Personal deity

[adevotee]

Greetings to all

I have a question about choosing personal deity. How does one know who to worship-Shiva, Shakti, Surya, Ganesha or Vishnu? What if one feels drawn to two of the above? How does one decide? Can ony a Guru help in that case? I have heard Sri Vivekananda ji used to worship Shiva initially but later on his Gurudeva Sri ramakrishnaji recommended him to worship Rama.

Any insights will be greatly apreciated.

Thanks.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam adevotee:

Welcome to HDF. Most people go by their gut on which deity to worship. They are just naturally drwn to one or another. Some Hindus who see no difference just worship everyone as 'all the same' . There is great variance from sect to sect.

The ones you mentioned are the core ones of the Smarta Sampradaya. There are of course others, such as Murugan, Krishna, or Kali.

If you visit several different style temples or the ones that have shrines to many Gods, it might help you decide.

Aum Namasivaya

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté adevotee,

If you wish to use jyotish to assist you in understanding of who
your iṣṭadevatā is, you will find 3 posts in the jyotish folder.

Here is one post for your consideration:
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=746

You will find the other two in the same area.

praṇām

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste adevotee,

Most people just feel naturally connected and more attracted to a particular deity. Experience is also important. Maybe after awhile of praying to multiple deities you will just feel more connected to a particular one. If you feel drawn to two particular deities, then there is no problem at all. I think most Hindus do have an ishta-deva who they pray to mostly, but there are some who don't and they just pray to multiple deities equally. There is no problem with that.

Some people have a dream or something where a particular deity appears to them and that deity becomes their ishta-deva. However, these instances are rare.

Jai Sri Krishna

[Onkara]

Namaste
In my limited experience it seems to make a difference to which Puranas you might read, as much as the initial appearance or information regarding the deity.

For example, my initial attraction was for Mahalaxshmi, however since reading the Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Laxshmi is depicted somewhat less (or as an aspect) to Vishnu (Krishna).

Perhaps I am opening a debatable topic which will come back to the statement that all deities represent the Ultimate Brahman, however I cannot be the first to have this impression? My advise to you is to look at the Purana for the deity you find attracts you. :)

[adevotee]

Dear sirs, thank you so much for your answers, they were v.helpful. Forgive me for not having replied earlier.
Pranams