Everybody talks about God is some way or other. Some believe the existence of God; some don’t. Hinduism accepts both philosophies. In fact, “Charuvaakam” – or atheism in short – was accepted as a system in India. In Sanskrit, “Chaaru-vaakam” means that which is pleasing to the ear. Chaaruvaakam believes that there is no need to worry about God or any Spirit or to observe vows and fasts or to control one’s senses. Live as you please according to your whims and according to the to the dictates of your senses. However, sorrow is inevitable even in a life in which we consciously and continuously seek pleasure. Indeed sorrow will predominate. The purpose of religion is overcoming sorrow.

In ancient years, long before other religions appeared, Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism termed God as Brahman, Paramaatma or just “Tat” meaning “That.” Brahman is not considered a person, not a superhuman entity, neither male or female, but just an invisible basis of all creations. The Rishis meditated on Brahman and experienced it.

The concept of God is unique in Hinduism. The belief is God is not far away, living in a remote heaven, but exists inside each and every being, as Jeevatma or soul as we describe in English. It is the extremely subtle, conscious basis of everything. It means that God is here within you.

We greet each other by saying ‘Namaste.’ Nama means bow, and te means you. Therefore, namaste literally means “I bow to you.” The gesture of saying Namaste with folded hands represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us and serves as an acknowledgment of the soul. Knowing that God is always within ourselves gives us is a very satisfying feeling.

However, Hindus also believe in the existence of many deities who perform various functions, like ministers in a government or functional executives in a large corporation, each vested with a certain responsibility.

How do we reconcile these two different beliefs?

There is a nice verse in RigVeda that says:

इन्द्रं॑ मि॒त्रं वरु॑णम॒ग्निमा॑हु॒रथो॑ दि॒व्यः स सु॑प॒र्णो ग॒रुत्मा॑न् ।
एकं॒ सद्विप्रा॑ बहु॒धा व॑दन्त्य॒ग्निं य॒मं मा॑त॒रिश्वा॑नमाहुः ॥४६॥ Ṛg Veda 1.164.46.

Índraṃ mitráṃ váruṇam agním āhur átho divyáḥ sá suparṇó garútmān;
Ékaṃ sád víprā bahudhā́ vadanty agníṃ yamáṃ mātaríśvānam āhuḥ.

Roughly translated, the verse means:

They (the sages) called him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; yea, he is heavenly Garuḍa, who has beautiful wings.
That which is One, the sages speak of as Multifarious; they called him Agni, Yama, Mātariśv

The important part of this is “Ékaṃ sád víprā bahudhā́ vadanty” – The Truth (God) is one but the sages called it by different names.

Hinduism permits you the freedom to develop your own concept of God based on Truth and this freedom makes it unique. So, you can worship any of the deities -Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, or Krishna -as your favorite God (Istha Devata).

As Swami Vivekananda said, “Arise, Awake, and Stop not till the goal is reached.” His clarion call was adopted from the following verse in Kathopanishad:

उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत । (उतिष्ठत – utiṣṭhata – arise, जाग्रत- jagrata – awake, वरान् – varān – the great ones, प्राप्य – prāpya – find out, निबोधत – nibodhata – learn them)

Go ahead, learn and discover God by yourself.