God and gods...?

Different cultures have different beliefs about God. Many of the deities are culture specific, and do not find any mention beyond a culture/religion. Different cultures may see similar or same deity in different light. Some religion believe in a supreme God, the Creator of all that is there and more. By definition belief in a supreme Creator, if it is true, has to refer to same God, irrespective of the religion, as there can be a single supreme Creator.

Most of the deities can be classified in one or more of the following categories (there could be more which I have missed):

1. Mythological figures - People, entities or spirits believed to have existed or exist now, but there is no proof, there could be various stories describing the power of the deity, and benefits of worshiping them.
2. Historical figures not necessarily with spiritual connections - People/rulers/celebrities/ancestors/etc who have actually lived, and there are worship places for them (google search can help find some examples). With passing of centuries various stories may develop around the central characters and they may become part of future mythology.
3. Natural forces - Sun, moon, planets, sky, wind, rivers, etc.
4. Other living or non-living - Plants, trees, animals, places, symbolic items, etc (specific instances or a whole species/group).
5. Historical figures with a spiritual connection - Mainly identified as Prophets and Saints. This is the most complex category, as a Prophet or Saint can sometimes be understood as a direct representative of the Supreme Monotheistic Deity Himself, and so deserves the same respect and affection as the Monotheistic God. Unity in apparent duality could be hard to comprehend. It could be understood that rather than resorting to miraculous revelation, God chooses to reveal Himself using the words and actions of a Prophet or Saint. But it can be really difficult for a common person to discern a Prophet or a Saint. Another complexity comes when we realize that a supposed saint might be a devotee of a Deity in any of the other categories, or might proclaim him/herself as a God, or come up with own theory of deities or even be an atheist. This is the most visible category to which people can associate with and communicate with, and are most likely to be influenced with. Over time they become part of mythology, founders of religions or cults. I personally find this category too complex to navigate, and to discern genuine people could be hard, and even harder would be to find what were the exact teaching that they taught. Each teaching has to be taken on a case by case basis. In this category I try to focus my efforts to understand the teaching of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, which contain the words of the Sikh Prophets as well as few Saints, and which was personally compiled and dictated by the Sikh Prophets few hundred years back. This is also easy for me to do as I was born in a Sikh family.
6. Monotheistic God - One supreme Deity as Creator of all, with limitless qualities which are not possible to describe. Formless, all powerful, etc are some of the words used to commonly describe the Deity. The Name of the Deity, is the truest and closest representation of the Deity, as all other descriptions will fall short and will not do justice. A Name which refers to the Supreme Being may be the only perfect representation of the Supreme Deity conceivable to a human mind, as a Name encompasses and refers to all known and unknown qualities of the Named.  (NOTE: This is the category where I have most focused my time, energy and belief, and readers may find that my views/opinions are biased in favor of a Monotheistic God)

I wish there was a simple way to decide the object of one's devotion, but reality is all but simple. The reason people would worship any of the above or other type of deity could be many, including cultural/family/religious tradition, as a prayer for a favor or solution, appeasement, devotion, love, etc. Value of the prayer and devotion, in authentic cases, is subjective to each individual and is not in scope of science (because objective validation is not possible, at least with today's technology and methods).

Devotee of each type of diety have their specific reasons, and any benefits that they perceive would be for them to say. I have not spend time in understanding this area.

The basis of my decision to focus my devotion and energy on the monotheistic God is primarily because I am looking for eternal solutions. I am not just looking for solutions for my daily needs, current life-time issues, but also solutions of a more permanent nature. Solutions which will work beyond present life, if there is a scenario where my soul has an after-life experience (if there is such a thing). You might say, so many reasons for a solution to an imaginary problem, which has not even been proved to exist! What if this thought and feeling is just a Placebo? Well, I have always had a cautious approach in most matters, plus I have my own reasons to believe. You are free to choose a more adventurous approach, should you wish, but I would not recommend it, as there might be no second chance (at least none that has been proven yet. To get a sense of adventure, and not an imagined adventure, people could try to live without insurance, savings and retirement funds, but no financial planner would actually recommend it).

Eternal solutions are timeless, which are beyond the natural limitations that might bind other categories of Deities. Limitations like time, birth, death, place, etc. So for me this leaves with the only possible choice for a solution, that is to depend on a Monotheistic deity, who by definition is timeless and immune to affects of natural forces. Creator of all that exists, and free from external influence. A decision of this nature is not the end, but a beginning, to start a journey of more meaningful focused exploration.

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