ishta-devata
इष्टदेवता iṣṭadevatāOne's chosen or cherished personal deity, the particular form of the divine a devotee holds dearest, without denying the others; the focus of bhakti and the devata a mantra most often names.
Where this term appears
- How many gods does Hinduism have? Deities
Each chooses an ishta-devata, a cherished form, without denying that the neighbour's form reaches the same reality.
- Ishta-Devata: Choosing a Personal Deity Deities
That one is the ishta-devata , the chosen deity, and the simple fact of it answers a question that has confused outsiders for centuries.
- Is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic? Essentials
Each person may then choose an ishta-devata, a cherished form of the divine, without denying that others reach the same reality through other forms.
- Saguna and Nirguna: Form and the Formless Deities
The ordinary and recommended way in is to take up a chosen deity, an ishta-devata , a single form to love and serve through a consecrated image, and to let the relationship deepen.
- The Four Streams of Hinduism Essentials
The worshipper may place at the centre whichever deity they love most, their chosen form, the ishta-devata , and worship the other four around it with undiminished respect.
- What Are the Yoga Sutras? Yoga
It gives the austere system a devotional door, the door the wider tradition develops into the love of a chosen deity, the ishta-devata.
- What is Sanatana Dharma? Essentials
Across all of them runs the gentle idea of the ishta-devata , the chosen deity, the particular form of the divine that a person holds dearest, without thereby calling the others false.
- Vishnu's Emblems: Conch, Discus, Mace and Lotus Deities
For the devotee whose chosen deity, whose ishta-devata , is Vishnu, these four objects are the familiar shorthand of the one they worship, the signs they look for first.