Lord Vishnu and Devi Lakshmi (Continued)

Festivals

Diwali is the festival of lights celebrated with greatest fanfare and devotion in the Hindu faith over a period of five days. On the first day of Dhanteras, thanks are offered for prosperity and wealth as well as good health remembering ‘Dhanvantari’ the physician of the Devas who emerged during the ‘Samudramanthan’ (churning of the ocean). The second day ‘Choti Diwali’ celebrates the victory of lord Krishna (as an avatar of Vishnu) over Narakasura (a demon). In south India this is the main day of Diwali celebrating the victory of good over evil. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on the third day of Lakshmi Puja and little diyas light up entire neighbourhoods to remove darkness of ignorance and evil and bring in instead a wealth of knowledge, health and prosperity. Goddess Kali is worshipped in some regions on this day for destroying the evil ‘Raktavija’. 

The fourth day is celebrated as ‘Annakoot’ where various different food delicacies are prepared as an offering to the Gods (shaped like the Govardhan hill which Krishna is supposed to have lifted to protect his fellow villagers) and then distributed among devotees. It is the day of ‘Padwa’ celebrating new beginnings especially renewing love between husband and wife. This day also celebrates the victory of Vishnu as an avatar Vamana over Bali, the kind of the Asuras. The last day is ‘Bhai Duj’ meant for strengthening the love between brothers and sisters.  Some regions start celebrating from one day prior on ‘Vasu Baras’ day devoting prominence to cow and its calf focussing on motherly love. The Diwali festival has some origins as a harvest festival from very ancient times and cattle are revered by farmers also being seen as close to Goddess Lakshmi. Diwali is considered to be most prominent among most Hindus.

After Diwali, the celebration of Tulsi-Vivah (marriage of tulsi plant to Vishnu in another form) takes place. Kojagiri Poornima or Sharad Purnima is another festival worshipping Devi Lakshmi, with roots in the celebrations of the harvest season where the faithful stay up drinking milk whilst soaking in the healing powers of the full moon at night. During Ganeshotsav, Mahalakshmi Puja is performed in some households (also known as Gauri puja) where Devi Mahalakshmi is considered to come to visit her mother’s family as the host household and returns after three days to her husband. Gauri is another name for goddess Parvati. Fasting in prayer to the goddess is also known as ‘Mahalakshmi vrata’ or ‘Varalakshmi Vrata’

Temples

The Mahalakshmi temples in Mumbai, Kolhapur are very popular among worshippers as is the LakshmiNarayan temple in Delhi also known as the Birla Mandir. A very ancient Lakshmi Devi temple is located in a village in Hassan district of Karnataka state depicting the devotion of worshippers to Lakshmi over several ages.

Badrinath temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu is one of the oldest most holy temples for devotees since puranic times, part of the four famous pilgrimage sites in north, east, south and west of India known as ‘Char Dham’ (Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameshwaram, Puri). The ‘chota char dham’ made up of four pilgrimage sites in the foothills of the Himalayas also includes Badrinath along with Kedarnath (dedicated to lord Shiva), Gangotri (worshipping Goddess river Ganga) and Yamunotri (worshipping Goddess river Yamuna)

Perumal

There are 108 temples (Divya Desam), dedicated to God Vishnu known as ‘Perumal’, which are especially revered among South Indians due to their prominence in Tamil literature as created by twelve saints considered to be the greatest devotees of Vishnu (Azhvars). 105 of these temples are in India, majority being in south India whilst one is in Nepal and two are considered to be outside of this world in the heavenly world. The more prominent temples of these are the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam in Tamil Nadu, Parthasarathy Temple in Chennai, the Thiruvanthipuram temple in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu and the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala.

Ranganathaswamy representing Lord Vishnu is said to have one of the eight self-manifested shrines located at Srirangam is one of the largest pilgrimage sites in the South.

