The fact is Hindus have only one God, known by different names and forms, and also as formless. Viewed in this right way, there is no room for confusion.

How can this claim be justified, one might wonder. God has essentially three attributes – omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience -- the attributes of being all powerful, all pervading and all knowing. The God the Hindus worship in various forms has these attributes. Let God come in any guise, apply this test. No Hindu worships a lesser God.

In fact the female aspect of God as Mother is as important to the Hindu as God’s male aspect. But in his heart of heart, he knows that God is also formless or beyond all forms, infinite. So the Hindu, while reciting the 1000 names of Vishnu, will recite the mantra that He is also formless, yet with form. Water has no form but ice has – it can be shaped in any way. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a great saint of India, has said that the Formless God condescends to get condensed into God-with-form by the devotee’s love or Bhakti. There is no greater coolant than bhakti.

There is a marvellous principle behind each devotee choosing his or her own form of God. This is known as choosing one own Ishtadevata or most-loved-aspect-of-God. A son may be more attached his all-forgiving mother than to his stern father. So he may choose God in the form of Mother.

Even in the category of Mother there are various aspects which one can choose. The Devimahatmya says, as wealth-giver She is Laksmi (red-hued), as giver of Knowledge She is Sarasvati (white-hued) and as destroyer of enemies she is Durga or Kali (blue-hued.) These three are only among the infinite aspects of God as Mother!

Like Vishnu, Devi, Shiva, several other forms of God have also what is known as hymns containing 1000 names, Sahasranamas.

Explaining further the concept of Ishtadevata, once a devotee chooses or, more correctly, is guided by the Guru to choose his Ishtadevata, he learns to see all forms of God as his Ishtadevata, as he knows essentially God is one.

The man with a contemplative frame of mind may choose Shiva, the musically inclined one may choose Sarasvati, the one seeking valour may choose Subramanya and so on.. The idea is not to put everyone in a straitjacket but help him to develop devotion to God along his most nautral line or temperament. How much freedom does the Hindu enjoy in this respect!

Ultimately, when he ‘realises’ his chosen aspect God, his character would have been fully transformed for good because God is Sarva-kalyanguna-sampanna, repository of all auspicious qualities. Then it would be time for God to reveal His formless aspect also to the devotee.

Every bhakta sings, be it Tukaram of Maharashtra or Arunagiri of Tamilnadu, to mention only just two names out of the thousands of bhaktas India has produced, of the ecstasy of realising God with form and without form.

The various forms of the One God thus gives scope for the bhakta to give expression in diverse forms to his emotional fervour, which contributes for the richness of the devotional literature of India.

The Hindu way of life does not denounce earning of wealth or the fulfilling of desires, the only condition being that the means should be legitimate, that is, approved as right conduct (dharma0. The four Purusharthas (ends which are consciously sought by man) prescribed for Hindus are 1. Dharma (right conduct) 2. Artha (wealth) 3. Kama (fulfilling of desires), and 4.Moksha (ultimate freedom or God-realisation.)

The devotee may begin to worship God, seeking wealth or protection from dangers, but ultimately, he will flower forth into a full man, a blessing to himself and humanity.

In this grand scheme of human growth and evolution the Hindu concept of One God with many forms plays a significant role.