text: how many deitied exist in the hindu religion, and why do many hindu's claim that they are in fact monotheist?   just because the hindu religion has many dieties does not mean that a hindu worships all of them. some of them just focus only on one.  when one focuses on too many dieties in their worship to aide their spiritual growth, that is spreading energies too thin and not creating much of a progress.  amma told a story of this devotee that when he went to go see a guru. this guru worshiped so many different dieties. this devotee started digging a hole when the guru worshiped a diety. then when the guru would go to the next diety and pray to that one, and the devotee would stop digging the hole and move to dig another new hole. the devotee kept digging so many small holes for all of the different dieties. i don't have the exact wording of this story but the concept is that this devotee wasn't able to successfuly dig one deep hole.  by focusing on one diety, one can really seriously feel their energies more. also just because one focuses on one diety does not mean they wouldn't partake in many of the cultural festivals that celebrate other dieties. that would be more of a holiday, cultural aspect rather than actually worshiping it on a daily basis.  what hindu is in "general" as a religion does not always mean that it is the same for a specific person.