Thus Spake the Divine - Devas (Deities)

Thus Spake the Divine

Devas (Deities)

In this chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava clearly brings out distinctions between Swami and other Devatas. He explains who Devatas are and their unique characteristics.

People of other religions ridicule us saying when Swami is one, how come your Hindu Religion has 330 million Gods? Of course, we have only one Swami.

We call Him Deyvam (God) in our colloquial usage. Deyvam in Tamil means fate. Fate is nothing but the outcome of our own Karmas pertaining to current and erstwhile births. We Hindus also use Swami to denote Deyvam. But there are also some of us who even mock our own religion saying, “How come there are 330 million Gods?”

According to Hindu Religion, Swami (God) or Deyvam and Devas (Celestial Beings of High Excellence) are not one and the same, though some perceive them as the same. The fundamental philosophy of our religion is that God is One. He has taken up three roles to carry out three major activities viz. Creation, Sustenance and Destruction through the respective forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. However, in reality, all these forms are not three different ones. The classification is only based on their roles as Creator, Preserver and Destructor.

In our own life, one takes several roles. As a Tahsildar he wears a coat and suit while going to court. The same Tahsildar while doing pooja at home wears a panchakatcham (dhoti in a traditional form). If he has to cook in the absence of his wife, he wears a towel and engages in cooking. Thus, as vulnerable, least powered normal human beings, we change our costumes as warranted by the type of task we undertake. Likewise, the omnipotent, all powerful God too changes His contour or physical form while taking up different tasks. As a matter of fact, as Krishna in Gita says, “Our body or physique itself is the costume of the soul”, isn’t it?!

Let us see the contrasts between God and Devas (The female connotation of Devas is Devatas)

We, with limitations on our capabilities, masquerade differently at various times. Likewise, the powerful and omnipotent God too takes different disguises at the same time to engage in different tasks. We do one task at a time. But God is competent enough to perform different tasks at the same time and therefore takes various forms. These forms are the ones whom we worship as Deities, such as Maha Vishnu, Ishvara, Ambal, Ganesha, and Subrahmanya and so on. All these Deities are themselves conscious that They are the same Brahmam.

Let me now explain to you who Devas are. The innumerable living beings in this cosmic world need food, clothing, and shelter and so on for a comfortable living. God has made appropriate permutations and combinations of all five Nature’s Elements viz. Pancha Bhutas to provide living beings their livelihood. Like how with mere six tastes, we prepare thousands of dishes, the same way, just with five natural elements, God provides multifarious things needed for the life of living beings in this Cosmos.

Who is responsible for fulfilling the needs of living beings? God does not directly engage Himself in this task. He has assigned this task to Devas. Like how we have different classifications of living beings, like human race, animal race, plants race and so on, Devas are also a race on this earth. Like how a King runs his kingdom with the help of various Deputies and Officers, God runs the business of this world with the aid of Devas. A King appoints Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs to protect his country, its oceans and space from external attacks. God has also appointed Deva Forces to protect Pancha Bhutas.

Like how a Government has many departments, such as Agriculture and Irrigation, Infrastructure, Transport etc., in the kingdom of Ishvara also, there are Devas taking care of Pancha Bhutas. God has appointed Devas as Heads of different departments. Because we have floods, we have engineers to streamline water flow and build dams. However, these engineers cannot produce water! Therefore, God, who is the sole Creator of Water, has appointed Varuna Deva to distribute water to the world as Engineer of all Engineers. Similarly, we have Agni to manage fire, Vayu for air and so on. The Head for all these Devas is Indra.

Human beings are capable of visually seeing all animate and inanimate beings of this Cosmos. As the order of creation goes downwards, higher is the Kriya Shakti (Energy of Action). For example, man does not possess the power and strength as that of an elephant or a lion. He is not capable of building a hive as do bees. He cannot prepare a nest like sparrows do. However, man’s power of knowledge (Jnyana Shakti) is much higher compared to all these living beings.

Devas are the ones, who possess both Kriya Shakti and Jnyana Shakti. As we have different clans among human beings, like Negros, Mongols etc., there are also different races among Devas, such as Kinnara, Kumpurusha, Yaksha, Siddha, Sarana, Sadhya, Gandarva and so on. Devas cannot be seen with naked eyes. That does not mean that they don’t exist. As the air is not visible to eyes, Devas are also not visible to our eyes. When we sway our hands, we feel the air flowing on us. Similarly, when we diligently follow Karmas, we can attain the grace and benevolence of Devas.

