The Hindu religion has a multitude of gods or deities, roughly 33 million gods. What is the need for so many gods? Are all these gods representing the same form of divinity? Why do they have many names and forms?

The spiritual scriptures, Upanishads, and Gita provide an unflinching answer.

The Upanishads are universal precepts or statements. Ancient seers conveyed these to their students or disciples. Students would spend their formative years of learning in the tutelage of a learned seer. Away from home, the children had one singular purpose – knowledge.

These seers had the vision to decipher and convey the underpinnings of the universe. They could give us insights into the entire manifestation. Their messages allow us to discover and experience a supreme divinity.

The Upanishads are a gamut of information. The Gita is the condensed form of this information. The Gita is a constitutional directive to lead a purposeful life. If you think of Upanishads as cows, then Gita is the nectar obtained through milking the cows. The message has universal applicability.

The Upanishads do not put a name and form to divinity but instead qualify it as “that supreme”, or “that absolute”. The divinity qualified as a supreme with infinite characteristics. A source and manifestor of energy. As all-pervading absolute, many philosophers construe “that” to be an energy source, like unseen electric currents.

The Gita converges the all-pervading abstract to a personal divinity. This personal divinity with a name and form is Krishna. The cowherd milking the Upanishadic cows.

A personal form of divinity provides a protective and comfortable feel for some. They gain solace knowing that there is a name and form you can anchor to in your daily life.

From a strict scriptural standpoint then the big question is who do we worship? The Upanishadic all-pervading formless absolute, energy source or Gita’s personal form, Krishna.

As the Supreme is all-pervading then the infinite characteristics must permeate as well, isn’t it? In this regard, the characteristics in themselves are aspects of divinity. These characteristics manifest around us as energy forms and are scattered. We experience them every moment in the colors of a flower, the birds, the diverse humanity, and nature.

Anyone and anything has a characteristic of divinity. And, there is unity in this diversity. The indweller in this diversity is the unifying factor and that is the Upanishadic all-pervading formless absolute or Gita’s personal form, Krishna.

Characteristics grouped into names and forms make the diversity of divinity personal. This can be also be referred to as godliness that gives an emotional and personal feel. Diversity does not discriminate between masculine and feminine forms of energy. The scriptural ethic is simple. Anyone and Anything has a characteristic of godliness.

The Hindu deities or gods like Durga, Ganapathi are in a spiritual sense, only names and forms. They have a set of divine attributes or characteristics emanating from the supreme. Villages in India may have local deities particular to that village or region. The villagers qualify such deities with certain characteristics. You can extend this diversity to not a few but to the 33 million gods or even more.

The key to note is that the source of all these characteristics is the supreme. All these names and forms are simplistic representations of a subset of characteristics. These evolved over thousands of years to satiate our limited perceiving ability.

The trunk or the supreme is one and the rest are all branches and twigs.

Who do you then worship? The trunk or the branches or twigs? And where does prayer fit in?

I like to distinguish between prayer, admiration, and worship. Each has its own purpose.

• You admire a name and form with a select set of divine characteristics.

• You pray (connect) with such a name and form.

• You worship the supreme. Worship has a specific connotation, it means complete surrender to the divinity of the supreme.

Surrender is to recognize that we are only custodians for everything we have or receive in this life. Our goal is to perform righteous actions and accept the outcome.

When we are the custodians, there must be an owner. And for a spiritual individual, the owner is the divine. That owner is the Upanishadic all-pervading formless absolute or Gita’s personal form, Krishna. This worship is easier to do on a personal form, like Krishna.

The universality of spirituality shines through this understanding of prayer, admiration, and worship.

You can admire anyone or anything with a name and form. Prayer then means a connection with that name and form and their characteristics. Think about the feeling you have when you see a rose in your favorite color. You admire, you connect to the rose and its color or the characteristics of divinity. And, when it comes to worship, you worship the supreme divinity pervading in all.

To help channel your concentration and worship, you can keep a main personal form. This is also called archa vigraha (archa – worship, vigraha – deity), representing the supreme. Use the name and form to keep you on track, guide you in performing righteous actions.

To conclude:

• You worship the divine in a personal form representing the entire gamut of divinity
• You may have other names and personal forms which you admire and connect.

Other considerations or Variations:

• It is ideal to have the personl form of worship etched out in stone, brass, mixed alloy, or silver. These materials are part of the core elements of this universe.

• Less is better – Divinity does not increase through a clutter of pics, images of deities. ( see article on puja room)

• Divinity does not differentiate between masculine or feminine forms. But you can group the divine characteristics into such forms. Consider keeping masculine and feminine personal forms for worship . This helps radiate the best of energies in your home. For many, this could be the forms of Lakshmi, Krishna, or Sita and Rama.

Krishna, the preceptor of the Gita says

यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्धयार्चितुम् इच्छति ।
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां ताम् एव विदधाम्य् अहम् ॥ २१ ॥

yo yo yāṃ yāṃ tanuṃ bhaktaḥ śraddhayārcitum icchati |
tasya tasyācalāṃ śraddhāṃ tām eva vidadhāmy aham || 7.21 ||

Whatever celestial form or demi-god a devotee seeks to worship with faith, “I” steady the faith of such a devotee in that form.

Let us close the loop and bring it back full circle to the opening statement on 33 million gods. This is a misquoted number. The Upanishads summarize the gods as thirty-three and not thirty-three million. Gods in the Upanishadic sense are energy forces. They are:

• The five sense organs (smell, taste, touch, seeing, hearing). The five organs of action (hands, feet, mouth, and organs of excretion and reproduction). The mind. Together these are called the eleven rudras or sense perceivers and executors.
• The cosmic elements – fire, air, space, water, sun, moon, stars and the earth. Together these are called the eight vasus or dwellers.
• The forces responsible for the sustenance and time – 12 months. Together these are called adityas or the canvas of space and time.
• The vigor or the power or effulgence of the source energy. This is called indra, the thunderbolt of energy.
• Then there is the energy of sacrificie or offering. This is called yagna.

Who do you worshop? Deity or Divinity? You decide and experience it.