THE MYTH OF 33 KOTI (33O MILLION) DEITIES AND 33 DEVATAS IN HINDUISM

THE MYTH OF 33 KOTI (33O MILLION) DEITIES AND REALITY OF 33 DEVATAS IN HINDUISM

(Compilation by N.R.Srinivasan, Nashville,TN.USA, May 23, 2019)

“The  Rigveda Samhita forms the basic scripture of Hinduism and tradition  that accords it the highest  place, This Samhita or Compilation  is  full of hymns, Suktas as they are called, that attain supreme heights of   poetical beauty and philosophical acumen, a rare combination indeed! A major part of this work is devoted to prayers to Devatas (subordinates to the Supreme) like Indra, Agni, Varuna and others. These Vedic Devatas are usually enumerated as thirty three; eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajaapati. These Devatas are assigned to the three regions of the Earth (Prithvi, the Heaven (Dyaus) and the intermediary space (Antariksha). Apart from these Devatas, we also find many inanimate objects like grinding stone, qualities like   faith, emotion like anger, aspects of nature like dawn, deified and described. There are several female deities also, though they are not as prominent as the male deities The famous statement in Rigveda ”ekam sat vipraah bahudaa vadanti”-- Truth is One; sages call it by various names (1.164.46), sets the tone for the philosophy of the Vedas that is amplified later on in Upanishads. Hence, though these Devatas or deities appear to be different and independent, they are really facets of the same Brahman, the Supreme Spirit. They represent limited manifestations of the Supreme like the cult deities of the Supreme--Brahma, Vishnu and Siva along with their consorts. Vedic deities are also portrayed as inferior to Trinity of Puranas” says Swami Harshananda in his book on Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

 In Hindu Vedic religion there is only one Supreme GOD that exists at two different levels of reality. Vedas call it by the name of “Brahman”, “Parabrahma”, or   ”Paramatma”. Hindus worship this Supreme GOD both in personal & impersonal form. Vedas mostly mention impersonal GOD Brahman which is only ultimate true reality & original nature of GOD from absolute point of view (Paramarthika satya) and Puranas mention Trimurti who are three personal manifestations of Brahman (Cosmic spirit/space consciousness) and are only empirical truth (Vyavaharika or samvriti-satya). Brahman is ever present root consciousness of Trimurti's and by using infinite Brahman consciousness Trimurti create, sustain and destroy world of illusion. Brahman is real, root and source consciousness of all the existence and non -existence as well as all that is manifest and hidden.

“The Vedas present a vast pantheon of deities (devatas) on many different levels, often said to be innumerable or infinite in number. For a specific number the Gods are said to be 3339 in total. This number is clearly a play on the number three. One of the main early efforts to classify the Vedic Gods (as in the Brihad Devata of Shaunaka) was to reduce them to the three prime deities for the three worlds.

Agni or Fire on Earth (Prithivi)
Vayu or Wind in the Atmosphere (Antariksha)
Surya or the Sun in Heaven (Dyaus)

The Rigveda is organized in this way with the hymns to Agni generally coming first in most of its ten books, then the hymns to Vayu and Indra, and finally the hymns to the Sun.

These three deities meanwhile are three facets of the One God or the Purusha, the supreme consciousness principle and higher Self that is pure light. The term Deva for deity itself means ‘a shining one’ or form of light. It is related to the term Dyaus, meaning heaven and so refers to the heavenly or celestial lights. Vedic deities represent the main forms of light (Jyoti) in the universe.

Agni is the tamasic form of light, the fire that is hidden in darkness (Jwala Narasimha emerging from pillar in darkness)

Vayu is the rajasic form of light, light in its active and energetic mode as lightning or electrical force.

Surya is the sattvic form of light, light as pure illumination (prakasha).

The movement from tamas to sattva is a movement from Earth to Heaven (tamaso maa jyotirgamaya).  It occurs through bringing the light out of the Earth (Agni) and raising it to Heaven (Surya). This requires crossing the Atmosphere through using its forces (Vayu).

In the Vedic view these three forms of light (Jyoti) are the three forms of the Purusha or the higher Self that is also defined in terms of light. In the Vedic view light is consciousness, not simply a material force. These three lights are also the three aspects of our being. These visible lights are manifestations of the invisible divine light of consciousness that illumines all things, including visible light and darkness. The three gunas and three worlds exist within us, as do their light forms as our powers of our own awareness.

