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Thread: Family Deity

  1. #11
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    Re: Family Deity

    Mine is Hanuman. Hanuman is standing on a lotus with both hands almost lifted as if to pray, but palms are upward and the tips of the three center fingers of each hand are touching. He is dressed as a Brahmachari, with a cap, and almost the same exact style of Karttikeya as a boy Brahmachari. The particular cast is very old, and based on a very old cast going back hundreds of years or more from the area of India around Delhi. This Hanuman was acquired from India by myself and taken back to America. Hanuman is silver with a very heavy metal under base. The name of my personal Hanuman is the same, e.g. Hanuman. We also have Nandi murthi.

    We have several Shiva portraits sitting in meditation.

    My wife and her family are Bengal Shaktas, Devi is the larger family murthi. Her mother has a very large Shiva murthi in meditation.

    My wife has many small Ganesh murthis.

    Hanuman is my personal companion Deva and family murthi.

  2. #12
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    Re: Family Deity

    Vannakkam Brian: Now my curiousity is piqued. What's with the name Brian Baldwin? Hope you don't mind this question.

    Aum Namasivaya

  3. #13
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    Re: Family Deity

    Oh, not to confuse sorry. I am an American of English background, with relatives in India, Canada, Great Britian, Australia. My wife is Bengali and Gururati but on the Mother side of her family the world is 100 percent Bengali. Devil is Kali and Durga as far as that is concerned, and Shiva is very much the family murthi of the mother. This Shiva is very large, about 3 fee and heavy black metals. Shiva is in meditation, but one palm is raised. He is not holding trident, the other hand rest on the thigh of the crossed legs, the eyes are almost closed. However there is a trident placed behind and ready. What I interesting is, I wanted a Ntaraj for my home but they would not allow this due to their family traditions Lord Nataraj is not allowed in personal home and only in a temple which is serviced by High Brahmins. They are of Acharya Brahmin caste. Hanuman has been a personal companion Deva for me since I was a boy, but in truth my first portrait art that I framed when probably 7 years old is Ganapati sitting, holding a small axe and a cudgel with face turned to the right and one palm up and one resting and legs crossed. We also have a print of the Green Valli with Vishnu on Her personal right and Shiva on Her personal left which is a personal companion along with Hanuman murthi, but this is a print on wood and has been with me for probably almost 40 years.

    No I am not Desi.

  4. #14

    Re: Family Deity

    In our home we have a Radha-Krishna shrine, with Lord Ganesha off on the side. I can't really say that we have a proper family deity. I'm a vaishnava and my wife is a very encouraging skeptic.

    Our Ganesha murti was one of our first purchases after getting married, despite that neither of us has a particular devotion to Him. We both simply liked it. It turns out that it was simply a preemptive purchase for our daughter, who came along 3 years later, and loves Ganesha. She runs to the Ganesha sannidhi at the Lord Venkateswara temple we go to, and refuses to leave the ISKCON temple in town until we make a small donation at the Ganesha murti and ring the bell.

    Her innate tendencies surprise the heck out of me, and in many ways I do my own thing and just encourage my little Ganesha devotee.

  5. #15
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    Re: Family Deity

    One clarification on any family traditions and Nataraj in the home. I cannot imagine a more beauiful and stunningly more powerful statement of art and living message than the Natraj murthis we are all so familiar with! And as far as traditions go family or otherwise, I know from the superior intellect of the members of this forum that have Lord Nataraj in their home, that they ARE High Brahmin and are blessed to welcome this wonderful murthi into their home! Brahmin is something given and earned, and Mr. Eastern Mind IS Brahmin as far as I am concerned. We see so many examples of this in Puranas - God Bless those who love Lord Nataraj which should be the very symbol of our greatest Universities or it speaks the message and the power and the timelessness and the cycles of our Path as we go even farther into the universe.

  6. #16
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    Re: Family Deity

    Vannakkam Brian: Personally, although I know of the 'No Nataraja in the home' deal, I think its a myth perpetrated by some guy named Who Knows? and I simply don't accept it ... obviously. If certain people had their way, no deities would be allowed in homes.

    Aum Namasivaya

  7. #17

    Post Re: Family Deity

    TouchedbytheLord
    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.
    Many people hold that view that Krishna came from something formless like the impersonal Brahman. Many say that impersonal Brahman is the Absolute Truth and Sri Krishna is subordinate. Well, this concept shows lack of knowledge and is refuted by Krishna Himself. We can refer to Bhagavad Gita:

    Bhagavad Gita 7.24:
    avyaktaḿ vyaktim āpannaḿ
    manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
    paraḿ bhāvam ajānanto
    mamāvyayam anuttamam
    Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.

    Bhagavad Gita 7.7:
    mattah parataram nanyat
    kincid asti dhananjaya
    mayi sarvam idam protam
    sutre mani-gana iva
    O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

    Taittirīya Upaniṣad [2.5] states:
    ātmānandamayaḥ ānanda ātmā brahma pucchaṁ pratiṣṭhā
    “The Supreme Lord is full of ecstasy. The impersonal Brahman is His bodily effulgence. He is the source of Brahman.

    Bhagavad Gita 14.27:
    brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
    amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
    śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
    sukhasyaikāntikasya ca
    "And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal."

    Hope this clears the misunderstanding amongst people.
    Hari Bol!
    Last edited by SriGauranga; 06 May 2012 at 09:57 AM. Reason: Mistake

  8. #18

    Re: Family Deity

    Namaste all.

    My family deity is Lord Shiva in the form of Vaideeswara.. There is an excellent temple for him in a place called Vaideeswaran Koil near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. My family never misses a chance to have his glimpse every year. My favorite God is Krishna.. But these days, thanks to the spell that Mahadev has cast on me, I'm leaning towards him and Mata Gauri.. I wish to "know" Shiva and Shakti.

    Chidambaram Nataraja temple is my personal favorite temple in TN.. There is something about the dancing Shiva that is so attractive and mysterious that it leaves me spellbound. Plus, there is an idol of Lord Vishnu as Govindaraja perumal in the same temple.. I think it's one of those rare temples in TN which has the murthys of both Shiva and Vishnu.
    नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः .
    न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः:)

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