Gurudeva dares answer the forbidden question, which one of our cyber-cadets fearlessly asked, "Why are the Hindu Gods married? Why do they have children?" Thank you, Anusha Gantan of the UK for the great question. We hope you like the answer.

Unedited Transcript:

The question is : "Why are Hindu gods married? Why do they have children?"

The answer is : Hinduism is taught on many different levels, to many different people. To the more uneducated people who are not able to understand the high philosophy, Hinduism is taught in story form. These stories are called Puranas and they are the basis of dance, plays, story-telling around the fire in the homes to children as they are growing up, to amplify how they should live. The temple is the center of every Hindu community of every village. Because the temple is the center of that village and everyone is focussed on the temple and the Gods within the temple, the Gods are the major players in these stories.

In the higher philosophy, all Hindus who understand it, know that they find God on the inside. In the lower philosophy, they start to be like a God or like a Goddess. How a family should live, how they should have their children and how they should raise their children and much, much more.

Hindus are very peaceful people. They believe in Ahimsa - not hurting physically, mentally, emotionally. But in times of war, the stories become violent, stimulating the young men to get out and fight, showing how the gods killed the demons, and how battles were won.

Before the printing press, there were few books and owned only by a few families. Therefore, the Hindus are a visual community and carry pictures in their minds on how they should behave in peace time, how they should behave in wartime.