College and University > Religion > Hinduism Videos
The world’s religions are very diverse, and not all of them believe in only one god. There are also those religions that believe in several gods, like Hinduism. It’s astounding to note that Hindus worship about 33 million different gods and goddesses. Why do they have such a staggering number of deities? It’s both mysterious and mind-blowing.
One way to explain it is this. The Hindu Supreme Being, named Krishna, assigned many others to govern each individual aspect of the universe. With that, there are gods who govern the sun, the material universe, knowledge, and many others. No wonder Hindus worship so many different gods. For the same reason, Hindu temples can be seen with so many deities under one roof. It’s safe to say that they don’t compete with or get jealous of each other, as each one facilitates a different aspect of the universe.
Because of that, Hindus also pray to several gods for the various aspects of their lives. A prayer to pass an exam, for instance, is addressed to one god, while a prayer for financial provisions is addressed to another god. Prayers for healing are also directed towards yet another god. It goes on and on for each aspect of life.
The nature of Hinduism means it’s more of a challenge for Hindus to please their gods. Each one of them has a different nature and a different attitude, so for every god prayed to, Hindus have to make sure to make each of them happy as well. That would mean different kinds of sacrifices, different offerings, and different ways of praying.
Despite that, it seems that a lot of people still continue to practice the religion. They are approximately 1 billion people in total, with most of them living in India where Hinduism originated from.
