Documenting my part auto bio with pics of Devas (Divine beings/gods) that I would (and continue to) pray to

Last updated on 4th April 2019

This post follows up on previous posts of this type related to my efforts to convert a hastily written part autobiography (main work done in 2013) into a self-published ebook and later paperback book, e.g. Some old pics of me (Ravi S. Iyer), https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/12/some-old-pics-of-me.html, dated 25th Dec. 2018.

As I turned towards Bhakti in early 1990s, my first Ishta-Devata (favourite divine being/god) was Krishna. I had started visiting ISKCON Juhu, Mumbai off and on, and found the Bhakti (devotion) experience there to be inspiring and very helpful. I think I got the Krishna blowing conch (before Mahabharata war) framed picture shown below from ISKCON Juhu center but I am not sure. I also think I got this picture while I was living in Andheri, Mumbai (Takshila society) before moving back to Dombivli. I kept this picture on my home work table, prayed to it quite regularly and got inspired by it.

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The pic above is of the laminated photo but without the thick glass sheet affixed on top of it which was the case till sometime earlier today. Today, 3rd April 2019, the laminated photo got separated from the thick glass sheet as I was trying to use lot of cleaning liquid to clean the front surface of the glass sheet! That enabled me to then directly clean the laminated photo using cleaning liquid and get a much better picture of it than I had got earlier today when the glass sheet was covering it. I think over the years some dust had entered into some gaps between the glass sheet and the laminated photo creating some dust dots and patches on the photo. Just for comparison purposes, I have attached below the pic taken today of the same laminated photo when the glass sheet was attached to it. Note that I am an amateur photographer and so the pic below may have had lesser light exposure or something like that leading to it appearing much more muted in colour. The thick glass sheet, of course, may have contributed to the colour being muted but my lack of expertise in photography and my low cost mobile phone (camera) may have significantly contributed to more muted colours in below pic.

Later I got acquainted with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba through books on him and through books/discourses authored by him. Slowly and steadily, he became another Ishta-Devata for me, with Krishna continuing to be an Ishta-Devata but with a growing acceptance of Sathya Sai's statement that he is the same Krishna come again as Sathya Sai. And that Sathya Sai Avatar's career would be suited to needs of today's time and age due to which there would be outward differences between Krishna and Sathya Sai Avatars.

The framed pic of Sathya Sai below became my main Sathya Sai photo in my home (in Dombivli). I had it hung in the front room of my small flat where I was living with my mother. I used to pray often to this photo. This became my main worship photo of Sathya Sai in my Dombivli years after early 1990s.

Note that the Sathya Sai framed photo is a big one - around 16 inches width and around 20 inches height, whereas the Krishna framed pic is a small one - around 3.25 inches width and around 5 inches height.

After I moved to Puttaparthi in Oct. 2002 and started having regular Darshan of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I started relating more to pics of Sathya Sai that were recent and so having more likeness to the living Sathya Sai that I would be having regular Darshan of. I also slowly got into contemplation and meditation as part of my individual sadhana where I tried to focus on awareness/consciousness and viewed that as a way to get closer to experiencing formless God.

The photos whose pics are put up on this post continue to be with me and are usually placed in a suitable worship area in my small flat in Puttaparthi.