Ishta Devata

[Guest guest]

How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary? Can you have more

than one Ishta Devata?

 

Thank you.

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " imageoneus " <imageoneus wrote:

>

> How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary? Can you have more

> than one Ishta Devata?

>

> Thank you.

 

All kinds of worship and any devata leads to the same one and only god

Brahman as krishna says in Bhagavat Gita.Of the various forms of

manifeststions, any form could be your family deity(kula deivam),

personal god(ishta devata)or gods of various temples.It is your choice

to have as many ishta devatas you would like but essential thing is to

look at them as various manifestations only of the supreme brahman

 

As for whether it is necessary it depends on the faith of the person

who believes in god's existance and his devotion to the god.

 

baskaran

[Guest guest]

may i also add a few lines on this divine thread'ishta devata'?

Baskaranji has already provided a great answer and it is my pleasure

to share my views on this subject.

 

To a novice, ishta devata is a compound of two words - ishta

means 'preferred' , 'chosen' or 'favorite' and devata means 'god'

or 'worshippable ; or 'deity' . Hindus are specially blessed in this

regard ! Hindus have 33 crores of Gods to choose from !in mainstream

hinduism , Shaktas worship mainly Goddesses - e.g. LAKSHMI ,

SARASWATI , SHAKTI AND THEIR MANY MANIFESTATIONS. Vaishnavites

worship Lord vishnu or any of his ten avatars. Shavites worship Lord

Shiva or his LINGA . (? SYMBOL)

..

YOU ASK , CAN WE HAVE MORE THAN ONE ISHTA ?

 

Yes! i belong to a tradition called 'Smarta' where we worship all the

main deities such as Ganesha , Karthikeya , Shiva , shakti and of

course Vishnu. In fact , adi shankara bhagvadapada popularized the

panchayatana puja where all the five forms of deities are

worshipped !

 

Yes! in the beginning stages of bhakti yoga , devotees do prfer to

worship a chosen form of deity ! MANY FAMILIES HAVE THEIR

OWN 'FAMILY' DEITY OR KULA DEVATA OR KULA DEVI, as pointed out by

bhaskarji . In fact , on my maternal grandmother's side , kula devata

was Lord Hanuman. On my paternal grandmother's side , kula devata was

Lord MURUGAN. mY MOTHER-IN-LAW'S kula devataa was Balaji AND MY OWN

ISHTA DEVATA CHANGES with my changing moods and seasons ! During

springtime , i loved to worship Lord Krishna ! During the Navaratri

seASONJ , I ONLY WANT TO WORSHIP SHAKTI, the divine feminine . aT

OTHER TIMES IT COULD BE sHIVA , GANESHA OR KARTHIKEYA!

 

sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's Ishta devi was KALI. Sri Ramana

bhagwan's chosen deity was Lord Arunachaleshwer. Adi shankara

bhagvadapada worshipped all forms of gods/goddesses and composed many

devotional hymns on all of them !

 

Miribhai worshipped her Giridara Gopala ( krishna). Tulsaidas sang

praises of Lord Rama , an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Avvaiyaar, a tamizh

saint , worshipped both Karthikeya and Ganesha , sons of Lord Shiva !

Kanaapa nayanarr was a shiva bhakta who even worshipped the shiva

linga by offering his 'eyes' when he ran out of flowers to offer to

the shiva linga ....

 

As BHASKARJI RIGHTLY POINTED OUT , IN THE INITIAL STAGES OF BHAKTI

YOGA , an ishta devata is often needed to focus and concentrate . But

as bhakti matures , the devotee starts seeing his chosen deity in

every form and being so much so that the whole universe to him/her

appears toi be a manifestation of his chosen god ! This is the stage

of a parama bhakta . Sri ramakrishna even saw the manifestation of

divine Kali in the temple cat - so much so he offered the

temple 'prasadam' ( food offering) to the cat before offering to the

Dakshineshwaer bavatarini ! ( maa kali) An act that was

considered 'blasphemous' by his conservative temple priests !

 

Yes ! Names and forms are needed before Brahman realization ! but do

brahma jnanis stop worshipping their ishta devatas after brahma jnana?

not really, Madhusudana Saraswati. even after attaining advaita

siddhi , worshipped his ishta nishta Sri Krishna bhagwan ! Also,

Totapuri, a die hard advaitin, realized that worship of a personal

goddess , maa Bhavatarini of Dakshineshwer , is not something only

bhaktas do ! in fact, according to sanyasa dharma , a sanyasi should

not syay in a place bfor more than six months ! but Totapuri, a

brahmagyani stayed behind in Daksineshwer , to witness and take part

in the daily worship of MAA KAALI , HIS SISYA SRI RAMAKRISHNA'S

chsoen deity.

