Hinduism is known to its people as Santana Dharma, the eternal religion, for it remains eternally alive in the hearts of those who seek to know themselves. The spirit of the Hindu gods is as eternal as the desire to seek truth. The gods are gifts from what Hindus call nirvana — the state of absolute freedom, God, liberation, or truth. Kept alive in the hearts of Hindus through centuries of storytelling, these gods breathe humanity and humor into an everyday religiousness. They breathe understanding into existential questions and wisdom into all aspects of life.
— Priya Hemenway, Hindu Gods