In the majority religion of India, Hinduism, believers want above all to see the divine. This emphasis makes them different from Christians (especially Protestants) who place more emphasis coming into contact with the divine, not through seeing, but by hearing the word of God.

Diana Eck, who teaches religion and Indian studies at Harvard, considers seeing as a key to understanding how Hindus approach the deity. She entitled her first book “Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India,” and there she explored some of the many ways religious people encounter images of the gods whom they venerate.

The word darshan means a kind of sacred seeing, whereby a deity is manifested to his worshippers in a variety of forms. Professor Eck calls darshan “the single most common and significant element of Hindu worship.”

So much does this hold true that worshippers are likely to say “I went to darshan today,” meaning that they looked on a shrine where they saw some emblems of divine presence.

In a recent talk, this Harvard scholar focused on the Hindu god Shiva and described many of the shrines where pilgrims approach him. Shiva ranks as one of the three most important deities in the Hindu faith and remains a chief object of worship throughout India. Along with Vishnu and Devi, he stands out as a principal divine being.

To non-Hindus, it can be confusing to discover how many different gods Hindus honor. At first, this religion can seem simply to promote worship of false idols rather than the true God. However, on closer inspection Hindus are seen to stand closer to belief in one God than Westerners commonly realize.

Professor Eck considers it a matter of seeing the divine from many different aspects rather than believing in many different gods. She likes to tell an ancient story from the Hindu scriptures about a student who asked a wise man named Yajnavalkya how many gods there are.

The sage answered: “As many as are mentioned in the Hymn to All the Gods, namely 3,306.
“Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?
“Thirty-three.
“Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?
“Six.
“Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?
“One and a half.
“Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?
“One.”

Hindus worship the divine in many different forms and they believe that the images of God are so many as to be countless. And the individual gods whom they reverence are shown in various guises and roles, notably the god Shiva.

In one of his innumerable images, Shiva is depicted as having three eyes, one hand raised in blessing, the other holding a trident. His posture is meditative and his face looks soft, to show that he combines features of male and female.

At times, this deity is shown against the backdrop of the snow-capped Himalayan Mountains, where Shiva originated. From there he moved to Banares and adopted this holy city as his own.

Shiva can be seen as present in various objects. Hindus call these objects lingas and understood them as emblems or signs of the god. At one shrine, for instance, the linga is a chunk of ice, at another a large rock.  Almost anything can serve to manifest this god.

Thus a shaft of fire reveals Shiva; so does a beam of light. Housewives are fond of drawing designs outside on the pavement outside their houses to show reverence for the god. Some people take the sand on a beach and fashion from it a pattern that honors Shiva.

Professor Eck points out the importance of understanding how the basic features of Hindu piety can connect with people of other traditions. For example, she says of the shrines where people gather to worship: “God is far larger than the place God has condescended to be.”

Worshippers know that God is everywhere but, through their creativity, they can have a divine presence at the doorway of their home. They also know that even when worshipping Shiva, there are many other deities and images of God.

The Hindu way of worshipping through lingas at shrines encourages the use of beautiful objects to bring them to a deeper sense of the divine. Their religion sharpens people’s appreciation of beauty through color, shape, and variety.

Richard Griffin