Lord Vishnu as Padmanabh is worshipped at the temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The temple houses the idol of Vishnu in reclining position and Lakshmi is represented as Sridevi and Bhudevi. This temple is said to be the richest in India due to hidden treasures kept safe for centuries inside locked chambers of the temple. The other richest temple is at Tirupati worshipping Vishnu in the form of lord Venkateswara.

Venkateswara is a form of lord Vishnu worshipped mainly among south Indians. Vishnu is said to have visited the earth when he was separated from Devi Lakshmi. She went away to live in Kolhapur after she couldn’t bear the treatment of her husband by sage Bhrigu who had visited them and deliberately provoked and mistreated her lord to test the greatness of Vishnu. After Lakshmi’s departure Vishnu lived and meditated at the Venkata Hill as Srinivasa or Venkateswara and thus his idol came to be worshipped in this region. Srinivasa is said to have also married princess Padmavati as per Vishnu’s promise to her in a previous birth at this time. The Venkateswara temple at Tirupati is today the most popular temple in south India for devotees and pilgrims who gather daily in thousands to seek blessings from lord Balaji. Padmavati , the wife of Venkateswara is worshipped as ‘Alamelu Manga’ and her temple is nearby.

Lord Jagannath is said to be a form of Vishnu or Krishna worshipped in Orissa, India and the main deity of the temple in Puri which is one of the four most important pilgrimage sites of India (Char Dham). Alongside the principle deity are Balabhadra (or Balaram, the elder brother of Lord Krishna and also considered a form of Lord Vishnu himself) and Devi Subhadra (the half sister of lord Krishna) who are also worshipped in the temple. Some people believe that the origins of Jagannath as a deity are not only in Hinduism but also some local tribal cultures while others believe him to be a form of Shiva as Bhairava. The Jagannath Ratha yatra (chariot festival) in Puri is very famous celebrated as a procession of the three deitites who reside in the nearby Gundicha temple and return after nine days.  Jagannath means ‘lord of the universe’. 

Lord Vishnu and Devi Lakshmi

Om Namo Narayanaya Namah (Om and salutations to Lord Vishnu)

Om Shri Mahalakshmiyei Namah (Om and salutations to Shri Lakshmi, the Great One)

Vishnu is the preserver of creation. When the Dharma of the world is disturbed, Vishnu incarnates as an ‘avatar’ to restore balance and rid the world of that evil. He is the only God of the trinity who never grants any boons to demons (asuras) or evil people.  Ten incarnations (Dashavatara) of lord Vishnu are most prominent. These are Matsya (fish to protect vedas), Kurma (turtle to help churn the ocean), Varaha (Boar to save the earth), Narasimha (half lion half human to save Prahlad), Vamana (dwarf that crushes king Bali’s ego), Parashurama (powerful sage with an axe), Lord Rama (to destroy demon Ravan and embody virtue, incarnated in the Treta Yuga), Balarama (Krishna’s elder brother), Lord Krishna (incarnated in the Dwapara Yuga to assist the Pandavas win the war in Mahabharata and gave wisdom to the people in the Bhagwad Gita), Kalki (the tenth Avatar of Vishnu which is yet to incarnate on earth in the currently on going Kali Yuga). Vishnu is known by thousand other names (‘Sahasranamah’) such as Narayan, Hari, Mukunda, Padmanabha, Madhusudhana, Janardhana, Pradyumna, Anirudha and many more.

Bhagwan Vishnu is said to be living in ‘vaikunth’ (heaven). His idol or image is often depicted as resting on the ocean (ksheer sagar), sitting upon a huge serpent (Sheshnag) holding his discuss (like a rising sun), a conch symbolizing five elements, a mace or bow representing primeval power and a lotus denoting causal power. The divine vehicle is the eagle (Garud). By his side is his wife, Goddess Lakshmi. 

Devi Lakshmi

is worshipped as the goddess of prosperity who brings riches and wealth to her devotees and protects them from material as well as spiritual misfortunes showering motherly love responding to the devotion (bhakti) of her worshippers.  