Agni – Earth – tamas – body – speech (vak)

Vayu – Atmosphere – rajas – breath (prana)

Surya – Heaven – sattva – mind (manas)

In this sense sattva as light is also mind, rajas as energy is also the vital force and tamas as matter is also our bodily expression the foremost of which is speech.

Sattva – light – mind

Rajas – energy – prana

Tamas – matter – body

As matter, energy and light, the three gunas prefigure the insights of modern physics that equates mass, energy and light.

Relative to this principle of light, we can equate the three main Vedic deities of Agni with heat, Vayu with electrical force, and Surya with pure light. These forms of light, however, do not only represent the corresponding forces of nature. They also represent the inner light or the forms of consciousness. They are the three aspects of the Purusha or Cosmic Person. Each has its psychological significance, with Agni or fire as speech (Vak), Vayu or wind as breath (Prana) and Surya or the Sun as the perceptive aspect of the mind (Buddhi)” Says David Frawley.  Our goal in life is to s
hine without being burnt like the Sun.

But how did David Frawley arrive at a figure of 3339 gods or devatas worshiped in Hinduism today which number is exaggerated as 330 million or 33 Krores which number is ever increasing by adding liberated souls to the pantheon of gods like Azhvars, Nayanmars, Saibabas, Chaitanya devatas as subservient to the Supreme Being which in the end concluded with 33 devatas as explained  by Yajnavalkya and understood by  Sakalya, This 3306+33 makes it 3309 which according to Madhvacharya is 3340, probably to round off to an even number.

According to Madhavaacarya: ādityā vasavo rudrās tri-vidhā hi surā yataḥ. There are eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Âdityas; and these two, Heaven and Earth, are the (thirty-second and) thirty-third. And there are thirty-three gods, and Pragâpati is the thirty-fourth;--thus he makes him (the sacrificer, or Yagña) to be Prajâpati  that is immortal, and what is immortal that is. But what is mortal that also is PrajâpatiMahaprabhu, Swami Narayan etc. ; for Prajâpati is everything: thus He makes him to be Prajâpati, and hence there are these thirty-four utterances, called expiations.

Satapatha Brahmana 4:5:7:2: aṣṭau vasavaḥ | ekādaśa rudrā dvādaśādityā ime eva dyāvāpṛthivī trayastriṃśyau trayastriṃśadvai devāḥ prajāpatiśchatustriṃśastadenam prajāpatiṃ karotyetadvā astyetaddhyamṛitaṃ yaddhyamṛitaṃ taddhyastyetadu tadyanmartyaṃ sa eṣha prajāpatiḥ sarvaṃ vai prajāpatistadenam prajāpatiṃ karoti tasmādetāśchatustriṃśadvyāhṛtayo bhavanti prāyaśchittayo nāma) 

induimHinduisow ow did There are only thirty three devatas/demigods and one Deva as taught by Shakalya to Yajnavalkya in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (BAU) about which we will talk in detail later. Shakalya in the beginning talks about 3306.

Mahanarayana Upanishasd contains thirty-six short mantras used in worship of all   devatas and offering oblations connected with the Vaiśvadeva rite. In this rite the Supreme Being is worshipped --1. As Fire, 2. As the sum total of deities or All-devatas, 3. As the permanent plenitude, 4.  As the permanent ground, 5. As the unchanging abode, and 6.  As the maker of the right sacrifice.

Whenever offerings are made to the manes, the deities and men, the terms employed for oblations are svadhā, namama or swaha, and hanta respectively. These special words of address give them pleasure.

Devatas, like guests, are made happy by sweet words of courtesy. The word Pitṛu denotes two types of super-human beings—those who are permanent dwellers of the Pitṛu loka and those who are translated to that region from the earth when they depart from the body.

Navagrahas that we worship are not mentioned under Vaisvadevatas. Only Surya (planet   Sun) and satellite Moon, Indra (planet Neptune), Prajapati (planet Pluto) and Varuna or Aaapa (Planet Uranus) and Brihaspati (planet Jupiter) are included among Visvedevas. Only these are Vedic deities that are to be worshiped as Grahas.  Navagraha worship is wrongly promoted by astrologers based on myths in Puranas. Rahu and Ketu are Rakshasamsa (demoniac) and can be equated with the worship of bhootas condemned in Gita. They also do not find place in Vedic Astrology. A stranger to Hinduism is puzzled over the relevancy of plethora of deities worshiped in present day Temple  Traditions.

