Can we take our own future enlightenment as our ishta-devataa (meditation deity) in this lifetime?
One of the definitions of final enlightenment (samyak.sam.bodhi) is omniscience (sarva-jñana) and supremacy over all states of existence. Patanjali Yoga Sutra 3.49 says: Only one discerning (khaati) the difference (anyataa) between purusha and sattva gains supremacy (adhi.staat.rtva) over all states (bhaava) and all-knowingness (sarvajñaat.rtva). The Buddha is said to be omniscient, but only in the limited sense that although he can see whatever he chooses, he does not perceive everything simultaneously, but must turn his mind to whatever it is he wants to perceive. Thus in the Theravada tradition, the Buddha denies that anyone can see everything in a single act of cognition (ekachaitanyam). However, one of the signal events of a Buddha's enlightenment is direct perception of his own past lives. This means he is not bound by the conventional ideas of separation between the past, the present and future. Thus the obvious question: In the future, in your fully enlightened state, are you looking at yourself right at this very "moment"? Considering this ultimate universal-supremacy and omniscience, can you take yourself as your own ishta-devatta, as that one who transforms you into Tad-Ekam or "That One"? Not some airy-fairy "higher self" but in the immediacy and directness of this present awareness? ..
