Читать книгу Ashtanga Yoga - The Intermediate Series - Gregor Maehle - Страница 44

Your relationship to your ishtadevata needs to become as intimate as possible. A well-known passage of the Upanishads states, “In the core of your body is a lotus flower in which is situated a triangular shrine. In this shrine resides the true self, in which miraculously is assembled this entire vast universe with all its mountains, rivers, trees, oceans, stars and suns.”⁹ Since the entire universe is thought to be located inside the Supreme Being, this passage states that the Supreme Being resides in our hearts. From this point of view, the many different so-called gods are only devices that enable our individual psyches, which differ so much from one individual to another, to meditate on and identify with the one Supreme Being in our hearts. This brings us back to the purpose of mythology: when we listen to the myths and tales of ancient India and start to read the texts that describe them, we become more and more familiar and intimate with the various divine images. In due time our ishtadevata will be revealed.

Once you know your ishtadevata, you have your own private frequency through which you connect with the Supreme Being. There is no point in squabbling over which frequency — that is, which God — is better or more correct. The important point is that you find your frequency and enter into a relationship with the Supreme Being in which you find guidance and offer your service.¹⁰

There is great beauty and humility in the ishtadevata concept. Your ishtadevata is your way to access the Supreme Being, and its particularity reminds you that it is only your own limited view of the One. You cannot criticize or belittle somebody else just because you do not understand that person’s view of the Supreme Being. Again, there are as many ishtadevatas and routes to infinite consciousness as there are people on Earth.