PDA

View Full Version : What are Devas?



rainycity
09 February 2011, 02:53 AM
Do you think it is accurate to translate deva as a god? In the veda natural powers like parjanya, the rain cloud, are devas. Would it sometimes be more accurate then to describe devas as energies, powers or systems?

Onkara
09 February 2011, 04:06 AM
Do you think it is accurate to translate deva as a god? In the veda natural powers like parjanya, the rain cloud, are devas. Would it sometimes be more accurate then to describe devas as energies, powers or systems?

namasté Rainycity
I think it is fine to understand them personally as "energies or powers" if it helps you. I wouldn't translate it differently as it is useful to keep understanding (and vocabulary) uniform across scriptures.

amra
09 February 2011, 07:20 AM
Do you think it is accurate to translate deva as a god? In the veda natural powers like parjanya, the rain cloud, are devas.

No this is incorrect. The most accurate translation of Deva would be 'Shining One'. The natural powers are not Devas -- natural powers are only symbols used to describe a function of a Deva, they enable us to grasp or to begin to understand what a Deva is by making analogies between physical phenomena and the psychic phenomena that is the realm of the Deva.

Through words, a psychic phenomena, can only be described by using words that correspond to actual physical phenomena. A word that does not describe a physical phenomenon is meaningless. So a word can begin to build up layers of meaning, but it must be analogous to some physical thing. The word that refers to a physical thing acts as a base from which through analogies, similar events in the psychic world can be grafted onto the word. But this is now a lost and forgotten science.

Eastern Mind
09 February 2011, 07:53 AM
Vannakkam RC: In the tradition of Hinduism I follow, Devas are Beings , not really any of the describers you stated. They can be as simple as good people between births, to as evolved as beings such as Ganesha, whom we term a Mahadeva. The term describes a wide range of inner plane helpers, living in bodies of light. Mystical Hindus (and other mystics) use and ask these inner plane helpers (some are termed 'guides') to assist in their own evolution. Some have names. Some are 'assigned' to specific tasks etc. The light bodies they live in vary, just as our gross physical bodies can vary.

Most people these days have little sense of this type of mystic reality, so there is denial from personal lack of experience. Many of the samskaras that are done in our ancient rites are to beseech the devas. They are as real as you or me.

Aum Namasivaya

NayaSurya
09 February 2011, 11:24 AM
My biological mother in this realm was brilliant, her mind was the greatest of anyone I ever have met in this lifetime...still to this day it goes unequalled. Her memory, very fine...and her wit...immaculate.

I was in the shower today praying and thinking about Yajvanji's words on guru and how our parents our the first. Perhaps she wasn't on the job for almost all of her lifetime here...but in the last five seconds...my mother gave me the complete view of what lay beyond this gross physical reality. She is the point of belief and knowing that this place around us is not what it may appear. So Guru she became, a boat over the torrent strewn river of doubt.

Deva, the shining Beloved beings who watch over this machine of karma we are entrapped within. I do know they exist...because of this-

My mother was at the end of a twelve year battle with breast cancer. Not on any drugs which would cause hallucination, she sat at her kitchen table and witnessed something I cherish to this day.

She was sitting there drinking coffee and trying to feel better. My two sisters at her home. She becomes very sad and says..."Daughter have I not asked you many times to not invite others over when I am not with my hair(wig) on? Can you please honor this request?"

My oldest sister baffled at this and says..."Mother I have not invited anyone over with me this morning...I am honoring this request."

The Beloved Being moves behind my older sister trying to hide.

My mother looks to her angry. " I can still see you though you now hide behind her...do not pretend to not be here!"

My other sister jumps aside as she knows then what my mother must be seeing. My mother saw a beautiful tall man in a white tunic he had dark eyes and curly black hair...as she described him my older sister also jumped away afraid.

My frightened sister then turns to my mother and says...."Mother exactly what is he doing????"

Her very intelligent mind realizes that her two daughters can not see him and she immediately shuts down and refuses to talk about it anymore.

But, that night in secret she spoke to my littlest sister and said..."Is this my demise? My death?"

For she was begining to see the things which lay behind this veil we are subjected to...and with such a keen mind she was fully able to give this gift of belief to us as well.

She saw silver strands dangling from above each of us as we walked into her room each day. So beautiful and fine, they shined. She would try to touch them but they ran right through her hand.

