IMPORTANT GODS AND GODDESSES

Because Hinduism was the predominant religion before the advent of Guru Nanak Sahib, Hindu gods and some other characters have been used in Guru Granth Sahib frequently as examples to illustrate some important principles. Like Hindu holy books, Guru Sahiban also used the names of gods to represent Waheguru, but they changed the meanings. For example if Hindu books considered Vishnu as the supreme power, Guru Sahiban used the name of Vishnu but did not acknowledge him as manifestation of God.

Hindus have many, many gods and goddesses (330 million) whom they worship in the form of idols. It will be helpful to understand Gurbani more accurately if we knew who the gods and other characters were.  There are three main Hindu gods which are described below.

(1)Shiva: He is considered the god of all gods.  He is also known by the names of Mahesh, and Shanker. He is also called Bholle Nath because he can be pleased too easily and blesses his devotees with powers for which he may have to repent later.  He is also enraged easily as a result of which he makes some hasty decisions which he may not like later. He wears long hair and twines it into a knot. He adorns his hair with moon, a rose and a few rosaries. He covers his body with ashes and wears a long snake around his neck. He has a third eye on his forehead which he opens only in special situations.  Shiva rides a white bull and holds a small drum which is thinner at the centre. He is the god of destruction. He has 11 incarnations, called Rudras. The most important among all of them is Bhairon who has an ugly appearance and looks more like a ghost than a human being.

He is married to goddess Parbati who also goes by the names, Sati, Bhagauti (Bhavaani),  Chandi  and Durga in different manifestations.  She rides a lion.

(2)Vishnu: He is the provider for all living beings.  A huge snake, called Sheshnaag, is his bed on which he sleeps.  SheshNaag has millions of heads (and tongues) and he continually worships Vishnu with a different name every time. Vishnu has four arms, and holds a disc-like weapon, called Sudershan Chakkra which has very sharp teeth all around, in one of his hands. He uses this to kill his enemies (despite the fact that Lord Shiva is the god of destruction).  Vishnu also holds a conch and a mushroom-like weapon called, gadaa. He also has a lotus flower growing out of his navel. He has ten incarnations which will be described shortly. At the very beginning of the creation of the world, Vishnu created two demons - Madhu and Keetabh. They terrorized the whole world, so Vishnu just pulverized them with his hand. Goddess Luxmi (Lakshmi) is His wife.  She was retrieved from the ocean when the gods and the demons churned the milk. Luxmi is the goddess of wealth and rides an owl. She is worshiped particularly on Deevali.

Note: There were no human beings yet when these two demons were created, so whom did they terrorize? Also, that's is the character of the demons. They simply did what they were supposed to do.

(3) Brahma: Brahma was born out of the lotus flower which grows out of the navel of Lord Vishnu.  He is thought to be the creator of all living beings. Also, all the four Vedas are believed to have been created by him. He is the only major god who is shown to have a beard. He has four heads.  He has five sons including Naarad who was born out of Brahma’s thigh.  Brahma was sexually attracted to his own daughter and chased her even in the sky. He would also add a head on every side to follow her. When she flew in the sky to escape, Brahma added a head on the top. This was the height of shame, and Shiva could not tolerate that. So, he cut the fifth head of Brahma, but the head got stuck to Shiva's palm, and would not separate. Shiva visited all the Hindu holy places to get rid of the head from his palm, but nothing worked until he dipped it in the lake of Kpaal Mochan (which literally means removing the scalp) near Nahan in the present state of Himachal.

Goddess Sarsvati is Brahma’s wife.  She rides a swan and is the goddess of fine arts and education.

Note: All the holy places are supposed to be associated with some god, goddess or some other holy men. How did the holy places come into being when the world was still being created.