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Ganah in Sanskrit means 'multitude' and Isa means 'Lord'. Ganesha therefore literally means the 'Lord of all beings.' Ganesha is the first son of Lord Shiva. Shiva represents the supreme Reality. Ganesha symbolise's one who has realised the Reality. One who has discovered the godhood in him. Such a man is said to be the lord of all beings. Ganesha is known by other names as well. Ganapati, Gajanana, vinayaka, Vighneshwara. Gajanana means 'elephant-faced' Gaja-elephant. Ganesha has four arms. The four arms represent the four inner equipment's of the subtle body, namely mind, intellect, ego and conditioned-consciousness. In one hand he holds an axe and in another a rope. The axe symbolise's the destruction of all desires and attachments and their consequent agitation's and sorrows. The rope is meant to pull the seeker out of his worldly entanglements and bind him to the everlasting and enduring bliss of his own Self.

Lord Brahma is the first member of the orthodox Brahmanical triad. Brahma is the god of creation and he is traditionally accepted as the creator of the entire universe. The manifest world of plurality has emerged from the unmanifest reality. One of the earliest iconographic descriptions of Brahma is that of the four-faced god seated on a lotus. The Lord has in his four hands a water-pot, a manuscript, a sacrificial implement and a rosary. The description of Brahma, like those of other deities of Hinduism, bears a mystic symbolism. The lotus represents the Reality. Brahma sitting on the lotus indicates that he is ever-rooted in the infinite Reality. The four faces of Brahma represent the four Vedas. They also symbolise the functioning of the inner personality which consists of thoughts. Lord Brahma is not popularly worshipped in India. This is so, because the idea of creation is repugnant to seekers of Truth, since the creation of thoughts has veiled the infinite Reality.

Vishnu is one of the gods of the Trinity. Vishnu represents the power of sustenance. Vishnu is wedded to Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth. In the Vishnu Purana, sage Vyasa refers to Vishnu as the supreme all-pervading Reality. He is the Atman which manifests itself through body, mind and intellect as the individual. Vishnu's consort, Laxmi, sits at his feet serving him. Vishnu is the one eternal, unmanifest Reality. The manifest world of plurality has emerged from the unmanifest Reality. Vishnu is known to be blue in colour. The blue of Vishnu indicates his infinite stature. Blue is associated with the infinite since immeasurable entities like the sky or ocean appear blue. Yellow is usually attributed to the earth. The deity stands upon a lotus. The lotus represents Truth. Vishnu has four hands, holding a conch, a discus, a mace and a lotus.

Goddess Saraswati (Sarasvati) is the wife (consort) of Lord Brahma and possesses the powers of speech, wisdom and learning. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning; mind, intellect, alertness and ego.

She has sacred scriptures in one hand and a lot us (a symbol of true knowledge) in the second. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on the violin (veena).

She is dressed in white (sign of purity) and rides on a white goose (swan).

Venkateshwara (Venkateshwer or Venkatachalapathi) is another form of Lord Vishnu who is also very popular as a Hindu deity. He is also known as Balaji or Bithala.

He has a dark complexion and four hands. In his two upper hands he holds a discus (a symbol of power) and a conch s hell (a symbol of existence). With his lower hands extended downward he asks devotees to have faith and surrender to him for protection.
 Lord Satyanarayana is another form of Lord Vishnu who is commonly worshipped by Hindus in their homes along with family and friends.

The worship is performed usually on a full moon (purnima) day of the month. People worship by reciting the gracious story of the Lord which was once told by Lord Vishnu himself to the sage Narada for the benefit of humankind.

The Lord's grace is described in a Hindu  book called Skanda Purana. He has four hands like Lord Vishnu, however, his fourth hand does not hold a lotus rather it is extended upward to bless people.
 
Kartikeya, the second son of Lord Shiva, and Goddess Parvati is also known as Subramaniam, Skanda, Guha, Shadannana or Sanmukha (because he has six faces).
He represents a person of perfection.  He is the war God, the Hindu equivalent of Mars and Ares. He was created by all the Gods to lead the heavenly hosts and destroy the demons. He is the most masculine and fierce of all the Gods. He is also fire, Agni and is very Pitta (fiery) in nature. While Ganesh removes all obstacles, Skanda bestows all spiritual powers, particularly the power of knowledge.

In one hand he carries a spear called sakti which symbolizes the destruction of negative tendencies in humans. With his other hand he always blesses devotees.

The Lord's vehicle is a peacock which is capable of destroying harmful serpents (symbolizing harmful ego and bad desires of people).

Hanuman is a monkey god. He is a noble hero and great devotee of Lord Rama of the Ramayana.

This deity is a provider of courage, hope, knowledge, intellect and devotion. He is pictured as a robust monkey holding a mace (gada) which is a sign of bravery and having a picture of Lord Rama tatooed on his chest which is a sign of his devotion to Lord Rama.

He is also called Mahaveera (the great hero ) or Pavan-suta (son of air) or Bajarangbali.
 
Gayatri is the name of one of the most important Vedic hymns consisting of twenty-four syllables. This hymn is addressed to Lord Surya (Sun) as the supreme generative force. The hymn says, "We meditate on that glorious light of the divine Surya, may he, the lord of light illuminate our minds".

One of the sacred texts says, "The Gayatri is Brahma, Gayatri is Vishnu, Gayatri is Shiva, the Gayatri is Vedas" Gayatri later came to be personified as a Goddess. She is shown as having five heads and is usually seated within a lotus. The four heads of Gayatri represent the four Vedas and the fifth one represents almighty God. In her ten hands, she holds all the symbols of Lord Vishnu. She is another consort of Lord Brahma.
 
Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual. The word ''Lakshmi'' is derived from the Sanskrit word Laksme, meaning "goal." Lakshmi, therefore, represents the goal of life, which includes worldly as well as spiritual prosperity. In Hindu mythology, Goddess Lakshmi, also called Shri, is the divine spouse of Lord Vishnu and provides Him with wealth for the maintenance and preservation of the creation.
In Her images and pictures, Lakshmi is depicted in a female form with four arms and four hands. She wears red clothes with a golden lining and is standing on a lotus. She has golden coins and lotuses in her hands. Two elephants (some pictures show four) are shown next to the Goddess. This symbolism conveys the following spiritual theme:

The four arms represent the four directions in space and thus symbolize omnipresence and omnipotence of the Goddess. The red color syinbolizes activity. The golden lining (embroidery) on Her red dress denotes prosperity. The idea conveyed here is that the Goddess is always busy distributing wealth and prosperity to the devotees. The lotus seat, which Lakshmi is standing upon, signifies that while living in this world, one should enjoy its wealth, but not become obsessed with it. Such a living is analogous to a lotus that grows in water but is not wetted by water.
The four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma (righteousness), kama (genuine desires), artha (wealth), and moksha (liberation from birth and death). The front hands represent the activity in the physical world and the back hands indicate the spiritual activities that lead to spiritual perfection.
Since the right side of the body symbolizes activity, a lotus in the back right hand conveys the idea that one must perform all duties in the world in accordance with dharma. This leads to moksha (liberation), which is symbolized by a lotus in the back left hand of Lakshmi. The golden coins falling on the ground from the front left hand of Lakshmi illustrate that She provides wealth and prosperity to Her devotees. Her front right hand is shown bestowing blessings upon the devotees.
The two elephants standing next to the Goddess symbolize the name and fame associated with worldly wealth. The idea conveyed here is that a true devotee should not earn wealth merely to acquire name and fame or only to satisfy his own material desires, but should share it with others in order to bring happiness to others in addition to himself.
Some pictures show four elephants spraying water from golden vessels onto Goddess Lakshmi. The four elephants represent the four ends of human life as discussed above. The spraying of water denotes activity. The golden vessels denote wisdom and purity. The four elephants spraying water from the golden vessels on the Goddess illustrate the theme that continuous self-effort, in accordance with one's dharma and govemed by wisdom and purity, leads to both material and spiritual prosperity.
Goddess Lakshmi is regularly worshipped in home shrines and temples by Her devotees. A special worship is offered to Her annually on the auspicious day of Diwali, with religious rituals and colorful ceremonies specifically devoted to Her. 

Shiva is one of the gods of the Trinity. He is said to be the 'god of destruction'. Shiva is married to the Goddess Parvati (Uma). Parvati represents Prakriti, which means perishable matter. Lord Shiva sits in a meditative pose on Mount Kailash against the white background of the snow-capped Himalayas. Lord Shiva not only represents the supreme state of perfection in man, but in his very pose indicates the way to reach it as well. The state of meditation shown in Shiva's posture is again symbolic. Meditation is the final gateway to Self-realization. On the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri, Shiva performs the ecstatic dance of realization. Shiva is said to have a third eye known as gyana chakshu. Gyana chakshu literally means eye of wisdom. Shiva is also known as Gangadhara. which literally means, 'the carrier of Ganga' (river). Shiva is sometimes shown with his trident (trisula) in his hand. The trisula is a trident which symbolise's the destruction of the ego with its three-fold desires of the body, mind and intellect. Nataraja is Lord Shiva in the dance pose.

Krishna was a dynamic incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was an Avatar. An Avatar is one who is attuned to the supreme Consciousness from his very birth. Every aspect of Krishna's life and deeds has a mystic symbolism indicating a sublime truth. Krishna in Sanskrit means Dark. Krishna is blue in colour and wears yellow clothes. Krishna was born in Mathura and is often represented as playing a flute. The enchanting music emanating from the flute of the Lord is the bliss of Godhead enjoyed by the man of realization. The milkmaids of Brindavan were called gopis. These gopis were enchanted by the divine music flowing out of Krishna's flute. They danced, in their ecstasy round Krishna. The dance of the gopis is known as rasa-leela. Krishna played lots of games in his childhood, He is said to have eaten mud on an occasion and his mother Yashoda chided him. Krishna denied having eaten mud. Yashoda would not take his word. She asked him to open his mouth. The child did so. Yashoda was wonderstruck to see the entire universe within the child's mouth. Lord Krishna is also described as holding a staff in one hand and showing a symbol of wisdom (jnana Mudra) with the other. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna surrenders to Krishna completely and seeks his advice before the Mahabharta- the great war.

Lord Rama stands out as the most glorious of all characters found in scriptural literature. In the Ramayana sage Valmiki has symbolise'd Rama as an ideal of perfection. No other character in the scriptures has been personified with such perfect qualities in all aspects of life. He was a perfect son, an ideal king, a true husband, a real friend, a devoted brother,and a noble enemy etc. Lord Rama carring his bow and arrows symbolized alertness and readiness to fight against iniquity at any time to establish justice and peace.

The other forms of Parvati are Durga & Kali which are awesome and terrifying. In these forms the goddess rides a lion, wields a number of weapons & wears a garland of skulls, holds a severed head in one hand and a lotus in another etc.- all these represent destruction of evils and protection of good. This goddess is therefore invoked by the seeker to destroy all his desires and unveil his supreme Self.