Hindus have many Gods. All are the form of only one God. There are some mythological stories about the incarnation and embodiment of each and every God. Hindus worship to the Sun, Fire, Water and everything which gives us life. But in fact the sum of them is one. Hindus believe that all the things which exist in the world, is a part of God, like people, animals, nature and even the mountains and the rivers.
The deepest knowledge of hinduism is that each and everything that exist has gods in it and is god itself.....i.e, you ,me this internet, this question, my answer, etc.... Since it is too difficult for a lay man to understand this thing, the god has been given several forms to be worshiped and one has to really worship with too much of devotion and love to god to see him in each and everything, so they have given several form to make people understand god exist everywhere...
It's like you are ONE person but also a brother or sister, son or daughter, grandson etc... Friend, colleague... To different people you are different things. For Hindus, Brahman (God) appears to different people in different forms. The three main incarnation he takes are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector and Shiva the destroyer. God has all three facets to (His/Her/It's) character. God also appears as someone who brings wealth (Lakshmi), who has a mischievous side (Krsihna) etc... So there are different names for the different assets of character. Hope this helps xxx
There is one god and people decide to name him different. The many gods you see are the prophets. Ie shiva is the god of destruction, lax-mi is god of wealth, ect
You probably wanted to know whether the Oneness of God excludes a pluralistic view of oneness? In fact in the Vedas Brahman or Oneness is referred to as the one without form.Well in Hinduism everything is just Oneness, all rivers lead to the ocean, and all deities through the will of Brahman lead to Oneness.It is not because Brahman is One that it cannot has many manifestations. Oneness does not exclude a pluralistic manifestation of Brahman.Brahman the one without form can manifest at will in more than one form through it creative, preservative and destroying energies.Another thing to clarify is the concept of deities which are manifestations of Brahman through Avatars coming to earth to restore Dharma(rightful path or rectitude). To the uninitiated it may appear that there are many Gods in Hinduism but to those who are keen to learn they will understand that all is just Oneness.
Hinduism is a way of life. The brahman is the divine force in which you become one with the universe. The Gods are the events, the nature, the time, the happenings, in this world. The Epics are tales that describe life. Brahman itself is not a god, but an inner Nirvana that one will reach with eternal goodness.
Thank you for your question, and this is a real Hindu speaking.
There is only one God Eishwar in Sanatana(Hindu) religion. He transformed into three major powers namely Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara or Shiva along with their paired powers for conducting three main functions of super power. Indra along with other subordinates are engaged in various works on behalf of God, as Angels in Christianity and Farishta in Islam.
Incidentally or unfortunately all of them are called God by the believers for what this mythology of Hinduism is widely misunderstood.
People who worship God for their materialistic gain they mostly pray the subordinates of God.
People who worship God out of virtue and wisdom having real faith on His eternity, may initially worship The major powers of God. If he continues, one day he develops Love towards God and this will take him to One God(This is very complex concept, only who does it practically,will acquire, otherwise quite impossible)
The Hindus believe that God is one with different names and styles. So if a person worship a god he believe another person with another name so on and so forth , but the ultimate goal is one that is God.
