Who is Your Ishta Devata?

[peteyzen]

Prescence, Krishna is a very good one. At the end of the day...they are all the same thing anyway, so if krishna rings your bell...immerse yourself in him.

[Presence]

Mayflow, beautiful website! I look forward to learning a lot there! Thank you!

peteyzen, thank you for your input!

Namaste Presence, I will bet you are actually an "old" Hindu (meaning from past lives! An "old" soul and wise) ... Krishna must be the One for you, calling you. Congrats! Keep up the good works, good thoughts and devotion. Om Namah Sivaya

[Presence]

Thank you, Shivafan. I have a picture of Krishna on my wall that it is so beautiful to me. I think you are right, and this beauty I feel is actually Krishna calling to me. Thank you for your heart words. Blessings and Namaste

Hello all
Well my ishta devta is Lord Shiva, mu Bhole Baba. I think the best way to know abt ur ishta devta is through ur horoscope, which tell which is ur ishta. During time of problem if u pray to the Ishta, the Ishta does help. Ur personal choice also happens to be the Ishta specified in the horoscope, but sometimes when u are located on a chakra which is not of ur Ishta then u may have other inclination. But sooner or later u come back to ur Ishta and then only spiritual quest fulfilled. Correct me if I am wrong.
AUM

[kris]

Presence, you cannot go wrong with kRSNa. No one can go wrong with kRSNa. In bhagavad gItA, kRSNa says:

man-manA bhava mad-bhakto mad-yAjI, mAM nams-uru;
mAm ev'aiSyasi, satyaM te pratijAne, priyo'si me.

Bear me in mind, lovingly participate in my nature, sacrifice to me, honor me; You will come to me, I promise you truly, for you are dear to me.

Aham, here is something you will enjoy: nirvANa shaTakaM
auM namaH shivAya

[Presence]

kris, thank you for the beautiful quote and for the link to the website. The nirvANa shaTakaM is wonderful. I am also very much inspired by this website. I read a good amount of Vivekananda's quotes and I look forward to reading the stories of the saints and many other things. Thank you, Honey Namaste

There's no such "tradition" in Hinduism. As you yourself mentioned in your post, the notion of ishta devata its the main deity of the temple one frequents most.
But this does not imply its a must-have or must-do tradition.
I, for instance, don't have ishta devata!

Hey Kris thanks for the link. U r true Krishna is awesome.

[Vinayaka]

Originally Posted by ShivaFan

Namaste

In Hinduism, there is the tradition of having one's Ishta Lord or Ishta Devata - that is, your "personal" Divinity of devotion, often center to one's personal shrine but not necessarily the same as the main Murti or Divinity Form at the local temple you most frequent, nor necessarily the same Murti(s) of your Family Shrine or "clan" deity, region or realm (or village), etc..

For example, though I am a Saiva, my Ishta Lord is Hanuman. Ganesha is the Ishta Devata of my wife.

So I am asking those Hindus of this forum so we share and enjoy: Who is your Ishta Devata?

Om Namah Sivaya

I don't have an ishta in the sense it was meant, as the very concept of ishta is only prevalent in one on the many sects of Hinduism... the Smarta sect.

Ishta is a concept that you choose your deity. In Saivism, Shaktism, and Vaishnavism, the deity chooses you. Still, there is a concept there, but not anywhere close to the degree it is prevalent in Smartism or liberal Hinduism of the west. There it is a basic tenet.