You might ask about the connection between us adhering to Karmas and Devas bestowing their grace on us. The officers appointed in a Government receive salaries. How does the Government earn this revenue? It does so from citizens by way of taxes. Similarly, God distributes salaries to Devas from Karmas that we do in the form of Yaga or Yajnyas (Sacred Fire), wherein we offer oblations.

If we pay our taxes through Karmas, we get benevolence of Devas, who receive these oblations as salaries from God.

Amongst various creations, how much difference is there between a worm and man? Is the worm capable of comprehending activities of a human? Similarly, we cannot comprehend the behaviours and activities of Devas. Devas don’t undergo aging or die as humans do. They are more powerful than human beings. But still, God has made them in such a way that they have to get their food from only human beings.

Devas, the enlightened race, are of three forms. One is in the divine body form pervading the astronomic world, known as Adi Daivika Roopam. When human beings attain great powers through rigorous austerity, they can see Adi Daivikas and interact with them too. Apart from this, there are Devas, who live on our own earth, while absorbing the Pancha Bhutas without any specific form. This type of Deva is known as Adi Boudhika Roopam.

For example, in all water sources, the physical form of Varuna Devata remains absorbed. If we pollute water somewhere, it will be immediately known to Varuna. This is the difference between our officers and Devas, who are the officers of God. Only when we petition our Government officials regarding something, they will come to know of the happening. However, the respective Devas will instantly know whenever and wherever any offence takes place. To understand it in simpler terms, should someone give us a petition to let us know that someone has pinched us?

There is one Deva for the entire land, one for the fire, and one for air and so on. If we do something wrong to any of these, the respective Devas get to know it immediately. You may think that these are all inanimate substances and how would they ever know? Just think this way. We have our body. There are micro-organisms living in our own body, eating our own flesh and making their own living.

Whenever they do harm to us, we get to know that. However, how do these worms know that we know what they do? Like how we treat water and earth as lifeless substances, these worms think our body as a world and our blood as an ocean and lifeless. Similar is the way our apprehensions about Indra, Varuna or Samudhra Raja etc. When any worms harm us, we kill them with some medication. Similarly, whatever offence we do to the Pancha Bhutas, the respective Devata will punish us with the authority assigned to them. We are not aware of that since they do not physically appear and punish us; and that too not immediately.

The third form is known as Aadhyaatmikam. As all that can be seen in the Whole can be seen in Parts too (what is in Macro is also in Micro), each Deva or Devata exists in each part of our body. Surya lives in our eyes, Agni is on our tongue and Indra in our hands. Since they exist both outside (Adi Boudhikam) and inside (Aadyaatmikam), we can never fool them! So long as we adhere to Karmas diligently as ordained by rules of Dharma, they will protect us; else they will punish us.

Devas are only a life form. As we suffer in case we have to starve, they also find it difficult if we don’t offer them their food. That is why, when there is a reduction in Vedic Karmas, they appeal to God and thereby Swami takes incarnations to deal with the situations. Let me tell you some more unique information about Devas. Devas are not bound by Karmas, like reciting Vedas, performing Yajnyas etc. Why? We recite Suktas as mark of adoration and prayers to Devas. We do Yagas in praise of them. On whom would Devas do this? Surya and Indra cannot worship their own selves, isn’t it? That is why they don’t have to perform any of the Vedic Karmas. Though they do not recite Vedas as how we do, they are well conversant with Vedas. That is why when we recite Vedas, they are pleased and come forward to bless us. As how a little fish knows to swim even as it is just born, Devas possess innate knowledge of Vedas. That is why they are called “Swayam Prathi Patitha Vedas”.

Acharya says though there is no need for Devas to follow Karma or Bhakti, they do engage in the path of wisdom. They engage in self-inquiry, attain the wisdom of Advaita and unify with Brahmam.

There is not one place, where Parameshvara is non-existent.

Parameshvara, who exists within us, is also there within Devas. Like many of us do not realise the existence of Brahmam within us, there are also Devas who have no knowledge of the Brahmam within them. Some of our officers may not have seen the Chief Minister or the King directly in their durbar, isn’t it? Similarly, some Devas also do not know about Parameshvara. When we do self-inquiry, we would know that we are part of Brahmam. Once we reach that state, there is no favour needed from Devas. Then, we also disown all our Karmas. But, till reaching that stage, we have to necessarily adhere to Karmas ordained for Devas to extinct our erstwhile Karmas and cleanse our minds.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.