ईश्वर
Ishvara
īśvara
In simple words
Ishvara means 'the Lord': God understood as the one who governs the universe and responds to devotion. Some schools make Ishvara central, others give Ishvara a limited role, and some deny a creator altogether.
What is it?
Ishvara is the personal aspect of the divine — the controller of the world, the giver of the fruits of action and the one to whom devotion is directed. For Vishnu- and Shiva-centred traditions, Ishvara is the highest reality. In Advaita, Ishvara is Brahman as seen through maya — real at the empirical level. Yoga speaks of Ishvara as a special purusha untouched by affliction, and Nyaya argues for Ishvara as the world's intelligent cause, while Mimamsa, Jainism and Buddhism reject a creator God.
Scholar’s note
Classical theistic arguments (e.g. Udayana's Nyayakusumanjali) infer Ishvara from the world as an effect; Mimamsakas and Buddhists rebut them. Ishvara-pranidhana (devotion or surrender to Ishvara) is one of Yoga's niyamas and an alternative route to samadhi in the Yoga Sutras. The Gita's term purushottama (supreme person) figures centrally in Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita readings.How its meaning differs
Ishvara is Brahman associated with maya: the real creator and ruler within the world of experience, but not the final truth, which is attributeless Brahman.
Ishvara (Narayana) is Brahman itself: the supreme person, inner controller of all souls and matter, and the refuge who grants liberation.
Vishnu is the only fully independent being; everything else depends on Him, and liberation comes through His grace in response to devotion.
Ishvara is a special purusha never touched by afflictions or karma, the first teacher; devotion to Ishvara is one means to samadhi.
Ishvara is an eternal self with eternal knowledge, inferred as the intelligent maker who arranges atoms and ensures karma bears fruit.
The classical Mimamsakas did not need a creator God: the Veda is eternal and authorless, and ritual action produces its own results.
Jainism denies a creator or ruler of the world; liberated souls (siddhas) are worshipped as ideals, not as agents who intervene.
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारThough unborn, imperishable and the Lord of all beings, God manifests by His own yogamaya, keeping His prakriti under His control (4.6). The whole world is pervaded by His unmanifest form (9.4). Beyond the perishable and the imperishable is the Supreme Person, who enters the three worlds and sustains them (15.17). Swamiji notes that God is not an object of argument but of faith and trust, to which devotees, saints and scriptures bear witness (15.17). God dwells in the hearts of all and moves beings mounted on the machine of the body — like a train that carries whoever has boarded it (18.61). He prompts beings according to their nature but does not insist, and so Krishna says: take refuge in Him with all your being (18.61, 18.62).
अजन्मा, अविनाशी और सब प्राणियोंके ईश्वर होते हुए भी भगवान् अपनी प्रकृतिको अधीन करके योगमायासे प्रकट होते हैं (४।६)। यह सारा संसार उनके निराकार स्वरूपसे व्याप्त है (९।४)। क्षर और अक्षरसे उत्तम पुरुष परमात्मा हैं, जो तीनों लोकोंमें प्रविष्ट होकर सबका भरण-पोषण करते हैं (१५।१७)। स्वामीजी कहते हैं कि परमात्मा विचारके नहीं, श्रद्धा-विश्वासके विषय हैं; उनके होनेमें भक्त, सन्त, वेद और शास्त्र प्रमाण हैं (१५।१७)। ईश्वर सबके हृदयमें रहकर शरीररूपी यन्त्रपर आरूढ़ प्राणियोंको घुमाते हैं — जैसे रेलपर चढ़नेवालेको रेलके अनुसार जाना पड़ता है (१८।६१)। वे स्वभावके अनुसार प्रेरणा करते हैं पर आग्रह नहीं रखते; इसलिये भगवान् कहते हैं — सर्वभावसे उसी ईश्वरकी शरणमें जा (१८।६१, १८।६२)।
भगवान् प्राणियोंको उनके स्व-स्वभावके अनुसार कर्म करनेकी प्रेरणा तो करते हैं, पर उसमें अपना आग्रह नहीं रखते।Where it appears in the Gita
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्।
(मैं) अजन्मा (और) अविनाशी-स्वरूप होते हुए भी (तथा) सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंका ईश्वर होते हुए भी अपनी प्रकृतिको अधीन करके अपनी योगमायासे प्रकट होता हूँ।
9.4मया
यह सब संसार मेरे निराकार स्वरूपसे व्याप्त है। सम्पूर्ण प्राणी मुझमें स्थित हैं; परन्तु मैं उनमें स्थित नहीं हूँ तथा (वे) प्राणी (भी) मुझमें स्थित नहीं हैं— मेरे (इस) ईश्वर-सम्बन्धी योग-(सामथ्र्य-) को देख। सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंको उत्पन्न करनेवाला और प्राणियोंका धारण, भरण-पोषण करनेवाला मेरा स्वरूप उन प्राणियोंमें स्थित नहीं है।
13.27One who sees the imperishable Lord in all that perishes truly sees
नष्ट होनेवालोंमें अविनाशी परमेश्वरको देखनेवाला ही देखता है
समं सर्वेषु भूतेषु तिष्ठन्तं परमेश्वरम्।
Among beings that are always perishing, one who sees the Supreme Lord present in all of them, equally and imperishably, alone sees rightly.
नष्ट होते हुए सब प्राणियोंमें परमेश्वरको नाशरहित और समरूपसे स्थित देखनेवाला ही सही देखता है।
15.17उत्तम:
उत्तम पुरुष तो अन्य (विलक्षण) ही है, जो ‘परमात्मा’— इस नामसे कहा गया है। (वही) अविनाशी ईश्वर तीनों लोकोंमें प्रविष्ट होकर(सबका) भरण-पोषण करता है।
18.61The Lord in the heart turns all beings riding the body-machine
हृदयस्थ ईश्वर यन्त्रारूढ़ प्राणियोंको घुमाता है
ईश्वर: सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति।
The Lord dwells in every heart and, by His power, turns all beings riding the body-machine, according to their nature.
ईश्वर सब प्राणियोंके हृदयमें रहता है और अपनी मायासे शरीररूपी यन्त्रपर आरूढ़ प्राणियोंको उनके स्वभावके अनुसार घुमाता है।
18.62Take refuge in Him with your whole being
सर्वभावसे उसीकी शरणमें जा
तमेव शरणं गच्छ सर्वभावेन भारत।
Go to Him alone for refuge with your whole being; by His grace you will attain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
सर्वभावसे उस ईश्वरकी ही शरणमें जा; उसकी कृपासे परम शान्ति और अविनाशी परमपदको प्राप्त हो जायगा।
Where else it appears
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Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Textश्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्Shvetashvatara UpanishadThe most explicitly theistic of the principal Upanishads, speaking of a personal Lord.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 15.17The Gita names a supreme person beyond the perishable and the imperishable, who sustains the worlds.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 18.61The Lord dwells in the heart of all beings and moves them.
- 4TraditionयोगYoga (Patanjala)A limited, distinctive role: Ishvara as a special purusha and object of devotion.
- 5Traditionविशिष्टाद्वैतVishishtadvaita VedantaA full theism: Ishvara as Brahman, the inner controller of all.
- 6Traditionपूर्व मीमांसाPurva MimamsaFor contrast: an orthodox school that does without a creator God.
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