Changing of Ishta Devata?

[Darsh]

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I would like to get members' advice for a confusion that I have regarding bhakti. I have been worshipping a particular deity from my younger days right up till now. However, for the past year or so, my bhakti for my " ishta devata" has diminished or has come to nil or blank. I have a pull towards another deity in recent times. I am in a quandary as I feel as if I am betraying my previous ishta devata, and if I continue in this path I'm betraying myself. Im looking for guidance/advice on what should be done from others on the path of bhakti. Thank you.

 

[Mani_Chennai]

I should not be advising you, yet we see in this forum complaints or recital of our ancient scripture etc., without sharing personal experiences and methods. Anyway, I pray to every form of GOD. Here is my experience. In front of our house (a village) there is a Krishna Kovil. I use to worship him. But I was always attracted by Lord Ganesha. So, I will visit the temple where hardly two or three people will be present. They thought I am coming there as a devotee. But, I went there to accuse, beg and asking favors from the deity. I will see (illusion, Maya) eye tears in the statute. He never spoke to me but I will always get new inspiration and strength. I never shared this with any one.

Why Ganesha? It is said (I am parroting0 HE is the Omkara Pranavam and even other Gods respected him and it is alleged that Shiva’s chariot wheel was destroyed when he did not pray to his own son ( kaithala nirai kani appomodu aval pori lyrics has this).

But, I felt that Mahabharata was written by HIM via Vyasa (this is my opinion and no authority has said this) because Ganesa wanted to show the world that his uncle Vishnu is the savior of the world.

So, I was preparing for my SSLC (or matriculation..) but did not have money to pay for tuition fee. So, I went back to Ganesa and told him “you are the grand son of Atri Muni- Anusuya”. I am from the same clan. Thus you are my GOD grand father show me a way and closed my eyes (the two people there thought see how much he devoted.. they told me this later). Ganesha did not speak but gave me an idea – why not you become a teacher and teach to the wall. Imagine the wall as a stupid student and rephrase every thing until you understand every thing. So, he converted me from a student to a teacher and Fryman tells the same thing several years later!. I was number one in my district and in my school. So, he is my ishta deivam. All these may be my imagination but I did beat every one (not gloating but that is what I felt at that time).

However, I saw a very beautiful and young child in blue dress calling me “come come” for several early mornings and I was told by my grandfather it is Lord Murugan. So, I visited a Murugan temple and I saw the baby at the feet of the altar for about 3-4 minutes. This happened three more times. Then I realized, Lord Subramaniya is also the grandson of Atri-Anusuya as his father Shiva was transformed to a child by Atri-Anusuya. This may be mythology, but in my mind he too was my deiva grand father. I had visited all his temple without any planning or intention.

The same is true with Vishnu( he too was converted to a child by Atri-Anusya) etc. I have visited almost all Vaishanava Temples without any intention or planning. Same is true with Shiva and all female deity. I don’t claim to be a Bhakta or religious devotee.

But these things in mind convinced, there is one GOD but it is up to us to give a form to pray but the form does not care. I am not quoting any Hindu authority or slokas, but just my personal experience.

So, don’t worry who is your ishta deivam. You eat rice as Sambhar Sadam, Puliyodarai, Coconut rice, Pongal.. but inside your stomach they are digested as a complex carbohydrate thus they are also “isotopes”.

Now, you should be asking this to a sage (I don’t know if one exists now or where he or she is) and this forum you will only get response as “our ancestors have said….” without any one telling you how did they find their GOD. This is true of Bhuddhist, Muslims, Christians and so on. You are yourself is a GOD if you can recognize it.

Our experience will be unique to you, since no one is emotionally and intellectually equal to you. Ramana, Shankara (my Atreya grand father), Ramanuja, Buddha et al., found the same within themselves aham Brahmasmi -cliche.

If this response is offensive, sorry.

 

[renuka]

I would like to get members' advice for a confusion that I have regarding bhakti. I have been worshipping a particular deity from my younger days right up till now. However, for the past year or so, my bhakti for my " ishta devata" has diminished or has come to nil or blank. I have a pull towards another deity in recent times. I am in a quandary as I feel as if I am betraying my previous ishta devata, and if I continue in this path I'm betraying myself. Im looking for guidance/advice on what should be done from others on the path of bhakti. Thank you.

