It is misunderstood that "The Hindus have many, many gods, not one God, and they are heathens." But actually this worship is not to the God, but there are demigods, demigods. They are worshiped. They're not God—God is one—but they are demigods. Demigods means that they are also living entities just like you and me, but they have got some power.
Just like here also we worship some demigods, some government officer. He's also man like me, but he has got some power, and in order to take some advantage of the power, I worship him. I want his favor. Similarly, these kinds of worship of different kinds of gods, the Bhagavad-gītā condemns this. They're not required.
The Lord says, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya-devatāḥ. One person does not surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they worship different kinds of god. Why? Now, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ: "They have lost their sense out of lust, material lust." That's all. Because our life, this material life, is simply based on lust. We want to enjoy this world. We love this material world, because I want to satisfy my senses.
So this lust is the perverted reflection of my love of God. In my original constitution, I am made to love God, but because I have forgotten God, therefore I love matter. Love is there. Love is there. Either you love this matter or you love God, but you cannot get out of this loving propensities. Just like sometimes we see—one who hasn't got children, he loves a cat, loves a dog. You see? Why? Because he wants to love something. But in the absence of reality, he puts his faith and love into cats and dog.