HINDUISM;- Why do people worship 'family Deities' (Kula Daivam)?

Question

Already God has manifested into many gods. Kula Daiva pooja, is it not a dividing factor.

Answer 1

Is it our Hindu (Specially South Indian) Tradition that each family have a family deitiy called KULA DEIVAM. These Kula Deivams are considered as the ANCESTRAL God..meaning our forefathers and relatives have been worshiping that god for ages. It is the unshaken belief of most of the Hindus that these family deities take care of our family and save from all hardships and hindrances. In south u have what is called the "kula deivam' or the ancestral god..meaning our forefathers and relatives have been worshiping that god for ages..Every family has a guardian angel called Kula Deivam (Kulam -- Lineage/Family, Deivam -- God). This in most communities tend to be different from the Hindu Gods that are generally worshiped in a common temple. A temple to a Kula deivam constructed in one's ancestral village/town, will have it as the main deity (Sanctum Sanctorum) while other Gods may also be present in the periphery. The Kula deivam can be formless as well. People who have migrated to other places still visit their ancestral village/town and pay their respects by offerings (animal sacrifices(by some people only) /donations /charity /breaking coconuts) and feasting (called pongal -- which is also the name of Thanksgiving festival and a dish made of rice). Since in most villages, people of the same community tend to be related, everyone will have the same Kula Daivam.People visit the temple of their Kula Deivam every year and make special pujas from their family. Mostly these Kula Deivams would be Marriamman Iyennar type, who are considered the great deities in the villages. -

Answer 2

Deities Meaning

Answer 3

Vannakkam/Namashkaram,

Dear Muthu,

All the deities are made of the 3 components / gunas / properties namely 1. Sathva 2. Rajo 3. Thamo

From the Sathva Guna all the deities are created

From the Rajo Guna living beings are created

From the Thamo Guna material world are created

All these 3 gunas are created by the Nirguna and Saguna brahma samyojam

They are created the ultimate god “ParaBrahma” “Almighty” “God” “Allah”
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Sathva Guna:

Even within Sathva guna deities are created with the combination of these guna’s. For example

Sathva + Sathava = Vishnu (Samasti Bhavam) & Lakshmi (Vesti Bhavam)
Sathva + Rajo = Brahma (Samasti Bhavam) & Saraswathi (Vesti Bhavam)
Sathva + Sathava = Shiva (Samasti Bhavam) & Parwathi (Vesti Bhavam)

It is a chain of creation. We have taken birth through one of the chain.

Family Deity / Kula Deivam are the deity through which your heredity is born. When you do saadana, you go back and join this deity. Every other deity blesses you through this deity.

Some time this chain is lost. We may not know the roots; hence people go for Ishta Devatha / choosen deity. That means, you would start loving and believing a deity without your knowledge. With that deity you will have more devotion. That chosen deity is called Ishta Deivam / Choosen Deity.

When you start doing saadana properly, you will get the beeja mantra of the right deity from the right guru at the right time. Once you start enchanting their beeja mantra, your soul elevates. You kundalini rises and progresses towards Sahasrara chakra and then you reach god. This way of soul leaving the body and joining god permanently is called Samadhi.

Hope you understood my views. If you have any further clarification / information, please feel free to ask. As I would be only happy to provide you the same.

I hope you have understood that Kula Daiva pooja, is not a dividing factor. Religion is a serious matter, hence try to learn, instead of making wrong comments. It would become Deiva Kuttram. Deiva Kuttram pollaadadu.

With warm regards

Gentleman.

Answer 4

Dear Muthu, I want you to understand what is Hindu and Hinduism. India has been invaded lots of time by foreigners, and whenever they entered India, were to cross a river called Sindhu (now in Pakistan). Those people could prounce 'sa' of sindhu. The land after crossing sindhu river ( that is Hindusthan-India), they used to pronounce Hindu instead of Sindhu. The religions in that land were called Hindu religion, and people staying on the land were called Hindu, and the land they called was Hindusthan.
Regarding performing pooja's... it is a question of faith and belief. To me actually god can't help directly, but he can show us a path in the form of an inspiration. You close your eyes and ask god, who is within you very much, will answer in the form of some idea.

Answer 5

Hundreds of years people living in a village worshiped a Deity of their village or nearby town.A few families move to a different State -say from Andra Pradesh (Ahobilam) to Tamil Nadu (Pudhukottai) for lively hood.Immediately after moving the ancestors continue to worship the same Diety of their erstwhile village (Sri Narasimha) in their houses or nearby sri.Narasimha(Sholingar) temples..One man had 6 children and his clan increased 1>.6>>36>>216--all the 216 families in 4 generations worshiped the same Deity sri,Narasimha.After the British arrival and Independence the movement of people on Government/Company jobs increased many fold to Madras, Bombay , Calcutta, Delhi,Hyderabad etc and after 1960 to U.S.A, U.K., Germany, Australia, Japan.etc-216 families became 2600 families and all worship Ahobilam sri.Narasimha only as Principal Family Diety(Kula Daivam).God is ONE and onlyONE("Ekaiva Brahmam Satyam") One of His Names in 1000 names (Sahasranaamam) is sri.Narasimha and He (the Principal deity of their ancestral village )becomes KUla Daivam

Answer 6

KULADIVAM worship ...may beour ancestral guidances for us. as usual one should ask why, for what purpose..and how to be done....in our anmeegam certain guidances given for family unity . but now generation gap.. no unity in families due to gealosness, inferiority complexes no heart felt love among family, disobediance s, more more wants, leadsto luxury ..these changes happenig at present ugam. previously unity was there in kuladivam worship, death/ mariage functions etc. and that was due to parents guidance. most of the mis understandings will be eroded, then all will unite together. i understand this certain phylosopers. so our ultimate aim is to have clean soul which will lead us for self realisation/[anmeega life]... so real unity among us will lead to heart feltlove, good actions with our MANAM< VAKKU< SEYAL.....so ifeel all our valipadus are for our good SOUL. Also i feel for other failures we haveto refer ..karma theories, planets positionetc. ......matha, pitha GURU, then DIVAM these are all my viwes. If anythingwrong pl.pardonme.....anmeegam is big ocean....

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Some people worship family dieties. There are also Village or town dieties that are only worshipped in particular communities. These Gods are worshipped because their particular qualities resonate with individuals or because they satisfy particular needs.

Many Hindus believe that the Gods are all aspects of Brahma(n), or the One God (and in such Hinduism is actually a monotheistic religion). Therefore, worshipping one aspect of God is worshipping God.

It is no different than worshipping Jesus for His sacrifice and forgiveness, worshipping and praising the Holy Spirit in times of need or great joy, or worshipping God the Father. In each you are worshipping a different aspect of God just as a Hindu may pray to Ganesh for protection for a trip, to Lakshima for money or finacial concerns, or to praise Vishnu.

Answer 9

Jesus is not the answer ...THEN WHO IS GOD? Here is the formula whoever fits in the FORMULA is GOD
"He is God , [who is] One
God , the Eternal Absolute
He neither begets nor is born
And there is none like unto him

The Arabic word for “GOD” is ALLAH

Answer 10

They have never met Chuck Norris