 

this is my 2 cents !

 

sometimes , it is better to be simple bhakta than a parama armchair

jnani!

 

AS OUR BELOVED ADI _SHANKARA BHAGVADAPADA SINGS RAPTUOROUSLY

 

bhajagovindam bhajagovindam govindam bhaja muudhamate sampraapte

sannihite kaale nahi nahi rakshati dukrijnkarane

 

Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool! Rules of

Grammar will not save you at the time of your death.

 

Harihi aum!

 

 

 

-- In advaitin , " imageoneus " <imageoneus@> wrote:

> >

> > How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary? Can you have

more

> > than one Ishta Devata?

> >

> > Thank you.

>

> All kinds of worship and any devata leads to the same one and only

god

> Brahman as krishna says in Bhagavat Gita.Of the various forms of

> manifeststions, any form could be your family deity(kula deivam),

> personal god(ishta devata)or gods of various temples.It is your

choice

> to have as many ishta devatas you would like but essential thing is

to

> look at them as various manifestations only of the supreme brahman

>

> As for whether it is necessary it depends on the faith of the person

> who believes in god's existance and his devotion to the god.

>

> baskaran

>

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " imageoneus " <imageoneus wrote:

>

> How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary? Can you have more

> than one Ishta Devata?

>

> Thank you.

 

Namaste " imageneoneus " -ji,

 

Maybe you should have a look at the following webpages of mine:

 

1. http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/1202.html

 

with the heading " Idol worship in Hinduism: Is the idol God, really? "

 

2.http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/1203.html

 

with the heading " When Hinduism says there is only one God, it means

it. Why multiplicity of Gods? "

 

3.http://www.geocities.com/profvk/WOVpage1.html

 

with the heading " An overview of Hindu religious worship " ,

particularly the first four pages of this 18-page web document.

Incidentally these 18 pages were given (and repeated twice in

succeeding years) as a series of lectures to visiting American Elder

Hostellers when they were on a tour of Indian religious centres in

South India.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

[Guest guest]

--- imageoneus <imageoneus wrote:

 

> How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary?

> Can you have more

> than one Ishta Devata?

 

Shree imageoneus - PraNAms.

 

Several have provided excellent answers to your

questions. Here is another one based on my

understanding.

 

Ishta means what you like and devata means in simple

terms - God - who is defined as the creator by all

religions. Devata also means that which illumines and

also that which gives.

 

God cannot be conceptualized since he is beyond name

and form. But yet the mind cannot contemplate on the

nameless and formless. Hence for the purpose of

meditation or contemplation, mind requires a locus for

concentration and God can be visualized in form that

appeals to the individual - in form that takes one

beyond all forms and names.

 

Hence even though a name and form is initially given

for contemplation, one has to go beyond the name and

form or indirectly see that in all forms and names.

 

Can you have many ishTa devatas?- It is not

recommended since mind for concentration requires a

single pointedness. Hence Ishta means what one likes

most and that form (which is also associated with a

name) alone has to be kept in mind. In the process of

contemplation, one should be able to project the same

form and name in all names and forms including in all

gods and goddesses. Yo maam pasyati sarvatra sarvatra

mayi pasyati, tasyaaham na praNasyaami sa ca mena

praNasyati - says Krishna - one who sees Me everywhere

and everything in Me, he is never away from Me and I

am never away from him. Hence He wants no other

thoughts other than Him - ananyaH cintayanto maam.

 

So to answer your question - it is recommended to take

the name of one God in whose form you can appreciate

and contemplate fully and without any other

distraction and you can ultimately see him/her in all

forms and names - that alone is your ishta devata.

Once you can appreciate the formless form you can see

that God in all forms. Then evey form is His form and

His name only.

 

 

Hari Om

Sadananda

[Guest guest]

Namaste Shri Imageoneus-ji.

 

Your message 37835.

 

Hope the following material excerpted from one of my old posts here

might help answer your questions:

 

QUOTE

 

Sankara and other masters have sung glories of deities. I believe

that itself confirms that ishtadevatAs are not excluded in advaita.

 

Secondly, an advaitin plays several roles in the transactional. He

is a father, brother, friend, employee etc. etc. With an ishtadevatA

in, he becomes a devotee. This brings about a quantum

transformation. He is then a devotee-father, devotee brother,

devotee-friend, devotee employee and devotee-what-not, in all of

which devotee is the common denominator. The different roles have

now been integrated on the devotee fulcrum. The devotee remains

devotee whatever the roles he gets into to perform his dharma. Such

an integration of roles is very beneficial to an aspiring advaitin.

This is Sw. Dayanandaji's point of view. Among our current

vedantins, I have the highest of regards for him.

