![]() ![]() The religion is a diverse system of thought with a wide variety of beliefs, and hence the concept of God, and the number of deities, rests upon the philosophy and the tradition that make up a devotee's adherence. There also exist a number of minor traditions, such as Ganapatism and Saurism. Within this faith, there are four major traditions or denominations, namely, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Hinduism has been called the " oldest religion" in the world, and many practitioners refer to Hinduism as "the eternal law" ( Sanātana Dharma). They are mostly interested in material enjoyment, and therefore they worship some powerful living entity.Hinduism is the largest religion in the Indian subcontinent, and the third largest religion in the world. This verse indicates that people are rarely interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are all after sense enjoyment, and to get a little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worshiping empowered living entities known as demigods. Such foolish men are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of material existence. All of them are therefore kowtowing to the so-called leaders or “big guns” in order to achieve temporary boons, and they indeed achieve such things. If a man gets some ministership in the government by worshiping a political leader, he considers that he has achieved a great boon. To achieve such temporary things, people worship the demigods or powerful men in human society. In this world, however, human society is mad after temporary things such as the material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia. Both the material worlds and their inhabitants, including the demigods and their worshipers, are bubbles in the cosmic ocean. The boons of the demigods are material and temporary. The demigods of this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the annihilation of this material world. The intelligent person is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he has no need to worship the paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. They get the results, but do not know that results so obtained are temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons. However, foolish people ( hṛta-jñāna) worship the demigods because they want immediate results. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the impersonalists, maintains that Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is beyond this material creation. He is above, or transcendental to, material creation. But Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this world. Iha devatāḥ denotes a powerful man or demigod of this material world. ![]() ![]() Yet curiously enough there are many human leaders who are worshiped by foolish men under the misunderstanding of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. In fact, the Lord is worshiped by demigods such as Brahmā and Śiva ( śiva-viriñci-nutam). Even the great demigods like Brahmā and Śiva cannot be compared to the Supreme Lord. Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pāṣaṇḍī. They cannot be equal to the Supreme God – Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. These demigods are all living entities ( nityānām) with different grades of material power. The Supreme God is one – Kṛṣṇa – and the demigods are delegated with powers to manage this material world. The Vedas say, nityo nityānām: God is one. God is one, and the parts and parcels are many. Actually, the demigods are not different forms of God, but they are God’s different parts and parcels. There is a great misconception about the gods or demigods of this material world, and men of less intelligence, although passing as great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme Lord. ![]()
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