Where is heaven and Devraj Indra?

[Hiwaunis]

Om Shanti,
I have started to watch the TV series Om Maha Shivay. It has been my understanding that all scriptures directly relate to the individual (not sure why and where I got that from). I am confused (as usual) about the different worlds, heaven, hell, the netherworld, earth, Lord Shiva's abode, Lord Brahma's abode and Lord Vishnu's abode. Where are they?

Also, Devraj Indra????????? What aspect of ourselves does he represent? How did he become the king of gods? If you've seen the tv series I'm sure you have noticed his character is questionable. What is the higher message here? What am I suppose to learn by Devraj's example?

I eagerly await all of your answers.

Namaste,
Hiwaunis

[sarabhanga]

Also, Devraj Indra? How did he become the king of gods?

Namaste Hiwaunis,

Indra became Mahendra by the slaying of Vritra.

“Before the slaying of Vritra he was indeed Indra, but after slaying Vritra he became Mahendra.”

“Indra slew Vritra; the gods said of him; Great hath he become who hath slain Vritra, that is how Mahendra has his name.”

“Vritra, in truth, lay covering all this which here extends between heaven and earth. And because he lay covering all this, therefore his name is Vritra. Him Indra slew.”

“As soon as you were born, Indra, you were an adversary for those seven who had never met a rival. You recovered the Heaven and Earth when concealed (in darkness); you gave joy to the mighty worlds.”

“Then, Indra, you were the Lord of all living mortals, the very mighty slayer of the Vritras. Then did you set free the obstructed rivers, and win the floods that were enthralled by Dasas.”

“Most wise is he, rejoicing in the libations, splendid as day, resistless in his anger. He alone does great deeds, the sole slayer of Vritra, unmatched by any other.”

“Indra is Vritra’s slayer, man’s sustainer: he must be called; with fair praise let us call him. He is Maghavan, our Helper, our Protector, the giver of wealth that brings fame.”

“This Indra, Vritra-slayer, this chief of the Ribhus, even at his birth, was worthy for invocation. Doer of many deeds for man’s advantage, like Soma quaffed, for friends we must invoke him.”

The Vedas repeatedly praise Indra as “the slayer of Vritra”.

Vritra means “coverer or restrainer”, indicating “an enemy, or a hostile host”. And Vritra is the Vedic personification of a malignant influence or demon of darkness and drought, supposed to take possession of the clouds, causing them to obstruct the clearness of the sky and keep back the waters.

Indra is represented as battling with this evil influence in the pent up clouds, poetically described as mountains which are shattered by his thunderbolt and made to open their receptacles.

Vritra is often identified with Ahi, the serpent of the sky, and associated with other evil spirits, such as Sushna (“the hisser”), Namuci (“preventing rain”), Sambara (“illusion”), Arbuda (“tumour”), Krishna (“darkness”), etc., whose malignant influences are generally exercised in producing darkness or drought.

And Vritra indicates “a thunder-cloud” or “darkness”.

Indra dispelled the all-consuming darkness, and revealed the wealth of the worlds, and “neither god nor mortal man could accomplish what Indra in his full-grown vigor has done”.

[Hiwaunis]

Om Shanti Sarabhanga,
Thank you very, very much for this knowledge.

The Vedas repeatedly praise Indra as “the slayer of Vritra”.

Vritra means “coverer or restrainer”, indicating “an enemy, or a hostile host”. And Vritra is the Vedic personification of a malignant influence or demon of darkness and drought, supposed to take possession of the clouds, causing them to obstruct the clearness of the sky and keep back the waters.

Indra is represented as battling with this evil influence in the pent up clouds, poetically described as mountains which are shattered by his thunderbolt and made to open their receptacles.

Indra dispelled the all-consuming darkness, and revealed the wealth of the worlds, and “neither god nor mortal man could accomplish what Indra in his full-grown vigor has done”. “As soon as you were born, Indra, you were an adversary for those seven who had never met a rival.[/quote]

I try to use knowledge as a weapon against my problems and defects in life. What aspect of our being is Indra, mind, intellect, soul or ego?

“As soon as you were born, Indra, you were an adversary for those seven who had never met a rival.

Which seven is being referenced here?