Lakshmi is said to have emerged from the ocean when the devas and asuras (demons) churned it to find amrit (immortalizing nectar).  She holds a lotus symbolizing purity, the amrit kalash (pot of nectar) representing her power to grant long immortal life, and a blessing along with a bilwa fruit (to give fruit to devotees as per their actions). In mythology the moon is said to be Lakshmi’s brother. When Lakshmi travels with Vishnu it is on his vehicle, the Garuda (eagle), otherwise her vehicle is the owl.  Due to her affinity to the lotus flower, she is also known by names such as Padmasundari, Padmapriya.

She is also worshipped as Mahalakshmi, Deepalakshmi. Mahalakshmi presides over the different aspects of wealth that humans can aspire to including gold, gems, valuables, grains but also fame, knowledge, strength, beauty, good health, long life and good offspring. Ashta Lakshmi is the form of the Devi with power to grant eight forms of wealth. Lakshmi is said to have incarnated as Vishnu’s wife whenever he took a human avatar to rid the world of evil. Together their avatars are known as RadheSham, SitaRam, LakshmiNarayan, Srinivas-Srilakshmi, Kannan-Padmavati. Mahalakshmi is worshipped in several other forms such as Ambabai, the patron goddess of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, or as Sridevi/Bhudevi in south India.

Stories

When the king of the Gods, Indra disrespected sage Durvasa by accepting a gift of fragrant flowers from the sage and then garlanding his elephant Airavat with it, he was cursed to lose all his powers and all the Devas suffered the same curse. Thus the demons destroyed Indra’s army and the Devas looked for help from Brahma and Vishnu. Upon Vishnu’s suggestion, they finally joined forces with the demons themselves to undertake the mammoth task of churning the ocean in order to find ‘amrit’ the elixir of immortality. It was agreed that the mountain ‘Mandar’ would be used as a churner and the serpent god ‘Vasuki’ would function as the rope. As the mountain keeps slipping into the ocean, Vishnu takes the avatar of a giant turtle to hold the mountain on its back while it is being used for the churning.

The churning bears various gifts which are shared by the gods and the demons such as the celestial cow ‘Kamadhenu’ given to the sages, the wish fulfilling tree ‘Kalpavriksha’ planted in heaven, the elephant ‘Airavat’ accepted by Indra and the white horse Uchaisrava to Bali, king of demons. The precious jewel Kaustubh is accepted by lord Vishnu. The deadly poison ‘halahal’ which came out first was swallowed by lord Shiva to save the universe from destruction and stored in his throat which resulted in him being called ‘Neelkanth’. The goddess of wine, Sura was given to Indra, The goddess of fortune Lakshmi emerged from the ocean too and chose to marry Vishnu. She emerged extremely beautiful and mesmerized all the gods and demons, finally garlanding lord Vishnu and thus choosing to be lord Vishnu’s companion.

Dhanvantri, physician for the gods emerged with the pot of ‘amrit’ which had been previously agreed to share equally between Devas and Asuras. But the Asuras immediately snatched the pot and refused to share it. Lord Vishnu then took the form of an enchanting maiden, ‘Mohini’ and cast the spell of her beauty upon all the demons so that they willingly gave away the amrit to Mohini. Lord Vishnu in the form of Mohini distributed all the amrit amongst the Gods and gave none to the demons. Their powers thus restored, the Gods regained their kingdom from the demons.

Another story is of Lakshmi born to the sage Bhrigu and Khyaati married Vishnu and made the Ksheersagara (ocean) her home as per the Vishnu Purana. Sometimes she is depicted in two forms as Bhudevi (mother earth) and Sridevi (goddess of wealth and knowledge) with lord Vishnu.

