Ishvara
Ishvara es una palabra sánscrita que significa «Señor del universo» o «Señor». En el hinduismo, Ishvara está considerado como el «inmediato aspecto personal de la Divinidad suprema e impersonal»Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content. No podemos conocer a Dios a menos que lo conozcamos personificado, y Dios se personifica en extensiones de sí mismo a quienes da forma espiritual y física. En realidad, sólo hay un Dios, pero el único Dios se nos aparece en sus muchas manifestaciones. Así, los múltiples dioses del hinduismo son simples rayos de luz procedentes de la única Fuente central.
La Enciclopedia de Filosofía y Religión Oriental explica que «el Dios del cristianismo y del islam, así como las deidades de la mitología hindú, son aspectos de Ishvara. Nuestra razón humana puede concebir la divinidad sólo dentro de alguna forma; así, necesitamos el concepto de Ishvara… La forma de Ishvara más diseminada en el pensamiento hindú es el trimurti, la Trinidad de Brahma, Vishnú y Shiva»Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content.
Ishvara es personificado normalmente como un aspecto de esta Trinidad. Varias sectas hindúes identifican a Ishvara con la figura más elevada en su panteón, ya sea Brahma, Vishnú o Shiva. Como lo describe el sabio hindú Ramanuja, «Ishvara… posee un número infinito de cualidades supremas y auspiciosas… Posee un cuerpo de lo más perfecto, que es eterno e inmutable. Es radiante, está lleno de belleza, juventud y fortaleza. Es omnipresente; es… el gobernante interior de todo»Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content. Se puede pensar que Ishvara es uno con el gran Atmán, la Presencia de Dios que forma parte de nuestra llama trina y que está en ella.
Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood write:
What is important is the concept of devotion. Devotion to a personal ideal of God brings with it a natural inclination to humility and service. If we set ourselves to serve Ishvara, if we dedicate our actions and surrender our wills to him, we shall find that he draws us to himself. This is the grace of God, which Sri Ramakrishna compared to an ever-blowing breeze. You have only to raise your sail in order to catch it.[1]
During a dictation in 1977, Ishvara appeared on inner levels in a magnificent crystal filigree spiral of light as the representative of the hidden man of the heart, the Holy Christ Self. In that dictation, Ishvara said:
I am the one, Ishvara.... I am in the light of the Holy of holies, in the within of the flame and in the secret chamber of the within. Come and find me in the center of the one that is thy life. Come and seek me to know my name and thus know the inner key to the release of that energy that will only give to thee life and life everlasting.[2]
On June 30, 1995, Ishvara said:
I am Ishvara. I speak on behalf of the Hindu Trinity. I may be to you in one moment Father, then Son, then Holy Spirit as defined by Shiva. This threefold flame that you acknowledge in your heart I portray to you as divine incarnation of the Trinity so that when you would look at the three plumes you would see Brahma in the blue, Vishnu in the yellow, Shiva in the pink.
Thus you begin to converse not merely with plumes that are flames dancing but with the Trinity of God within your heart. This is the meaning of the Atman. This is the meaning of the face of the Mother in the white sphere that supports the Trinity.
And so, wherever you call me, wherever I am, whenever you need me, I am Ishvara. And I provide for you an understanding of the Godhead that is the personality of God rather than the simple Spirit of God that is often conceived in the West as a vapor—vaporous and something that cannot be touched or worshiped, perhaps imbibed and perhaps even loved.
Sources
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and Their Retreats, s.v. “Ishvara.”