Paramatma's Multitude of Forms

Paramatma is the First Aspect of God. The reason that Paramatma is categorized as the First Aspect is because when the dawn of faith rises in a devotee he first learns to relate to God in form; or if form is forbidden in a religion, then a symbol. The other two Aspects of God are more abstract to understand, therefore generally more difficult for a devotee to relate to in the early stages of spiritual evolution.

This is true for all religions, even if the religion strongly prohibits its devotees from worshipping any depiction of God. For instance in Islam, where assosciating God with form is blasphemy, symbolic form is nevertheless used to help with devotion. For instance the Ka'abah and the Arabic font rendition of the word Allah. Even in Buddhism, where Buddha's teachings which are purely monistic does not even acknowledge God with personality, cannot escape from the worship of form. Buddhist devotees use the figure of Buddha to represent divinity.

In Hinduism of course we have a multitude of forms to choose from. It is important to know that these forms were not created from figments of devotees' imaginations. These are forms of God that appeared to devotees and was later artistically rendered into a forms of worship.

A Hindu devotee will usually choose a form of Paramatma for worship that pertains to his or her sect. One may also choose more than one favourite form, though most devotees usually choose one. There are no heirarchies in the forms of Paramatma, they are all one and the same being.

If you are looking for a form for worship and do not know Who to choose, then you can start your search by finding the Hindu sect of your forefathers. All Hindus who trace their ancestary to India or Sri Lanka, will be able to find clues as to the Hindu sect from their ancestary. If you know the village from where your parents or grandparents are from, then find out which temple they frequented. You can then see if you share a natural affinity to that particular Hindu sect the temple belongs to and the main deity of that temple.