Brahma Deva and Saraswati Devi (Continued)

TEMPLES

Of the very few temples that exist with Brahma as the main deity, the main temple is at Pushkar, Rajasthan considered to be about two thousand years old. It revers Brahma and Gayatri Devi and during the festival of ‘Kartik Poornima’, a large number of worshippers gather at this temple to pray to Brahma. 

The temple of Lord Brahma in Carambolim, Goa  also known as Brmhakarmali houses a very ancient idol sculpted in stone with a beard on the front facing head resembling sages and the human progeny.  This is said to be dated from the 11^th century. Uttamar Kovil near Srirangam, Tamil Nadu is another famous temple.  In Khedbrahma, Gujarat is a temple of Brahma considered to be founded in the 11th or 12th century situated in a location steeped in religious history and significance.

A most famous temple of goddess Saraswati is located in Basara, Andhra Pradesh. In the Puranic ages it is said that Sage Vyasa settled on banks of river Godawari and made the idol of Saraswati out of sand as well as two other goddesses Lakshmi and Shakti. This gave him the inspiration to write some say the Mahabharata, while others say the Purana itself. Children go to this temple to get their books and tools for gaining knowledge blessed by Devi Saraswati as the goddess of learning.

The Saraswati temples in in Srungeri, Karnataka and Kuthanur, Tamil Nadu are also ancient popular temples. The Sharadamba Temple at Shrungeri  was founded by Sri Adi Shankaracharya. Later the Vijayanagara rulers and Sri Vidyaranya  replaced the original sandalwood murti with a gold idol of Sri Shardamba in the 14th century. In Koothanur, the poet Ottakoothar is credited with having built the temple for the goddess thanking her for giving him the gift of poetry which impressed the King Vikrama Chola. Temples of Maha Saraswati at Kaleswaram in Andhra Pradesh and Prouda Saraswati at Saradavanam in Kashmir also revere the Goddess as the main deity.

FESTIVALS

The festival of 'Vasant Panchami' celebrates Saraswati's birthday. There is a belief that Goddess Saraswati appeared on this day and to celebrate her brithday, her devotees perform her pooja usually occurring sometime in January/February. Celebrations are with yellow flowers, sweet and food in this period. The kit festival also occurs around this time in some regions. 

This is also the time when Saraswati puja is celebrated in eastern India such as in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam. After Saraswati Puja on morning of 6th date, Magh Shukla Panchami, Saraswati is worshipped. In the evening the Goddess is greeted and then immersed in the water.

In most other parts of south and west India, Saraswati puja is celebrated on Vijayadashmi along with Dussera celebrations at the end of Sharad Navrati which comes around October time.  Students keep their books and artists keep their instruments symbolically representing their pursuit of knowledge or musical art, in the puja to be blessed by Devi Saraswati.

Brahma Deva and Saraswati Devi

Brahma is the God of creation and according to the Brahma Purana he is the father of Manu from whom all human beings are said to have descended. According to Puranas, Brahma born in water in a lotus flower is also known as ‘Kanja’ (born in water). The idol of Brahma is depicted sitting on a lotus holding a rosary to keep account of all time, a book symbolizing knowledge and a water pot (kalamandal). One arm is shown blessing devotees. Brahmas vehicle is the swan which can separately identify milk from water just as Lord Brahma has the power to distil good from evil. The four faces of Brahma represent the four Vedas as the source of all knowledge

Brahma’s wife is Devi Saraswati who has taken different forms in different ages, also known by other names as Savitri, Gayatri, Sharda, Vani, Veenapani, Chaduvula talli in Telugu and Kalaivaani, Kalaimagal in Tamil. Saraswati is revered as a Goddess since Vedic times and known as the Goddess of learning and Goddess of speech. Prayers to Saraswati  are for wise thoughts and wise speech. The four arms of the Devi represent the mind, intellect, ego and alertness of humans as depicted by the scriptures and lotus held by Saraswati. The other two arms are shown playing the musical instrument, Veena and thus this is another blessing which is offered to devotees by Saraswati, dressed in white and riding the white swan as a symbol of purity.