So Indra is representative of mankind before he defeated Vritra? After the defeat Indra became the king of heaven. What is the purpose of representing Mahendra (after the defeat) as a common thug in the TV series?

And what about all these different worlds, heaven, hell, netherworld and earth. Earth I'm ok with unless it represents something else. Are these places that the mind can travel to doing deep meditation?

Sarabhanga, thank you for your time. I hope my questions are not keeping you from your prayers and meditation. If so, please forgive me.
I have no where else to go except this forum. I thank any and everyone who shares knowledge with me.

Namaste,
Hiwaunis

[sarabhanga]

What aspect of our being is Indra, mind, intellect, soul or ego?

indra is “the dropper” and an indu is an individual “droplet”.
indra is mahat, the “greatness” that “piles up” the diversity of creation.
indra is prajApati brahmA, the heroic nArAyaNa.
And the shakti of indra is the mAyA of viSNu.



“As soon as you were born, Indra, you were an adversary for those seven who had never met a rival.”

Which seven is being referenced here?

See:
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=18098&postcount=1
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=14446&postcount=4
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=15691&postcount=2
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=15575&postcount=147




What is the purpose of representing Mahendra as a common thug in the TV series?

I don’t watch very much TV ~ perhaps you could ask the producers about their intention ~ but I assume that the perceived fall of indra has some connexion with the perceived rise of viSNu. And then there is the curse of durvAsas:

The sage durvAsas, intent on the sight of mahendra, visited amarAvatI, the immortal citadel of svarga (heaven). High-spirited durvAsas offered a garland of never-fading blooms to indra, who passed it on to his elephant airAvata (the earth), who thoughtlessly crushed the priceless garland of the sage’s eternal devotion under its feet. Angered by indra’s apparent arrogance, durvAsas (renowned for his quick temper) pronounced a curse on indra ~ that he would be stripped of all his riches, virtues, and powers.

[Hiwaunis]

indra is “the dropper” and an indu is an individual “droplet”.
indra is mahat, the “greatness” that “piles up” the diversity of creation.
indra is prajApati brahmA, the heroic nArAyaNa.
And the shakti of indra is the mAyA of viSNu.


See:
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=18098&postcount=1
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=14446&postcount=4
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=15691&postcount=2
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=15575&postcount=147


I don’t watch very much TV ~ perhaps you could ask the producers about their intention ~ but I assume that the perceived fall of indra has some connexion with the perceived rise of viSNu. And then there is the curse of durvAsas:

The sage durvAsas, intent on the sight of mahendra, visited amarAvatI, the immortal citadel of svarga (heaven). High-spirited durvAsas offered a garland of never-fading blooms to indra, who passed it on to his elephant airAvata (the earth), who thoughtlessly crushed the priceless garland of the sage’s eternal devotion under its feet. Angered by indra’s apparent arrogance, durvAsas (renowned for his quick temper) pronounced a curse on indra ~ that he would be stripped of all his riches, virtues, and powers.

Om Shanti Sarabghanga,
Now I see the light. Thank you. I do remember seeing that episode where Devraj Indra was cursed. Because it came later in the episodes I didn't pay too much attention to it.

I also read about the seven rays. I must admit it was over my head. After reading it a second and third time the knowledge started to sink in. Now I understand. I do not have anymore questions for you (right now).

Namaste,
Hiwaunis

[Arjuni]

Namaste, Hiwaunis,

I revived this very old thread because your question, "What is the higher message here?" made me chuckle. Om Namah Shivay was my first introduction to the many tales of gods and demons, and I was asking the same question about the so-called "good" beings as the series continued, particularly Indra.

I remembered the Rig Veda describing a noble, generous Lord who was a great force against evil; television's Devraj didn't seem to have the vigour necessary to swat a dragon-fly, much less slay a dragon. In fact, he spends much of the series acting like a complete bonehead, occasionally relieved by lovely moments of repentance and growth, usually followed (within a few episodes) by him acting like a complete bonehead again.

