Ishvara

“ All the forms of our worship and the ceremonials of the present day, comprising the Karma Kanda, are observed in accordance with the Tantras.
Now let us discuss the principles of our religion a little. Notwithstanding the differences and controversies existing among our various sects, there are in them, too, several grounds of unity. First, almost all of them admit the existence of three things — three entities — Ishvara, Atman, and the Jagat. Ishvara is He who is eternally creating, preserving and destroying the whole universe. ”

“ The Devas and Asuras combine and with their joint efforts, the ocean of Milk is churned, and the Goddess of Evolution, the Energy of Vishnu, makes Her divine appearance in our universe. The Devas become more than a match for the Asuras. The Vaivasvata Manvantara steps in, the Manvantara teeming with the fate of man and of the universe. Íshvara, the eternal friend of Puranjana, is most busy in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. Every effort is made to raise humanity to a higher level and to open out all the possibilities of man. ”

“ This was the perverse idea that guided the people of the Atlantean Continent. The intellectual giants, maddened by this material grandeur, did not look for any world beyond the one they lived in. They cared not for Svarga, nor for the sacrifices that led to Svarga. The flow of evolution, the breath of Íshvara seemed to stand still for a time as it were. The human will tried to override the divine will. There was chaos and disorder, which tended to cause dissolution in the universe. Hence Râvana was a Râkshasa. ”

“ Ishvara is the sum total of individuals, yet He is an Individual, as the human body is a unit, of which each cell is an individual. Samashti or collected equals God; Vyashti or analysed equals the Jiva. The existence of Ishvara, therefore, depends on that of Jiva, as the body on the cell, and vice versa. Thus, Jiva and Ishvara are coexistent beings; when one exists, the other must. Also, because, except on our earth, in all the higher spheres, the amount of good being vastly in excess of the amount of evil, the sum total (Ishvara) may be said to be all-good. ”

“ This was the teaching of Karma Yoga by Sri Krishna. But the unselfish performance of Karma is not all. It is only a negative virtue. It purifies the mind and frees it from the taint of selfishness. The mind then becomes prepared for the higher planes and becomes fit for the direct influence of Íshvara.
So Sri Krishna gave to His disciples the true conception of Ísvara. He told them Ísvara was One, the source of all existence, all knowledge and all bliss. He told them how one Ísvara pervaded the whole universe and became thus manifested through the Universe. ”

“ As Ísvara gives Himself to the service of the Universe, so do His Bhaktas too. Men owe the highest duty to Ísvara, and this they discharge by means of Upâsanâ. Upâsanâ is the law of being for all Jivas, when they reach the state of manhood. Surrender is the essence of Upâsanâ, and this Sri Krishna taught to Arjuna.
When a man by performing his duties to other beings and to Ísvara becomes purified and single minded, he is entitled to receive the final teaching, and not before. And Sri Krishna gave that teaching at the very last to Arjuna. He said that Jiva and Íshvara were one in essence. ”

“ He argued not that Isvara was cause, nor did he advocate some cause heretical, nor yet again did he affirm there was no cause for the beginning of the world. "If the world was made by Isvara deva, there should be neither young nor old, first nor after, nor the five ways of birth; and when once born there should be no destruction. Nor should there be such thing as sorrow or calamity, nor doing wrong nor doing right; for all, both pure and impure deeds, these must come from Isvara deva. ”

“ This early discovery of the Indian savants, which resulted in the marriage of Iswara with Pracriti, led to the consideration of the universe as the product of two principles, each possessing its own peculiar function of the male and female qualities. Iswara and Pracriti stood for Adam and Eve to the whole of the universe, not simply for humanity. This system, remarkable by its very simplicity, which attracted men by giving to all that surrounded him an origin similar to his own, is to be found amongst most races, which received it from the Hindus. ”

