the essence of hinduism lies in three greatest manifestations

of creation and creator

of survival and protector

of extinction and transformer

THE COSMOS AND THE UNIVERSE AND THE GALAXY REVOLVES AROUND THESE CONCEPTS AND RECYCLES OF BIRTH AND REINCARNATIONS.

lord brahma is the creator,lord vishnu the protector and lord shiva is the destroyer.

these three gods SHIVA VISHNU BRAHMA FORM THE ESSENCE OF HINDUISM.

there is also various postulates and myths from period to period.that the shaivites were a different religion and the vaishnavites were a different cult and there are wars waged simply on the basis of shaivism and vaishnavism in the past for which there is ample historical evidence .

the myth that shiva is a dravidian god and visnu an aryan god is untrue .

generally shiva is worshipped by the mountain dwellers and vishnu by plain dwellers.

to add more to the confusion is the two mythology namely the ramayana and the mahabaratha where in rama worships shiva in rameshwaram before he embarks on war.

during the surge of the jains and buddhists hinduism was decimated to regional preferences and kingdoms where the king had a policy with regard to religion and his subjects followed.

then came the naga and pagan worship of kali and shakthi worship

this was followed by the bakthi movement and adishankara amalgamated the trinity of hinduism and shakthi worship and legends were made intertwining the hindu gods as related to one another.

with the advent of mughals the established rationalistic buddhist learning centres were destroyed and the mystic hinduism regained to the forefront.

then came the british and established christianity in india.

perhaps the unification of hinduism was complete during the freedom movement and thanks to cinema and enacting ramayana and mahabaratha in theatre format.

same way the hinduistic philosophy gained political mileage thanks to television which brought ramayana and mahabarath of hemanand sagar into the drawing room of indian people

so now due to multiple channels and global tv and people not viewing the same common channels there is diverse forms of worship.the result is quest for spirituality.

still in general the cow belt worships vishnu and his avatar krishna and the north mountainous terrain from kasi upwards worship shiva

the south worships a mixture as in andhra karnataka and tamilnadu where nowadays balaji of tirupati has become the super god.

the west worships ganesha most followed by shiva and vishnu.

there is shakthi worship in bengal and pockets of south and west and coastal region.

so we have to grasp the essence of comtemporary hinduism as follows

shiva- the cosmic force and master of metaphysics, inner energy, vitality, reproduction

vishnu- the master of health and material benefits and human joys and sorrows

and brahma the god of creativityand creative arts

the trigods -trinity are the essence of hinduism.