Many armed gods

A question asked more frequently then any other is why do Hindu gods and goddesses often have many arms?

I remember very clearly the situation when I was asked this question for the first time. I waited a bit, and directed the conversation to some general ground. Then I walked to a nearby motorized pump. I casually asked my friend about it and asked about some technical details. I read the engine label; it said “80 horsepower”. I asked my friend to explain to me what this meant. He answered, “It means the motor has the power of 80 horses.” So I opened the cap of the petrol tank and peered inside. “Where are all those horses” I asked. It took a while before my friend realized I had just answered his question about the many arms of deities. I had to explain it.

We symbolically say an engine has so much horse power. This doesn’t mean there are any horses in the engine. It means the engine can produce as much force as so many horses. In the same way a deity may be depicted with four, six, ten or even a thousand arms. Human beings think partly through analogy. The image of the deity is an analogy and a symbol. The arms represent the many ways and powers the divinity offers the humanity for comfort and support. And humans generally need an image to relate to. Most people can achieve an abstract understanding of the divine only through long and arduous spiritual practice. At the same time the image, the murti, is also truly the embodiment of the divine power. This is Advaita, non-dualism. The divinity is invoked, invited, into the murti through ritual and mantra. The rupa, form, has been ‘seen’ in ancient times by the rishis, the visionary sages who gave the doctrine to the humanity. The form of the god has been seen by the sages. Later it has been given shape by artists for the direction of humanity.

Analogy, a spark for wisdom

“Everything is analogy, it has to be.” These are the words from one of my favorite authors. But I knew it long before I read his books. It reflects the way human beings think, how they learn. So I have been teaching through analogy all my life. I started teaching as a young man. Being one of a very few of my community who could communicate in English and being a priest of two renowned temples in South India, I started my teaching when travelers and seekers from outside India approached me, talked to me, and asked me about my tradition and culture. In those days, in the middle seventies and early eighties people were very different from today. The people I met back then took their journey serious and were open, broad minded and didn’t mind to think deep. Many became friends.

I teach the power of analogy through an analogy: you can’t explain ‘honey’ to a person who does not know what is ‘sweet’.

The power of analogy is to teach an unknown thing through a known thing.