In the Hindu culture or more correctly sanatan dharma that has a history of over 5000 years Gods have a special place. They are said to be 330 million of them. But do the gods really exist ? The truth is gods have but a symbolical value representing a force of nature.
In the Vedas especially RigVeda Lord Indra who is said to be the king of Gods have a very special place. He is said to be the god of rain. Now in ancient times the civilizations were agriculture driven and dependent on farming. Farming in turn was dependent on rain as good and optimum amount of rain would results in good crop production. So they did Yagyas and worshipped Indra to appease this power of nature that controls rain so that there is good crop yield.
In the later Vedas though the trio of Bramha , Vishnu and Shiva are given more importance. Bramha represents the natural force of creation. Vishnu represents the natural force of preservation . Shiva represents the force of destruction. As we find in nature creation, preservationa and destruction these three processes are always there. That's how life goes on in earth and in the universe. A star is born from a plasmic cloud (creation), the star radiates energy through its entire life(preservation) and finally the star explodes as a supernova and releasing matter that would go on and produce a future star.
Similarly there are gods and goddesses that represent forces of nature like Agni(fire), Vayu(Wind), Jal (Water) gods of different animals ,god of sea etc so we see that the ancients believed that there were controllers of the various phenomenons in nature and they tried to communicate them so that in turn they could somehow have nature work in their own favor for their well being.
Throughout time there have been good and evil existent in nature. Various worships and mythological stories have been created to assert that ultimately the evil is destroyed by the good. The Hindu culture gives special importance to the status of Mother. That's why you see the worship of Mother Goddess across the nation. If you look at the image of Devi Durga you would see a Mother Goddess slaying a demon with a trident (it symbolises the victory of good over evil) . Similarly if you the the image of Mother Kali you would see that a Mother Goddess in an awesome form killing demons wearing a garland of severed heads around her neck( It also represents the destruction of evil.).
Thus it is clear that nature is being looked up as mother goddess and her various forms are worshipped. You have Sarswati - the goddess of knowledge, Laxmi - goddess of wealth and prosperity, Kamdeva -the god of sexual pleasure. Similarly many many other gods .
There is a story about a sage called Valmiki who in his youth was a robber but somehow came across a sage Narada who asked him to verify if his family members would share the sin that he is committing and he was shocked to know that his family members refused be share as a result he gave everything up , the sage Narada asked him to repeat the name Ram so that he becomes free. In reality the word Ram is a mantra it seems that the whole story was weaved around by Valmiki himself who later on wrote Ramayana. Glorifying Lord Ram so that people practice the japa(repetation) of the the mantra RAM. Ramayana gives the model of a ideal king, ideal son, ideal wife(Sita) , ideal brothers and ideal kingdom. It is very much possible that the two Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written by Valmiki and Ved Vyasa respectively to reach out the common man and impart the knowledge of Vedas and Upnishads in the form of stories.
In the Vedas especially RigVeda Lord Indra who is said to be the king of Gods have a very special place. He is said to be the god of rain. Now in ancient times the civilizations were agriculture driven and dependent on farming. Farming in turn was dependent on rain as good and optimum amount of rain would results in good crop production. So they did Yagyas and worshipped Indra to appease this power of nature that controls rain so that there is good crop yield.
In the later Vedas though the trio of Bramha , Vishnu and Shiva are given more importance. Bramha represents the natural force of creation. Vishnu represents the natural force of preservation . Shiva represents the force of destruction. As we find in nature creation, preservationa and destruction these three processes are always there. That's how life goes on in earth and in the universe. A star is born from a plasmic cloud (creation), the star radiates energy through its entire life(preservation) and finally the star explodes as a supernova and releasing matter that would go on and produce a future star.
Similarly there are gods and goddesses that represent forces of nature like Agni(fire), Vayu(Wind), Jal (Water) gods of different animals ,god of sea etc so we see that the ancients believed that there were controllers of the various phenomenons in nature and they tried to communicate them so that in turn they could somehow have nature work in their own favor for their well being.
Throughout time there have been good and evil existent in nature. Various worships and mythological stories have been created to assert that ultimately the evil is destroyed by the good. The Hindu culture gives special importance to the status of Mother. That's why you see the worship of Mother Goddess across the nation. If you look at the image of Devi Durga you would see a Mother Goddess slaying a demon with a trident (it symbolises the victory of good over evil) . Similarly if you the the image of Mother Kali you would see that a Mother Goddess in an awesome form killing demons wearing a garland of severed heads around her neck( It also represents the destruction of evil.).
Thus it is clear that nature is being looked up as mother goddess and her various forms are worshipped. You have Sarswati - the goddess of knowledge, Laxmi - goddess of wealth and prosperity, Kamdeva -the god of sexual pleasure. Similarly many many other gods .
There is a story about a sage called Valmiki who in his youth was a robber but somehow came across a sage Narada who asked him to verify if his family members would share the sin that he is committing and he was shocked to know that his family members refused be share as a result he gave everything up , the sage Narada asked him to repeat the name Ram so that he becomes free. In reality the word Ram is a mantra it seems that the whole story was weaved around by Valmiki himself who later on wrote Ramayana. Glorifying Lord Ram so that people practice the japa(repetation) of the the mantra RAM. Ramayana gives the model of a ideal king, ideal son, ideal wife(Sita) , ideal brothers and ideal kingdom. It is very much possible that the two Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written by Valmiki and Ved Vyasa respectively to reach out the common man and impart the knowledge of Vedas and Upnishads in the form of stories.
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