Title of the article- “A deity can either be God or god or both”.

Author Name- Nithin Sridhar

City- Paradeep
State-Odisha
Country- India
Phone Number- 7894455668
Email- sridhar.nithin@gmail.com

Biography- I am basically from Mysore, Karnataka and currently

working as Assistant Manager at Essar Projects (I) Ltd, Orissa.

The basic philosophy of any religion relies on the acceptance of the existence of God and that
of atheism on the rejection of such existence. Among theists, there have been lengthy debates,
arguments and fights regarding what this God constitutes if it exists? Whether God is one or
many? Whether it is God or it is god (Upper case and lower case "G")?

In an Indian scenario, we have on one extreme Monotheists claiming presence of one absolute
God separate from world and on the other we have polytheists believing in presence of multiple
gods, goddess and demi-gods. And apart from this, we also have Monists who claim the
presence of "Only God" (denying even an existence for world separate from God). But Hindu
religion as a whole has always been consistently assimilating all these apparently divergent
streams of thought into a coherent and all-embracing philosophy of life. This has been possible
because there is an inherent awareness in the society that every person is on the same path
seeking same goal, some ahead and some behind. This truth is best illustrated in the words of
ancient Rishis of Rigveda. While speaking about the “Vishwadevas” (all the gods and goddess),
they boldly proclaim-

“They call him (God) Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is One, sages call by many names like Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan” (1).

In modern times, a similar message was given to mankind by Swami Vivekananda. According to
him, "Man is not travelling from error to truth, but climbing up from truth to truth; from truth that is
lower to truth that is higher (2).” The realization of this simple truth among people has been best
expressed in the concept of deity and its worship.

Our scriptures say that God (Brahman) which is formless manifests itself into infinite number of
forms. And each such form represents a specific aspect of the Brahman. A deity is a specific
aspect of Brahman which has a rupa-form and Shakti-power associated with that aspect. For
example, If Brahman/Para-Shakti is divided into 10 aspects, we get the ten Mahavidhyas. If the
Para-Shakti is divided into 64 parts, we get the Yoginis. In other words deities are the
personification of the various forces that drive the Cosmos. Also they are personifications of the
various phenomenon’s that happen throughout the universe.

For example, when the Brahman manifests the Universe, He becomes Shiva-Gowri. When the
Brahman absorbs back the Universe, he becomes MahaKaLa-MahaKaLi. Shiva is
personification of the sum total of all manifestation and Gowri is that aspect of Shakti which
causes the manifestation/projection of the Universe. Shiva and Gowri are White as white
represents Purity and the manifestation/Cosmos. Shakti takes the form of KaLi when the
projection is drawn back into Brahman. KaLi causes Laya/absorption of manifestation back into
Brahman. KaLi is black which represents her ability to absorb everything into herself.
From the view-point of society, we have Grama Devatas, Kula Devatas, Gruha Devatas and Ista
Devatas. Grama Devatas are basically the guardian deities of the villages. Kula Devatas are the
guardian deities of a clan, lineage or a bloodline. The Gruha Devatas refers to the guardian
deities of the family. Finally the Ista Devata refers to the deity a person choose based on his
personal inclination. A person may take any one among the Grama, Kula and Gruha devatas as
his own Ista or he can also choose some other deity which attracts him most.

The concept of deity, especially the “Ista devata” can be considered in many senses as a
unique contribution of Hindu religion to whole world not only in terms of its theological and
spiritual value but also in terms of promoting world harmony. In simple words, any person can
connect with God/Cosmos (3) in the way he feels inclined to or is comfortable with. This world
view will completely remove any cause for troubles and intolerances because the conception of
a deity is completely dependent upon the devotee who worships it. And no two people ever
conceptualize or approach a deity in an exactly same manner.

