Hindu Gods and their forms

– a new interpretation

–

P. Narayanan

This is an explanation of the significance of the various forms of the different Hindu Gods and Goddesses. First let us clear up a popular misconception. Hinduism is not a religion where people worship multiple Gods. It is religion where people worship multiple forms of the same supreme God. In other words, there is only one God but over the course of thousands of years, our leaders and ancestors presented multiple forms of this God to the masses. This presents everyone with a choice of multiple forms to embrace and worship God. Everything we have said so far is well understood by scholars but there is little material when it comes to figuring out what each of these forms mean. Why does our favorite Lord Ganesha have the head of an elephant and a modhak in his hand? What do the ten Dasa Avatars mean? Why did Lord Vishnu first appear as a Fish and then as a Wild Boar? This is what I tried to find out. After many hours of reading, meditation and thinking, here are some of my interpretations. These articles capture some of the lore (story) combined with the why (the interpretation). I hope you find them useful and these articles allow you to think of our Hindu Gods and Goddesses in a different way. I do not recommend you change your prayer habits or any other religious practice as a result of this – just read and learn. If you think of anything along these lines, do write to me. I can be reached at my son’s email address: amazingvijay@gmail.com

Goddess Parashakthi

This goddess represents Para Brahmam. She gave Goddess Laxmi to Lord Vishnu, the Goddess Parvathi to Lord Shiva and the Goddess Sarawathi to Lord Brahma. The three lords keep their better halves in their body itself. Lord Vishnu, the God of protection keeps the Goddess of prosperity - Laxmi in his heart. Lord Shiva, the controller and operator of the Pancha Bhoothams and Gyana (knowledge) keeps the Goddess of Shakthi (strength), Parvathi, in half of his body. Finally Lord Brahma, the God of creation and master of the Vedas keeps Goddess of education, Saraswathi, in his mouth. Thus Para Brahmam is helpful in creation, the running of the universe and protection of everyone.

Goddess Durga is the symbol of destruction of bad forces in the world. There are three qualities in people called Sathvam, Rajas and Thamo, which are responsible for all their good and bad actions. All these qualities are under full control of Goddess Durga in the form of her vahana (vehicle). You must know that Durga rides a ferocious lion. The lion represents these three qualities – it kills other animals for its food (Rajas) ; it shares its food with its family and it will not kill other animals un-necessarily (Sathvam) and finally after its takes its food, it sleeps and does not do much (Thamo). The Goddess also carries all weapons with her – to show that she is ready to battle and destroy all the bad forces. Thus Goddess Para Shakthi represents Para Brahmam.

Lord Vishnu

The Lord pervades everywhere – Vishwam Bharathi Ithi Vishnu. He lies in the ocean of Gyana (Gyana Sagaram). In order to realize Para Brahmam, one has to enter the ocean of knowledge. He carries a chakra – which is a kala chakra (the circle of Time). He also carries Panchachanyam – a conch, which represents sound, which is everywhere. Lord Vishnu is usually depicted in blue color (Neela Mega Shyaman). Whenever you see something infinite like the sky, or the ocean, it appears as a blue color. This shows that Para Brahman is everywhere.

He carries Goddess Laxmi in his heart. She is the goddess of wealth. In order to protect people, it is necessary to remove their poverty. To give prosperity to others, you should have the heart and love to offer everyone. That is why he keeps the Goddess in his heart – she is called Sridevi. Sometimes he is shown with two devis – Sridevi and Bhoodevi. He keeps Bhoodevi in his hand, which basically means that the whole world is in his hand. This is shown in the Varaha Avatar. Lord Vishnu takes care of both Heavenly and Earthly people.

To realize the Para Brahman, one needs Gyana. He helps us churn (to research) the ocean of Gyanam (through Kurma avatar). Once you (Man) churn and achieve Gyanam (Amirtham), He only helps it to go to good people (Devas) and not to the bad people (the Asuras). The Lord lies on Adisheshan, a snake with a thousand heads. This shows that the path to wisdom has a thousand branches. He also creates Brahma, the Lord of Creation. He himself comes to destroy bad forces (Asuras) when these forces develop and increase. He comes in the form of avatars. Thus he represents Para Brahman – responsible for creation, protection and destructions. His vehicle is Garuda, who can fly highest in the sky from where he can know where help is needed.

Lord Shiva

He controls Pancha Bhootham and represents them, which are responsible for protection and destruction.

SKY: Sun, Moon and Stars – necessary for life and with thunder and lightning destruction also.

EARTH: We live on that. But with earthquake it can destroy us also.

FIRE: For cooking, etc. it helps life. With volcano and forest fires, it can destroy.

WATER: Needed for living. With floods it can destroy.

AIR: Needed for living. With cyclones it can destroy.

He represents all of them. He dances in the sky – Ambaram. He sits on Kailas hills. He has a third eye, which creates fire. He carries Ganga on his head. He carries a deer like animal in his hand representing Air.

He creates the God of Gyana – Lord Ganesha and the God of function of Gyana – Lord Subramanya. He keeps Goddess Shakthi in half his body. Shakthi – Gyana Shakthi who creates Lord Ganesha and gives Gyana Vel to Lord Muruga for helping people destroy the Bad.

The Lord carries Soolam, which represents Gyanam.- wide, sharp and deep and also creation, protection and destruction. His dance in space represents the rhythmic movement everywhere in space including atoms and molecules. He carries a drum, which represents sound that’s also everywhere. Thus he represents creation (through Lord Ganesha and pancha bhootham) , protection (through Lord Muruga and Pancha Bhootham) and destruction (through Lord Muruga).

Lord Shiva’s vehicle – Nandhi represents sacrifice and helping others. Nandhi helps in ploughing the fields, which provides us with crops. Man takes the crops and Nandhi feeds on the rejected hay (left over grass). Man removes the cover on the crops and makes rice. It takes the coverings. Man cleans and cooks rice – it takes the cleaned water. Thus it helps people get what they need and satisfies itself with the stuff you reject.

Lord Shiva is called Thyaga Rajan – king of sacrifice. He gives us wealth and gold ornaments, but he himself just has a serpent as his ornament. He gives us good houses, palaces, etc. but he sits on a ice hill in a cremation ground. He gives us scented chandanam, kum kum to wear but he himself just wears ash.

Goddess Saraswathi

Goddess of vedic, music and book knowledge. She thus helps Lord Brahma in creation. Vedas are to be heard first and studied. Lord Brahma carries Saraswathi in his mouth – representing that one has to hear the Vedas and get the pronounciation correct and then read them. Her vehicle is a swan, which has the capacity to separate only the milk from a mixture of Milk and water. This means that when we read a book we should absorb only the good things and reject the bad things if any.

Goddess Laxmi

Goddess of prosperity sits on a lotus. This represents that to get prosperity we should have control over worldly material things. Just like a lotus, which though it grows in water is completely unattached to the water. The goddess is shown with two white elephants sitting in a white ocean. This shows that when knowledge is exposed, prosperity follows.