“ Who does not fail when they fail—he who recognizes that, has learned well,
For whosoever recognizes the same lord as the one who dwells in all,
Wounds not the self through the self, and travels so the highest road.” XIII 27f. [pg 290] These passages elucidate the progressive function of the idea of God in the “work.” Incidentally, I believe that the devotional doctrines (Yoga) which are theoretically based on the Samkhya philosophy that originated without a God, has for good practical reasons taken the idea of isvara (God) into its system. ”

“ Iswara (God) [is believed to] reside in Sowris, also called Shau. My unshakable faith in the idea that Iswara in person was conducting through Sowris all the affairs [of Ramanasthan] had already been shaken. Regardless of how much I wanted to keep my faith, there was only betrayal and rebellion in me.
I had doubts about all my beliefs and all the truths which I had adopted as the foundation of my life. But why should such doubts and aberrations occur in me when I had dedicated myself to spiritual practice, when I had resolved to myself that I had no other goal in life than self-realization? ”

“ In time, all the names that we have been considering—Innanna, Nanâ, and Anunit—became merely so many designations of Ishtar. She absorbs the titles and qualities of all, and the tendency which we have pointed out finds its final outcome in the recognition of Ishtar as the one and only goddess endowed with powers and an existence independent of association with any male deity, though even this independence does not hinder her from being named at times as the associate of the chief god of Assyria—the all-powerful Ashur. ”

“ Ishtar is the Truth, she has no image. She is invisible to us veiled in matter. She hides herself behind seven veils, or rather our eyes are so wrapped about that we cannot see her who is visible only in spirit. Thou knowest that in the Temple floor is a rent, and through that rent the breath of the gods ascends. I will place Helena over that rent, and she will fall into a trance, and if I say certain prayers and use certain invocations, then the veils will fall away, and in pure spiritual essence she will look into the face of Ishtar and read therein the Truth, past, present, and future. ”

“ By love distracted, though the queen of love, Pale Ishtar downward flashed toward death's domain, And swift approached these gates of Urugal, Then paused impatient at its portals grim; [Pg 368] For love, whose strength no earthly bars restrain, Gives not the key to open Darkness' Doors. By service from all living men made proud, Ishtar brooked not resistance from the dead. She called the jailer, then to anger changed The love that sped her on her breathless way, And from her parted lips incontinent Swept speech that made the unyielding warder quail. ”

“ She is the mild and gracious mother of creation, “loves the king and his priesthood,” but is also the mighty commanding goddess of war who clothes herself in fiery flame, appears as a violent destroyer and sends down streams of fire upon her enemies. “The distinguishing position of both the Babylonian and Assyrian Ishtar is her independent position. Though at times brought into close contact with Ashur she is not regarded as the mere consort to any god—no mere reflection of a male deity, but ruling in her own right on a perfect par with the great gods of the pantheon. ”

“ You entertain extraordinary affection for Íśvaravarman, but he must certainly go on a trading expedition to Svarnadvípa immediately. There he will obtain so much wealth, that he will come and live with you in happiness all his life, consent to it, my friend." When Sundarí heard this, she gazed on the face of Íśvaravarman with tears in her eyes and assumed despondency, and said to Arthadatta, *' What am I to say? you gentlemen know best. Who can rely on any one before seeing the end? ”

“ So intimately bound up with the goddess were the sexual functions of the whole animal kingdom that without her presence they could not be discharged. A messenger of the great god Ea was accordingly despatched to rescue the goddess on whom so much depended. The stern queen of the infernal regions, Allatu or Eresh-Kigal by name, reluctantly allowed Ishtar to be sprinkled with the Water of Life and to depart, in company probably with her lover Tammuz, that the two might return together to the upper world, and that with their return all nature might revive. ”

