Does anyone have any stories about being drawn to a deitity?

[BrainStorm_wow]

I am not Hindu. I was Buddhist for a short time(about 2 years) and during that time I kept seeing Shiva appear on web pages and on tv. I would just see and read his name everywhere. Then I started to look into Hinduism a little bit and started reading a little about Shiva. I do Shiva mantras a lot now. I don't know what it is that draws me too him so much, but the connection is definitely there. I currently have no religion, I just pray to whatever being I want to at the time.

[rainwatch]

Good for you! follow your heart and let it guid you. You may need spacific guidence from that deitity. I personally don't follow any religion either, nor do I pray, but when I find myself being drawn to a spacific thing, whether it be a deitity, object, number, etc... I research it well and find it's something I needed to learn, feel, experience, or know more about to aid me on my path and journey.

I do not beleive in coincidence, therefor what crosses your path often, is definatly meant to be known...

So I would seek it out!

[caterpillarwoman]

Funny you should mention Shiva. He's been popping up in my life off and on for a couple of years now. I will say that Shiva's presence is the most stunningly and amazingly masculine presence I've ever experienced. It's beyond male. It's like "meta-male" or something. Wow. Totally blew me away the first time I experienced it.

I've also had a connection with Quan Yin (by way of a temple dedicated to her), Ganesha (I just liked him a lot and when I read about his attributes of removing obstacles, I was even more drawn to him; be aware, though, when you ask an elephant to remove an obstacle, you may end up with a lot more flattened space than you initially thought to clear!), Sophia, and, lately, Kali has been popping up quite a lot, probably for her aspect as pure energy (Kundalini) and her association with the annihilation of ego and other such concepts. (She is very scary looking, but the destruction of ego is often a battle, at which she excels.)

For the record, I am in no way Hindu, though I do have a great respect for Hindu traditions. I don't claim to understand the intricacies of Hinduism, which is very complex. I just go where the symbols lead, and accept the gifts as they're given, regardless of the form in which they come (Hindu, Gnostic, Buddhist, whatever).

I'm personally of the opinion that all experiences of deity are experiences of aspects of self, but that's probably another discussion entirely.