STORIES

Saraswati is credited with helping Lord Brahma to bring harmony and order into creation of the universe. She is said to have provided the knowledge and wisdom to lord Brahma so as to create thought, the intellect, the senses and artistic beauty through in musical notes of sound. Thus the different worlds (lokas) for Gods, humans, demons were created and nature was formed. The puranas thus narrate a tale of the creation of the universe by Lord Brahma with assistance from Devi Saraswati.

Saraswati is also credited to have wittily saved the devas from the wrath of the demon Kumbhakarna who after severe penance pleased Brahma and was about to ask for a boon that would enable him to be very powerful so as to rule all the worlds. Saraswati sat on Kumbhakarna’s tongue just as he was about to ask his wish to Brahma. As a result he ended up saying that he wanted to be asleep for six months and stay awake for just one day, the exact opposite of the wakeful and powerful state he was supposed to ask form. Brahma granted the wish as came out of his mouth and thus the demon was put to sleep for most of the time.

Story also goes that Brahma fell in love with his first creation, beautiful and learned Saraswati and wanted to be able to see Saraswati at all times. He therefore gave himself four heads facing every direction so as to be able to see the beauty of Saraswati no matter where she might be. However Saraswati wanted to curb the feelings of the senses and encourage only spiritual love, so she took the form of various creatures on the earth to escape Brahma's vision. Brahma however followed her as abull when she became a cow and as a horse when she became a mare and so on leading to all creatures of the universe coming into existence. 

In the end when Saraswati went up in the air, Brahma tried to create another head to view upwards and see Saraswati which enraged the Devi and she implored lord Shiva's help. Then Shiva prevented him and thus Brahma's idols typically have four heads. Some mythologies also suggest that Saraswati did not like Brahma's passionate love and therefore cursed him that he would not be revered and worshipped as much as the other Gods' owing to his pursuit of her. Hence there are very few temples or festivals celebrating and praying to God Brahma.

Deities: Lord Ganesha (continued)

Festivals  ‘Ganapati Bappa Morya’

Ganesh Chaturthi is the main festival celebrated typically in late August or September when prayers are offered to Ganapati for upto 10 days celebrating his birthday. Devotees set up decorate the Ganesh idol in their homes and communities as if inviting Ganapati to bless them and then traditionally immerse the clay idol after one and a half days or three days or five days or seven days and most commonly after ten days of Ganesh Utsav festival on the day of ‘Ananta Chaturdashi’.  The immersion signifies the belief of Hindus that nothing is permanent but all creation returns to Brahman.  The idol of Ganesha is formed using clay and water as this form helps devotees to pray and celebrate in prayer but ultimately the idol is immersed to merge with the rest of the earth and becomes formless again,  ceasing to exist as a separate identity. The only permanent constant is Brahman.

Ganesha’s birthday is celebrated in three different times of the year as per his different incarnations. As per Hindu calendar these occur fifteenth day of month of Vaishaka, fourth day of month of Magh and fourth day of month of Bhadrapada when the ten day festival of Ganesh Utsav occurs. These occasions are considered auspicious and some devotees hold ‘vratas’ and do fasting to offer their prayers to Ganpati in these periods. Sankashti Chaturthi is a vrata undertaken by devotees on the fourth day of second half of the month (Krishna paksha) to pray to lord Ganesha. In addition to vratas, offerings of the number 21 are considered auspicious.

Pancha Ganapati is celebrated by some faithful for five days from December 21 to worship Ganesha as the lord and protector of culture and arts too.  

Prayers and Shlokas

Vakra Thunda Maha Kayam, Soorya Koti Sama prabham,

Nirvignam Kuru me Deva, sarva karyesshu sarvadha.

