Question: Are one's visions of God as Form influenced by one's cultural upbringing?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes it is true that one can have a vision of God that is influenced by one’s tradition or culture. But again, it may not be so. When, on the strength of our own aspiration, we realise God, at that time it is up to God how He will appear before us. In some countries they have very fixed ideas, fixed notions that God will be like this or like that. The Indian gods and goddesses have all kinds of forms. Again, there are many Westerners who have not read Indian books at all, but they get the experiences of the Indian cosmic gods and goddesses. And at the same time, there are many Indians who have not studied your Bible and Scriptures, but they do see angels and all kinds of things. So if religious tradition has formed some mental concept of God, the seekers may see God in this way when they are realising the Truth. And in some cases, what they see may be entirely determined by God’s own Will operating in and through them. There is no hard and fast rule. It entirely depends on God’s Will.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Father's Day: Father with his European children, Agni Press, 1976
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/fdf