David Frawley’s reference to three Gunas  again  is based on Vedas.as conveyed in the mantra:

ajāmekāṁ lohita-śukla-kṛṣṇāṁ bahvīṁ prajāṁ janayantīɱ sarūpām | ajo hyeko juṣamāṇo  anuśete jahātyenāṁ bhuktabhogāmajo'nyaḥ 

There is one unborn Female (Māyā, the uncaused substance of the universe) red, white and black (representing Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) producing manifold offspring of the same nature.

There is one unborn (in the generic sense - some Jīvas who are attached) who lies by her taking delight in her; there is another unborn (in the generic sense - those who are not attached) who leaves her after having enjoyed her. Avidya, Māyā, and Prakṛti are taken to be synonyms.

Prakṛti is the uncaused cause of the remaining categories posited to explain the stages of universal evolution. Therefore it is one and unborn.

The term Prakṛti being grammatically feminine in gender represents the unborn Female giving birth to the rest of creation.

Red, white and black represent either Tejas, Ap and Annam taught in Chāṇḍogya VI 4-1 or the three guṇas Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

It is also relevant to quote the following passage from Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa III 7 9p:

yasmājjātā na parā naiva kiṁcanāsa ya āviveśa bhuvanāni viśvā .
prajāpatiḥ prajayā saṁvidānastrīṇi jyotīɱṣi sachate sa ṣoḍaśī  

The beings born from Prajāpati are not separate from Him. Before their birth nothing whatsoever existed other than Him, who entered all the creatures of the world as their in-most Self. Prajāpati has identified Himself with the creatures. He imparts the three luminaries, fire, sun and moon, luster by identifying Himself with them. He is endowed with sixteen parts.

Shodasi here refers to 5 Karmendriyas, 5 Jnanendriyas, 5 Panchabhutas and the Mind. With 3 Gunas it adds up to 16+3=19. With twelve months in Samvatsara (which means Brahman alone as kaala purushsa or custodian of Times) it adds up to 19+12=31. Together with Indra and Prajapati they make   up 33. Thus the 33 facets of Brahman are glorified as 33 Koti or kind Devatas in detail in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  Gunas also present Rajas as Brahma, Sattva as Vishnu and Tamas as Siva in Puranas.

Prajāpati is the Divine Provi­dence who creates all beings, who supplies them with the ten senses and mind and the five elements (Panchabhootas) constituting their bodies and the three luminous worlds (Sun, Moon and Stars) in which they dwell, and who supports them as the indwelling Spirit.

With Supreme God’s influence, these thirty three (supporting Devata) sustain the world dsays  Atharva Veda 10-7.

According to Srimad-Bhagavatam, the twelve names of Adityas are names of twelve Suns in the twelve months: Vishnu (The head of all the Adityas--  Aryama, Indra, Tvashtha,  Varuna,  Dhata,  Bhaga,  Parjanya ,  Vivasvan,  Amshuman,  Mitra  and Pushya (some texts  replace Vishnu with Savitarof Gayatri mantra)

As Indra, Surya destroys the enemies of the gods. As Dhata, he creates living beings. As Parjanya, he showers down rain. As Tvashta, he lives in the trees and herbs. As Pusha, he makes food grains grow. As Aryama, he is in the wind. As Bhaga, he is in the body of all living beings. As Vivasvana, he is in fire and helps to cook food. As Vishnu, he destroys the enemies of the gods. As Amshumana( he is again in the wind. As Varuna, he is in the waters and As Mitra, he is in the moon and in the oceans.  

Eleven Rudras Nirriti,Shambhu,Aparajita,Mrigavyadha,Kapardi,Dahana,Khara,Ahirabradhya,Kapali,Pin-gala,Senani (Matsya-Purana). There are different names in different Puranas for eleven Rudras.

Vasus: Agni, prithivi, vayu, antariksha, aditya, swarga, chandramaa, nakshatraloka. They keep the world dwelling ('vaasa') and so they are called Vasu-- vasayanti viswam

Twelve Adityas are the twelve months. 

