ATMAN AS CHOSEN IDEAL

The Chosen Ideal, or "ishta" in Sanskrit, is the aspect of the Godhead chosen by a spiritual aspirant, or by his guru for him.  Through meditation on his Chosen Ideal, the aspirant attains, over time, concentration of mind, love of God, and ultimately illumination.

The Chosen Ideal can be Ramakrishna in Vedanta, or any of the Vedic gods, Vishnu, Kali, Krishna, etc., or be figures from other religions, such as Christ, the Buddha, Muhammad, and so forth.

In his book Religion in Practice, Swami Prabhavananda suggests that one's Atman, the personal aspect of Brahman, be one's Chosen Ideal.  "Let your Atman become your Lord, your Chosen Ideal, and keep your mind and heart concentrated on him.”

In Vedanta the Chosen ideal is most often associated with bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, which is one of the four main yogas, or paths to union with God.

The other paths are jnana yoga, the path of knowledge, karma yoga, the path of selfless work, and raja yoga, the path of formal meditation.  Bhakti yoga is the most natural path to God-realization and is the one that the majority of believers in all the great religions of the world follow.