He who has an immense body, has a broken tusk,

Who shines like billions of Suns,

Remove all hindrances, from all my work and for all times

Sri Ganapathi Atharva Seersha: (From Atharvana Veda)         Translated by    P.R.Ramachander

http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/GeneralIndex.htm

Deities: Lord Ganesha

Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah 

Salutations to Sri Ganesh. He is seen as the master who removes all obstacles  (Vinayaka/ Vighnaharta/ Vighneshwaraya) and leads to prosperity and success (Riddhi/Siddhi who are also known as his wives). Lord Ganesha stands for wisdom and ability to distinguish between good and evil with big ears and keen eyes that take in all knowledge and make him so learned. He is said to focus on learning having mastered desires represented by the mouse that Ganesha had made into his vehicle. His arms hold a rope to pull devotees towards the truth, an axe to sever worldly ties, a modak (sweet) as the fruit for devotion and a blessing for all those who pray to him. Ganesha is pleased with an offer of modaks and durvas (bundles of green grass) both of which are easily possible for all devotees. He is also known as Ganapati, the leader of ‘Ganas’ (Lord Shiva’s attendants).

Stories

Ganesha is the son of God Shiva and Goddess Parvati created to fight demons when requested by the other devas and their Guru Brihaspati as per the Linga Purana. More commonly known story is that of Parvati creating a son out of love for Shiva and dipping him in the Ganga River to give him life as Ganapati. The Shiva purana describes Ganapati as Parvati’s creation to be entirely devoted to her and to protect her. So much so that when Parvati was bathing, Ganapati was holding guard and unknowingly prevented his own father Shiva entry to see Parvati. In rage, Shiva cut off his head. Then to pacify Parvati he sent his attendants to find the head of the first living thing they came across, which happened to be a baby elephant. Thus Ganesha came to have an elephant’s head.

One story narrates how Ganapati broke one of his tusks to kill the demon Gajamukhasura. Another describes that when Veda Vyasa requested Ganesha’s help to write the Mahabharata epic, Ganesha broke one of his tusks and used it as a pen to write the story on rock. When Ganapati laid the condition that Ved Vyas must dictate the entire Mahabharata without interruptions, the wise sage had to match Ganapati’s wit by asking him to write each line only after comprehending it in order to get enough time to compose the verses. Yet another tale describes his fight with lord Parasurama and the loss of the tusk during this battle. Ganesha is also known as ‘Ekadanta’ (lord with one tusk) as a result.

He is said to have used his big mouth and pot belly to humble the pride of Kuber, the lord of wealth. Once when Kuber held a party to show off his new palace and wealth to all present, Ganesha went to the party and asked for food. Kuber arrogantly offered him delicacies of the party. But Ganesha never stopped eating. After eating all the food, and all the riches and the palace itself with all its wealth, his appetite was still not satiated and thus in the end Ganesha made Kuber realize his folly of arrogance and ate Kuber’s pride. 

Temples

The Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati temple in Mumbai is one of the most popular temples for lord Ganesha. Also popular with devotees is a pilgrimage to pray in eight other temples of Maharashtra which is known as the Ashtavinayak yatra (eight Ganesha’s pilgrimage). The Ganapatipule temple in Konkan, Maharashtra is formed around a self-manifested stone image (Swayambhu image) of Ganesha.  In Rajasthan’s Ranathambhore, there is a unique temple of Trinetra (three eyed) Ganesha which traditionally receives the first wedding invitation from families all over. The Karpaga Vinayakar Temple in Pillaiyarpatti, Tamil Nadu is a very popular Ganesha temple in south India named due to the black idol carved from the rock against which the temple is set.. 

