Srimad Maha Bhagavatham : 5.5. - Swami Krishnananda.
========================================================================= Tuesday, 16 May, 2023. 05:30. Discourse 5: Narada Instructs Yudhisthira on Ashrama Dharma -5. ========================================================================= There are also various other ways. This is a transcendental technique of the Aranyaka portion of the Vedas, but we have other devotional paths which can also be called upasana—such as contemplation/meditation on a form of God, or an ishta devata, as it is called, that we think is suitable for us. The ishta devata is a chosen deity. It may be the name that we give to our concept of God as a person pervading the whole world, or as a person seated near us as an image on our altar or a murti in a temple, as the case may be. In the earlier stages, we may require a physical form of the object of our meditation, and that could be a yantra, mantra, murti, image, idol, saligrama, painted picture or whatever it is, for the purpose of concentration. The reas