The nature of God

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The nature of God
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Contents

• Brahman
• Atman
• Tri-murti
• Shakti
• Krishna Radha
• Rama Sita
• Hanuman
• Ganesh
• Lakshmi
• Summary
• Hindu deity family tree

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Brahman

• Brahman refers to the supreme spirit of Hinduism.
• All other deities are personifications of aspects
  of Brahman.
• Brahman is eternal without beginning or end,
  without form, without gender.

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Brahman

• Take a glass of water. Add some salt it will
  dissolve into the water and you wont be able to
  see it or remove it. Now taste the water and you
  will taste the salt in every drop of the water.
• In this analogy the water represents the world
  and the salt represents Brahman, though invisible
  Brahman is omnipresent (everywhere.)

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Atman

• Atman is the term used in Hinduism to describe
  the soul.
• The Atman is derived from Brahman.
• The Atman is indestructible and after the death
  of the body the soul either achieves Moksha or is
  reborn into another body. Rebirth is determined
  by the law of samsara and karma.

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The Tri-murti. The tri-murti refers to the three
main deities in Hinduism.
BRAHMA the creator VISHNU the preserver SHIVA the
destroyer
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BRAHMA the creator Brahma (not to be confused
with Brahman ) is the creator God. He has four
heads which allow his to see all four corners of
the world. It is very unusual nowadays for Brahma
to be the object of worship. Brahmas consort is
Saraswati the goddess of creative acts such as
music.
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• VISHNU the preserver
• Vishnu is recognisable by the objects he holds, a
  discus, a mace, a lotus flower and a conch
  shell.
• Vishnu has 10 avatars (incarnations) who visit
  the Earth to save it in times of danger. 9
  avatars have already visited the earth and Hindus
  expect one more. The avatars are
• Matsya a giant fish who saved the world from a
  flood
• Kurma a tortoise who carried the whole world on
  his back
• Varaha A boar who lifted the world out of deep
  waters using his tusks
• Narasimha half man- half lion. Killed a demon
• Vamana A dwarf who saved the world from an evil
  demon king.
• Parashurama Rama with an axe
• Rama a Prince whose adventures are in the
  Ramayana
• Krishna a Prince who had many adventures
• Buddha A Prince who gave up his wealth and
  started Buddhism
• Kalki will come as a warrior on a white horse to
  end the age of darkness

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SHIVA the destroyer Shiva has three forms. Maha
yogi shows Shiva sitting cross-legged with a
trident beside him. He has a cobra round his
neck, a tiger print loin cloth and the River
Ganges flowing through his hair. The story tells
that when the River Ganges came down to Earth it
would have destroyed the Earth if it had not
flown through Shivas hair. Nataraj Is the Lord
of the Dance who is shown dancing on a dwarf who
represents ignorance. It is said that it is
Shivas dancing which keeps the world
turning. Lingum is a phallic symbol which
represents fertility and over which milk is
poured as an offering.
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Shakti

• Shakti refers to the female goddess.
• The main goddesses are
• Durga the goddess of war. Worshipped at Navaratri
• Saraswati goddess of music, creativity and
  learning.
• Kali the goddess of death.
• Lakshmi the goddess of good luck.

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Krishna Radha

• Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu who saved the
  world by drinking poison (this is what turned him
  blue.) Krishna is known a cheeky character who
  stole butter and hid the clothes of the cowgirls
  (Gopis) who were bathing in the river and then
  climbed up a tree to see them as they came out.
• Krishna is a cowherd who is recognisable from his
  flute. He is also known as Govinda (cowherd).
• Krishna is particularly associated with the
  festival of Holi when people play tricks on each
  other.

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Rama Sita
The story of Rama Sita is found in the
Ramayana. Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu Sita
his wife is an incarnation of Lakshmi. Rama is
recognisable by his blue skin and his bow and
arrows. He is often shown with his brother
Lakshman and Hanuman the monkey King. Sitas
faithfulness to Rama makes her the perfect wife
in the eyes of Hindus. The story of Rama Sita
is central to the festival of Diwali

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Hanuman

• Hanuman is the King of the Monkeys in the story
  of the Ramayana. When sent by Rama to collect
  some herbs from a mountain, Hanuman brought the
  whole of the mountain. He is therefore held up as
  an example of how devoted to God Hindus should be.

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Ganesha

• Ganesh is the elephany headed deity. He is the
  child of Shiva and Parvati.
• He is the god of good luck and the remover of
  obstacles, because of this he is often prayed to
  in the Mandir before other deities. He has a
  swastika symbol to represent good luck.

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Lakshmi
Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and good luck.
Her vehicle is a lotus flower and she is shown
holding lotus flowers and pouring coins out of
her hands. Lakshmi is worshipped at Diwali the
Hindu new year when Hindus hope that Lakshmi will
bless them with good fortune in the coming
year. Sita and Radha are both incarnations of
Lakshmi.
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Summary

• Atman refers to the soul which is part of
• Brahman the supreme spirit
• The Tri-murti the three main deities, Brahma,
  Vishnu Shiva.
• Vishnu has 10 incarnations including Rama
  Krishna.
• Shakti refers to the female goddess.

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Hindu deities
BRAHMAN (suptreme spirit)
BRAHMA SARASWATI (creator
(creativity)
VISHNU LAKSHMI (preserver)
(good luck wealth)
SHIVA
PARVATI (destroyer) (mother
figure MAHA YOGI
NATARAJ (Lord of the dance)
DURGA (war)
AVATARS
Son of Shiva Parvati
RAMA
KRISHNA
GANESH (good luck)
10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu in human or animal
form including Buddha and Kalki (still to come)
LINGUM (fertility symbol)
KALI (death)