Hinduism

Hi guys. I’ve studied Hinduism over the years, visited some temples, just to understand their beliefs.

My question is what place do you believe the Hindu deities/spirits have in someone’s life?(spiritual practice)

For example: when I first started meditating I was drawn to Ganesh and learned his mantra and learned about him. I feel like I learned how to meditate this way. But I am not Hindu.

Also when I went in a botánica yesterday to buy some candles I noticed they have a lot of Ganesh statues also and they are in Palo & Ocha.

Interested to hear your opinions!

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Many neo-pagans and New Agers work with the Hindu deities, especially Ganesha, in their practices. Members of this forum have evoked Shiva, and Ganesh, and Kali, and Lakshmi, and a host of other gods and goddesses. In my opinion, they have just as much of a place in a spiritual practice as the Greek, Norse and Egyptian pantheons.

They are quite helpful, especially when working with the chakras, as the various mantras call upon their power. It is interesting to note that, when he went through the kundalini, Glenn Morris, the author of the book Path Notes of An American Ninja Master, who was a lapsed Catholic, had visions of Shiva, which could indicate that the Hindu deities are tied to the human energy systems somehow. Morris did not complete the kundalini through the chakras but through the Chinese system of meridians so it may not be the chakras that are specifically tied to the gods but the energy itself.

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This is quite the synch for me.

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I literally just finished this.

One aspect is the relation between the various gods and ones astrological chart.

This channel goes into it in some detail as well as the difference between vedic and western astrology. As a point of interest the reading he does from my understanding provide insights for both the vedic and norse system right of the bat but from an energetic stand point can likely be applied to more than just these two.

vedic astrology: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOEQsAru62zO23KGrTzaaULLLDx5PV3YY

I have eneded up with alot of insights regarding my work with ahriman and the divs from his channel since there is a relation between the 3 :alien:

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I’m hindu by birth. Ganesh was the deity I was drawn to as a child. He has help me throughout my life. He is known as the remover of obsticles and the best entity to seek when starting any new work. He’s also the one to check when you seek wisdom. My experience is that hindu deitys are sort of difficult to reach. They require lots of fasting and meditation. But they grant you your wishes be it dark or light.

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Forgive me while I put on my Academic Hat on. (I have a degree in religion.)

Ganesha, along with a few other deities such as Kali and Durga, are not part of Hinduism per se. Hinduism’s Brahmanic establishment adopted/appropriated them into its pantheon because they were so popular with the peoples they began to conquer and sough to assimilate into their infrastructure and control. Ganesha, Kali, Durga, etc., have been worshiped in the Subcontinent for many millennia. Even Shiva - he was only later equated with Rudra and thus made “acceptable” for the Brahmanic (Vedic) system being imposed on the people. And this despite the fact that the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization worshiped him - and thus could be said to be older than the Brahamic deities. Same with Buddha - his followers were numerous, so the Brahmanic establishment declared him an avatar of Vishnu. And voila, the Buddhists became Hindu, and the Brahmanic establishment did not need to compete with Buddhism. (There is a strong dispute whether Sikhism is a sect of Hinduism or a separate religion - the answer has deep political and religio-infrastructural consequences.)

Being outside of Hinduism in origin, one can say that you can integrate Ganesha into your practice and devotions without necessarily having to deal with Hindu deities.

Om gam ganapataye namo namaha!

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Hinduism is too vast to summarize it in any particular way. Also it is complicated as fuck. Just to give one example diety like Vishnu, is sometimes called Maha Vishnu. Maha literally means great so everybody would think that vishnu and maha vishnu are same diety with an added honorific. But if you go really really deep into the subject or get a siddha as your teacher you would know that Vishnu is referred to the physical universe of our, the one we observe outside and maha vishnu is ‘sat chit anand’ meaning existence consciousness and bliss( this is also the highest state in non dual tradition) containing countless universe/vishnu like ours.

Like this there are 11 rudras, mahakala etc Shiva’s form. In short it’s fucking complicated.

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Most people who are drawn to Hinduism from outside are mainly gravitated toward the aspect of devotion toward a deity. If a Hindu worships a particular god or deity or group of deities as a daily worship it is mainly to keep in touch with the divine. It is an aspect of life you are born into, you can’t get rid of it unless you have atheistic ideas in your head.

There are some elaborate rituals mentioned in Vedas to please deities for getting favours. This aspect of Hinduism can be seen as parallel to working with magick, however in the first you will need to have a priest.

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