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Wellsprings
hindu-devotionfeatured in 4 works

God / The Lord (Īśvara)

'The Lord' — ultimate reality for some, the highest face of the formless for others.

Īśvara is 'the Lord' — God conceived personally, the supreme being who creates and rules the world, hears prayer, and bestows grace. For the theistic schools, Īśvara is ultimate reality itself; for the non-dualists, Īśvara is the highest form in which the formless absolute appears to seekers within the world. Even the Yoga school, which is not centered on a creator, gives Īśvara a special place as an ideal object of devotion.

How it traveled

  1. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -400
    explains
  2. Bhagavad-gītā
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -150
    explains
  3. Upadeśasāhasrī
    Kālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710
    explains
  4. Tantrasāra
    Śrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000
    explains

Key passages(20)

Yoga-sūtra · Patañjali

Very high

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

Very high

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Very high

Tarka-saṃgraha · Annaṃbhaṭṭa

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

High

Īśā Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Śiva-stotrāvalī · Utpaladeva

High

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Spanda-kārikā · Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa

High

Stotraratna · Yāmunācārya (Ālavandār)

High

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High