 

You may here intervene and say that all roles are already integrated

on the advaitic substratum – Brahman. But, the difference is that

the devotee fulcrum is substantial and fully belongs to the

transactional where we operate day in and day out. The devotee is

uniquely tangible unlike the ineffable Brahman, although in final

analysis, both merge in Aham BrahmAsmi.

 

Now to come to my personal track commencing with the above

understanding gained from our masters - I am integrated in all my

roles as a devotee. Yet, I interact with numerous other entities

like my own family members, friends, animate and inanimate entities,

thoughts, ideas, etc. Why not integrate them too on to a fulcrum -

into a totality?

 

Swamiji often advises his disciples to live the knowledge they have

acquired. Advaita teaches me that I am everything. It is not enough

for me to say I am Brahman and Brahman is ineffable, ungraspable

etc. I am living in a universe of diversity. Therefore, if I am to

practise my knowledge, I have to do that right here with these

diverse manifestations around me. How do I do that?

 

For me, my ishtadevata, the Devi, has come in very handy here. Why

not visualize Her in all that I experience with my senses, whereby

even the senses, body, mind, intellect, ego etc. all become Her. And,

if only She remains in the process, isn't that Advaita?

 

One of the four dhyanashlokAs of the sacred LalitA sahasra nAmavali,

which I chant irrespective of when and where I am, ends with the

words " ahamityeva vibhavaye bhavAnim " (I visualize BhavAni as

myself.) (Of course, there is a variation here – some people

chant `maheshim' instead of `bhavAnim'. I prefer the latter because

the meaning of that name, BhavAni, perfectly suits my situation.).

BhavAni is the totality that manifests as the diversity of this

universe (bhava). So, it is not mental transvestism that is

suggested in `ahamityeva vibhavaye bhavAnim'. (I know many ardent

male devotees of the Devi who go into trances wearing female attire

and ornaments.) I am expected to visualize this diversity as

BhavAni and, therefore, myself. In other words, I have to see

everything as my BhavAni, first deliberately till that `seeing'

becomes spontaneous.

 

I used to often wonder why Mata Amritanandamayi Devi hugs everyone

She comes across. The answer lies in what I explained above. She is

spontaneous in Her total identification with BhavAni. She is,

therefore, taking everything to Her motherly oceanic bosom where they

rightly belong. None is spared – business tycoons, beggars, lepers,

animals, snakes and insects join that incessant procession into Her.

She is a living universe.

 

I draw consolation and hope from the thought that if She can be one

hundred percent universe, I could at least be one percent. If that

happens, then my advaita has more than served its purpose in this

life. I am more than convinced the process I am in helps. That is

the unshakable faith BhavAni grants.

 

Thus, each thought of mine is BhavAni, the glow of Consciousness,

each sensation on my body, the Sun, Moon, planets, the distant stars,

insects that crawl and fly – all are BhavAni. This visualization

removes separation, alienation and above all fear. The world, which

is blamed for all its evils, becomes more and more acceptable. The

sense organs lose their tyrannical grip because in the process of

visualization one becomes slowly aware of the fact that they are add-

ins brought in to explain our separation from the objects perceived

and that we don't actually need them to `experience' the world

because the world is ourselves. Mind and intellect lose their

unfortunate individual identity in the Universal. Ego flees for he

has no more any role to play with comparison undone. Ultimately,

Bhavani alone shines, diversity having crashed into Her bosom as an

offering.

 

UNQUOTE

 

Now about your last question if we can have more than one ishta

devatA. I would counter this with another question: " If it is

advaitic unity that is the goal, then isn't one adequate? " . Well,

you can also approach as many devatAs as you wish if you can see One

in all of them.

 

Personally for me, I began with Hanumanji and ended up with the

Devi. But, I attach a different connotation to it. Hanumanji sought

and found Sitaji - the Truth - crossing the sea of samsAra

(bhavasAgara). So, I am Hanumanji on my way to Her. That is a very

satisfying explanation for me. I can now identify with both without

compromising advaita.

 

PraNAms.

 

Madathil Nair

[Guest guest]

I thank all of you for your thoughtful replies. They have been quite

helpful. I have been contemplating these replies, praying and

meditating. It is good to know what different traditions and teachers

say. Sometimes I've had trouble when someone tells me that I MUST have

this or that in order to grow spiritually. Sometimes I just relax and

leave it all to God (can't the concept of a " generic " Personal God be

one's Ishta?). Thanks again. Hari Om!

 

 

advaitin , " imageoneus " <imageoneus wrote:

>

> How does the Ishta Devata work? Is one necessary? Can you have more

> than one Ishta Devata?

>

> Thank you.

>