Human beings need Rules of Conduct to guide us on our duties to ourselves, our family, our society, our work, our country, our universe and our lives as it evolves from birth to death. Religions through their gurus aim to offer this, we then become the followers of that religion or guru.
Every religion offers us a path. These paths are like trunks of a banyan tree as we can pursue any trunk to reach the canopy. It is unimportant whether the trunk is the main root as each root leads us to the same canopy. At this canopy, our Atma unites with the Param-Atma or gets Moksha as per some or Heaven as per others.
Based on current knowledge, a search for the origin of all beings leads to infinity. This infinity is Brahma. For us, it remains an unknown or a mystery to be solved and therefore cannot be given a definitive profile. So, we can only acknowledge it. Brahma or infinity inspires us to search for knowledge. They associate him with Sarasvati. She is the Goddess of Knowledge and we can represent her as Methods.
Shiva symbolises pro-creation. It is the union of the male phallic symbol with its female counterpart. Hindu thought advises that we must revere our pro-creators, i.e. our parents are our Shiva. For pro-creation to be successful, a fertilised seed must be nurtured and transformed into a living being. Once born, our mother protects us and prepares us to face the world. We are the outcome of a mother’s selfless perseverance and effort. She shows her Motivation, by bringing us into this world and preparing us for our lives. Hindu thought associates Shiva with Shakti. Shakti represents Motivation.
Vishnu is our Guru, our mentor. In each of our lives we will learn from someone or aspire to be like someone. We can put them on a Pedestal and follow that goal or wish. Our birth is our gift from our pro-creators, thereafter, every output requires an input. Nature programs all living beings to live as otherwise we will die. This means each of us need to input/output something to live. To live, we need guidance, goals and to input anything or to enjoy our output, we need access to some means. Hindu thinkers associated Vishnu with Laxmi. we regard Laxmi as the Goddess of Wealth. Wealth represents the means we need to sustain our lives.
Thinkers gave us the God Troika and then associated Sarasvati, Shakti and Laxmi with them. These Goddesses represent the methods, motivations and means. We call this our 3Ms.
Atheists will also find relevance in the Hindu God Troika and their female consorts represented by the 3Ms. It is unnecessary for such people to revere them in any form as others do. Every faith creates its own Vishnu, its own structure and rituals. But the search for Moksha or Peace of Mind or Nirvana in our mortal state is common to all. Hindu thinkers, developed the Troika of male Gods and their female consorts based on their mutual interdependence. They based their construct on the principle of open architecture that allowed other religions to coexist and also recognised that there could be amongst us, non-believers too.