointed focused religions existing each focusing on one deity form, or One Enlightened master or Guru to follow. Ancient India was the mother of many religions as it was very open to evolution. Every kind of Philosophy could thrive and germinate in this land. Though there were some ideological differences, people in general always left the choice of worship or practice to one’s own self. 

Religion is an Individual Experience

Religion was more a individual subject than being a mass communion.  Even to settle aberrations & altercations here & there , Saint Adi Shankaracharya, found a common ground for six religions – Saivam, Vaishnavam, Saktham, Kaumaram, Ganapathyam & Souram. He guided the form based worship to gradually ascend to the level of self-realizing a form less Bhraman or Supreme Consciousness.  He could put forth all his ideas & make every differing ideologists to share one common platform, Sanathana Dharma. This dharma allowed all the different theists to worship their own beloved formats at the same time respect & allow people of different faith to live peacefully.  Even when Christians were flushed out of Syria by Muslim Invaders, they took the refuge in the Kerala. Same case with fire worshiping Parsis when they were driven out of Persia (Iran) by Muslim Invaders.  Even the very recent in 1950s, en masse exodus of Buddhists Lamas from Tibet has made Buddha’s motherland as their homeland.                                              ( Buddha was born in Gaya-India , Siddhartha was born in Lumbini-Nepal.)

(Pl read this article https://www.thebetterindia.com/134644/dalai-lama-escape-lhasa-tibet-tawang-india/)

So it doesn’t matter whether anyone worship Stone, Water, fire, air or emptiness or ether in this Land, any practice is allowed & only whole encompassing definition is HINDU as this land is south of Hindu Kush Mountains.  Even the largely converted Muslims practicing Islam worshiping the formless supreme consciousness is a Hindu when it is practiced in this land mass.  Same is the case with Christians too.

The Sikhs which is a sect to protect the Hindus from the persecutors is also a Hindu. Same with one of the oldest religions, Jainism, as they are from this land is a Hindu.

Man-Gods

Even in this 20^th- 21^st Century, this land worships many saints who came in Human form Like Saint Vallalar, Sri Ramakrishna, Shirdi Sai Baba, Ramana Maharishi, Sathya Sai Baba & many more to come may be revered as Gods as the vibration in this land mass gives a realization, that the formless supreme consciousness, can take any form at any point by the combination of Five elements. Saiva Saint Sidhhar Thirumoolar who condensed to describe it as “ andame Pindam , Pindame andam “ in Tamizh meaning “ constitution of the form & the formless are one and the same “. 

 “Kanda sashti kavacham” which literally looks like a praise on Lord Muruga on his form describing every part of the body is actually a Kundalini  ( dormant energy residing near the Mooladhara Chakra - energy point on the subtle body closer to the lower most part near the birth marks in physical body )activating mantra for the subtle body by describing the physical body parts, cures any ailment. This is necessitated because many human beings identify themselves with the physical body. So the physical body which is easily identifiable with five senses is used as a tool to realise an intangible energy movement.

Yoga, a wonderful science, is a sequential set of practice to realize the unlimited unbound aspect of the universe by using the flesh bound body with the movements inspired from birds and animals.  Thus showing the greatest inter-connectivity with which the universe functions. 

Evolution Experiments in Different Planets:

Present day India is much smaller as the original one as most part got submerged in the present day ocean part called Indian Ocean.  This land mass has been the hot bed of experiments for the evolution of every living beings. There are number of sacred texts reveal that this planet Earth, is one of the biggest laboratory for many beings from many other planets in this Universe.  Just like we from earth trying many expeditions to Mars and other planets, same is true that are being done by other planets’ beings on our planet.  ( e.g. movie “PK” acted by Aamir Khan is not a fiction entirely).

Suspect & Respect

So the Ultimate question arises on every Hindu’s mind to suspect & respect every form next to them may be a God, which is also the truth, Godliness resides in every being. Hence the quantity of Gods worshiped  is equal to every one believing in the divinity residing in them ( "Aham Bhramasmi- I am that Creator" ). 

Definitely there is a confusion in many Hindus as which god form to worship & when.  That too when non- believers and other religionists point out the plurality & surrounding confusion, a simple Hindu easily gets confused & motivated to adopt another religion. 

unIqueness

A simplest fact is that each & every beings or creatures are born with certain unique features. This can be easily understood in a day today example - siblings born to same parents does not have same choices on food. In many houses mother has to cook different kinds of foods to feed the taste of each member of the house. Same with dresses, vehicles, house hold items as each individual tastes and choices are different.  Same is true for religion also. Quest for knowledge, connecting with the ultimate truth or consciousness leads to a religion. As each one of us have varied perception levels, seeker in each one of us seek the ultimate through different paths.

Origin of the Human Race:

The original Lemuria, the land mass which was once connecting the Indian peninsula with Australia in East & Africa in the west, was also known as Kumari Kandam or Navalan Theevu or Jambu dweepam, was the cradle of all civilisation giving birth to Languages & identifying themselves with nature in various art forms. In this process, the realised souls who had experienced the energy form of the Universe & its power started sharing their experiences to the unrealized ones through Music, dance, Idols, art forms , Temples etc… to create the awareness that almighty resides in you , still further to realise “Nature is just That, which is in you & Me “. 

Arts & idols to depict all the features of the human body with extra limbs, eyes, arms & ammunitions to make every one of us realise that each one of us is very powerful limited only by our own imagination. For eg. If you could do so many things with just two hands, imagine the power of God with twelve hands, If you could see so many things with just two eyes, imagine the power the God with 1000 eyes, all these were expressions given by the Realised souls like Saints, Sages or Siddhars, who had created platforms like Temples across the Land extending up to the present day south India. Most of the temples built by those Siddhars were energy centre to activate the inner energy points or chakras in human body.  Every temple was precise engineering marvels to attract energies from other planets in different Galaxies, the deities’ acts as energy storing & emitting points. Each individual takes birth with certain unique feature as Highlighted by Saivite Saint Manicka Vasagar in his Thiruvasagam as he describes the God is one which is Widest, deepest & precise meaning God or Nature creates each & every being in this widest universe with a precise & unique in depth feature . This makes it necessary, though many beings looking alike ,will have a unique evolving process. So each being may get inspired by one unique deity form or formless according to the evolution process of that particular soul.

Peaceful Co-existence

Concluding point is that Each one of us have one unique evolution path, which shall not compared, may be few points can be referred but in entirety, a uniqueness pops out. So I shall not complain or persecute anyone else if they are different from me. Homogeneous Religion will not give room for evolution, which Nature exhibits in any forest; Nature is in diversity, non-repetitive, non–pattern able yet peacefully co-existing for furthering the Universe.

 

 July 2020.

 

 

This article in Tamizh Language : https://sakritease.blogspot.com/2020/07/blog-post.html