It all depends on your understanding of the concept of devatas and Brahman.
I feel you do understand the role of Ishta Devata is to instill the feeling of love and familiarity in our hearts so we get to pray, talk,complain in a personal manner with the ishta devata and at the same time understand all the external rituals should be accompanied simultaneously with internal rituals of inner purification.

For eg if you are doing an abhisheka to your ishta devata it should reflect on an inner abhisheka of your antakarana( inner instruments) as to purify our manas,buddhi, citta and ahamkara.

Keeping all that in mind its very important that we should be in alignment with our inner " devata" ( our heart) and the outer ishta devata.

In your case you lost the alignment with your older ishta devata.

What was your older ishta devata? What did It stand for?
May be you do not need that function it stood for and in the current phase of your life you need some connectivity with a different aspect of divinity?

But let it not be a material based change of devata..for eg some pray to Ishta A and didnt get what they wanted then then switched to Ishta B.

But in your case, you seem to be non material based and just lost the connectivity.

Just to add, there is no betrayal when it comes to divinity if its simple bhakti based worship and not occult tantra based ones or any mantra deeksha initiation based prayers.

So I guess its up to you to feel at home with your new choice but at the same time you could include your former ishta in the general mantras you recite and need not " divorce" the old ishta.

Best of luck.

 

[sravna]

Good advice Renuka. Ishta devata worship has worked wonders for me. It is nice and also correct to say all Gods are one. But I believe each God represents certain qualities more and I believe that is the logic behind multiple Gods

As Renuka says it depends on what is your objective and accordingly focus on that God. Your personal God or Ishta devata is particularly relevant to all your objectives as It is personal.

The above is my view and I am not sure if scriptures say the same.

 

[Darsh]

I should not be advising you, yet we see in this forum complaints or recital of our ancient scripture etc., without sharing personal experiences and methods. Anyway, I pray to every form of GOD. Here is my experience. In front of our house (a village) there is a Krishna Kovil. I use to worship him. But I was always attracted by Lord Ganesha. So, I will visit the temple where hardly two or three people will be present. They thought I am coming there as a devotee. But, I went there to accuse, beg and asking favors from the deity. I will see (illusion, Maya) eye tears in the statute. He never spoke to me but I will always get new inspiration and strength. I never shared this with any one.

Why Ganesha? It is said (I am parroting0 HE is the Omkara Pranavam and even other Gods respected him and it is alleged that Shiva’s chariot wheel was destroyed when he did not pray to his own son ( kaithala nirai kani appomodu aval pori lyrics has this).

But, I felt that Mahabharata was written by HIM via Vyasa (this is my opinion and no authority has said this) because Ganesa wanted to show the world that his uncle Vishnu is the savior of the world.

So, I was preparing for my SSLC (or matriculation..) but did not have money to pay for tuition fee. So, I went back to Ganesa and told him “you are the grand son of Atri Muni- Anusuya”. I am from the same clan. Thus you are my GOD grand father show me a way and closed my eyes (the two people there thought see how much he devoted.. they told me this later). Ganesha did not speak but gave me an idea – why not you become a teacher and teach to the wall. Imagine the wall as a stupid student and rephrase every thing until you understand every thing. So, he converted me from a student to a teacher and Fryman tells the same thing several years later!. I was number one in my district and in my school. So, he is my ishta deivam. All these may be my imagination but I did beat every one (not gloating but that is what I felt at that time).

However, I saw a very beautiful and young child in blue dress calling me “come come” for several early mornings and I was told by my grandfather it is Lord Murugan. So, I visited a Murugan temple and I saw the baby at the feet of the altar for about 3-4 minutes. This happened three more times. Then I realized, Lord Subramaniya is also the grandson of Atri-Anusuya as his father Shiva was transformed to a child by Atri-Anusuya. This may be mythology, but in my mind he too was my deiva grand father. I had visited all his temple without any planning or intention.