Indra means the samastaad vyaapta taridshakti, (the all-pervading electricity-energy), Bala and Veerya of all living beings

Prajapati is Yajna, as from Yajna the creation, sustenance and destruction of the world happens

Rudra:  sotra, twak, chakshur, jihva, ghrana, vak, pani, pada, payu, upastha, praana and manas are the eleven Rudras. "tat tat rodayati iti rudrah" --they make others weep when they go out of a mortal body and so they are called Rudra )

'Brahmaa-anurodhena kritajanmaparigraho ruditabaan iti rudrah: They took birth on Brahma's request and cried and so are called Rudras, 

--Reference: Pranava-Prema-Pijusha-Bhashya of Gita, Sitaramdas.

Maruts: Maruts means Upavayu. They are storm gods in Vedas. They are sons of Rudra and attendants of Indra. But their chief is Vayudeva in whom total 49 of Maruts reside. In an ancient hymn it is said that they are born from the breath of Parama Purusha. Each of them have different functions These Maruts are source of life force, touch and sound.  These 49 Maruts are chiefly 7 types: Avaha, Prabaha.  Bebaha, Udaha, Parabaha,   Sambaha,  Paribaha (Marichi). Marichi is the controllingdeity of the heavenly spaces. This above description is by Kriya yogi Lahiri Mahasaya.

Srimad Bhagvad Gita also mentions about Maruts:

Adityanam aham vishnur jyotishaam ravih anshumaan Marichir Marutaamasmi nakshatranam  aham sashee.

Description: Among adityas I am Vishnu, among luminous objects I am radiance of sun, among maruts I am marichi and among nakshatra I am moon.

Prajaapatischarati garbhae anta-h | ajaayamaanoe bahudhaa vijaayatae | tasya dheeraah parijaananti yonim | mareecheenaam padamicchanti vaedhasa-h ||   (Purushasukta Mantra 21)

Purushasookta’s main stress is on Mukti or liberation through the knowledge of Purusha. It also refers to Naaka, the world free from all sorrow, the heaven, where the ancient devas and sadhyas live, where they contemplate on Purusha to attain the status of Prajaapatis like Marichi, and others.

Prajaapati (the Lord of all beings) moves inside the cosmic womb. (Though) unborn, he takes birth in a variety of ways. The wise ones know his (real nature) as the origin (of the universe). The (secondary) creators desire to attain the positions of Marichi and others., leading to spiritual fulfillment

Thirty-three gods from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Thirty-three deities (Sanskrit: trayastriṃśat) is a pantheon of Vedic deities, some of Vedic origin and some developed later. All the Vedic deities are called tri-piṣṭapa, and there are three kinds of them — the Ādityas, the Vasus and the Rudras — beneath whom are the other demigods, like the Maruts and Sādhyas  Tridasha generally includes a set of 31 deities consisting of 12 Ādityas, 11 Rudras, and 8 Vasus with the identity of the other two deities that fill out the 33 varies.

The 33 are:

• Eight Vasus (deities of material elements) – Dyauṣ "Sky", Pṛthivī "Earth", Vāyu "Wind", Agni "Fire", Nakṣatra "Stars", Antarikṣa "Atmosphere" or "Space", Sūrya "Sun", Chandra "Moon"
• Twelve Ādityas (personified deities) – Vishnu, Aryaman, Indra (Śakra), Tvāṣṭṛ, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Savitṛ, Vivasvat, Aṃśa, Mitra, Pūṣan, Dakṣa. This list sometimes varies in particulars.
• Eleven Rudras, consisting of:
• Five abstractions – Ānanda "bliss", Vijñāna "knowledge", Manas "thought", Prāṇa "breath" or "life", Vāc "speech",
• Five names of Śiva – Īśāna "revealing grace", Tatpuruṣa "concealing grace", Aghora "dissolution/rejuvenationBhairava", Vāmadeva "preserving aspect", Sadyojāta "born at once"
• Ātmā "self"

Other sources include the two Aśvins (or Nāsatyas), twin solar deities.

NAVAMA BRAHMANAM IN BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

Of all the information available, the details available in the dialogue between Saakalya and Yajnavalkya in Saakalya Navama Brahmanam is most convincing to go with the Vedic Wisdom of Tadekam; Eko Devah--GOD is ONE.

This chapter begins with Sakalya asking Yajnavalkya , “How many GODS are there?

Sa haitayaiva  nividaa pratipede yaavanto Vaisvadevasya nividuchyante traayasch three cha sataa trayascha treecha sahasretyomiti……trayastrimsaditi….. shadityomiti …..traya iti…… dvaviti… Deva ityardhaityomati…… eka ityomiti | katame te trayascha  three sataa  ha  trayascha three sahasreti  ||

In the Vivid  Visvedevatas Yajna mantra, it is three hundred and three, three thousand and three (3306); or thirty three;  or six; or; three; or two ; or one and a half; or One! Which are those three hundred and three and three thousand and three then ----asked Yajnavalkya?

