Family Deity

[shian]

Vanakkam,

Please share your sweet story with your Family Deity
Who ? Why ? Who started ? How the story ? etc

i mean , The main deity of your family altar

i have friend, she is worshiped Devi as personal deity, but her husband is Shaivite and worship Shiva in family altar, and as family deity
So her family deity is Shiva.

i have friend, he is young, he is devotee of Krsna. But their parents is already worship Shiva before he born. So his family deity is Shiva.
He will have Krsna as family deity if he was married and become father

They have different personal deity with Family Deity, and how they can respect the deity from husband or parents, and what they feel, is they have grateful toward family deity who protect their family ?

She respect Shiva
He , who devotee of Krsna, is take a picture of Shiva and installed to his room. Then he said he like Shiva, even in his sect, Shiva is demi-gods.

Thank you

[Jainarayan]

Namaste shian.

Sri Krishna is the focus of my devotion and iṣṭa-devatā but Maa Saraswati holds a special place too, because I play guitar and bass. She is the first one I made contact with and helps me with my music. Through Her I was brought to Sri Krishna. I also revere Lord Hanuman because I am a weightlifter. So They are the two Who hold a special place after Lord Krishna, my Supreme God.

[shian]

Vanakkam,

Wow harmonization
Power and art of weightlifter, balance of music, then spiritual strength by devotion toward Krsna.
Nice to know the beautiful experience and relation between friend and their Istadevata and Kuladevata. I think this knowledge about friends and God relation, look like watch the Lilas of Bhagavan, how He show the way in everyone life, how sweet, and He really life witihn everyone!
Thank you

I must share my self,
My mom is christian and my father is no any specific religion, so we dont have Family Deity,
In 1998 from christian, i started to learn Hindu and Buddhism
I learn together with my brother,
We worshiped Hindu and Buddhist Deitys,
For first time, we installed Avalokitesvara, then become so many Buddhist tantric deitys and Hindu Deitys, like Tri-murti, Saraswati, Durga, Kali.
But we installed Lord Ganesh in center.
Then my mom become devotee of Avalokitesvara.

Then i must stay in other city, my brother also in another city
Now i worship Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh and Saraswati Maa.
But i only have darshan of Lord Ganesh and i already take a vow to become devotee of Lord Ganesh in my entire life (i do it with love)
First is i dream about Him, He is shining golden red in colour, the floor is full with the white cloud , or maybe white smoke... Then he was 8 armed, dancing and smile. He dance in front of big gate (then after i go to Singapore Mandir, i just know the gate is Mandir gate or main door ) the door is big in golden colour and shining, there is very stronge white light behind the door (door is opened).

The second is when i joined Ganesha Homa, i have see Him dancing even jumping, then in the last i see He appear in black colour, when i see The Black One, i has think, this must be to subjugate the enemies (after the Homa, Acarya was said Ganesh is joy and dancing when the Homa fire is lighten. Then in the end Acarya have said please subjugate enemies) so i surprized, what i see is real. (But in other event i not always see Him, and i also don want it, i only think to sincere) i think if He want , He will give Darshan, if not neccesary He will not give it. For me both is good, and let it be...
So my Family Deity is Lord Ganesh. (My brother also love Him)
My Devi is Maa Saraswati.

This is my story...
Maybe cant said family deity, because i not yet married and not stay with family.

So i feel grateful when i hear the story of peoples who have family Deity,
Because i dont have it, my family is not religious family
I love to know Hindu family who their parents have worshiped some deity to protect their entire family and they are life with the devotion to the Family Deity, this is so sweet.
I never feel it but i feel grateful for anyone who have family deity

[Jainarayan]

For first time, we installed Avalokitesvara, then become so many Buddhist tantric deitys and Hindu Deitys, like Tri-murti, Saraswati, Durga, Kali.
But we installed Lord Ganesh in center.
Then my mom become devotee of Avalokitesvara....

So my Family Deity is Lord Ganesh. (My brother also love Him)
My Devi is Maa Saraswati.

This is my story...
Maybe cant said family deity, because i not yet married and not stay with family.

So i feel grateful when i hear the story of peoples who have family Deity,
Because i dont have it, my family is not religious family...

You probably know this, but for anyone who doesn't, Avalokiteśvara in female manifestations is revered in East Asia as Guānyīn, the Compassionate Mother or Goddess of Mercy.

Family doesn't need to be religious, it's what's in your heart that matters.

[Aum namah Śivāya]

नमस्ते,

I know this thread is old, but I wish there would be more replies, as it is an interesting topic. So, I will share my own thoughts.

My wife and I are new to Hinduism, so we are still learning a lot about different deities.

I have had a statue of Kṛṣṇa since I was about 11-12 years old. So, I believe that perhaps it was He who guided me very gradually toward Hinduism. When I first entered, His was the only statue/image I had, so it was He that I worshipped in my very limited way.