She saw, as I prayed to God with all my might sending that precious gold energy from Beloved into her, that I had always believed might be there. I had done this for every dying client, thinking it crazy but knowing in my heart that if there was even a slightest chance it could be, that I would take it as they were suffering so greatly. She saw this energy come off of me, surround me and woke from her bed crying that I appeared as an shining angel that I was covered in gold shining sparkles. At first I did not want to tell my two sisters who witnessed this the truth that I was doing this praying thing with energy...as I felt they would think me crazy...for over a decade I had done this secretly...only now for my own Mother to see what only my heart could hope was true.

She saw shadowy things...smaller...that would sneak in during the late hours of morning and ask us to never turn the lights off because seeing them, disturbed her greatly...she was so afraid to die.

She saw that Beloved Deva, watching over her so carefully...with his beautiful face.

A week after her death...this Beloved being came to me and knelt to my side within a dream.

This moment brought about a book, five volumes long of a story which was riddled with scripture...and a night several weeks later with a visit of my own...as my own true family finally found me...perhaps it was that act of using that beautiful Golden energy which I know now is nothing less than Beloved Himself that allowed them to finally find me...I do not know.

Perhaps it was that enough karma had been burned away to leave me more able to understand and accept things.

But, with all my heart I know that these Beloved Beings do exist.

They are not Beloved Shiva, they are nothing less than His Beloved Hand...sent to aid these weary travelers.

I thank Beloved each and every day for their Shining Light within my heart. Om Namah Shivaya<3

rainycity
09 February 2011, 01:56 PM
Thanks for sharing your story NayaSurya.


Vannakkam RC: In the tradition of Hinduism I follow, Devas are Beings , not really any of the describers you stated.

Isn't the entire reality imbued with being and consciousness?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srV1bdQ68RM

Shankara also described bodily organs as devas.

Sahasranama
09 February 2011, 02:11 PM
Shankara also described bodily organs as devas.Wasn't that Abhinavagupta? I don't know.

Eastern Mind
09 February 2011, 02:59 PM
Isn't the entire reality imbued with being and consciousness?



Vannakkam: Yes, that is my understanding as well. But I see 'being' as different from 'beings'. Certainly consciousness is in and through all form. God is all pervasive in this manner, even in inanimate mass. But a being is a more confined or contracted collection of this same energy. I'll end it by saying this is just what I personally believe, not necessarily in alignment with how other Hindus view it.

One could put it as a rock is alive, but a human or deva is 'more alive'.

Aum Namasivaya

NayaSurya
09 February 2011, 03:23 PM
Here is a wonderful link which was very helpful to me.

http://shrifreedom.org/VyasaSJC/lessons%202/lessons2-33devas.htm (http://shrifreedom.org/VyasaSJC/lessons&#37;202/lessons2-33devas.htm)

Another one which speaks of Devas and the differences between them.

http://ancientindians.net/2009/11/15/devas-cosmic-forces-with-high-level-of-consciousness-r-l-kashyap/

devotee
10 February 2011, 12:10 AM
Namaste rainycity,

The word Deva has come from the root "div" meaning shining or emitting light. They are special beings who take care of this world performing their assigned tasks. Some of the devas or gods are :

a) Surya/Aditya : The Sun giving life and warmth to all beings
b) Agni : The god of light and heat
c) Vayu : The god of air/wind
d) Varuna : The god of water
e) Indra : The chief of gods who rules over Deva-loka (the world of devas), also the rain god
f) Brahmaa* : The creator of this world
g) Vishnu* : The nourisher/sustainer
h) Shiva/Rudra/Shankar* : The destroyer

Note : Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva though clubbed with the devas above enjoy special status among the devas. Vishnu and Shiva are individually worshipped as God Himself (Father form).

i) Devis e.g. IndraaNi (the wife of Indra), Paarvati (the wife of Shiva), Laxmi (wife of Vishnu), Saraswati (the goddess of learning), Durga, Kaali etc. are also female beings in the loka. Out of those, again, Ma Saraswati, Ma Laxmi, Durga, Kaali enjoy special status and are worshipped as female version of God (Mother form). In some instances, they have been depicted as wielding more powers even as compared to Lord Vishnu and Shiva.

OM

yajvan
12 February 2011, 06:07 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

There are many views of the devatā-s. Devotee is quite accurate in his definition as deva is rooted in div, to shine, be bright.
This is the 2nd derivative of div. The 3rd derivative of deva is heavenly , divine (also said of terrestrial things of high excellence).

Now my teacher described them as the creative impulses found in nature. This by default is various permutations of śakti.
Svāmī lakṣman-jū , from a kaśmir śaivism point of view suggests the deva-s are also part of us, our senses. That is why they can rejoice
in us, as they are part of us.

The first devatā that is in us is agni, he is called the 1st born - 1st born in us. He is also called jātavedas. A most beautiful word defined
as 'knowing all created beings' ; also ' having whatever is born or created as his property ' , ' all-possessor'.

