Talk:Bhagavān Appears To His Bhaktas In Their Favorite Forms
Hindus who worship one of the many Divine Manifestations of Bhagavān nevertheless select a favorite Form (‘Iṣhta Devatā’) to focus their Bhakti on. Sometimes however, it so happens that the Bhakta visits a temple or a holy place where his specific Iṣhta Devatā is absent, and another Form is worshipped. Our tradition records cases where the anguish of the Bhakta to see his chosen Devatā in the images was fulfilled by the Lord, who transformed the appearance of the Mūrti to that of the Iṣhta Devatā of his Bhakta. In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna shows his Universal Form to Arjuna, the latter gets overwhelmed, intimidated and anxious and appeals to Krishna to re-appear in a Form to which he is used to seeing, and which he finds more relatable and pleasing. Krishna obliges, and appears to Arjuna first in the Form of Vishnu and then in his usual two-armed form.
These incidents also validate the widespread Hindu belief that all Deities are but different Manifestations of the same, One Divine Lord.
Story: The Mūrti of Rāma transforms into that of Krishna for the latter’s Bhakta Bilvamangala
Bilvamangala, a devotee of Shri Krishna, once visited the temples of Rama in Ayodhya. A Sadhu asked him, “Why have you forsaken your Krishna to worship King Rama here?”
Bilvamangal replied, “I see my Krishna alone in Rama. But if you wish that I should worship only Krishna, then I will pray to Rama to transform Himself into Krishna. May Rama leave aside his bow and arrow for a moment and pick a flute. May he take off his royal crown and wear a tiara of peacock feathers for my sake for some time.” A miracle happened, and the murti of Rama transformed to that of Krishna for some time in the full vision of everyone[1].
Story: Mūrti of the Lord Changes its Shape to Make the Bhakta More Comfortable
In her old age, the Queen Ganeshdei of Orchhā (16th century CE) used to worship an image of Rama that she had brought from Ayodhya. As the image was in a standing position, she would always worship Him while standing as she felt uncomfortable sitting when her Lord was standing. To alleviate her discomfort in her old age, it is said that the image miraculously transformed itself into a sitting position. The image still exists and is worshipped to this day[2].
Story: Sitting Krishna at the Tota Gopinath Mandir in Puri, Odisha
A beautiful story is narrated with regard to the image of this temple. Unlike other Krishna images in which the Deity is shown in a standing posture, this image shows Krishna sitting in a Padmāsana posture. It is said that the image was initially in the usual standing posture and was worshipped by Gadādhara Pandit, a disciple of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Due to the infirmity in his legs, Gadādhara was greatly troubled whenever he got up to stand and place a garland around the neck of the standing image. He decided to hire a new priest to do the needful. But out of love and compassion, the Lord transformed the standing image into a sitting posture so that He could receive the worship and garland from for Gadādhara Pandit while he sat on the ground.