Book Reviewed: Hindu Deities by Swami Jagdishwarananda

Experiencing God in the Hindu belief system

The desire to find the spiritual connection and the reasons to believe in God existed in human conscience since the beginning of civilization. The rise of pastoral and farming communities in the steppes slowly lead to the recognition of natural forces and their connection to the spirits (gods). Evidence of animal sacrifices and nature worship were abundant with pastoralists of the Yamnaya culture. Eventually these practices were carried off by the migrants from steppes to the East and West. The early Vedic population that lived in Indus Valley were very much into worship of Vedic gods (natural forces) and practicing animal sacrifices to please the Vedic deities. Kapali Sastriar and Sri Aurobindo’s esoteric interpretation suggests that Rig-Vedic gods are not just natural forces but they are manifestation of the universal power. The rituals practiced in Vedic India was to please the Vedic gods and bless the performer with strength; the sacrifice is deemed as a wheel for generating the power. In modern Hinduism, the animal sacrifices are deemed cruel and unacceptable because they are not in accordance with the dharmic principles of Hindu beliefs. In addition the Vedic deities have been replaced by gods that emerged from epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata, and eighteen Maha-Puranas and numerous upa-puranas of the vast Indian Hindu literature.

In this book, the author very briefly discusses the significance and worship of seven gods including three goddesses with references to the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas. They are Ganesha, Brahma, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva, Durga and Kali. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the Holy Trinity of modern Hinduism. There are three major sects of Hinduism; Vaishnavism, Saivism and Tantrism that focuses on the worship of Vishnu, Shiva and Kali/Durga respectively. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the protector and Shiva is the destroyer of the universe. The central idea is that the spacetime and matter of the universe is born with the grace of god, it can sustain with the mercy of god and it eventually dissolves in a holy communion with the God Almighty. Kali and Durga are the divine avatars of Shiva’s wife Parvathi. Lakshmi, the wife of Lord Vishnu is the goddess of wealth who is one of the main deities worshiped during the holy festival of Diwali. The worship of Kali (Kali Pooja) is celebrated in the Hindu month Kartik and coincides with the festival of Diwali. Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvathi. He has the head of an elephant and is widely worshiped as the remover of obstacles; the patron of arts and sciences; the deity of intellect and wisdom. He is the god of beginning and worshiped at the start of rituals and ceremonies.

The Hindu spirituality brings together the complex skein of beliefs, practices and metaphysical elements that developed since the holy book of Rig-Veda. The Vedic practices were replaced by philosophical ideas culminating in six schools of Hindu philosophy. The Vedanta and the Samkhya schools developed strongly in the latter part of ancient India. The second set of Holy Scriptures, the Upanishads laid a strong foundation for the development of Brahma-Sutra and Vedanta. It presents the eternal, spaceless, timeless dimension of Pure Consciousness. The Hindu faith appear to be a confusing tangle of myths with many different gods and goddesses. But this is a system of unifying beliefs that have guided since Rig-Vedic period.

This book is written for those who have basic knowledge of Hinduism and it does not go into any extensive discussion of Hindu beliefs, but explains the seven deities and the mode of their worship.