[Advaita-l] Various forms of isvara

[Kaushik Chevendra]

While explaining the different forms of isvara in shastras Jagadguru shri
abhinava vidyatirtha mahaswami says -

"A person was on his way to his place of work, wearing a shirt, trousers and
a tie. A friend tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I am really glad to
see that you are dressy. This is the type of dress that is needed for you
to be successful as a sales representative.” The man came home in the evening,
changed into a Dhoti and sat down to chant the Viṣṇu- sahasranāma. A friend
who dropped in just then remarked, “It is true that while going to work,
you have to dress like an Englishman. But it is this dress that suits you.
I prefer to see you like this.”

The story reveals that a person, when attired differently, pleases
different people. God is formless but, for the sake of His devotees, He
assumes different forms. The Purāṇas describe numerous manifestations of
the Lord. The scripturally-described forms of Śiva, Viṣṇu, etc., do have
implicit meanings.

For instance, Śiva has ten hands. The ten hands denote the ten directions,
inclusive of top and bottom, and convey the omnipresence of God. Śiva is
well-known as the three-eyed one. The sun, moon and fire constitute these
eyes. He has the crescent moon in His crest. This moon stands for knowledge.
Śiva’s wearing it in his matted locks is a pointer to the Lord being
endowed with pure knowledge. “God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent
and there is naught but Him,” is a common inner meaning of the descriptions
in the Purānās"

Further he says-

"Though actually devoid of birth and immutable, God manifests for the good
of the world. He thereby makes it easy for people to see Him outside
themselves. For instance, numerous people had the good fortune of beholding
Rāma and Kṛṣṇa in the Tretā and Dvāpara yuga The best course for us is to
recognise that everything has got God for its essence. We should
contemplate on God as immanent and as possessed of a form and make it our
aim in life to experience Him. Alternatively, we should strive to make this
our last birth by directly realising that we are intrinsically God, the
non-dual absolute reality, devoid of attributes. Only then will our lives,
as humans, become truly significant."

>From this we can understand that one lord has taken various forms to blees
the devotees. In whatever form the devotee is attached to he can worship
the supreme. Hence all the forms of shiva,vishnu,devi,ganesa etc are his
forms for sadhaka anugraha.

And further in another discussion he says-

"We believe that there is only one Supreme Lord who has no form and who is
responsible for the creation, sustenance and annihilation of the entire
universe. However, He assumes many forms for the sake of His devotees. With
whatever name and in whichever form His devotees seek Him, accordingly do
they worship Him. You might have heard of Indra, etc. These terms refer to
divine positions held at different times by the souls that have acquired
adequate virtue. You should not confuse the occupants of such posts with
the previously mentioned Supreme Being"

To show the importance of remeberance of isvaras forms acharya says-

"There is a verse which says that the Gopis attained the Lord through
desire, Kamsa by virtue of fear, Shishupala on account of hatred, the
Pandavas by means of friendship, the Vrishnis owing to clannishness and the
Yogis through devotion.

The idea is that regardless of how one fixates on the Lord, one becomes a
recipient of His grace. Nevertheless, the despicable attitudes of Kamsa and
Shishupala towards the Lord must never be adopted by people. Instead, the
Lord should be approached through devotion. How indeed can one feel
terrorized by Him or hate Him, for He is an ocean of mercy and is most
lovable."

namo narayana