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I would like to know whether we get the nature of those gods we worship. Lord Bramha is said to have Sattva guna, Lord Vishnu Raja guna and Lord Shiva Tama guna.

What is the nature of the devotees of these gods? Are they one and the same?

Also, Raja guna and Tama guna seem to be negative but why are they associated with Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva? In what we way could we understand this?

Keshav Srinivasan
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  • Other way around: Brahma is associated with Rajas and Vishnu is associated with Sattva. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '14 at 06:15
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    No Guna is Negative. They ALL are necessary. They are like the colors of RGB-color scheme, that ALL add up to 'White' color, i.e for Awareness. Its the relative position of Rajas (i.e your Ego), Sattva, and Tamas that creates "good" or "bad" perception in you. Plz read my post to your own Ques. abt 'Adharma in Hinduism'. – Hindu Dec 01 '14 at 06:18
  • @KeshavSrinivasan No, Brahma is Sattva, and Vishnu is Rajas! – Hindu Dec 01 '14 at 06:19
  • @Hindu Where are you getting that from? Concerning Vishnu, the Mahabharata says "He is called Sattwata, because the attribute of Sattwa is never dissociated from him and also because he is never dissociated from it". – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '14 at 07:52
  • Thats from a place called 'Insight', my friend. Hinduism survived for SO LONG, NOT because it exists in a pile of paper. Rather Hinduism is in Nature itself, ALL AROUND US! One may deny it for sometime, but eventually he has to settle there only. Thats why Hinduism is Eternal, SANATAN. Indeed "the attribute of Sattwa is never dissociated from him and also because he is never dissociated from it" thats why 'Sattavik' Brahma CAN'T exist without, or apart from Vishnu (The 'Existence' itself). – Hindu Dec 01 '14 at 08:28
  • God is above and beyond all Gunas. The act of creation may be considered rajasic, while the act of preservation maybe considered sattvic, but Brahma and Vishnu are neither tamasic nor are they sattvic. These tendencies only kick in when one is attached to his/her actions. God is never attached and He is above and beyond all the gunas. As for do we get nature of Gods whom we worship, analogy as talking to our parents. The nature and character of our parents rub off on us. but our parents are well aware of this and thus only expose that which is needed for us at that time. Same wid God – Sai Dec 01 '14 at 17:53
  • @Hindu See http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/7787/does-the-trimurti-brahma-vishnu-shiva-cleanly-map-onto-the-3-gunas-sattva for how the three gunas 'map' to the Trimurti Godhead – Swami Vishwananda Aug 02 '15 at 03:34

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Yes. but it is depend on which SVAROOP of god you're doing worship to and based on this you can also change your whole nature.

Here, is one example of my friend which i show. He was some what more emotional then other as for such simple thing he not speak with us until we said sorry to him. one of older friend of us told him to worship shiv RUDRA SVAROOP just for POOJA not intention for this emotional things. and my friend also like to worship shiv so he started RUDRA SVAROOP worship.

after time we found that he got some of changes like, many times he don't care about things which are even big issue, he almost come-out from night fear (dark fear he also had) and some other things like not to take bath(!).

So yes totally. but be careful to choose about SVAROOP as some time is has side effect (like my friend become some sort of unhappy when we ask him to take bath even after a week). I also found that some some people who worship SHREE RAM without proper intention they have problem (directly or indirectly) with parent as most cases i also found that they are not living together even after the respect and love each other.

And one other thing why people give advice to not think about bad people or worship of bad people just because you eventually get that type of nature if you worship or think about them more and more.

Keshav Srinivasan
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Kiran
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Yes, to some extent we get the nature of the gods we worship. But it depends more upon the way we worship than whom we worship. So depending upon the method and mentality of worship there can be devotees of different nature. For example, there are devotees of Shiva who are satvic, but there are also devotees of Shiva like the naga babas who are generally tamasic. Hence, if one worships God with true devotion (without any personal desires), then instead of getting any of the three natures he gets beyond the three modes of material nature, viz. satva, raja and tama:

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [BG - 14.26]

Meaning
One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.

Moreover, it is the nature of the person that determines his likingness and preference regarding whom he worships:

yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣa-rakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ
pretān bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ [BG - 17.4]

Meaning
Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods; those in the mode of passion worship the demons; and those in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.

So God is beyond the three modes. All these modes are the product of prakruti or material nature:

sattvaṃ rajastama iti prakṛterguṇāstair [SB - 1.2.23]
- Satva, raja, tama — these three are the qualities of prakruti or material nature.

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ [BG - 14.5]
- Satva, raja, tama — these three originate from prakruti.

Hence, taking something as positive or negative is just our own way of perceiving things. And depending upon our own preference we attribute different deities and gods to them. From one point of view there is nothing good or bad because one is complementary to the other. Hence, it is a common known fact that Vishnu and Shiva are two interdependent deities. One cannot do without the other. Creation cannot last forever, one day it will get destroyed. This destruction is attributed to Lord Shiva and we say destruction is tamasic, but without it creation and its sustenance cannot happen again. So all are essential, it is the attitude we place towards them is what matters.

Keshav Srinivasan
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