Some people may conceptualize their deity to be Nirguna-Nirakara Brahman (Formless and
Attributeless God). For some other the deity may be one of the manifestations of the formless
God which does have a roopa-form and guna-attributes. For some, the deity may be only a
maintainer (Vishnu-god) or a destroyer (Shiva-god) of Universe. For others the same deity may
be the ultimate God whom they call as “Narayana/Sada-Shiva”. For some the deities may be
just the forces of nature like fire-Agni or wind-Vayu. And for some other’s they may be mind-
manas or soul-atman. A deity can either be God or a god or at times both and at times neither
depending upon what a devotee seeks.

The deity-devotee relationship is an intimate connection that heavily depends on the spiritual
clarity and mental earnestness of the devotee. The more is the longing and Bhakti-love a
devotee has, closer he is to the deity and clearer will be his understanding of Universe. Every
devotee perceives his deity according to his tastes and inclinations. Hence, this perception
would be very limited. The devotee then projects this limited perception on the the limitless God.
Hence, the God projects to the devotee as a deity with limitations. The closer a devotee gets to
the deity, the purer his mind will become and his perception will start losing limitations. The only
way this is possible is through Sadhana.

Sadhana in general may refer to any action put to achieve a desirable goal. Swami Chidananda
of Divine Life society defines sadhana as “the active effort to obtain that which is possible of
being obtained through effort (4)”. And this goal for which Sadhana is done defines the nature of
relationship between the Sadhak and the Deity. A person may desire to have unlimited wealth,
health, prosperity, offspring etc and he will do sadhana just to obtain them. This is called Kamya
Sadhana. Such a person will invoke and worship a specific god who could fulfill their desires. A
deity is a god for these people. For example, a Lakshmi-Kubera Homa is done only for purpose
of getting wealth. A Mahamrityunjay Homa is done to ward of diseases and deliver long life to a
person.

Further, even among the people who desire only for God Realization, most cannot contemplate
on Formless one. Hence, they perfect their sadhana of a particular deity who will in-turn lead
them to the Ultimate Formless one. In Tantras they say, first worship the Mother, reach her;
then, she will lead you to Father. Such sadhaks worship Deity as God with form. It may be
Ganesha or Durga, Shiva or Tara, they worship it as Saguna Brahman itself.
Take the example of Lord Ganesha. From the puranic stories we come to know that, Ganesha
is the son of Parvati and Shiva. Further, he is the leader of Ganas (the fierce followers of Shiva,
hence the name Ganesha) and that he is the remover of obstacles. Most people would love to
worship Ganesha in his child form who loves to eat sweet food. They worship the deity with
above mentioned attributes and pray to him to solve their problems. For them, Ganesha is only
a “god” with limited attributes and power. Hence, by their worship, they are connecting with the
limited aspect of this Cosmos/God who has the power to remove obstacles in their path.

Then, there are sadhaks (Spiritual practitioners) who worship “Ganesha” as the lord of
Muladhara chakra (located at the perenium) who governs “Bhu” loka (The Physical/Material
realm of existence). For them, worship of Ganapathi is the key to awaken Kundalini and to make
her rise through the Sushumna Nadi (Channel). Hence, they connect with the God/cosmos
through their worship and gain power-Shakti to raise their Kundalini. For these Sadhak’s too
Ganesha is only a “god”.

Further, there are also those people who worship Ganesha as the Nirakara-Nirguna Brahman.
They recognize Ganesha as God, the Ultimate truth, the whole Cosmos. For them, Ganesha is
the creator, Maintainer and destroyer of Universe. This view about Ganesha can be found
beautifully expressed in the following lines from Ganapathi Atharva shirsha-

Twameva Pratyksham Tatvamasi | (You are the Only Truth)

Twameva Kevalam Kartasi | (You are the creator of the Universe)
Twameva Kevalam Dhartasi |(You are the maintainer of the Universe)
Twameva Kevalam Hartasi |(You are the destroyer of the Universe)
Twameva Sarvam Khalvidam Brahmasi | (You are the Brahman/God who exists everywhere)
Twam Sakashadatamasi Nityam (You are the eternal soul present inside everyone).

