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Ishvara (Īśvara in IAST) is a philosophical concept in Hinduism, meaning controller or the Supreme controller[1] (i.e. God) in a theistic school of thought or the Supreme Being, or as an Ishta-deva of monistic thought.
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In Sanskrit and in the languages of some Indianized countries that have borrowed vocabulary from Sanskrit, "Ishvara" is also used to denote a "lord" in a temporal sense, as any master or king (a dual usage also found in English). In this sense, "Ishvara" is often used in compounds, to designate the lord of some place or group. For example, "Lokesvara" is a compound of "loka" (world) and "isvara" (lord); it means "lord of the world". "Campesvara" is a compound consisting of "Champa" (the name of a medieval Indianized polity in central Vietnam) and "isvara" that means "lord of Champa".
In Saivite traditions of Hinduism, the term is used as part of the compound "Maheshvara" ("great lord") as a name for Siva. In Mahayana Buddhism it is used as part of the compound "Avalokiteśvara" ("lord who hears the cries of the world"), the name of a bodhisattva revered for his compassion. When referring to divine as female, particularly in Shaktism, the feminine Īśvarī is sometimes used.
Among the six systems of Hindu philosophy, early Samkhya and Mimamsa reject the concept of Ishvara, i.e., a supreme being, while later Samkhya, Yoga, Vaisheshika, Vedanta and Nyaya believe in the existence of an Ishvara.
Ishvara is a transcendent and immanent entity best described in the last chapter of the Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita, known as the Ishavasya Upanishad. It states ishavasyam idam sarvam, which means whatever there is in this world is covered and filled with Ishvara. Ishvara not only creates the world, but then also enters into everything there is:
He created all this, whatever is here. Having created it, into it, indeed, he entered. Having entered it, he became both the actual and the beyond, the defined and the undefined, both the founded and the unfounded, the intelligent and the unintelligent, the true and the untrue. (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.6.1)
The conception of Ishvara in Hinduism is very much dependent on the particular school of thought. While any one of five forms of a personal God can embody the concept of Ishvara in Advaita Vedanta, schools of Vaishnavism, on other hand, consider only Vishnu and His incarnations as the ultimate omnipotent Ishvara and all other forms of God as merely expansions or aspects of Vishnu.
Advaitism holds that when human beings think of Brahman, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit is projected upon the limited, finite human mind and appears as Ishvara.[2] Therefore, the mind projects human attributes, such as personality, motherhood, and fatherhood on the Supreme Being. An interesting metaphor is that when the "reflection" of the Cosmic Spirit falls upon the mirror of Maya (Māyā; the principle of illusion, which binds the mind), it appears as the Supreme Lord.[2] God (as in Brahman) is not thought to have such attributes in the true sense.[3] However it may be helpful to project such attributes onto God.
In Vishishtadvaita, Ishvara is the supreme cosmic spirit who maintains complete control over the universe and all the sentient beings, which together also form the pan-organistic body of Ishvara. The triad of Ishvara along with the universe and the sentient beings is Brahman, which signifies the completeness of existence. Ishvara is Para Brahman endowed with innumerable auspicious qualities (Kalyana Gunas). Ishvara is perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal,[4] independent, creator of the world, its active ruler and also the eventual destroyer. He is causeless, eternal and unchangeable — and is yet the material and the efficient cause of the world. He is both immanent (like whiteness in milk) and transcendent (like a watch-maker independent of a watch). He is the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality and giver of the fruits of one's Karma. He rules the world with His Māyā — His divine power.
According to the Dvaita school, Ishvara possesses all the qualities seen in Vishishtadvaita. Ishvara is the efficient and material cause of the universe and the sentient beings and yet exists independently. Thus, Dvaitism does not separate Ishvara and Brahman, and does not believe that the highest form of Brahman is attributeless, or that Ishvara is incorporeal.[2] Instead, Ishvara is the highest form of truth and worship of God involves belief in God as an infinite and yet personal and loving being.
Acintya bhedābheda is a school of Vedanta representing the philosophy of inconceivable one-ness and difference, in relation to the power creation and creator, Ishvara, (Krishna), svayam bhagavan.[5][6] and also between God and his energies[7] within the Gaudiya Vaishnava religious tradition. In Sanskrit achintya means 'inconceivable', bheda translates as 'difference', and abheda translates as 'one-ness'. It is believed that this philosophy was taught by the movement's theological founder Chaitanya Mahaprabhu[8] and differentiates the Gaudiya tradition from the other Vaishnava Sampradayas.
"Caitanya's philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva completed the progression to devotional theism. Rāmānuja had agreed with Śaṅkara that the Absolute is one only, but he had disagreed by affirming individual variety within that oneness. Madhva had underscored the eternal duality of the Supreme and the Jīva: he had maintained that this duality endures even after liberation. Caitanya, in turn, specified that the Supreme and the jīvas are "inconceivably, simultaneously one and different" (acintya-bheda-abheda). He strongly opposed Śaṅkara's philosophy for its defiance of Vyāsadeva's siddhānta". (See Satsvarupa dasa Goswami)[9]
Ishvara is simultaneously "one with and different from His creation". In this sense Vaishnava theology is not pantheistic as in no way does it deny the separate existence of God (Vishnu) in His own personal form. However, at the same time, creation (or what is termed in Vaishnava theology as the 'cosmic manifestation') is never separated from God. He always exercises supreme control over his creation. Sometimes directly, but most of the time indirectly through his different potencies or energies (Prakrti).
Thus, in addition to their belief in the abstract principle of Brahman, most Hindus worship God on a day-to-day basis in one of God's less abstract personal forms, such as Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, Shiva, or Devi. Some Hindus worship these personal forms of God for a practical reason: it is easier to cultivate devotion to a personal being than to an abstract principle. Other Hindus believe the personal form of God which they worship is Brahman's Supreme form and that the unmanifest (Nirguna Brahman) is a less complete aspect of the personal god. Therefore, the Hindu scriptures depict God not only as an abstract principle or concept, but also as a personal being and this is understood differently by different schools and different Hindus.
In the anime and manga Fullmetal Alchemist, Ishvara is a god worshipped by people in Ishbal.
In the roleplaying game Exalted, the term "Ishvara" is used to describe a Raksha that is so metaphysically powerful that it is effectively a living story that everyone goes along with.