Yet the scriptures which said: "Thou art That" [Tat thvam Asi] also explained various Deities and said: "To protect and uplift the pious, to destroy the wicked and to establish the rule of Divine law, I shall manifest in every era" Bhagavat Gita -IV- 8. [Paritrãnãya Sãdûnãm Vinãsãya ca Dushkritãm, Dharma Samsthãbanãrthãya Sambhavãmi Yuge' Yuge'] (a striking similarity to the Messianic concept of the west) and they also said: "Let all my prayers to every form of the Divine shall reach the same Parabrahman Kesava" [Sarva Deva Namaskãrah Kesavam Pratigacchadhi]. The Agamas teach us of various Forms, manifestations and Avathãrãs of the Supreme God through His Yoga Maya as various Moorthis that we worship. This Supreme Spirit is also present as Atma within each and every one of us as the individual human soul.

The Vedas, which are said to have been given by the Supreme Paramãtma to our Sages through their intuition, while explaining the rituals and prayers, also prescribe several prayer rituals for fire, for water and for various Divine and Celestial beings. The Puranas explain the stories of the various forms of Divine manifestations and Avathãrãs. In Hindu temples there are sanctums separate for each one of these Divine manifestations as a Palace of the Moorthies [Deities] ruling over our souls. What we see there are not "Idols" but "Icons" or Holy Images of the Divine Manifestations, worthy of our worship.

If one calls all these forms are one and the same, then one will have to consider Siva, Vishnu, Sakthi and Lakshmi, as also Rãma and Krishna are one and the same. Then how about Ganesha, Subrahmanya and Ayyappa. How about Ãnjaneya, Surya [Sun] and Saneeswara [Saturn] or the celestial forces like Indra, Agni and Varuna we pray in Vedic rituals? If we cut a tree and use the wood to make a table, a chair, a guitar and a statue, they are all not one and the same. They serve different purposes. But, when we set fire to any of them, they will burn as the wood. In the same way, Paramãtma is the Immanent, absolute reality; where as all forms, various Moorthies and Avathãrãs are the relative realities of the manifestations of the Îswara in the transcendent forms. The Paramãtma manifests as various Moorthies without ceasing to be Himself in the absolute immanent form. Paramãtma, though extends His presence in the entire universe, creates the Vedas and the various forms of His Transcendent nature, while creating this universe and all its beings.