What is Ishvara? God, Creation and the Self in Vedanta
- Daniel McKenzie
- Sep 17, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 4
In some modern interpretations, Brahman and Ishvara (Īśvara) are informally referred to as ‘God without attributes’ (nirguna) and ‘God with attributes’ (saguna). The former is pure consciousness, while the latter is awareness associated with maya. Figuratively speaking, Ishvara wields its maya like a spider wields its web without ever getting tangled in it. The spider is both the intelligence and material behind its web, and while the web is the spider, the spider is not the web. Similarly, Ishvara creates the world out of itself, but never becomes its creation.
Although Ishvara is often described as being omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, Ishvara isn't a person with superhuman powers. Ishvara also doesn't reside in any specific location because Ishvara is all that is, including these very bodies and thinking minds.
Ishvara is best defined as the creative principle, that is, both the intelligence and matter used to form and maintain the universe. To personify Ishvara then, is strictly a personal choice, much in the same way it’s a personal choice to reverentially refer to the earth as "Mother Earth"—a symbol, not a literal claim.
While Ishvara refers to the totality—the impersonal, all-knowing, all-pervading intelligence behind the universe—"Bhagavan" is Ishvara viewed through the lens of devotion (bhakti). The term Bhagavan comes from bhaga, meaning “wealth” or “glory.” Specifically, it refers to the one who possesses the six bhagas in full:
These are not human attributes but cosmic ones. Bhagavan is the worshipful form of the infinite — made accessible to the seeker’s mind and heart.
In practice, this form varies across traditions. In the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan is Krishna; elsewhere it may be Shiva, Rama, or the Divine Mother. These deities are not separate beings but symbolic gateways through which one relates to the formless.
For this reason, Vedanta does not discourage devotional practices such as prayer, mantra, or puja. The heart requires a way to love what the intellect has understood. As the seeker matures, devotion ripens from dualistic worship to recognition: Ishvara is non-different from the Self.
Thus jnana reveals the non-dual truth; bhakti grants the clarity, surrender, and steadiness to assimilate it.
Why Vedanta Includes Ishvara
Some seekers question why a tradition grounded in reasoned inquiry includes the concept of God at all, assuming it to be a vestige of cultural inheritance. Vedanta, however, maintains that knowledge of oneself is incomplete without knowledge of the total. Without understanding the nature of the world in which one functions, one risks realizing the Self while simultaneously misunderstanding — or resenting — the field of experience.
Thus, understanding Ishvara is not an appeal to blind belief but an essential part of freedom. Ishvara is not to be believed but to be known. Only with this knowledge can one live harmoniously within the world that encompasses the individual.
Vedanta summarizes the roles of Ishvara in three ways:
Creator–sustainer–resolver of the universe
Governor of the field of experience (dharma)
Giver of the fruits of action (karma-phala)
1. Ishvara as Creator–Sustainer–Resolver
Traditional texts describe Ishvara as a single reality functioning in three stages of manifestation:
• Ishvara — the unmanifest, seed state (deep sleep analogue)
• Hiranyagarbha — the subtle, germinating state (dream analogue)
• Vaishvanara — the gross, empirical state (waking analogue)
The universe cycles through these phases: manifestation, sustenance, resolution, and return to the seed state. Shankaracharya details these stages and their constituent elements in Tattva Bodha.
2. Ishvara as Governor of the Field of Experience
For any coherent system to function, there must be an underlying order. Vedanta calls this order dharma, the infallible structure of physical, psychological, moral, and cosmic laws. Ishvara is this very order.
Humans alone are capable of violating this order; animals follow their innate programs without conflict. Understanding Ishvara’s order — and its value — is essential for living intelligently.
Modern metaphors are necessarily imperfect, but one may loosely compare Ishvara to an all-encompassing field of intelligence in which countless programs operate simultaneously. One such “program” governs the jiva’s sense of agency. While individuals possess meaningful choice at the micro level, from the standpoint of the whole, the universe unfolds according to its inherent order.