It further says-

Twam Gunatrayatitaha | (You are beyond the three gunas-Tamas, Rajas and Sattva)
Twam Dehatrayatitaha | (You are beyond the three bodies- Sthula, Sukshma and Karana)
Twam Kalatrayatitaha | (You are beyond the three time periods- past, present and future)
Twam Brahmastvam, Twam Vishnustvam Rudrastvam Indrastvam Agnistvam
Vayastvam Suryastvam Chandramastvam Brahmabhurbhurvaswarome||
(You are Brahma, You are Vishnu, You are Rudra, You are Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya, Chandra,
You are the Brahman/God who exists in everywhere)

Next comes the category of people who neither worship God nor worship any god. For them, a
deity is just Shakti (Energy/Power). They are the Aghoris- the Shakti Sadhakas, people who do
sadhana to gain powers. They occupy themselves in understanding different aspects of the
working of the cosmos and gaining power to control them. They dive deep in the darkness to
reach light. Each deity represents a specific aspect of Para-Shakti. They do sadhana of the said
deity to achieve that Shakti. In case of Ganesha, many use the sadhana of him to understand
the workings of Bhu-Loka (Physical realmn) and control it. There are also a small section of
tantriks who does indulge in Shat Kriyas like Vashikarana (Controlling) and Marana (Killing) and
use these Shakti’s wrongly. But, others use their Shakti’s to ultimately merge with the
Cosmos/Para-Shakti.

Few people like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa exist, who even after having experiencing the
Brahman in Nirvikalpa Samadhi (The highest state of Samadhi), continued to worship his Ista
Devi KaLi Bhavatarini. For him, KaLi was both the God and the god. She was both with form
and without form.

Hence, a devotee who may at first see Ganesha as just a remover of obstacles, with spiritual
growth will come to realize that Ganesha is also the Lord of Physical realm. If the devotee keeps
walking on the path of sadhana, he will realize that Ganesha is not a god with limitations and
attributes, but Formless Omnipotent God. Deeper if he proceed, the devotee will realize that
Ganesha is both the God and the god. That the formlessness and the forms are both his own
manifestation and hence equally real.

Another simple example that illustrate this phenomenon could be that of Sandhya Vandana-The
worship of Sun. The Sandhya worship at its outset appears like a prayer to the Sun who gives
the warmth and Light to earth. This appears as a show of gratitude towards nature. If one digs
deeper, one will understand that the Sandhya worship is not just a prayer to the external sun
which is the center of our solar system and emitting the heat and light using nuclear fusion. But
the worship also entails an understanding and a prayer towards this whole cosmos which is at
every moment keeps changing, evolving and dissolving. On a deeper level, it is a prayer
towards the whole existence, the multiple cosmos that exist and the source, the energy that
manifests the Whole. Ultimately, it is worship towards the Innerself, The atman which is the very
“Whole” present inside the each of its particle.

In both cases, one can see how a devotee proceeds from his “Limited” understanding of God
into “Direct experience of Limitless truth”; how his understanding of deity changed from being
limited god to being Omnipotent God who existed as formless and yet manifested infinite
number of forms. This spiritual insight about the nature of Cosmic truth (Satya) and its infinite
ways of expression has been the very foundation of the “all-embracing and tolerant way of life”
that Hindu Dharma propounds. This truth has been imbibed into every Shastras-scriptures that
were composed, every rituals that were codified, into every art forms that found its expression. It
manifested into every aspect of life making Hindu society, a most diverse yet relatively
harmonious one in whole world.

Footnotes-

(1) इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान |

एकं सद विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः || - Rigveda 1.164.46.

(2) Sister Nivedita, “Our Master and his Message”, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/content.php

(3) According to Hindu Philosophy, God is sum total of All existence. He is the whole
existence. Hence, God and Cosmos are not different.
“Isa vasyam Idam Sarvam” (Ishopanishad)
(4) Swami Chidananda, “Special Insights Into Sadhana No-1”,
http://www.dlshq.org/download/insight_sadhana1.htm