Question
How do you find out your Ishta-Deva (personal deity)?
Answer
The key role in revealing one's Ishta Devata plays the Atma Karaka. Atma Karaka is the planet that has the highest longitude. To find one's Ishta Devata we have to look at the Atma Karaka in Navamsa, since the Navamsa shows blessings of God onto the native and the way in which the native communicates with God.
Atma Karaka in Navamsa is called the "Karakamsa". The 12th from the Karakamsa determines the "Istha Devata". The 12th house from the karakamsa is called the "Jivanmuktamsa". This is the house signifying the emancipation of the soul and we have to examine this house in order to find one's Ishta Devata. If there is a graha in the Jivanmuktamsa, it signifies the Devata. If there are more grahas than one, we choose the strongest. If there is no graha in the Jivanmuktamsa, you can see whether any Grahas are aspecting the 12th. If no Grahas aspect it, you can take the 12th Lord as Ishta Devata.
The deities are worshipped based on the planets in the 12th from kaarakaamsha. Here are >the presiding deities for each planet who will be your Ishta Devata as per your horoscope.
- Sun~ Vishnu/ Rama/ Shiva
- Moon ~ Krishna/Parvati
- Mars ~ Hanuman/ Subramanya/ Sri Narasimha
- Mercury ~ Vishnu
- Jupiter ~ Vishnu/ Sri Vamana/ Dattatreya/ Sai Baba
- Venus ~ Mahalakshmi/ Parashurama
- Saturn ~ ShaniDev/ Hanuman/ Kurma
- Rahu ~ Durga/ Varaha
- Ketu ~ Ganesh/ Matsya
- Ascendent ~ Kalki
For example: Sun in 12th from Atma Karaka shows a worshipper of Shiva and Moon in 12th from Atma Karaka shows a worshipper of Gouri.
Source : Ishta Deva
Source 2: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra: Chapter 33, Verse 63-74
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