Every religion has its own system of worship of the Supreme Being, generally to pray for the satisfaction of various needs and aspirations of the individual and more particularly for spiritual salvation. It is universally recognized that such worship and prayers provide the means of visualizing and communicating with the Almighty and that they never fail to give emotional satisfaction. In Hinduism this takes the form of worship of various deities, each of whom is conceived as representating the Supreme Being. From the time of the Vedas, a number of deities have been recognized and adopted for worship and an individual has the choice to choose any one or more of such deities for worship. Hindu scriptures repeatedly affirm that worship offered to any deity is worship of the Supreme Being because "there is only one Supreme Being to whom the sages give different names: Ekam Sadvipra Bahuda Vadanthi". This forms the foundation of the system of worship of deities in Hindu Religion. This little book seeks to explain the origin, development and practice of such worship with a view to emphasise the cardinal principle of Hinduism that worship of any deity of one's choice is worship of the Supreme Being and to popularise worship of deities in that spirit. The author is deeply indebted to Jagatguru Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi of Kanchi Mutt whose speeches and writings gave all the inspiration for this humble contribution to the literature on the worship of God Almighty.
1.1. God Almighty, according to Hinduism, is the Ultimate Reality behind the universe and all the diverse objects, activities and events therein. All matter, all forms of energy, all the dimensions of space and time as well as all souls are nothing but a manifestation of God, the Supreme Being or Paramathman. All laws of nature which we take for granted are nothing but the Will of God. It may be difficult to conceive of any form or attributes to an Entity with such omnipotence. One school of Hindu philosophy holds that the Supreme Being is an Entity without form or attributes-Nirguna Brahman. However, even according to that school, this is only the ultimate intellectual concept. According to all schools of Hindu philosophy, God Almighty has a personality and attributes in relation to the universe and the living beings, that is, He is a Saguna Brahman. Right from the Vedic times the Supreme Being has been viewed as one with a personality and with divine attributes, who performs the functions of creation, protection and emancipation in relation to the entire universe. He is also the abode of Truth, Love, Beauty, Happiness and Grace. This is the basic postulate of Hinduism.
1.2 Another postulate of Hinduism is that the inner-most being, namely, the soul, of every living being is divine and is a part of or enshrines in itself, the Paramatman. The soul is imperishable and untouched by death or decay of the body. On the death of the body, the soul transmigrates from one body to another in a cycle of births and deaths until, by conscious acts of the body-soul combination through successive lives, a stage is reached when the ego is completely harmonized with the divine and the soul reaches its destination or spiritual goal of merging with or reaching the lotus feet of Paramatman. The aim and purpose of life according to Hinduism is to reach this ultimate goal or spiritual destiny of union with the Supreme Being by liberating the soul from the cycle of births and deaths by conscious efforts during the life time. This is salvation (Mukti or Moksha) according to Hinduism. The soul, by its very nature, as a divine spark, has an innate thirst to reach the company of Paramatman. To this end, the scriptures prescribe a number of ways or margas. These are also called "Yogas' which means the process for union with Paramatman.
1.3 The margas generally recognized from ancient times for the soul to reach salvation are the Gyana Marga, Karma Marga and Bhakthi Marga. The Bhagavat Geetha has classified these into four Yogas. The Gyana Marga is the method of acquiring supreme spiritual knowledge about the Paramatman and the Atman and the realization of God within oneself. One of the branches of this Marga is Sanyasa or true renunciation. Such knowledge and realization, however, cannot be easily acquired by learning or intelligence. They can be acquired only by leading a life of absolute purity with complete control of the senses and the identification of the self with the universe and the universe with the self, all of which may be possible only by seeking the Grace of God. The second method of Karma Marga involves, on the one hand, the performance of various rituals strictly according to the mandate of the scriptures and, on the other, the performance of all action with complete detachment and without expecting any reward. This ideal of a *Karamayogi', explained in the Geetha is easy to understand but very difficult to practise and can, as affirmed in the Geetha, be achieved only by praying to God for His Grace. The third method, namely, the Bhakthi Marga of seeking the Grace of God by worship is a self-sufficient discipline because the other two Margas, as already stated, require the Grace of God as a supplement. Bhakthi Marga is by far the most popular and the most practical of spiritual exercises.
1.4 The word Bhakthi is derived from the root 'bhaj' which means "to adore, to honor, to worship". According to the general concept, Bhakthi involves adoration of and also intense love or supreme longing for God. It also involves loving service to God and surrender to His Grace. The first step for a person to become a Bhaktha is, therefore, to develop love for God. The natural instinct of every living being is to love. Every person naturally loves himself, his family members and, of course, all his material possessions. If this natural feeling of love is diverted, at least partly, to God who creates and nourishes all that we normally love, it becomes Bhakthi. For instance, a person who loves the immense beauty of nature has only to take just one step further to love the One who created and who sustains all the beauty of nature. In the same way, a person who loves his wife or children or his official perquisites, has to take just one step further to love the One who created all this for him. With some training of mind this should not be difficult. The main thrust of religion is to give this training to the mind to love God. It is to this end that Hinduism has evolved various types and forms of worship of deities and, in particular, of one's personal deity. Such worship is an integral part of Hinduism.
Vedas (1209)
Upanishads (505)
Puranas (632)
Ramayana (756)
Mahabharata (366)
Dharmasastras (166)
Goddess (511)
Bhakti (250)
Saints (1534)
Gods (1304)
Shiva (387)
Journal (181)
Fiction (61)
Vedanta (372)
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