who's your favourite god?

bijapuri

We've yakked about wether there is a god, and the most popular god, but anyone in or visiting India has to agree, India's got 'em all!!!

So who's your favourite? C'mon you "athiests," I know there's some god that grabs you thru art or folklore or . . . something. I'm not asking about beliefs, just amicability.

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volga_volga

Ganesha! seems like a friendly chap

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Karma Queen

and he has sweets. can't get better than that

bijapuri

It was sooo hard to pick just 10 oyt of 300 million. Some of the entries are "political"

Currently Hanuman is my fave, cuz I'm getting not young and my legs have trouble scrambling 'round. Hanuman got me off the hill at Ajaigarh, and I've been singing his praises ever since! Thru the day I say prayers to many gods in many faiths. It's just how I am, I guess. I have no recollection of ever in my life not having a connection in the great whatever. God bless my poor Scots-Irish Presbyterian MoM, I must have got it from her!

Nick-H

Is controversy allowed here? Oh well, here goes....

Krishna is a very bad role model for men.

As a child he gets away with everything because he is chubby and cute (...and a god).

As a man he gets away with everything, especially treating women bady, because... Well, I don't know (...and he's a god).

I guess I'm forgetting about the fact that he sort-of saved the world (see Mahabarat).

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Saraswati. I'm a beginner tabla student and she helps my old brain to learn new things :-)

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edwardseco

Learning is everything..

SHIMLA

I fully agree !

Krishna is indeed a very bad role model ! As a child he was a "Makhan Chor" (butter thief) and later flirted with numerous gopis !!! When the poor gopis were bathing in the river, he used to run away with their clothes!!

He played a dubious role in the Mahabharata, by advising unfair tactics to the Pandavas to get rid of the Kaurava stalwarts like Bheeshma, Dronacharya, Karna, Duryodhana and Jayadrata !!

A God to be worshipped ??????

To answer bijapuri's original question, in times of distress any God becomes a favourite !

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beach

To answer the question, Ganesh is my favorite God. He has been my exam time favorite right from my school days.



In most of the temples in south India the first left hand side corner of the main shrine is occupied by a small shrine of Lord Vinayaka (Ganesh), the God removes obstructions.

Lord Muruga is predominantly worshiped in Tamilnadu. But His brother Lord Ayyapa is worshiped in Kerala. Every year during the pilgrimage season trainloads of Tamil people come to see their God’s brother at the mountain top shrine in central Travancore in Kerala. Lord Muruga is a happily married God. But his brother is a diehard bachelor.

A lady God wants to marry him. Her shrine is next to Ayyappa’s shrine. He would marry her if one condition is met. The condition is if no novice disciple comes to his shrine in any year, he would marry her. Looking at the crowd I have no hope that she could ever marry him. The most interesting thing is that there is a Muslim God too inside this shrine worshiped by Hindus! Also there is a Hanuman temple next to the palace at Mysore where many Muslims visit. There too there is a story. And they exist peacefully.

I would say Hanuman is a smart God than Lord Rama. Though a follower of Rama, Hanuman is worshiped more affectionately than his lord Rama himself!

Interestingly Brahama, the God of creation, is hardly worshiped. I think there are only a couple of temples for him in the whole of the country. There is a curse on him. He sits peacefully on the lotus from the navel of Lord Vishnu.

And there is this hiding Lord of Venkitaswara . He did a mistake of borrowing money from Kuber, the God of money lending. Unable to pay back, he is now hiding from Kuber at Thirupati (behind a heap of gold!)

There is Narada, the gossip God, who went around in the three worlds and spread the news of what is happening elsewhere.

Dhanwandari is the Lord of medicine. Viswakarma is the lord is architecture & craft.


Most of the business establishments here use a fine blend of three Gods. That is of Lord Vinayaka (for removing obstructions), Goddess Laxmi (the Goddess of wealth) and Goddess Saraswathi (the Goddess of knowledge). Just look on the wall behind the cash counter in any shops, you can see the picture of these three Gods.

No Gods could exist in isolation. All have a valid relation among other Gods in the society of Gods. There is an interesting and endless range of Gods and their Gods in the mythology.


In the world of Gods this has been a true free market economy. A fine model where each God survives in a fiercely competitive market space. Somehow they tactfully established a relation among themselves. One God hardly troubles another God.

mira4bai4

I remember a statement saying "Make stumbling blocks into stepping stones." So Ganesha is a good choice, clearing the way, not only physically, mentally but emotionally also, removing the blockages and clearing the way.

natasha chanda acharya

Are Hanuman and Nandi Gods? i am sorry if i sound completely ignorant, but i thought they were only worshipped out of respect. bacause they were followers of one or the other God. In the Hindu scheme of things we not only worship the gods but a few others who are true followers. Probably some of the divinity rubs on to them through association. ?? Hanuman, by himself is not a God per say, but because he was truely devoted to Lord Rama, he became a role model for true devotion. thus... And Nandi, similarly, for his association with Shiv(?). We have all these animals which are associated with certain Gods and by virtue of their association, they have a cetrain religious place in the mythological scheme of things. A white owl with Laxmi, A swan with Saraswati, A lion with Durga, King Cobras with Vishnu. Incidentally, Lord Rama was an avtaar of Vishnu. And since his avtaar was in the form of a human being, his not-really-God-but-man-having-godliness!!! stature didn't allow for any animals to be ascribed to him!
um..., i think i have managed to confuse myself, let alone other IM readers. so i'll let it be for now.

theshutterbug

Fav god: Nature

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Ikuru

we all love that crazy elephant, than I like krishna and the monkeyboy hanuman. Krishna is cool course hes blue. hanuman is a monkey and kids love monkeys, although Im not a kid... Im a adullt. Yes sirry.

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Bigzero

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? no, it is Hanuman!

Hanuman is Superman with a monkey's head. He is a kids favourite, and mine too.

he has done things that few other gods have done - fly at 660 mph, lift mountains, burn an entire city with a tail, attempt to eat the sun (!!), shrink to microscopic sizes to avoid detection, grow to super-sizes to scare enemies, extend tail to whatever length he wants, do the odd messenger job, tear your chest out to show ram/sita image in your heart etc.

i dont care where he fits in the hierarchies of gods - i love hanuman.

he is the most gentlemanly of gods with a very very balanced and cool head ( never known to throw temper tantrums of suffer from jealousy unlike many others )

his is among the few idols you can actually touch in temples ( most others can only be seen and not touched. ) .

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Alan D

Unlike you bijapuri, my Scots-Irish Presbyterian upbringing didn't stick!

Suspending my atheistic beliefs for a moment, and in the spirit of the OP, choosing an Indian God, I would say Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, learning and culture.