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Articles: Philosophy | Form of GOD
- Maitreyi
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 God is a great provider to something indescribable, beyond attributes, eternal, and beyond Space and Time itself, and who was the Self within. Now all who believe in God agree without exception that the Universe exists because a Creator willed it into existence. Whether this Universe came into existence via the Big Bang, as scientists believe or as described in various theologies, is a different matter; despite these differences, all theists believe that God created the Universe of which we are a part.
Most religions not only agree about the existence of a Supreme Creator but also declare that God is abstract, formless, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. However, different religions choose to call this God by different names but that detail need not bother us. Now the human Mind, as Krishna declares in the Gita, is infinitely capable; yet, ordinary people do not experience the infinity that the Mind represents. Thus, for ordinary people, the concept of an abstract, formless and infinite God is not easy to grasp. Different religions try to deal with this problem in other own different ways, via the intermediary of convenient symbolism. In this respect, Hinduism is perhaps the most liberal, leaving it entirely to the individual to adopt whatever form the individual wants, and thus conceptualise God with Form in many different ways. At the same time, while encouraging the worship of God with Form in order to develop Love for God, ancient Indian scriptures always viewed rituals etc., as a stepping stone to the ultimate realisation that individual is not the body but the Real Self or God.
'Siva' is one of the many names by which the Supreme Creator is known.
Bhakti is first developed via rituals because they help one to relate personally to God. However, rituals are like floatation aids that people learning to swim first use; once they know how to swim, they throw away the aids. In the same way once the spirit of devotion is established firmly in the heart of the devotee, he or she should move to the higher realm of relating to God directly on a Heart to Heart basis.
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