[Advaita-l] ’upAsana' and 'bhakti'

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste Subbuji,
 
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The mantraa-is-deity is a pUrvamimamsa concept which has been rejected in
the Vedanta.  In fact it is dubious too.  They avoided accepting a sentient
entity called Ishwara but ended up designating a 'deity' in/for/as the
mantra itself.  The word 'deity', 'devatA' stems from the root 'div',
light, which is a, nay, the characteristic of a conscious entity. Vedanta
insists on an Ishwara as the karma-phala giver
 
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Shri Bhaskaraya Mahin in his Tripuropanishad Bhashya says:

DevatAyAscha trINi rUpANi – sthUlaM, sUkShmaM, paraMchEti / tatrAdyaM
tadhyAnaslOkOktaM, dvitIyam tadmUlamantrAtmakaM, tritIyaM tu upAsanAtmakaM /
dEvatarUpatraividyAtadupAstirapi trividhA – bahiryAgajapAntaryAga bhEdAt //

Devata has 3 forms: 
 
1) sthUla having hands / legs etc. for purpose of meditation by mandAdhikAris 
 
2) sUkSma which is mantrAtmaka 
 
3) parA which is of chaitanya rUpa. 

So, upAsaka adopts these forms depending upon his maturity in the sAdhana.
 
The parOpAsana is dEvatA tAdAtmya sthiti resulting in ahaMgrahOpAsana.
 
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Could any one provide the complete details of shata, sahasra, ayutha, nava 
chandi hOma vidhi vidhAna, like no. of pArAyaNa-s required, No. of 
ritviks, no. of hOma kunda etc. etc. .  Sri Sri Ram prabhuji, a special 
request to you. 
 
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Bhaskarji, 
 
I have answered your question elsewhere alongwith numerical details.
 
regs,
sriram