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The purpose of worshipping God's forms, and of reciting His names, is to get rid of our obsession with the name-and-form world. The world is too much with us; it prevents us from realizing the truth of the non-dual Reality-Godhead-which is its basis. The Indian schools of philosophy present different analyses of the world.
The factors that Constitute the world are known as the tattvas. There are two attitudes possible in regard to the number of tattvas, the rudimentary constituents of the world. One of them is: the more the number of the tattvas analyzed, the deeper is our knowledge of the world.
The other attitude is: if is possible to explain the world in terms of a lea number of categories, it is prolix to assume more. According to Advaita-Vedanta, the phenomena of the world fall into two categories -- name (nama) and form, (rupa). Name and form constitute the stuff of the universe.
The Nrsimhottara-tapini-upanisad says: "All this, indeed, is of the nature of name and form" ("nama-rupatmakam hidam sarvam"). The Brhadaranyaka-upanisad gives an account of the differentiated manifestation thus: "This (universe), indeed, was then undifferentiated.
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