Then we also had a devotion to Śiva and Śakti in her various forms as Kāli and Durgā, who have protected us in so many ways. We also love Gaṇeśa. I'm also growing to love Lakṣmī.

So it's rather complicated right now, but I think primary for us now are Śiva and Kṛṣṇa, as well as Ma Śakti. I feel like I've practically grown up with Kṛṣṇa, so there is definitely an attachment there.

I forgot to mention something interesting that happened that seems relevant to this topic. We did our first puja this morning. It was very much customized, however, as we aren't able or don't have the resources to do much of what is custom. We are both visually impaired, just for reverence.

Since we can't use incense, my wife had the idea of spraying some of her favorite perfume as an offering to substitute for smell. It wasn't very much, just enough to notice.

Well, about 30 minutes after the puja, she got a waft of the same perfume, but in a completely different room of the house, and much stronger than it should have been. One minute it wasn't there, and the next it was. It lasted a good 10 minutes or so. She tried to track it down to some particular object, but it was concentrated in several different locations, but not on any object.

So, we took it as a nudge from Ma Kali. She was having some doubts yesterday, as much of Hinduism is very different than her cultural/religious upbringing, so it is a difficult transition, though she loves it. So we think that sign came today as a comfort and reassurance to her. Either way, it was beautiful.

ॐ नमः शिवाय

[Jainarayan]

Namaste.

नमस्ते,

Then we also had a devotion to Śiva and Śakti in her various forms as Kāli and Durgā, who have protected us in so many ways. We also love Gaṇeśa. I'm also growing to love Lakṣmī.

So it's rather complicated right now, but I think primary for us now are Śiva and Kṛṣṇa, as well as Ma Śakti. I feel like I've practically grown up with Kṛṣṇa, so there is definitely an attachment there.

While I am a self-identified Vaishnava, and have affinity and love for Sri Krishna, Mahalakshmi, Lord Vishnu, and feel protected by Lord Narasimha, I have a definite affinity, love and attraction to Lord Shiva and forms of Divine Mother: Maa Durga, Maa Kali, Maa Saraswati.

Because Sri Krishna speaks personally in the Bhagavad Gita, for me He is the manifest representation of Brahman (as much as any other deva or devi is) Who speaks to us. But as Krishna, Brahman takes the form that speaks to us and teaches. This is just my view.

We did our first puja this morning. It was very much customized, however, as we aren't able or don't have the resources to do much of what is custom. We are both visually impaired, just for reverence.

Thread Puja as you do it.

... So, we took it as a nudge from Ma Kali. ... So we think that sign came today as a comfort and reassurance to her.

Probably.

[Aum namah Śivāya]

Because Sri Krishna speaks personally in the Bhagavad Gita, for me He is the manifest representation of Brahman (as much as any other deva or devi is) Who speaks to us. But as Krishna, Brahman takes the form that speaks to us and teaches. This is just my view.

नमस्ते,

I agree. I love how personal Kṛṣṇa is. He seems to come down to my level when I need it. I was very anxious about something this morning, so I meditated in front of the shrine where I have His statue, and silently chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and in a few minutes the anxiety left me completely as if a heavy load were literally just taken off my shoulders just like that. I thanked Him profusely and went on with my morning feeling much lighter.

ॐ नमः शिवाय

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: My family deity (and my sampradaya's deity) is Siva, most especially as Nataraja.

But we should remember that in terms of supreme, it is all actually the same deity. There aren't actually several. Each may represent a different aspect of the supreme, or a different view from some different viewpoint, but it is all Brahman.

Aum Namasivaya

[sunyata07]

Namaste Shian and everyone,

Interesting thread, although I think it becomes quite apparent with some of our more frequent posters who their family deity is going to be. It's hard to to write about Sanatana Dharma and bhakti on HDF without mentioning your ishta-devata every few posts or so.

Needless to say I have no family deity per se as I wasn't raised Hindu and am not married yet with a family of my own. It was through Ganesha that I found Sanatana Dharma so I will never stop loving Him for that. Shiva and Durga (the form of Devi I identify with most strongly) I see as my Divine Mother and Father, so I believe they would be given the seat of honour in my family shrine, with Ganesha fittingly as Their son.

And yet if you look at the range of Devas traditionally worshipped within Hinduism, there are actually a finite amount I've come to realise - all extraneous deities outside the main luminary Beings are actually just expansions and aspects of the same Deva, bringing it back to the whole idea of worshipping the same projection of Brahman, the Ultimate.

Om namah Shivaya

[Jainarayan]

Namaste.

Namaste Shian and everyone,

Interesting thread, although I think it becomes quite apparent with some of our more frequent posters who their family deity is going to be. It's hard to to write about Sanatana Dharma and bhakti on HDF without mentioning your ishta-devata every few posts or so.

Are we that obvious!?