Is it our ignorance which confuses that the various forms are different?
It is also believed widely that, in addition to the humans and all the life forms we see, there are several other celestial beings like the Angels that we cannot see. The understanding of the form of a God, its manifestations and the various Celestial forces and the various angels exist everywhere around the world. They are understood more or less in the same way in all the various religious, theological and philosophical teachings as well as in most ancient and modern mythologies. It is understood by all the various societies and cultures which believe in a Divine that there is a supreme force much above us all, governing and directing all our lives. Then there may be forms in which this Divine comes down to interact and communicate with the society. There are also divine forces of nature which create the surroundings and guide the happenings in the communities and the land at large. There are angels of which some are good and some are bad at varying times.

These help, guide, support or oppose the activities of individual humans and the communities. There are humans who with divine knowledge and good deeds attain a superior position of a saint or a messiah and in some society elevate to a level of "gods". Then there are individuals with this superior knowledge who help guide the society during their life time as a "guru" or "yogi". Even the most primitive tribal faiths have similar understanding, though each one may call them by different names or give different attributes. The Western faiths and Theologies recognize ONE God who is in Heaven and who is all good and Merciful. They also recognize angels and messiahs who are worshipped. The figurines they worship are referred to as Icons and not as idols. Then there are Celestial forces which are bad and always fight with God and do evil things.

Here, Hindu texts recognize several forms of angels and spirits with varying powers. There are several forms of these forces of angels and Devathas that govern our activity and offer protection according to our Karma and our prayers. Sometimes, we see them being referred to as "Demi-gods" in translations, often these are sometimes crudely referred to as the many Gods of polytheism by Western schools. Such celestial beings are well recognized as angels in Western faiths and also in all other religions around the world. One may be tempted to wonder if some of them refer to one of the Good Devathas as their God and the bad ones as Satan or Devil. We must now make a clear understanding of the various angels and gods and Icons we show reverence in prayers as different from those whom we worship as the true One Supreme in many forms.

While the Supreme in His Transcendental state is Formless, He takes His manifest form for His own pleasure and is understood by the devotees as the "One" God, by several names, such as Paramasiva, Paramtma, Parasakthi and Mahavishnu or Narayana. Then He creates Himself in his various aspects of his Divine powers in several manifestations and Avatharas, both male and female forms of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi and their various incarnations. These are the various manifestations and incarnations of the Divine supreme in their manifest forms. Here, we need to make a clear and distinct difference to these who are referred as Murthies whom we worship, as distinct from the Angels, Devathas and Celestial forces. There exist several Celestial forces, Devatahas, under the control of the Divine Supreme God, performing various activities around the universe maintaining their natural balance and protecting the creations. While most of these are peaceful and protective as guardian angels, some of them at times have adverse effects, like the several Devathas of nature and the nine planetary forces like Rahu or Saneeswara.