The same is true with Vishnu( he too was converted to a child by Atri-Anusya) etc. I have visited almost all Vaishanava Temples without any intention or planning. Same is true with Shiva and all female deity. I don’t claim to be a Bhakta or religious devotee.

But these things in mind convinced, there is one GOD but it is up to us to give a form to pray but the form does not care. I am not quoting any Hindu authority or slokas, but just my personal experience.

I should not be advising you, yet we see in this forum complaints or recital of our ancient scripture etc., without sharing personal experiences and methods. Anyway, I pray to every form of GOD. Here is my experience. In front of our house (a village) there is a Krishna Kovil. I use to worship him. But I was always attracted by Lord Ganesha. So, I will visit the temple where hardly two or three people will be present. They thought I am coming there as a devotee. But, I went there to accuse, beg and asking favors from the deity. I will see (illusion, Maya) eye tears in the statute. He never spoke to me but I will always get new inspiration and strength. I never shared this with any one.

Why Ganesha? It is said (I am parroting0 HE is the Omkara Pranavam and even other Gods respected him and it is alleged that Shiva’s chariot wheel was destroyed when he did not pray to his own son ( kaithala nirai kani appomodu aval pori lyrics has this).

But, I felt that Mahabharata was written by HIM via Vyasa (this is my opinion and no authority has said this) because Ganesa wanted to show the world that his uncle Vishnu is the savior of the world.

So, I was preparing for my SSLC (or matriculation..) but did not have money to pay for tuition fee. So, I went back to Ganesa and told him “you are the grand son of Atri Muni- Anusuya”. I am from the same clan. Thus you are my GOD grand father show me a way and closed my eyes (the two people there thought see how much he devoted.. they told me this later). Ganesha did not speak but gave me an idea – why not you become a teacher and teach to the wall. Imagine the wall as a stupid student and rephrase every thing until you understand every thing. So, he converted me from a student to a teacher and Fryman tells the same thing several years later!. I was number one in my district and in my school. So, he is my ishta deivam. All these may be my imagination but I did beat every one (not gloating but that is what I felt at that time).

However, I saw a very beautiful and young child in blue dress calling me “come come” for several early mornings and I was told by my grandfather it is Lord Murugan. So, I visited a Murugan temple and I saw the baby at the feet of the altar for about 3-4 minutes. This happened three more times. Then I realized, Lord Subramaniya is also the grandson of Atri-Anusuya as his father Shiva was transformed to a child by Atri-Anusuya. This may be mythology, but in my mind he too was my deiva grand father. I had visited all his temple without any planning or intention.

The same is true with Vishnu( he too was converted to a child by Atri-Anusya) etc. I have visited almost all Vaishanava Temples without any intention or planning. Same is true with Shiva and all female deity. I don’t claim to be a Bhakta or religious devotee.

But these things in mind convinced, there is one GOD but it is up to us to give a form to pray but the form does not care. I am not quoting any Hindu authority or slokas, but just my personal experience.

So, don’t worry who is your ishta deivam. You eat rice as Sambhar Sadam, Puliyodarai, Coconut rice, Pongal.. but inside your stomach they are digested as a complex carbohydrate thus they are also “isotopes”.

Now, you should be asking this to a sage (I don’t know if one exists now or where he or she is) and this forum you will only get response as “our ancestors have said….” without any one telling you how did they find their GOD. This is true of Bhuddhist, Muslims, Christians and so on. You are yourself is a GOD if you can recognize it.

Our experience will be unique to you, since no one is emotionally and intellectually equal to you. Ramana, Shankara (my Atreya grand father), Ramanuja, Buddha et al., found the same within themselves aham Brahmasmi -cliche.

If this response is offensive, sorry.

Now, you should be asking this to a sage (I don’t know if one exists now or where he or she is) and this forum you will only get response as “our ancestors have said….” without any one telling you how did they find their GOD. This is true of Bhuddhist, Muslims, Christians and so on. You are yourself is a GOD if you can recognize it.

Our experience will be unique to you, since no one is emotionally and intellectually equal to you. Ramana, Shankara (my Atreya grand father), Ramanuja, Buddha et al., found the same within themselves aham Brahmasmi -cliche.

