Who is your God? (Buddhism, incarnation, doctrine, worship, God)

[Atman]

Pranams and Namaste all.

Something I've wondered about the small community of Hindus we have here, is which deity(or deities) we all worship? I used to be more into worshiping Shiva, but now I feel more drawn towards Rama and Krishna. Though, I feel more comfortable calling Vishnu or one of his avatars my ishta deva, I still worship lord Shiva, and my bhakti has actually increased for him in a way, as I know also worship his Hanuman avatar. In addition to Krishna, Ram, Shiva and Hanumanji I'm also very partial towards Narasimha, and my beloved mother as Kali, Durga, Momai and Radha. And, as most Hindus do I also offer my respects to mother Saraswati and Ganeshaji before I begin any puja.

So, who do you guys offer your love and worship to?

[Don Penguinoini]

My favourites are in order from best to not the best (for me):
Ram
Hanuman
Shiv
Krishna

[Somkid]

Well, I'm not Hindu (maybe a little) but I have Gaṇeśa on my dashboard next to Kwan Yin, Sakyamuni Buddha, Hotie (Fat Buddha) and a little Thai Buddha that covers his eyes so he doesn't see all the bad stuff I do.

[Don Penguinoini]

Hotie I know i am.

Thats lovely Somkid. I have a large murti of Buddha downstairs in my showcase. I revere The Buddha AS MUCH as i would revere Ram Bhagwan. No matter what religion he belonged to (for me is still hinduism) A great person deserves to be revered.

[Somkid]

When I lived in the ghastly city of Allentown in Pennsylvania I went to a Hindu Temple because there was not a Buddhist Temple for over 100 miles they welcomed Buddhists and Had a huge Buddha. Hindus and Buddhists have a lot in common including common doctrine.

[Don Penguinoini]

I dont believe in Buddhists. For me we are not just essentially the same, we are the same. Our beielfs have stemmed from one place, The Vedas, so technically terms, (for me, dont be offended) you are a hindu.

[Somkid]

Originally Posted by penguino

I dont believe in Buddhists. For me we are not just essentially the same, we are the same. Our beielfs have stemmed from one place, The Vedas, so technically terms, (for me, dont be offended) you are a hindu.

Nope, I'm not offended actually it would be hard for a Hindu to offend me. I agree with you and I have often pointed out that the Buddha was a Hindu even though he did not speak about the topic very often. In some ways Buddhism is not unlike or practiced much differently than Hinduism, here in Thailand for example every Wat (temple) actually has more Hindu references and inspired art than they do Buddhist.

[Don Penguinoini]

It also shows the rich art, diversity and acceptance of the east. Money is yet to tain the east. Rise of India and China is not as good as it is made out to be.

[Hema]

My favourite Deity is Shiva. It used to be Hanuman but then I started having lots of dreams with Shiva. Someone (a guy who "sees" things - kind of psychic) told me that the Deities give us signs and most times we don't stay worshipping one forever. We move on to different levels. Anyway, I see all of the Deities as manifestations of one God. Plus, Hanuman is an incarnation of Shiva. I also love Krishna and amongst the female Deities I love Durga and Kali.

[doppelgänger]

I'm fond of Kali:

Because Thou devourest Kala, Thou art Kali, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [primordial] Kali. Resuming after Dissolution thine own form, dark and formless, thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that thou art.

- Mahanirvana-tantra

And Indra, but mainly for his wonderful Net:

Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel at the net's every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite.

- The Avatamaska Sutra

Kali and Indra complement each other to me: Primal Chaos and the One Who Holds Order In His Net