It is perhaps this speculation of Yajnavalkya of  perhaps 3306 which Sakalya did not attempt to answer that tempted the Puranas to baffle us with the myth of 33 crores (330 million) of gods  perhaps for which we are often decried vas polytheistc and pagan worshipers?

Sakalya then progressively explained the thirty three Devatas mentioned in Vedas:

Kati devaah?  saakalyah prapaccha….. sa haiteva nividaa pratipede yaavanto vaisva-devasya nividyuchyante  trayascha three cha a sataa trayascha treecha sahasretyomiti hovacvha…. Trayastrimsditi…shaditya… traya..dvaa…ardha ityeka… te trayascha three cha sahasra …yajnavalkya iti (3-9-1)

“How many devatas are there in the sacrifice of Vaisvedevatas (all deities)?” asked Vidhagda Shakalya. Yajnavalkya answered; may be three hundred and three and three thousand and three (3306);   no, thirty three, no three, no two, no one and a half and finally One only. 

Sa Hovacha mahimaana evaishaamete trayastrimsatveva deva iti | katame   te trayastrimsad iti ashtau vasava ekadasa rudraa dvaadasa aadityaasta ekatrimsadindraschivs prajaapatischa trayatstrimsaaviti | | ( 3-9-2)

Yajnavalkya said: these are the powers or their manifestation. But they are only thirty-three devatas or divines. “Which are these thirty-three? Yajnavalkya said: the eight Vasus, eleven Rudras and twelve Adityas and Indra and Prajapati make up the number thirty-three. Mahimana eva--this huge number signifies the power or glory of thirty-three divines.

  
Katame vasavasa iti agnischa prithivee cha vaayuscha antariksham cha aadityasacha dyauscha chandramaascha  nakshatraani chaite vasava eteshu heedam vasu sarvam hitamiti tasmaad vasava iti || 3-9-3 ||

Who are the Vasus? Yajnavalkya answered: Fire, the Earth, Air and Sky (antariksha), the Sun and Heavens, the Moon, and the Stars--these are the Vasus, These are called  Vasus because in these all the precious wealth (vasu) of the World is placed, Therefore they are called Vasus.

Agnyaadishu sarvamidam vasu sabdavaachyam dhanam hitam |  Tasmasat vasavah--

In this context the term fire, earth, and others signify the presiding deities of those entities.

 Katame rudraa iti |  daseme  purushe praanaa aatmaikaadasaste yadasma-chhareeraan-martyaa- dutkraamantyatha rodayanti tadyadyad-rodayanti tasmaad-rudraa iti || 3-9-4 ||

  
Who are the Rudras? The ten organs (the ten indriyas, five Jnanendriyas and five Karmendriyas with the mind as the eleventh) when they depart from this mortal body they make us weep. Because they make us weep they are called Rudras.

[Jnaanakarmendriyaani dasa purushasthaani | ekaadasantu aatmaa manah | yadaa praanaah marana-dharmakaat sareeraat utkraamanti tadaa mriyamaanam purusham rodayanti iti rudraah  ]

Katame aadityaa iti | dvaadasa vai maasaah samvatsarsyaita aadityaah ete heedam sarvamaadadaanaa yanti | tasmaad aadityaa iti || 3-9-5 ||

 Who   are the Aadityaas?  Asked Saklalya.--the twelve months of a year are Adityas, They are Aditya because they go taking all this with them.  Because they go taking all this they are Adityas.

[They are called Adityas because they go taking away the days of living beings with them.]

Katama Indrah katamah prajaapatiriti | stanayitnurevendro yajnah prajaapatiriti | katamah stana-yitnurityasaniriti  katamo yajna iti pasava iti ||3-9-6 ||

Sakalya asked; which devata  is Indra, and which devata  is Prajaapati? Yajnavalkya replied; The cloud alone is Indra and the sacrifice is  Prajaapati. “Which is the cloud?”  Sakalya asked again: ”thunderbolt” answered Yajnavalkya. “Which is the sacrifice?”  Yajnavalkya answered --Animals.

