[Advaita-l] Introduction and important question on saguna brahman devatas

[k.s.krishna moorthy]

Dear devotees,

My name is Krishna and I am a follower of Sri Ramana Maharishi's school of teachings and I rely on Self Enquiry and Devotion as two wings which I alternate between and do sadhana to my modest extent.

Some of you here will know me , I have posted quite a number in Sri Graham 's forum.

With that small introduction, let me formulate my doubt here to the learned members.
I have posted this same question in another advaita forum but did not receive any reply from learned members.
The objective is not to argue , but to get things clarified.  All I want to know is the right approach of saguna upasana and which devatas qualify to be the fully powerful Ishwara.

We all know about Saghuna Brahman and its upasana.  There is also the concept of Krama Mukthi where upasaka finds his deity in Satya Lokha and then attain Moksha along with the Brahma of this kalpa. (the current Brahma is 51 years old ,  this is the morning hours in Satya Lokha)

Now when we say Saguna Brahman, a form is given to Nirguna Brahman.  The forms Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Divne Mother Shakthi -- (trinity of shakthis), Lord Ganesh, Lord Subhramanya are generally accepted by Shankara followers to be the same Brahman manifested as Ishwara according to the modifications of the devotee.

But we also have other deities nowadays -- esp. warrior gods like Muneeshwaran,  Karupanasami etc.,   
We have forms of kali that protects villages with numerous names.
We have naga forms of deities worshipped in par with main Gods.

we have vedic gods like Agni, Varuna, Indra etc. (though nobody worships them nowadays)

my question is,  are the latter set of deities demi-gods? ,  but if someone thinks of them as  Saguna Brahman itself and worships them , then what is the result?  Is there karma for these demi-gods? what happens to the worshipper, if one of this demi-god say completes his portion of karma in the demi-god plane and then incarnates as human being in earth?

do they have limited authority in the scheme of things in creation?  and if someone gets boons from them,  how that works?  do they have authority to burn some of our bad karma?  and if someone wrongly offers animal sacrifices in this age of kali, do the demi-god also incur karma or only the person who sacrifices?

Or it is exactly as per our imagination, perception and the power we attribute to them?

here my main question is not about the well recognized and well quoted forms by great Acharyas like Adhi Shankara -- he has created panchayadhana pooja etc.  I dont question that .

My main question is about sub-ordinate deities which were not quoted by great Acharyas.
On one end, we know that Ishwara does not have definite form like Shiva or Vishnu but takes any form. But at the same time all demi-god forms may not qualify to become Ishwara.  How to resolve this ?
can someone clarify these matters clearly to me?


It looks like I have asked many questions  but the essence is same.  so sorry if you get a bit fed up,  i don't expect line by line answer,  i kindly request to answer after getting the essence and gist of my questions.
Regards,Krishna