Ishvara, as pure knowledge, “knows” all possibilities across time. Recognizing this dissolves the jiva’s false sense of absolute doership while preserving its responsibility within the field of action.
3. Ishvara as Giver of the Fruits of Action
As both the creator and governor of the field, Ishvara also dispenses the results of action (karma-phala). Actions performed in alignment with dharma yield beneficial results; actions opposed to dharma produce suffering. Cultivating the right “seeds” through right action is therefore essential for inner maturity.
Tat Tvam Asi — “That Thou Art”
Despite the many glories attributed to Ishvara, Vedanta insists that the apparent distinction between jiva and Ishvara is due solely to their respective upadhis (limiting adjuncts). Maya serves as Ishvara’s upadhi; the body–mind–sense complex serves as the jiva’s. Both obscure the truth that their essence is the same awareness.
Thus:
maya + awareness = Ishvara
body-mind-sense complex + awareness = jiva
This insight is expressed in the mahavakya, tat tvam asi —“you are that.” The individual and Ishvara are one in essence. The body-mind belongs to the world, which is Ishvara’s manifestation; awareness, the substratum of all being, is non-dual. This does not negate Ishvara as a functional reality but reveals Ishvara to be mithya: dependent reality appearing upon the changeless truth of awareness.
Ultimately, the entire world appears in the Self, including the apparent individual and the apparent God. Ishvara is not other than me, nor am I other than Ishvara. The one reality — Brahman, Ishvara, awareness — is the Self alone.
Through devotion, inquiry, and clear discernment, the seeming division between seeker and sought dissolves. What remains is what has always been: the Self — whole, free, and undivided.
There is only one reality. Call it Brahman, call it Ishvara, call it awareness. You are That.
Root & Meaning
From ish (“to own, to rule”) → “the ruler,” “the Lord.”
Scriptural References
Mundaka Upanishad (1.1.7–1.1.9) – Compares Ishvara to a spider projecting and withdrawing its web, illustrating creation and dissolution.
Taittiriya Upanishad (2.6.1) – Declares Brahman as the source from which all beings are born, sustained, and into which they dissolve.
Bhagavad Gita (4.6–4.8) – Krishna reveals his role as unborn Ishvara who manifests through maya for the protection of dharma.
Bhagavad Gita (9.4–9.10) – Describes Ishvara as all-pervading, yet unattached, orchestrating creation through maya.
Bhagavad Gita (10.20) – “I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings.”
Bhagavad Gita (15.15) – Ishvara as the source of memory, knowledge, and reasoning, and the revealer of the Vedas.
Brahma Sutra (1.1.2) – Identifies Brahman/Ishvara as the omniscient cause of the origin, sustenance, and dissolution of the world.
Chandogya Upanishad (6.2.1–6.2.3) – Presents Ishvara as the One without a second from which all creation emerges.
Shvetashvatara Upanishad (6.7–6.9) – Declares Ishvara as the ruler of all, beyond birth, untouched by the world, yet the inner controller of all beings.
Traditional View
Ishvara is omniscient (sarvajna), omnipotent (sarva-shakta), and omnipresent (sarva-vyapi).
The giver of the results of actions (karma-phala-data).
The sustainer of cosmic order (rita or dharma).
Vedantic Analysis
Ishvara = Brahman + maya (with full control over maya).
From the empirical standpoint, worship and surrender to Ishvara are valid and necessary for mental purification.
From the absolute standpoint, Ishvara is non-different from the Self; duality is only apparent.
Common Misunderstandings
Thinking Ishvara is just a “mythological god” among many, rather than the total, all-intelligent order.
Equating Ishvara solely with a sectarian form (e.g., only as Krishna or only as Shiva).
Believing Ishvara is outside of oneself and separate in essence.
Vedantic Resolution
Devotion to Ishvara is not to a distant deity but to the totality in which one lives and moves. In the highest vision, Ishvara is recognized as one’s own Self, free from all limitations.