[Because the animals are useful means of a sacrifice they are called sacrifice. Later in 6-4-18 this Upanishad says both the husband who performs the sacrifice to beget a son and his wife should have rice cooked with the meat of a young bull or a bull advanced in years and he   and his wife should eat that blessed meat with clarified butter, in order to get a son whom they wish to be reputed scholar and master of all Vedas. It looks as though the individual who performed Yajna sacrificed animals like bull not cow, goat, horse etc. (may be also male species)  and consumed the meat as Prasadam but did not resort to indiscriminate killing of animals for food as in modern days!].

Katame shadityagnischa prithivee vaayuscha  antarikshascha aadityaschs dyauschete  heedam sarvam shaditi ||3-9-7||

“Who are the six Devatas ?” asked Shakalya. Yajnavalkya replied: Fire and Earth; Air and the Sky; the Sun and the Heaven. These are the six because all these Devatas are comprised in these six”

Katame te trayo devaa iteema eva trayo lokah eshu heeme sarve devaa iti | katamau tau dvau devaavityannam chaiva praanscheti | katamo ardha iti | yo ayam pavata iti -- 3-9-8.

Who are the three Devatas? Yajnavalkya replied: these are indeed the three worlds.  Because in these all those devatas are comprised. “Which are the two Gods?” “Food and Breath (Anna, and Vayu)” replied Yajnavalkya. “Which is   that one and a alfhalfHhalf ?”   Yajnavalkya replied; “that is the wind that blows.”

These three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) are the abode of all the devatas. Food and Vital Airs (praana) are the two Devatas. They are essential for all the devatas that are enumerated.

From all these three namely: 1) having the earth (Bhuh) as the body, 2) having fire (bhuvah) as the instrument of vision and 3) the mind (Suvah) as the maker of resolutions in respect of all Atmans it is it established that the Paramatman who is the goal of all sentient and who is called by the term Purusha is to be known and meditated upon.

This Upanishad   describes the three worlds as three devatas because the three worlds Bhuh,  Bhuvah, Suvah are really the abode of all devatas (trayo lokah eshu heeme sarve devaa iti)

[Vaayu is called Adhyardha because all things grow in the abundance of Vayu. The term is ‘adhyardhnot’ is derived from the root “ridhu-vriddhau’. The word adhyardha means everything attains surpassing growth adhika vriddhi when the wind blows. It thus means the abundant wind is One.]

Katama eko deva iti  |  praana iti Sa brahma tyadityaachakshate -3-9-9.

“Which is that One GOD?”  asked Sakalya. Yajnavalkya replied, “Prana”. He is called Brahman (tyat)-- different from other gods or devatas and far superior to them.)

\ 
The reply to the question, who is the one GOD is given by Yajnavalkya as Praana. What is the meaning of Praana here?  How can this term which is synonymous with Vayu be mentioned as the one GOD (tad Brahma tad Vayu). The answer to this question is that the term Prana does not signify Vayu. But the other entity which is called as Brahman which is different and distinct from everything other than itself--atra praanasabdena tyat anyat  sarvavilakshanam brahmeti yadaahuh  tadevochyate

Prithivyev yasya aayatanam-agnirloke vai tam purusham vidyaat sarvasya aatmanah paraayanam sa vai veditaa syaat yajnavalkya \ veda vaa aham tam purusham sarvasya aatmanah paraayanam yamaattha | ya evaayam sareerah purushah eshah | vadaiva saakalya tasya ka devataa ityamritamiti hovacha | |3-9 10 ||

He who knows that Being whose abode   is earth, whose instrument of perception (lokah) is fire, whose light is the mind and who is the ultimate resort of the entire Atmans (individual souls), he is verily the knower truly, Yajnavalkya said. I do verily know that Purusha who is the supreme goal of all Self (atman), about whom you have mentioned. He who has as his body the entire universe is the Purusha (Supreme Self)--Devo Ekah; Tadekam.

“Shakalya! You speak out if you want to know anything more” Who is the deity for that person who knows this much?”--that is “Immortal” and is called by the term Purushsa.  He is to be known as one and only Deva or GOD.

The only GOD we need who  is invoked, prayed and worshiped by the following Mantra   is the central theme of Mahanarayana Upanishad!

vidhartāraɱ havāmahe vasoḥ kuvidvanāti naḥ savitāraṁ nṛichakṣhasam 

We invoke the creator of the universe who sustains the creation in many ways and who witnesses the thoughts and deeds of men. May He grant us plenty of excellent wealth!