This agni is found in the very first hymn of the ṛg ved¹. His greatness is in the 1st letter a. This is Supreme. The wise say this 1st sound a or ā
is the subject for the rest of the ṛg ved or 10,554 hymns.

More on agni can be found here : http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=4743

There is much more to this yet will leave it here for now.


praṇām

reference


agnim īḷe purohitam
yajñasys devam rtvijam |
hotāram ratna dhātamam ||

yajvan
12 February 2011, 07:32 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

I was just thinking - some may read the post above and say, oh yes, I know this agni, it is fire.

That may be yet it is important to note that we need to be mindful of the devatā-s and for that matter the śāstra-s can be viewed on 3 levels:



ādhytmika - the spiritual or psychological level; pertaining to the Supreme, anuttara, the soul-Self, etc.
ādhiyajñika - the ritualistic level which pertains to the performance or works, pūjā.
ādhidaivika - The naturalistic or cosmological level. Here we think of natural science and the laws of nature.So, with agni He is on the spiritual level and this is outlined in the ṛg ved and I have alluded to with the letter a. On the ritual level or yajña , he is considered the entry point , the mouth that delivers the offerings to the other devatā-s. He is that fire we find in pūjā. On the natural level or cosmic level he is the furnace, the engine of energy.

We see the same with the other devatā-s. Such is the magnificence of the knowledge.

... thought that would help.

praṇām

rainycity
12 February 2011, 08:19 PM
Wasn't that Abhinavagupta? I don't know.


It may be Abhinavagupta who originally expressed the ideas Swami Lakshmanjoo is discussing in this video (he is reading from a Kashmiri recension of the Gita) but Sankara also describes the senses and the organs as devas in one of his discources. I saw it in the film Adi Shankara which is on youtube, but I can't remember which part it is in. Specifically I remember him refering to "the devas in the eyes" receiving the oblation of light, in a discourse comparing natural processes to yajna ritual.


Vannakkam: Yes, that is my understanding as well. But I see 'being' as different from 'beings'. Certainly consciousness is in and through all form. God is all pervasive in this manner, even in inanimate mass. But a being is a more confined or contracted collection of this same energy. I'll end it by saying this is just what I personally believe, not necessarily in alignment with how other Hindus view it.

One could put it as a rock is alive, but a human or deva is 'more alive'.

Aum Namasivaya

rocks and other inert objects (there is no such thing as inanimate mass) don't have nervous systems so if consciousness is in and through everything, a rock or a table cannot be conscious of itself as a rock or a table, those objects are a part of our consciousness. But does that mean that there is no differentiation at all throughout the consciousness pervading nature?


Namaste rainycity,

The word Deva has come from the root "div" meaning shining or emitting light. They are special beings who take care of this world performing their assigned tasks. Some of the devas or gods are :

a) Surya/Aditya : The Sun giving life and warmth to all beings
b) Agni : The god of light and heat
c) Vayu : The god of air/wind
d) Varuna : The god of water
e) Indra : The chief of gods who rules over Deva-loka (the world of devas), also the rain god
f) Brahmaa* : The creator of this world
g) Vishnu* : The nourisher/sustainer
h) Shiva/Rudra/Shankar* : The destroyer

Note : Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva though clubbed with the devas above enjoy special status among the devas. Vishnu and Shiva are individually worshipped as God Himself (Father form).

i) Devis e.g. IndraaNi (the wife of Indra), Paarvati (the wife of Shiva), Laxmi (wife of Vishnu), Saraswati (the goddess of learning), Durga, Kaali etc. are also female beings in the loka. Out of those, again, Ma Saraswati, Ma Laxmi, Durga, Kaali enjoy special status and are worshipped as female version of God (Mother form). In some instances, they have been depicted as wielding more powers even as compared to Lord Vishnu and Shiva.

OM

yes I already know this but thanks for your post.

kd gupta
14 February 2011, 10:42 PM
I was thinking over the non disputed deva , who with vedic reference were present from treta dwapar to comming kaliyug .
Suddenly the point hinted by Yajvanji came to my mind and I thought about adhyatma ramayan .
The great Hanumanji is our Deva . He is loved by every god and you will find his idol everywhere and if not in main portion of temple then in the wall .

यद् पाद पद्म युगलो तुलसी दलाद्यो संपूज्य विष्णु पदवी तुलम प्रयान्ति .....रामें वायुतानायः......
बोलो हनुमानजी की जय

rainycity
23 March 2011, 06:27 AM
is there some reason why the discussion isn't continuing here?