Who is your God?

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?

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

[SIZE=-1]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.
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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.

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.

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.

penguino said:

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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- 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.

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- The Avatamaska Sutra

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

Thanks for posting here dopp!

Honestly, I have always had a deep connection to Shiva simply because of the serenity that he seems to exhume - Shiva is also my father's tutelary deity.

However, I know very little about Shiva in terms of hard doctrine (I have heard many stories, but I can't back them up spiritually) but Krishna is certainly quite near and dear to my heart and I know the Bhagavad Gita well enough to use it in debates as scriptural proof for certain dharmic ideas.

To me, even if you strip him of his divinity, is one of the most amazing people one could possibly know, moreso than the other Prophets. Was he an ascetic? No. Did he ever take up asceticism as an answer to the world's problems? No. Did he love (as a friend and sexually)? Of course. Krishna was a philosopher, warrior, statesman, architect, friend, father, husband, and brother - absolutely amazing.

Buddha didn't interest me until I meditated on his methodology, rather than his teachings. Let me explain why I think he's so revolutionary.

Think about this. Here's a guy who was essentially a spoiled brat, and that too, taught to consider that a virtue by his father who kept him in exile from the tragedies of the world - this, however, only planted the seeds of his future enlightenment.

Siddhartha rejected it all, even food, and then came to the realization that it was all useless and then did his own thing. To me, it just seems revolutionary and because he was Indian, the cultural aspect resonates with me more than Jesus, who is described similarly. Buddha, however, did not have to endure physical pain, because Hinduism had no such idea of apostasy.

@ Penguino:
It should be mentioned that Buddha denied the divinity of the Vedas and thus, technically that qualifies Buddhism as a nastik (unorthodox) philosophy. However, many Hindus see Buddha as reinterpreting and reaffirming ideas in the Vedas (such as you), removing the bad ideas (animal sacrifice), and re-affirming good ideas (vegetarianism).

Theologically, I've had Buddhists reject Hinduism quite vehemantly, but applicably, we are quite similar (i.e. saffron robes).

Plus, the Dalai Lama has said "Buddhism and Hinduism are sons of the same mother".

*raises hand*

I thought a person picked one deity from the school they follow and then stuck with it. Or have I been reading the intarwebz too much?

I thought it was Vishnu folks, Goddess folks, Shiva folks, or Smartists... they have a little pantheon don't they?

That is sort of correct. Hinduism is based on flexebility, if you ant more, then its ok, as long as you are a good person and worhsio with love and devotion, its not hte details hinduism asks of a person, its the bigger picture. Thanks for the post GWW!

GabrielWithoutWings said:

*raises hand*

I thought a person picked one deity from the school they follow and then stuck with it. Or have I been reading the intarwebz too much?

I thought it was Vishnu folks, Goddess folks, Shiva folks, or Smartists... they have a little pantheon don't they?

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That is... unless you don't belong to one

Hinduism is not institutionalized and "salvation" is not based on deity worship but on enlightenment as prescribed in the Upanishads and Vedas. This salvation is (generally) not based on any particular deity, but principles detailing the relationship between the soul and the body.

Indeed, a Vaishnavite believes that Vishnu is the Supreme deity but that generally does not stop them from worshipping other deities, such as Ganesha who is quite literally a pan-Hindu deity.

Generally, Hindus do not identify with one school of thought - it's simply whatever mode of worship is transferred from parents to children throughout the generations. More religious folks would be more knowledgeable on the subject than others.

As Penguino mentioned, most people don't really distinguish between one deity and the other, as long as its with devotion, it's all good with the Lords (and Lordesses).

"However, many Hindus see Buddha as reinterpreting and reaffirming ideas in the Vedas (such as you), removing the bad ideas (animal sacrifice), and re-affirming good ideas (vegetarianism)."

But the Buddha rejected vegetarianism. One of the causes of the friction between himself and one of his cousins (cant recall the name) was his cousin was wanting to be more strict...vegetarianism, not living inside buildings etc.

The Buddha rejected vegetarianism since it would prevent poor people from donating food freely. As renunciants they had to accept whatever food was offered to them. interestingly, and somewhat puzzling to me, is the fact that Theravadan Buddhist monks follow the same view, encouraging vegetarianism but accepting meat if given to them, but, they do not accept certain meats, such as game. This was told to me by the Abbot of Amavarati, Laung Por Sumedho. I forgot to ask why the exception.

Lord Shri Krsna The Supreme Personality Of The Godhead.

I have always revered the idea of Shiva Nataraja, the idea of God as dancing among creation, that events come and go and the dancer still continues. Also the concept of the world as just a dream of Shiva has always appealed to me. Like the world is just a dream, so all the bad things that happen now and then are not something to get all worked up over. I find it very inspirational.

Troublemane said:

I have always revered the idea of Shiva Nataraja, the idea of God as dancing among creation, that events come and go and the dancer still continues. Also the concept of the world as just a dream of Shiva has always appealed to me. Like the world is just a dream, so all the bad things that happen now and then are not something to get all worked up over. I find it very inspirational.

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Hinduism is "It's going to happen any way, so dont be upset "