“ We now come to a curious part of the story, the romance of Izdubar and Ishtar. One of the strange and dark features of the Babylonian religion was the Ishtar or Venus worship, which was an adoration of the reproductive power of nature, accompanied by ceremonies which were a reproach to the country. The city of Erech, originally a seat of the worship of Anu, was now one of the foremost cities in this Ishtar worship. Certainly Ishtar is represented in the legends as living at the time, and as being the widow of Dumuzi, the ruler of Erech, and it is ”

“ But rather is the reverse true; the historical Semiramis forms the nucleus of the mythical narrative. Of course, as Duncker says, "the Assyrians served Ishtar-Belit, a female divinity, who was goddess of war as well as goddess of love." Ishtar, the goddess of the planet Venus, has a double character: as goddess of the morning star she is a war goddess, for the morning star calls men to activity and battle; as the evening star she is the goddess of sensual love, for the evening star invites men to rest. But we are not sure of any identity between Ishtar and the Assyrian goddess Derceto. ”

“ ISHTAR OF ARBELA was the goddess of war, the “Lady of Battles.” She was the daughter of Anū, whose messengers were the seven evil spirits, and the favorite goddess of King Assur-bani-pal, who claims that he received his bow from her, though he declares in his inscriptions that he worshipped also Bel or Baal, and Nebo; he frequently implores the protection of Ishtar.
“Oh, thou, goddess of goddesses, terrible in battle, goddess in war, queen of the gods! Teūman, king of Elam, he gathered his army and prepared for war; he urges his fighting men to go to Assyria. ”

“ It is not possible to tell its full glories. As there are thousands of stories, I will relate one of them only.
On the banks of the Pranita river is a large town of the name Megankara, in which is the famous temple of Jagat Isvara. Jagat Isvara is holding in His hand a bow. In that town of Megankara, there was a pure brahmana of the name Sunanda, who remained a brahmachari his whole life.
Sunanda would sit in front of Lord Jagat Isvara and recite the Eleventh Chapter of the Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā and remember the Universal Form of the Lord. ”

“ O valiant Ishtar, great is thy might!
Brilliant torch of heaven and earth, light of all dwellings,
Terrible in the fight, without a rival, strong in battle!
Flame that roarest against the foe, and cuttest off the mighty!
O furious Ishtar, summoner of armies!
O goddess of men, O goddess of women, whose counsel none may learn!
Where thou dost regard, the dead lives, the sick arises.
The unjust becomes just when he beholdeth thy face!
I, thy servant, sorrowful, sighing, suffering, invoke thee.
Look upon me, O my lady, accept my supplication. ”

“ She has abolished the worship of Ishtar, and turned the temple into a shrine of idolatry. She has destroyed the ivory image of the goddess which these eastern Hyborians worship (and which, inferior as it is to the true religion of Mitra which we Western nations recognize, is still superior to the devil-worship of the Shemites) and filled the temple of Ishtar with obscene images of every imaginable sort—gods and goddesses of the night, portrayed in all the salacious and perverse poses and with all the revolting characteristics that a degenerate brain could conceive. ”

“ Ancient legends related how the shepherd Dumuzi, son of Ea and Damkina, having excited the love of Ishtar while he was pasturing his flocks under the mysterious tree of Eridu, which covers the earth with its shade, was chosen by the goddess from among all others to be the spouse of her youth, and how, being mortally wounded by a wild boar, he was cast into the kingdom of Allat. One means remained by which he might be restored to the light of day: his wounds must be washed in the waters of the wonderful spring, and Ishtar resolved to go in quest of this marvellous liquid. ”

“ Brother looks not after brother, men have no thought for one another. In the heavens the very gods are afraid; they seek a refuge in the highest heaven of Anu; as a dog in its lair, the gods crouch by the railing of heaven. Ishtar cries aloud with sorrow: 'Behold, all is turned into mud, as I foretold to the gods! I prophesied this disaster and the extermination of my creatures—men. But I do not give them birth that they may fill the sea like the brood of fishes.' Then the gods wept with her and sat lamenting on one spot. For six days and seven nights wind, flood and storm reigned supreme ”