Collecting mana? Magical powers?

[Aupmanyav]

- What do the sages and heroes do to collect their siddhis?
- Does it exist different kind of siddhis, after what kind of god you are praying to, for example?
- Is it the gods that are granting individuals siddhis as they please (one kind of god would give, while one dont want to give, for example)?

First and foremost they engage in good deeds. Even Gods cannot salvage a person with bad deeds. The person has to improve. Then come knowledge and worship.

As I said, Gods and Goddesses are all powerful, even the best of sages (Brahmarshis - Brahma Rishis) are just as good (Deities will happily fulfill all that these people promise, they have faith on the decisions of these sages). They can award any 'siddhi'. Of course, people worship different deities to obtain different 'siddhis' (for example Hanuman for bodily power, Saraswati for knowledge and Lakshmi for money), but it does not mean that the others cannot give award these 'siddhis'. (I have already mentioned that I do not believe in siddhis and woo)

No, Gods do not work at cross-purposes, and if it happens they somehow sort it out. It may happen that a God may grant some 'siddhi' to one person and that person may get into conflict with another God. It happened in case of Banasura, a demon king. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Now Banasura's daughter, Usha, became enamored with Lord Krishna's grandson, Aniruddha, and had him abducted. Krishna declared war against Banasura to rescue his grandson. When Banasura was loosing, he prayed to Shiva for succor and Shiva came to fight for him against Krishna. That naturally caused an upheaval in the world. But then the sages intervened and told the two deities that they are actually one, so what are they fighting for. Then the two deities appeared in the avatara of Hari-Hara, which was half Shiva and half Vishnu. The story ended happily with Krishna accepting the marriage of Aniruddha with Usha and taking back his now-pregnant grand daughter-in-law to his capital Dwarika.

 

[Chakra]

First and foremost they engage in good deeds. Even Gods cannot salvage a person with bad deeds. The person has to improve. Then come knowledge and worship.

As I said, Gods and Goddesses are all powerful, even the best of sages (Brahmarshis - Brahma Rishis) are just as good (Deities will happily fulfill all that these people promise, they have faith on the decisions of these sages). They can award any 'siddhi'. Of course, people worship different deities to obtain different 'siddhis' (for example Hanuman for bodily power, Saraswati for knowledge and Lakshmi for money), but it does not mean that the others cannot give award these 'siddhis'. (I have already mentioned that I do not believe in siddhis and woo)

No, Gods do not work at cross-purposes, and if it happens they somehow sort it out. It may happen that a God may grant some 'siddhi' to one person and that person may get into conflict with another God. It happened in case of Banasura, a demon king. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Now Banasura's daughter, Usha, became enamoured with Lord Krishna's grandson, Aniruddha and had him abducted. Krishna declared war against Banasura to rescue his grandson. When Banasura was loosing, he prayed to Shiva for succor and Shiva came to fight for him against Krishna. That naturally caused an upheaval in the world. But then the sages intervened and told the two deities that they are actually one, so what are they fighting for. Then the two deities appeared in the avatara of Hari-Hara, which was half Shiva and half Vishnu. The story ended happily with Krishna accepting the marriage of Aniruddha with Usha and taking back his now-pregnant grand daughter-in-law to his capital Dwarika.

That's not the story that I've heard. Bhagavatam doesn't even mention "hari-hara".

 

[Aupmanyav]

I understand, but Hindus go by many scriptures and have many different stories.
As they said 'Hari Anant Hari Katha Ananta' (the Lord is limitless and so are His stories)

 

[Kristoffer]

First and foremost they engage in good deeds. Even Gods cannot salvage a person with bad deeds. The person has to improve. Then come knowledge and worship.

As I said, Gods and Goddesses are all powerful, even the best of sages (Brahmarshis - Brahma Rishis) are just as good (Deities will happily fulfill all that these people promise, they have faith on the decisions of these sages). They can award any 'siddhi'. Of course, people worship different deities to obtain different 'siddhis' (for example Hanuman for bodily power, Saraswati for knowledge and Lakshmi for money), but it does not mean that the others cannot give award these 'siddhis'. (I have already mentioned that I do not believe in siddhis and woo)

No, Gods do not work at cross-purposes, and if it happens they somehow sort it out. It may happen that a God may grant some 'siddhi' to one person and that person may get into conflict with another God. It happened in case of Banasura, a demon king. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Now Banasura's daughter, Usha, became enamored with Lord Krishna's grandson, Aniruddha, and had him abducted. Krishna declared war against Banasura to rescue his grandson. When Banasura was loosing, he prayed to Shiva for succor and Shiva came to fight for him against Krishna. That naturally caused an upheaval in the world. But then the sages intervened and told the two deities that they are actually one, so what are they fighting for. Then the two deities appeared in the avatara of Hari-Hara, which was half Shiva and half Vishnu. The story ended happily with Krishna accepting the marriage of Aniruddha with Usha and taking back his now-pregnant grand daughter-in-law to his capital Dwarika.

Could you please tell me what the name of this story is from? Sounds very interesting! ^^

 

[Aupmanyav]

Banasura - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Aniruddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Usha dreaming of Aniruddha - Raja Ravi Varma, India's first modern painter.