saguna
सगुण saguṇa"With qualities." Saguna Brahman is the same one reality approached as a personal God (Ishvara) with form, the absolute made approachable in a shape the senses and heart can reach.
Where this term appears
- Atman and Brahman Essentials
Brahman can be approached saguna , "with qualities," as a being one can worship, describe, and relate to.
- How many gods does Hinduism have? Deities
…needed." A fuller treatment of the formless-and-formed question is in Saguna and Nirguna: form and the formless, and the wider idea of one dharma with no single founder or creed is set out in What is Sanatana D…
- Is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic? Essentials
So the tradition teaches that the one reality, out of grace, takes form, saguna , "with qualities," so that a finite person can see it, serve it, and love it.
- Saguna and Nirguna: Form and the Formless Deities
Saguna Brahman is the divine with qualities , saguna meaning "having attributes." This is the personal Lord, Ishvara , the God who can be named and pictured and loved: Vishnu asleep on the cosmic ocean, Shiva s…
- The Bhakti Saints Philosophy
There are the saguna saints, who love God in a particular form, Rama or Krishna or Shiva, with a face and a story: Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, Chaitanya.
- What is Advaita Vedanta? Philosophy
Saguna Brahman is Brahman "with qualities," the same reality approached as a personal God, Ishvara , who creates and governs the world.
- How to Read a Murti Deities
Hindu iconography is a precise visual language set out in the *shilpa shastras* and *agamas*: the number of arms, the objects held (*ayudhas*), the hand gestures…
- Ishta-Devata: Choosing a Personal Deity Deities
Grant that the chosen deity is the saguna face, the form with qualities, of a reality that in itself is beyond all form.