{"id":254,"date":"2018-01-31T12:29:59","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T12:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/?page_id=254"},"modified":"2018-02-20T12:29:24","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T12:29:24","slug":"three-main-focuses-of-worship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/worship\/three-main-focuses-of-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Main Focuses of Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-2bd894dbf2e4bf2c4acf98ce4fbf94aa '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h3><strong>Three Main Focuses of Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Aside from the <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/worship\/the-trimurti\/\">Trimurti<\/a>, there is another group of three deities \u2013 the three main focuses of worship. They again include Vishnu and Shiva, but Shakti replaces Brahma. They correspond to the three main denominations, as shown below. (Sometimes a fourth denomination, worshipping many deities, is included \u2013 see <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/tradition\/movements-and-leaders\/the-four-main-denominations\/\">Four Main Denominations<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>The three main types of worshipper in order of prominence<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vaishnavas \u2013 worshippers of Vishnu<\/li>\n<li>Shaivites \u2013 worshippers of Shiva<\/li>\n<li>Shaktas \u2013 worshippers of Shakti<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-903\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses1-236x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses1-236x300.jpg 236w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses1.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Shakti is the consort of Shiva and is considered the personification of material energy (Mother Nature or Prakriti). Like nature she can be nurturing and bountiful but also cruel and dangerous, As Parvati she is kind, but as Kali appears cruel and frightening. Durga, in a warlike form, is equipped for battle to protect her devotees. This picture shows her in her form as Durga. Shakti is often addressed as Devi (goddess) or Mataji (respected mother). This term is also used to address the other goddesses, who are the &#8220;Shaktis&#8221; of their respective spouses. Therefore, the worship of Shakti sometimes includes the veneration of both Lakshmi and Sarasvati, as in the festival of Navaratri. Shakti literally means &#8220;energy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Four Main Deities<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/worship\/the-trimurti\/\">Trimurti<\/a> and Shakti comprise the four main deities. All other deities fall in one of four corresponding categories:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>as a form of Vishnu<\/li>\n<li>as a form of Shiva<\/li>\n<li>as a goddess (Shakti)<\/li>\n<li>as a powerful soul, who has taken on a very elevated body (such as that of Brahma).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><strong>Divine Couples<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-905\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2.jpg 220w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/threefocuses2-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/>Two of the three main focuses of worship, namely Shiva and Shakti, are husband and wife. They are shown here as Shiva and Parvati, together with Ganesh, one of their two sons.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the other two members of the<em> trimurti<\/em> have their consorts. There are thus three main goddesses, the respective partners of the <em>trimurti<\/em>, as shown below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vishnu + Lakshmi<\/li>\n<li>Shiva + Shakti<\/li>\n<li>Brahma + Sarasvati<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Krishna and Rama (as Vishnu forms) have their respective consorts, Radha and Sita (see <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/worship\/twelve-principle-deities\/\">Twelve Principal Deities<\/a>), who are forms of Lakshmi.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Animal Carriers<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>On this spread, Shiva is shown with his mount, the bull called Nandi. The four main deities shown here have their respective mounts, as shown below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vishnu \u2013 Garuda, the giant eagle<\/li>\n<li>Shiva \u2013 Nandi the bull<\/li>\n<li>Brahma \u2013 the swan<\/li>\n<li>Shakti \u2013 the lion or tiger<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[69,72,71,70,73],"class_list":["post-254","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-brahma","tag-shakti","tag-shiva","tag-vishnu","tag-worship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":911,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254\/revisions\/911"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}