If this response is offensive, sorry.

Mani _ Chennai thank you for sharing your experience. I particularly like the way you pointed out the advaitha principle underlying the manifestations of various deities.

 

[Darsh]

It all depends on your understanding of the concept of devatas and Brahman.
I feel you do understand the role of Ishta Devata is to instill the feeling of love and familiarity in our hearts so we get to pray, talk,complain in a personal manner with the ishta devata and at the same time understand all the external rituals should be accompanied simultaneously with internal rituals of inner purification.

For eg if you are doing an abhisheka to your ishta devata it should reflect on an inner abhisheka of your antakarana( inner instruments) as to purify our manas,buddhi, citta and ahamkara.

Keeping all that in mind its very important that we should be in alignment with our inner " devata" ( our heart) and the outer ishta devata.

In your case you lost the alignment with your older ishta devata.

What was your older ishta devata? What did It stand for?
May be you do not need that function it stood for and in the current phase of your life you need some connectivity with a different aspect of divinity?

But let it not be a material based change of devata..for eg some pray to Ishta A and didnt get what they wanted then then switched to Ishta B.

But in your case, you seem to be non material based and just lost the connectivity.

Just to add, there is no betrayal when it comes to divinity if its simple bhakti based worship and not occult tantra based ones or any mantra deeksha initiation based prayers.

So I guess its up to you to feel at home with your new choice but at the same time you could include your former ishta in the general mantras yo

It all depends on your understanding of the concept of devatas and Brahman.
I feel you do understand the role of Ishta Devata is to instill the feeling of love and familiarity in our hearts so we get to pray, talk,complain in a personal manner with the ishta devata and at the same time understand all the external rituals should be accompanied simultaneously with internal rituals of inner purification.

For eg if you are doing an abhisheka to your ishta devata it should reflect on an inner abhisheka of your antakarana( inner instruments) as to purify our manas,buddhi, citta and ahamkara.

Keeping all that in mind its very important that we should be in alignment with our inner " devata" ( our heart) and the outer ishta devata.

In your case you lost the alignment with your older ishta devata.

What was your older ishta devata? What did It stand for?
May be you do not need that function it stood for and in the current phase of your life you need some connectivity with a different aspect of divinity?

But let it not be a material based change of devata..for eg some pray to Ishta A and didnt get what they wanted then then switched to Ishta B.

But in your case, you seem to be non material based and just lost the connectivity.

Just to add, there is no betrayal when it comes to divinity if its simple bhakti based worship and not occult tantra based ones or any mantra deeksha initiation based prayers.

So I guess its up to you to feel at home with your new choice but at the same time you could include your former ishta in the general mantras you recite and need not " divorce" the old ishta.

Best of luck.

It all depends on your understanding of the concept of devatas and Brahman.
I feel you do understand the role of Ishta Devata is to instill the feeling of love and familiarity in our hearts so we get to pray, talk,complain in a personal manner with the ishta devata and at the same time understand all the external rituals should be accompanied simultaneously with internal rituals of inner purification.

For eg if you are doing an abhisheka to your ishta devata it should reflect on an inner abhisheka of your antakarana( inner instruments) as to purify our manas,buddhi, citta and ahamkara.

Keeping all that in mind its very important that we should be in alignment with our inner " devata" ( our heart) and the outer ishta devata.

In your case you lost the alignment with your older ishta devata.

What was your older ishta devata? What did It stand for?
May be you do not need that function it stood for and in the current phase of your life you need some connectivity with a different aspect of divinity?

But let it not be a material based change of devata..for eg some pray to Ishta A and didnt get what they wanted then then switched to Ishta B.

But in your case, you seem to be non material based and just lost the connectivity.

Just to add, there is no betrayal when it comes to divinity if its simple bhakti based worship and not occult tantra based ones or any mantra deeksha initiation based prayers.

So I guess its up to you to feel at home with your new choice but at the same time you could include your former ishta in the general mantras you recite and need not " divorce" the old ishta.

Best of luck.

You are right about the part on me losing my alignment with my Ishta devata. My confusion stems from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa where he discourages abandoning one's spiritual practice just because we don't see tangible results. He compares this to the act of digging a well in search of water, we should stick to one practice till we get what we are looking for.