 CONCLUSION

It is understood from all these discussion about the nature and number of all Devatas, all Devatas are the facets of the One Supreme Brahman. He is Manojyoti because His mind is functioning in making various Sankalpas and Vikalpas (Resolutions) and thinking of Pros and Cons.  From all these three, namely, having the Earth as the body, having fire as the instrument of vision and having the mind as the maker of resolutions in respect of all Atmans (individual souls) it is established that Paramaatma is the goal of all sentient.

The three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) are the abode of all the devatas-- 1)   the earth is the body, 2)   Fire (Bhuvah) is the instrument of vision and 3)  Mind  (Suvah) is the maker of resolutions in respect of all Atmans.  

The Vedic Devatas are thirty three: eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajaapati. These Devatas are assigned to the three regions of the Earth (Prithvi, the Heaven (Dyaus) and the intermediary space (Antariksha).

Hinduism is both Monotheistic and Henotheistic. Hindus were never Polytheistic or Pagan. In the sense that there are many equal Gods. Henotheism (literally “One GOD”) better defines the Hindu view. It means the worship of one GOD (Deva) without denying the existence of other gods (Devatas). Hindus believe in the one all-pervasive GOD who energizes the entire Universe. We can see Him in the life shining out of the eyes of all human beings and   all creatures.   This view of GOD existing in and giving life is called Panen-theism.  It is different from Pantheism t-hat is the belief that GOD is the natural universe and nothing more. It is also different from strict theism that says GOD is only above the world, apart and transcendent. Panen-theism is in an all-encompassing concept. It says that GOD is both in the world and beyond it, both immanent and transcendent.

BIBILOGRAPHY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1.    Ananta  Rangacharya, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Bengaluru, India.

2.    Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad  Gita, The Macmillan Company, New York, 

3.      http://creative.sulekha.com/the-rudras-eleven_398301_blog

4.      Swami Harshananda, Hindu Gods and Goddesses, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.

5.    Wikipedia and other Internet Sources.

6.    David Frawley, Vedic Yoga & Three Gunas in Yoga, Face Book.

7.    www.hinduismtoday.com, Why does Hinduism have so many Gods?

APPENDIX A

PERCEIVE THE DEVATAS (GODS & GODDESSES) AS FORMS OF BRAHMAN

Hindu Gods and Goddesses, more properly called Devatas or Divine principles, are usually treated by modern scholars in a superficial sense as powers of nature or as imaginary spirits of the primitive mind.  Or at a psychological level they have been reduced to expressions of human emotions or sexual energies.

At a yogic level, for those who have an inner vision and real devotion, Hindu Devatas are aspects, forms or manifestations of God or Ishvara, the Cosmic Lord and Creator, representing his powers, qualities or various ways of imagining him. They are the principles of Bhakti Yoga.

Yet at what may be a yet higher level of Self-realization, the Hindu Gods and Goddesses are forms or aspects of Brahman, the impersonal Godhead behind and beyond the manifest universe. They are powers of Jnana Yoga or the Yoga of knowledge.

How can Gods and Goddesses, which are usually formulated as having forms, personalities and stories, be a manifestation of Impersonal Being, Power and Existence? If we look deeply, we see that their forms and personalities are but symbols of something beyond form and personality, reflecting universal verities. That is why their forms and personalities are extraordinary, supernatural and multifaceted, imbued with mystery, magic and deep philosophical implications.

Vedic Devatas--Vedic Devatas appear as forces of nature and light, while the Puranic Devatas are more anthropomorphic in form and appearance. Yet this is but the surface of multidimensional meanings.

The four main Vedic Devatas are Agni, Vayu/Indra, Surya and Soma. As light forms in nature these are fire, wind/lightning, sun and moon. Yet these are further explained as analogues for the formless Brahman.

• Brahman or the supreme Godhead in the Upanishads is compared to a great fire, of which the worlds and creatures are but the sparks.
• Brahman is similarly compared to Wind or Vayu, a formless force that when it blows creates and moves everything.
• Brahman is also like the Sun, the supreme source of light, life and consciousness.
• Brahman is like the Moon, granting peace, delight and beauty to all things.

