Ishvara

Ishvara (ईश्वर in philosophical concept of God meaning that entity or the Supreme Being which is the lord and the ruler of everything. It is also used in Buddhism to mean 'lord' or 'master', eg, Avalokiteshvara .

Hinduism uses the term Ishvara exclusively to refer to the One and the Supreme God in a kind of monotheistic sense. The Atharva Veda explicitly says that Ishvara is an epithet of the Supreme Spirit Brahman . This must not be confused with the various deities of Hinduism, called Deva s. The lay Hindus today use the terms Ishwar, Parameshwar and Bhagavan interchangeably for God. Interestingly, the word is also used to denote "Lord" in a temporal sense, as any master or king (just like in English).

ISHVARA IN HINDU PHILOSOPHY

All the six systems of Hindu Philosophy believe in Ishvara, ie., God .

The philosophy of Sāmkhya was originally explicitly atheistic, denying any need for the concept of God beyond Purusha , i.e., person and Prakriti , i.e., nature. Its offshoot, the Yoga philosophy strongly advocates faith in God (as exmplified in the Niyama Ishvara Pranidhana). Since the way of salvation or Mokşha could not be explicated by Samkhya, later, their followers accepted the Yoga way of salvation and also their concept of Ishvara. The Yoga philosophy also logically proves that there can be one and only one '''Ishvara''', and is possibly the first philosophy to attempt proving monotheism by logical reasoning.

Similarly, the philosophy of Nyāya or Indian Logic , though theistic, earlier said very little about Ishvara. But later they became vehement supporters of belief in Ishvara, as opposed to the Buddhists who, though agnostic, had at that time been vehement atheists. The followers of Nyāya system, called Naiyānikas, gave elaborate "proofs" for the existence of God based on Logic .

The concept of Ishvara was also used by Maharshi Kaņāda , the Indian philosopher and founder of the school of Vaisheshika Philosophy, (in present day Afghanistan ) in its meaning as the ultimate cause behind all causes. Ishvara is that entity, according to Vaisheshika, which controls the association of particles in the Universe . Vaisheshika however failed to explain the exact relation between this ''Ishvara'' and the creation, effectively creating a Dualistic philosophy instead of a Monistic one.

Similarly, the school of Mīmamsā did not say much about Ishvara. Though they fully believe in Veda s and Vedas talk about Ishvara, their school did not believe in an omnipotent God and instead, place the power in the "divine Magic " of the Yajña s or fire-sacrifices. Even the celestial spirits (the Devas ) have a very nominal place in this philosophy.

The Vedanta school, the most popular one, fully believes in Ishvara. The Advaita sub-school, the most influential of all its sub-schools, is highly Monistic . It says that the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman is the only actual reality in the world, and everything else is illusionary, including the universe. Since Brahman is without attributes (it is the subject of meditation and not worship), it is a concept even beyond God. For them, Ishvara is Brahman which is manifested upon the material world due to a complex illusionary power called Māyā . Ishvara can be given all positive attributes ( Saguna Brahman ) like being worshippable, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, merciful, etc but the ultimate reality remains Brahman and nothing else. The other sub-schools tend to identify Brahman with Ishvara to various degrees, and in turn Ishvara is indentified with their favorite deity like Vishnu or Krishna .

The more modern idea of Ishvara being intimately connected with all of His creation made it possible for personal manifestations of God such as Shiva and Krishna to be considered as Ishvara.

ISHVARA AND SAGUNA BRAHMA

Both Ishvara and Saguna Brahma are concepts for God closely associated with creation. Some say that Ishvara should not be equated with Saguna Brahma because the idea that Saguna Brahma could be incarnated into a single human form is disputed because the whole of creation is already associated with Saguna Brahma.

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Ishvara