I will certainly take your advice of including my previous Ishta devata in my prayer. Thank you

 

[Darsh]

Good advice Renuka. Ishta devata worship has worked wonders for me. It is nice and also correct to say all Gods are one. But I believe each God represents certain qualities more and I believe that is the logic behind multiple Gods

As Renuka says it depends on what is your objective and accordingly focus on that God. Your personal God or Ishta devata is particularly relevant to all your objectives as It is personal.

The above is my view and I am not sure if scriptures say the same.

I too strongly believe that the myriad forms of deities represent the manifestation of qualities that humans aspire to be. Hence, I feel a change in Ishta devata is aligned to the changes I am undergoing myself as a person. Thank you for sharing your view.

 

[Mani_Chennai]

Mani _ Chennai thank you for sharing your experience. I particularly like the way you pointed out the advaitha principle underlying the manifestations of various deities.

“ My confusion stems from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa …” shows that you are still a student in your mind, which is great. If you look our forum, some will tell what Arabindhu , Shankara, said, Ramanuja said, as though they have lived with them, thus sharing their teaching as modern Gurus” and also will tell there is no step-by-step to move on the spiritual scale. I am showing there is a way (may be more than one way) to move in the direction.

1. The firs is an analogy. The land has to be fertile, ready to receive a seed, there is water, sunshine and other protection before the seed will germinate. Most of the seeds will fail to sprout. Similarly either one is blessed from childhood to understand and realize the God in themselves and in the nature or move in steps.​
2. The steps are (a) dedication to service to society from childhood and encouraged by parents. This does not have to be a major service. I can share my experience as an example. When I was about 4 years old, one old man (about 90) will tell me
   stories in the night. He was not my relative. In return I will get him water or fruit
   from inside his house. So, he told me the best service is to give water when people eat. Then Ganga blesses you. No other return. So, I started doing it to both people and animals. A monkey will come to my house and knock on the door in summer. I use to keep a small pail of water. He will drink, look at me and
   walk away. Then his family will drink. No trouble at all. Next dog, cows which ever
   I see I will give water.​

In public events, I will distribute water to people eating in rows. Once three middle aged Iyers (unfortunately Brahmans) mocked at me saying” look at this fellow buy distributing water, he thinks he is great”. One old man watching this called me in and said “don’t go there, watch from here”. Suddenly these guys ate some chills in the vegetable or some thing , started shouting ‘water, please some on give us water! There was none to help them. They got up(it is against so called Brahmana Dharma( because they can not go back and finish off, thus will

be hungry. They saw me and shouted “why did not you bring water”. I just

pointed the finger at the old man. He told them, it is easy to give you food, but with out water you will die. You teased the boy and got punished!.So, my service grew slowly and I don’t discriminate on religion, caste, sex etc.


I went to a Muslim school and attend their prayer and passed four exams in Urdu. I have attended Church, Buddhist Monastery (in Bhutan) and no where I felt I am away from GOD. So, humble service to mankind, animals etc., is the first step-by-stepcultivation of mind and body before you can understand religion. Even Shankara’s students did not understanding why Padma Pada was his preferred student or Ramanuja’s shishya who went blind and yet was close to him.

The moral is, only those with humble service without expecting reward and deep
faith will be ready to receive the blessings of a real Guru and will be waiting for him or her. All seeds do not germinate and all do not become benevolent trees.

Now, back to your question, you had heard teaching of others, but your mind and body was not ready and to feel that “God is invisible but you can feel internally when you are mentally ready without asking for anything in return”. This is a tall order. Only a very few, once in a while in the world is born to make this as
truth.

So, please be happy that you are traveling in the right direction. I don’t have a Guru, but one “Sadhu” in Haridwar said to me “ you are svayambhu”, you don’t need to search for the Lord. I am not sure of that yet.

