SUPERMARKET OF GODS

Hinduism is known to have a supermarket of gods. Why is this so? The Vedas are the basic books of Hinduism, and they proclaim without any ambiguity that God is One. The Upanishads also affirm this. The Supreme is One and is known as the Brahman, and its reflection in the human being is known as the Atman. So why has Hinduism, as it is projected to the uninitiated and to the majority of Hindus themselves, exposed a facade of so many gods?

The Vedas are indeed the foundation of the Hindu religion. But their knowledge was confined to an exclusive set of people who were erudite and well-tutored. The rishis thus found an ingenious method of preserving this great culture by presenting these Vedic truths to the common man through the stories of the gods as found in the Puranas, which were easily digestible by all. The Puranas took up the great truths of the Vedas and wove them into innumerable stories of hundreds of gods. All Hindus, regardless of whether they are educated or illiterate, treat the Puranas with utmost devotion and derive spiritual sustenance from them. The Hindu is aware of the allegorical reference to the supreme truth within the seemingly absurd stories. This was the method by which the Vedic truths were handed down from generation to generation. This is how Hinduism survived the ravages of time and onslaughts of many of the belligerent Semitic religions.

According to Hinduism, the goal of life is to attain emancipation from the dualities of life and find its source of bliss within itself, in the Atman, which is a reflection of the supreme source of bliss, the Brahman. Ananda or bliss is the only word that has no opposite. Happiness, however, is inextricably connected with its correlative, which is unhappiness. This can be said of all the things that we experience in the world. They all have their correlatives without which they cannot exist. Joy cannot exist without sorrow, beauty cannot exist without ugliness, and good cannot exist without bad, and so on. These opposites come and go in our lives. The human being tries to grasp only the so-called positive aspect of these dualities, and naturally, we are always frustrated because these positives cannot exist by themselves. Negatives are always aligned with them.

Life is a coin with two sides, good and bad, and our demand for a coin with only one side is rejected by nature. But the rishi's gave us a unique solution to this eternal human problem. They pointed out that apart from this fleeting dualistic world we experience, there lies a Supreme Existence that is Pure Consciousness and is ever in a state of bliss, which is the foundation of everything in this cosmos. This they called the Brahman. The only way out of the dilemma faced by the human being is to reach this source of bliss, which does not have a correlative. This is the goal of life in Hinduism, but to make an ordinary person understand this deep insight into the nature of life all of a sudden would be quite impossible. It would be like trying to teach a five-year-old the intricacies of calculus and trigonometry!

The mind of the ordinary human being is always filled with expectations and desires and is in a state of anxiety most of the time. It is always fixated on something in the dualistic world that can never bring peace and bliss. It never looks for the unity that can be found within oneself. This sort of mind is unfit for meditation and will not lead to single-pointed concentration on the Supreme, which is the only source of bliss. The religion of the rishis, known as Hinduism, is ingeniously designed to treat this particular disorder of the mind that always hankers after the ephemeral and transient, which will never provide the subconscious longing for bliss.

The master plan of the rishis was to divinize everything in this world since our attention is always fixed on the outside world. This was a well-thought-out plan that was psychologically and scientifically accurate. The mind is reminded of the supreme even when it is engaged in acquiring the desired objects of the world. Hence, we have a plethora of gods and goddesses in Hinduism who represent different aspects of the Brahman. For example, the goddess Lakshmi personifies wealth and auspiciousness. Those who seek wealth are constantly reminded of her in their pursuits. Businessmen often have a portrait of Lakshmi in their shops. Similarly, goddess Saraswati symbolizes wisdom, catering to those who seek knowledge. Thus, numerous gods and goddesses encompass the entire sphere of human activities.

Everything is divinized from birth to death, with rituals or gods associated with every aspect of Hindu life. The rishis were master psychologists, and these religious ideas were instilled in Hindus from childhood to constantly remind them of the purpose of their existence in the world—to unfold their divine potential and realize their own godhood. By focusing on these gods outside themselves, they can attain self-realization and understand that they are gods among all the gods they worship. Every Hindu, regardless of education, seems to intuitively grasp the one reality hidden behind the seemingly superficial absurdities. That is why a devotee of Krishna can just as easily visit a Shiva, Kali, or Ganesha temple. In a puja (worship), the first step is to invoke the divine within oneself and install it in the idol placed before us. Only then is the puja conducted. At the end of the puja, the reverse procedure is followed, and the divinity is revoked back to the person performing the puja.

The rishis employed two other methods to refine the gross mind and elevate it to higher realms. These were mantras, which are sound forms of the divine, and yantras, which are geometrical designs representing the divine. Both of these aim to present the unknown and transcendental through the use of sound and symbols. Such symbolism aids both the literate and illiterate. Symbolism plays a crucial role in the life of a Hindu, as evidenced by the many symbols or yantras drawn in front of Hindu houses. Ordinary language itself is a form of symbolism, although Hinduism has developed this art to a greater extent than any other religion.

The influence of Western religions seems to have colored the perception of Indian youth, leading them to view these symbols as superstitious nonsense. The Westerners who came to Bharat had narrow perspectives, and now our youth see things through Western eyes. They have not properly studied this art. Viewing them through biased Western lenses, they have dismissed them as meaningless and superstitious. However, there is a gradual shift in their perception as Westerners themselves have begun to appreciate them.

This ancient science has withstood the ravages of time and is intended for the betterment of humanity as a whole. The rishis' aim was to enable every human being to realize their divine nature. Therefore, there is an urgent need today to revive this art and science and educate the world about the profound psychological significance of the gods and symbols utilized in Hinduism.

Hari Aum Tat Sat!