The concept of God in Hinduism is straightforward as well as complex. According to the Puranas, there are 330 million gods, but in practice, Hindus do not worship or even know the names of all gods. It is a general misconception that it is a polytheistic religion, but actually, it is a pluralistic religion. Hinduism believes in only one God but allows its followers to worship the God in many forms such as nature (including trees, sun, idols, animals, etc.) and divine beings (Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, etc.) because the world that we see is the manifestation of Him only.
These divine beings are called devas (gods) and devis (goddesses). These celestial beings control forces of nature such as fire, air, wind, etc. They are not to be confused with the One and the Supreme God. God is a different thing from a deity or a god. These words should not be confused with each other.
In the Vedas, there are 33 devas, which gave rise to the concept of the Trinity and 330 million devas. All the devas are regarded as more mundane manifestations of the One and the Supreme Brahman (God) for devotional worship. In practice, Hindus do not worship 330 million gods, but they do worship many gods and goddesses. The Sanskrit word for “ten million” also means “group”, and “330 million devas” originally meant “33 types of divine manifestation.
The Concept of God in Hinduism by the Vedas:
Vedas and Bhagavad-Gita are the most sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The following are a few lines where they talk about God.
1. “Ekam evadvitiyam”, meaning “He is One only without a second.”
[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]
2. “Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah,” meaning “Of Him, there are neither parents nor lord.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]
3. “Na tasya pratima asti”, meaning “There is no likeness of Him.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]
4. “Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam” means “His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]
Vedas refer to God as “Brahman.” Brahman (often confused with Lord Brahma) is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality, the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this universe. It is the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Absolute Reality and is said to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and ultimately indescribable in human language. A noteworthy thing is that Hindus believe that God is genderless, whilst most of the other religions generally believe God is male.
Purusha and Prakriti:
Brahman is formless, but it manifests itself through Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha is consciousness, and Prakriti is the material world. Purusha expresses itself through Prakriti. Prakriti binds Purusha. Purusha is constant, but Prakriti changes. It multiplies and breaks down into cruder and more basic forms. Prakriti has three binding principles, viz. Sattva guna, Tamo guna, and Rajo guna.
The universe we see has come into being because of Purusha and Prakriti. That is why Hindus say God is everywhere.
Jiva (Purusha) and Shiva (Param Purusha) are the same, but Prakriti creates Bheda (difference) for them. In terms of the human body, our body is Prakriti, and our consciousness is Purusha. Shiva and Shakti exist within each of us as masculine and feminine principles. This affects the physical level – it is the cause of sexual attraction. Within a man, there exists a tendency towards the feminine qualities and within a woman a tendency towards the masculine. Through this, the feminine consciousness attracts the masculine and vice versa. If both are in balance, there is no sexual attraction. But if a tendency for the masculine predominates in man or the feminine in woman, this results in a preference for a homosexual partner.
The Brahma Sutra of Hinduism is:
“Ekam Brahma, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan” which means
“There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”
But it is true that in practice, Hindus worship the Almighty in several different forms. Therefore, it is interesting to understand the concept of God in Hinduism and how the other Gods developed over time and became popular.
Prakriti is the manifested form of Brahman and further expresses herself in three forms, viz. Satvik, Rajasik, and Tamasik.
Satvik form – Lord Brahma.
Rajasik form – Lord Vishnu.
Tamasik form – Lord Shiva.
That is why the followers of Shaktism believe that Prakriti, i.e., the Goddess, is Brahman. Shaivites and Vaishnavites claim that Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are Brahman respectively, but the truth is that the Trinity is the Saguna (manifested) form of Brahman. Therefore, nobody is superior.
The Concept of God per Puranas:
The reason behind this contradiction is that in the Vedas, different verses proclaim the superiority of different gods. The Puranas are an elaboration of the Vedas. Most of the concepts and stories in the Puranas have their basis in the Vedas.
According to the Shiva Purana, the Brahman created Lord Shiva. Then, Lord Shiva created Lord Vishnu, and Lord Brahma was born from the lotus originating from the navel of Lord Vishnu. These three Gods are assigned three different jobs to run this universe systematically:
Shiva – The Destroyer
Vishnu – The Protector
Brahma – The Creator
Lord Brahma created the universe, and he recreates it after every destruction called Mahapralaya. He created different gods like Indra, Agni, Vayu, etc., who help function this universe. Therefore, Hindus worship many different gods.
All other gods are the creation or incarnation of the Trinity. In the process of protecting the people, Lord Vishnu needs to reincarnate on the earth. Hindus worship all 10 reincarnations of Lord Vishnu and their other forms also. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati also took many Avatars from time to time. All those incarnations are worshipped separately by Hindus.
Concept of God according to the Bhagavad Gita:
The Bhagavad Gita is an important Hindu scripture according to which Lord Krishna is the incarnation of the Supreme Being, and hence everybody should worship Lord Krishna only. Worshiping other deities would benefit you, but you would have to suffer for those gains afterward.