2. To understand religion or inner GOD, you need to use “inductive reasoning” in that, observations and coming to a meaningful conclusion. In mathematics

it is “conjecture”, in Statistics, it is “hypothesis” and simple English it is

‘assumption” that has to be proved. Religion, Philosophy and all subjects are based on Deductive reasoning – State the theory and proceed to give proof-

Shankara’s discussion with Mandna MMisra was like that. But Mandana Misra’s wife when pointed out to Shankara that he does not understand “sex’, he has to go and learn it. He also has to learn from the Chantala about Atman. (I once typed the thesis on “10th Century Kashmir Saivism – encounter with Buddhist” thesis for a foreign student and leaned a lot as my payment).

Thus, finding your internal answers start with humble services to society without

any expectation and that is the first step. Humbleness makes the mind to progress further. So, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said without showing the humble steps, and that is called “presupposition”. Did he do purposely, I do want to read his mind from his teachings. In this forum, there are many to help
in this mind reading game.

Sorry that it is a long essay, but otherwise will be a mind reading exercise.

 

[renuka]

“ My confusion stems from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa …” shows that you are still a student in your mind, which is great. If you look our forum, some will tell what Arabindhu , Shankara, said, Ramanuja said, as though they have lived with them, thus sharing their teaching as modern Gurus” and also will tell there is no step-by-step to move on the spiritual scale. I am showing there is a way (may be more than one way) to move in the direction.

1. The firs is an analogy. The land has to be fertile, ready to receive a seed, there is water, sunshine and other protection before the seed will germinate. Most of the seeds will fail to sprout. Similarly either one is blessed from childhood to understand and realize the God in themselves and in the nature or move in steps.​
2. The steps are (a) dedication to service to society from childhood and encouraged by parents. This does not have to be a major service. I can share my experience as an example. When I was about 4 years old, one old man (about 90) will tell me
   stories in the night. He was not my relative. In return I will get him water or fruit
   from inside his house. So, he told me the best service is to give water when people eat. Then Ganga blesses you. No other return. So, I started doing it to both people and animals. A monkey will come to my house and knock on the door in summer. I use to keep a small pail of water. He will drink, look at me and
   walk away. Then his family will drink. No trouble at all. Next dog, cows which ever
   I see I will give water.​

In public events, I will distribute water to people eating in rows. Once three middle aged Iyers (unfortunately Brahmans) mocked at me saying” look at this fellow buy distributing water, he thinks he is great”. One old man watching this called me in and said “don’t go there, watch from here”. Suddenly these guys ate some chills in the vegetable or some thing , started shouting ‘water, please some on give us water! There was none to help them. They got up(it is against so called Brahmana Dharma( because they can not go back and finish off, thus will

be hungry. They saw me and shouted “why did not you bring water”. I just

pointed the finger at the old man. He told them, it is easy to give you food, but with out water you will die. You teased the boy and got punished!.So, my service grew slowly and I don’t discriminate on religion, caste, sex etc.


I went to a Muslim school and attend their prayer and passed four exams in Urdu. I have attended Church, Buddhist Monastery (in Bhutan) and no where I felt I am away from GOD. So, humble service to mankind, animals etc., is the first step-by-stepcultivation of mind and body before you can understand religion. Even Shankara’s students did not understanding why Padma Pada was his preferred student or Ramanuja’s shishya who went blind and yet was close to him.

The moral is, only those with humble service without expecting reward and deep
faith will be ready to receive the blessings of a real Guru and will be waiting for him or her. All seeds do not germinate and all do not become benevolent trees.

Now, back to your question, you had heard teaching of others, but your mind and body was not ready and to feel that “God is invisible but you can feel internally when you are mentally ready without asking for anything in return”. This is a tall order. Only a very few, once in a while in the world is born to make this as
truth.

So, please be happy that you are traveling in the right direction. I don’t have a Guru, but one “Sadhu” in Haridwar said to me “ you are svayambhu”, you don’t need to search for the Lord. I am not sure of that yet.

2. To understand religion or inner GOD, you need to use “inductive reasoning” in that, observations and coming to a meaningful conclusion. In mathematics

it is “conjecture”, in Statistics, it is “hypothesis” and simple English it is

‘assumption” that has to be proved. Religion, Philosophy and all subjects are based on Deductive reasoning – State the theory and proceed to give proof-

Shankara’s discussion with Mandna MMisra was like that. But Mandana Misra’s wife when pointed out to Shankara that he does not understand “sex’, he has to go and learn it. He also has to learn from the Chantala about Atman. (I once typed the thesis on “10th Century Kashmir Saivism – encounter with Buddhist” thesis for a foreign student and leaned a lot as my payment).

