Within Hinduism a large number of personalities, or 'forms', are worshipped as murtis. These beings are either aspects of the supreme Brahman, avatars of the supreme being, or significantly powerful entities known as devas. The exact nature of belief in regards to each deity varies between differing Hindu denominations and philosophies.

Often these beings are depicted in humanoid, or partially-humanoid forms, complete with a set of unique and complex iconography in each case. In total, there are 330,000,000 (33 crores or 330 million) of these supernatural beings in various Hindu traditions. Hinduism is a religion unlike any other, this is because it has no founder and no specific religious text, though the Bhagavad-Gita could be considered as one.

According to Hindu traditions as expounded in Bhagavad-Gita, the religion is timeless and was first given to the Sun god by Lord Krishna over 2.2 million years ago in the last Treta Yuga and transmitted to the wordly beings in various steps. Many religions' (such as Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism) founders arose out of the same milieu as modern Hinduism and therefore many beliefs and customs are the same. Contrary to popular belief, Hindus believe in many many gods (each of which represents an aspect of life, e.g. water, crops, fertility and health to name a few) who are all part of one ultimate, formless deity.

All in all Hinduism is more than a religion (though some try to argue this). Besides a wide diverse set of beliefs, it has a set of customs and traditions that were synonymous with the people of India. As invaders came and left India, the term "hinduism" loosely defined the people who believed in Indian customs and tradition (to separate the people who originally lived in India, from the invading people), for example in the past a Christian or Muslim could have been a Hindu as well, because the term only defined Indian customs and beliefs.

More recently (last five hundred years), only people who believe in the traditional Hindu gods are called Hindus, hence it is now defined as a religion. Often Hindus celebrate Christmas, despite Christian origins and many people of other religions also celebrate Deepavali (Diwali), the festival of light, and Holi, the festival of colour despite their Hindu origins. "Bhagavān" is a word used to refer to the personal aspect of God in general; it is not specific to a particular deity.

Bhagavān transcends gender, yet can be looked upon as both father and mother, child, or sweetheart. Most Hindus, in their daily devotional practices, worship some form of this personal aspect of God, although they believe in the more abstract concept of Brahman as well. This may mean worshiping God through an image or a picture, or simply thinking of God as a personal being.

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