Hinduism in Practice

Atman, Brahman and Ishwara are considered ultimately one and the same.Ishwara is the manifestation of Brahman.  It is said that Ishwara is like the reflection of the Cosmic Spirit seen through the mirror of ‘Maya’.  When seen as a creator of the world Ishwara is called ‘Brahma’, when seen as the preserver of the world, Ishwara is called ‘Vishnu’ and when seen as the destroyer of this world prior to creation of the new world, Ishwara is called ‘Shiva’.  It is said that Lord Brahma made of the ‘Satvik Guna’ is responsible for creation. Lord Vishnu represents complete ‘Rajas Guna’ preserving and maintaining goodness. Lord Shiva dominated by the ‘tamas Guna’ is responsible for the destruction of the world. The trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh (Shiva) are also known as ‘Guna Avatars’. In the Advaita Smarta philosophy Ishwara in the form of Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti (Durga, Devi), Ganesha, Kartikeya (also known as Murugan/Skanda) and Surya are all considered to personify the Supreme God Brahman.

Other Hindu deities known as ‘Devas’ or angels are considered to be manifestations of the same God representing different aspects or as incarnations appearing in various different ages over time. Hindus believe that all manifestations (devas and all the rest of this universe) ultimately represent one single God that is Brahman. One way to explain the belief of Hindus therefore may be that these Devas do exist as manifestations of the supreme God just as humans are ultimately part of the same Supreme God. These  Devas/Gods/Goddesses have divine powers bestowed upon them by the supreme Brahman and although they may have appeared on earth in certain forms in different cycles of time, their usual existence is not on this earth and their actual form may not be as depicted by the idols of deities in Hindu temples and as described in Hindu scriptures which is more a result of human imagination, devotion and manifestation of that devotion.  The Gods are able to manifest themselves to respond to this devotion and reward it with blessings helping humans to identify with the divine within themselves and thus get closer to Brahman the supreme.

Thus worship of God in the form of deities represented by physical idols (murtis) or images helps devotees to focus our mind upon a single object and offer our devotion to a more concrete tangible form. Some believe that the idols and images are only symbols assisting in worship through rituals and ceremonies whilst others believe that the divine energy resides in these idols in answer to the faith and prayer of the devotees who gather to pray in temples and in their homes as per scriptural guidance.

Individual devotees and families often worship the holy trinity or select Gods such as Shiva or Vishnu or Ganesha or Shakti Devi as their family God (kul daivat) or personal favourite based on the denomination they traditionally belong to or their own faith. Popular Goddesses worshiped in Hinduism are Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Durga, and Kali. The two main avatars of Vishnu are also commonly worshipped as lord Krishna and lord Rama. Krishna is particularly popular deity for children just like Ganesha and Hanuman due to numerous mythological stories of their wit, courage and divinity from childhood onwards. Devotees of the Smartism faith revere all the main Gods and Goddesses believing them all to represent Brahman and this faith has gained a lot of popularity in current modern times in India and abroad.

Gods (Devas) and Goddesses (Devis) are identified with specific icons and symbols and many of them have several arms, each carrying something such as a weapon or a blessing for devotees. Some interpret the many arms of a deity as representative of the numerous values and virtues that they stand for although sometimes there isn’t a single interpretation.  Vedic deities also included worship of the five elements of Prithvi, Agni, Vayu, Soma and Surya or rivers such as Saraswati as well as solar deities known as Adityas including Varuna, Savitra and Aryaman. Over time a single solar deity Surya came to be worshipped as one of the five most important deities by Smartas and other Hindus. Hinduism presents several concepts for the word idol including ‘Pratima’ that is an image or likeness of the deity or ‘Murti’ that is a form of the deity, ‘Swayambhu image’ that is a self manifested image of the deity.

The philosophical knowledge of Sanaatan Dharma underpins the rites and rituals evolving from Vedic times which help the common man to pray to God and effectively practise their Hindu religion thus positively influencing their karma. It is important to follow these practices such as Mantra Japa, performing Pujas and imbibing sanskaras so as to develop devotion, concentration to be able to receive the knowledge of God, an attitude of selfless service, and discipline which are the paths of worship namely Bhakti, Jnana, Karma and Raja Yoga. Hindu Gods and Goddesses which are considered forms of the one supreme God exist in order to enable effective prayer and to enhance belief and devotion.