Thus, finding your internal answers start with humble services to society without

any expectation and that is the first step. Humbleness makes the mind to progress further. So, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said without showing the humble steps, and that is called “presupposition”. Did he do purposely, I do want to read his mind from his teachings. In this forum, there are many to help
in this mind reading game.

Sorry that it is a long essay, but otherwise will be a mind reading exercise.

I dont get it why when you write posts you are always commenting on other members in a sarcastic manner.
Honestly there is nothing wrong with what most members write about their spiritual experience.

Each person has their way to connect with the truth.
If you feel you need a different way thats fine as long you do not think that its only your way or the highway.

Even in the Quran God reminds the prophet( pbuh) that he is only a messenger and supposed to transmit the message and nothing more because its God who wills reaches Him( God) and who goes astray.

But you seem to think only you get to decide everything for everyone and even Ramana Maharishis works are not in a step wise manner.
I do agree that you are entitled to your preference but kindly just stick to your views without the needs to comment on other members.

If a sadhu told you that you are a spiritual swayambu..thats great! But at the same time if you could be a swayambu why not some other member write about spirituality as if they lived with Shankara or Ramanuja?
After all the latest quantum physics finding says that at a subatomic level time works both ways, that is the past is also the future.

So its possible some member here at a subatomic level could have "lived" with Shankara or Ramanuja.

 

[sravna]

Renuka,

I believe everyone is entitled to one's views. There is a definite purpose why the world is filled with polarities. But I do agree they should not come out of ill will or spitefulness. As long as the views try to give a different perspective I welcome them.

 

[Mani_Chennai]

Beauty is in the eyes of a beholder. No one can makes other unhappy unless if they take it personal. You can also see that only a very few write here and probably they don't want to participae as the questions are not answered but just brushed aside. I have no ill will or against any one. I feel the forum is not answering what a simple person shoudl do to in the right direction. Our ancestors created temple, bhakti etc., to guide them as a minimum and service was the foremost and people serivce is service to GOD. Whey don't we see that kinbd of guidline. So, it is up to other members to ignore on what they don't like or agree.

 

[sravna]

Beauty is in the eyes of a beholder. No one can makes other unhappy unless if they take it personal. You can also see that only a very few write here and probably they don't want to participae as the questions are not answered but just brushed aside. I have no ill will or against any one. I feel the forum is not answering what a simple person shoudl do to in the right direction. Our ancestors created temple, bhakti etc., to guide them as a minimum and service was the foremost and people serivce is service to GOD. Whey don't we see that kinbd of guidline. So, it is up to other members to ignore on what they don't like or agree.

Dear Shri Mani,

Forum does not specifically have the purpose of offering solutions to problems. I have seen very constructive suggestions towards problems though by members in this forum. But the idea is to get members to share their thoughts about various topics with a large number of others. If a person is excited about an idea he tries to pass it on to more people. The forum serves that purpose.

 

[Mani_Chennai]

Dear Shri Mani,

Forum does not specifically have the purpose of offering solutions to problems. I have seen very constructive suggestions towards problems though by members in this forum. But the idea is to get members to share their thoughts about various topics with a large number of others. If a person is excited about an idea he tries to pass it on to more people. The forum serves that purpose.

Thanks.

 

[renuka]

Beauty is in the eyes of a beholder. No one can makes other unhappy unless if they take it personal. You can also see that only a very few write here and probably they don't want to participae as the questions are not answered but just brushed aside. I have no ill will or against any one. I feel the forum is not answering what a simple person shoudl do to in the right direction. Our ancestors created temple, bhakti etc., to guide them as a minimum and service was the foremost and people serivce is service to GOD. Whey don't we see that kinbd of guidline. So, it is up to other members to ignore on what they don't like or agree.

Yes..you may guide anyone but dont comment on others harshly.
Its just simple maths.