Many Gods and Idol Worship

God manifests Himself in many forms and the images of these many forms are worshipped, with the belief that these different forms are essentially the same.
Hindus say they believe in One God but worship many gods. How do they explain this contradiction?

Philosophically Hinduism believes that there is only one God who is formless and without characteristic. But theologically it states that this God manifests Himself in many anthropomorphic forms for a variety of reasons. So the distinction between the many Gods that Hindus worship is illusionary. In essence all the Gods are the same.

What is the Hindu Trinity?
The one God manifests Himself in three different forms known as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma carries out the functions associated with Creation, Vishnu with Preservation and Shiva with Destruction. This can be best explained as a CEO who allots separate times for the functions of Finance, Marketing and Production. For each function he wears a different mask and hence appears as a different person.
This concept of Trinity is completely different from the Christian Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Then why worship many Gods?
There are several reasons. For Hindus every animal, plant, river, mountain becomes a deity. The original idea must have been that one will not destroy or abuse entities one worships. Hence the worship of these aspects of nature aimed at preserving the environment. Unfortunately only the ritual prevailed and not the philosophy.
Another reason is that God takes many incarnations or avatars on earth in order to subdue evil. In each of the avatars He appears in a different form. Each form is worshipped as a distinct entity, but with the belief that all forms are essentially the same.

Sometimes devotees of God become so inspiring that they are revered and even worshipped in their own right.
All these factors add to the multiplicity of gods. But this multiplicity is an illusion.

Why do Hindus worship idols? And what are the forms of worship?
Hindus worship the images of their deities. They believe that the power of the deity resides in the image and the benefits can be transmitted to the worshipper through the image. Hindus get offended if the images are treated disrespectfully. They do not distinguish between the image of a deity and the deity.

The simplest form of worship is placing the palms face to face, closing the eyes and contemplating the deity. Some items of food are offered to the deity and the worshipper believes that when his eyes are closed the deity emerges from the idol and eats a morsel of the food. The food is then eaten by the family. Most families offer every meal to the deity in this manner. It is like saying grace before meals.

The idols are treated like living persons. They are bathed, clothed and ‘fed’ daily. On festive occasions they are dressed more grandiosely. On such occasions the family or even the community worships collectively.