Multiplicity of Deities in Hinduism

Hinduism recognises the need for each of us to worship God in his or her own way. This is because all of us are individuals unique in terms of our karmic legacy and background, our upbringing, our environment. As unique individuals, we tend to develop our own conceptual image of God. And this image which we develop is what we treasure and idealize irrespective of whether we worship Jehovah or Allah or Christ or Krishna.

In Hinduism that conceptualization has been taken a step further. Different forms of God have been conceived which focus on specific attributes and a Hindu is able to devote himself to that form which specially appeals to him. Such choice of a form of God that appeals to a person’s nature and belief is known as “Ishta Devata”.

God is the Repository of ALL Attributes. He is the Perfection of ALL Attributes. And He is also Beyond ALL Attributes. He is Justice; He is Love; He is Supreme Knowledge; He is Supreme Power; He is many other things besides. Yet within each one of us is this attraction to a chosen ideal. That ideal may be Strength or Mercy or Love or some other attribute. Within Hinduism, therefore, we have God in many forms each of which FOCUS on certain attributes but do not exclude the others. It makes a sense for a devotee to choose to worship God as the perfection of an attribute which appeals to that devotee. Ultimately through this worship he reaches that One and Only God Who is the object of all worship.

Many rivers flow towards the ocean. By following the course of any one of those rivers you ultimately reach the same ocean. It is this identical logic which applies in worshipping different forms of God!

You may ask “Is it not wrong to limit God in this manner by focussing on certain attributes?” The answer to that objection is that every human concept of God is bound to be limited and inadequate. We are bound by the laws of space, time and causation. We are constrained by our personalities and our level of personal development. With all these limitations when we try to conceive of God we try something akin to measuring the infinite ocean with a tea spoon. Yet Hinduism says that the God whom we grope towards in this manner in our blind and ignorant way sees our efforts and Himself advances towards us. He limits Himself, as it were, for our sake because He is Love. That Love which God represents is immeasurable and beyond all estimation. This Love of His ensures that our worship – no matter how deficient, no matter how lacking – is accepted so long as there is Sincerity. Without Sincerity and Faith there is no spiritual progress.