Part of this take comes from the producer's source material. The show uses mostly Puranas, and those accounts are very different than the older hymns; in them Indra loses much of his nobility, becomes nervously obsessed with protecting his throne, and commits rather impulsive and foolish deeds towards that end. The series seems to use Indra to illustrate that position alone does not determine character. (Many times, the Devatas commit irreligious acts, and many times, the Asuras undergo severe penances and practice great devotions; Brahma and Narad point this out several times to Indra.)

Also, Indra's attributes and epithets became the powers and strengths of other deities (mostly Vishnu and Shiva) as time went on. (Indra was called "Dancer" several times, to give one example.) I imagine that depicting Indra as the great Vedic champion would have created a conflict of interest for the producers, with their goal of creating a devotional serial as "gratitude shown to this God of Gods called Shiva."

Regarding your question that I quoted above, I found a higher message in the character of Indra about halfway through the series, when he had screwed up yet again, and it was becoming like one of those painfully embarrassing Hollywood films in which you see the character's downfall coming. I wanted to shake the TV and shriek, "You dope! Don't you remember that penance-and-austerity-and-worship thing you did one episode ago? And how it worked? And how happy you all were? Don't disrupt that nice sage doing his nice penance. GO DO THAT 'DEVOTED' THING AGAIN!"

Then in a flash I remembered all of MY bad habits, and all of MY really obvious screw-ups, and all of the times I probably should have prayed or meditated, and sat around feeling sorry for myself or whining about my fate instead.
And I shut my mouth, because until I break some of my bad habits and tendencies and replace them with higher thoughts and better actions, I am just as much of a stubborn bonehead!

And, oddly inspired by the idea that I wasn't the only stubborn bonehead out there, I started learning about the (non-TV!) King of Gods. Indra rules the hands, the sense organs (indriyas), and the direction East. As other posters have pointed out already, he is the dispeller of darkness, the ancient enemy of the demons, the releaser of waters to a thirsting world. (There's a lovely post referencing him in the archive here, too - http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/archive/index.php?t-1873.html). His heaven, Svargaloka or Devaloka, is described as a place of rest and delight, without suffering or sorrow. He was given bountiful praise in the Vedas, sometimes with heart-breakingly devoted words:

"Lead us to a free world, wise one,
where lie divine luster, sunlight, and security.
Valiant are the arms of thee, the powerful;
we will take to their vast shelter."
(That's one of my favourites, from the Atharva Veda, but there are a quadrillion more.)

Indra, to me, represents rajas guna, and both the positive (action, passion) and negative (temper, anger) aspects of that quality. Rajasic quality can produce a quick-moving dragon-slayer or a raging, overreacting twit, and in Indra's tales I see both qualities to emulate and pitfalls to guard against.

Sadly, after reading quite a bit more, the show's actually kind of painful to watch now! Though I do adore Sanjay Sharma's performance, and his doe-eyed gaze of "I'll be really, really good THIS time, I swear," the actual depiction of Indra in this show is pretty unbalanced. He spends most of the series looking like a "common thug," as you phrased it, and leaving out almost all of his good qualities and stories...well, it seems a disrespectful way to show a Devata who still has status and honour today.

Apologies if I've rambled; I'm still very new to this forum, and to the copious amounts of information available to the seeker in Sanatana Dharma. One topic seems to lead into five hundred others. :)

Indraneela
===
"I wait the power of one like thee, O Indra, gifts of a Helper such as thou art, Hero. Strong, Mighty God, dwell with me now and ever."
Om Indraya Namah.
Om Namah Shivaya.

[jasdir]

The name of Devraj indra is "INDRJEET"

"INDR" is ment by "INDRIES" means "SENCE ORGANS",
"JEET" is ment by "VICTORY"

Combine INDER+JEET means:
One who gets the Vicrory over 5 Sence Organs,

Any one who gets the Victory over 5 sence organs, can be called as "INDERJEET"

When anybody achives the state of "samadhi" in meditation after getting the victory over 5 sence organs, Can visit "Heaven" of Devraj Indra within the body named as (Inderlok),

Inderlok is not only reserved for hinduism,
Inderlok is called by different names in different religions,

For example:
Inedrlok is called as "Mukame Allah" in Muslims,

Well the Saints or gurus or spiritual masters of different religions & faiths in different genrations gave their own name for (INDERLOK) after getting the victory in meditations.