One could state that the Vedic Devatas are more forms of Brahman than they are forms of Ishvara or God in the personal sense with their connection to the forces of nature. Yet of these four Vedic Godheads, it is Indra, whose name like Ishvara means ‘the Lord’ that is close to God. However, Indra is also Brahman as the supreme power of consciousness, knowledge and perception. Indra is the Purusha as the seer and the knower as the Aitareya Upanishad proclaims.

Puranic Devatas, Shiva and Kali--The Puranic (later Hindu) Devatas, like the great trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, are the three forms of Ishvara, God or Saguna Brahman, Brahman with qualities. The three are the Creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu) and Destroyer (Shiva) or the three aspects of Ishvara relative to the gunas of rajas, Sattva and tamas.

Yet of the three, it is Shiva that is the closest to Brahman. In this regard, Lord Shiva is Nirguna Brahman, beyond all manifestation, Lord Vishnu is Ishvara, God or Saguna Brahman as the ruler of the universe, and Lord Brahma is Mahat Tattva or cosmic mind.

Shiva is the personification of the supreme Brahman and also is impersonal. He is the formless, transcendent, pure consciousness, pure existence, and peace – not at all concerned with anything in the realm of time and space, birth and death. He is beyond good and evil and can embrace all suffering as well as all joy. He is unpredictable and paradoxical, and does not conform to the expectations of his devotees. He works to take us beyond any limitation that we would put upon him or upon o

urselves. He demands that we surrender our limited mind and ego to the Absolute.

Similarly, of the three great Goddesses and consorts of the three great Gods, Sarasvati of Brahma, Lakshmi of Vishnu and Kali of Shiva, it is Kali that is the closest to Brahman and a personification of it. Kali is Brahman’s supreme power or unlimited Shakti – the power of pure power of existence, which as the infinite and eternal exists behind space and time. Kali’s often terrible appearance signifies this transcendence that breaks down all the appearances and limitations that we are attached to. Her garland of skulls shows her ruling over and transcending of suffering, time and death.

Kali is also the calming and silencing of the mind (nirodha in the Yoga Sutra sense, nirvana in the sense of Buddhism and the Gita). She is the prana merged into itself, the ending of death in the ending of birth! She is the breath of Brahman that occurs without wind or any external changes.

Shiva and Kali are, as it were, only vaguely defined personalities. They represent the impersonal in its first manifestation or turning towards personality. They exist before and bend the manner and rules of personal expression. They break down the personality into the infinite. That is why their forms do not conform to any rules, order or stereotyped patterns. They represent the transcendent, which from the standpoint of the manifest or phenomenal world must be paradoxical, beyond all dualities, cataclysmic and transformational.

Vishnu and Lakshmi represent the Divine in its orderly manifestation in the manifest world and its highest Sattva guna. Shiva and Kali relate to pure existence. Shiva and Kali take us back to Brahman and themselves merge and disappear back into it. They are light and energy as the most primal forces, the peace and power of the infinite.

We could say that Shiva is the transcendent impersonal Brahman, Vishnu is the Divine that enters into the human heart, while Brahma is cosmic intelligence. Kali, Lakshmi and Sarasvati are their three powers.

Conclusion

To see the Devatas (Gods and Goddesses) as forms of Brahman is to truly see the Devatas. Each Devata is a doorway on the infinite which is Brahman. Each indicates a path beyond form and personality through reflecting a primal form, power or personality. Each represents a way to understand our own deeper Self or Atman.

The Devata works to take us to Brahman by expanding our personality into the impersonal, our individuality into the cosmic. They do this through their own personality which is a personification of the infinite. The Devatas work on all levels of existence in order to lead us to that Being which is everywhere.

In that Brahman, the Self, the Devata, God, the Guru and the world, all merge into one. The waves fall into the sea. The rays return to that one light. That formless Brahman is present as the Being in everything from a particle of dust to the Sun, Moon and stars. Then we see that each thing becomes a Devata or deity and we understand the Devatas or Divine currents working in the forces of nature, of light, time, space and the yearnings of the human heart.

--David Frawley

 







VAISWADEVATA MANTRAS FROM MNU

Mantras on all Devatas in the Rite of Vaisvadevatas --Vaisvadeata Mantras in MNU

NARAYANA UPANISHAD

Agnaye svāhā -- oblation to Fire

viśvebhyo devebhyaḥ svāhā- -oblation to sum total of deities or All-gods

dhruvāya bhūmāya svāhā--oblation to the permanent plenitude.

dhruvakṣhitaye svāhā --oblation to the permanent ground.

achyutakṣhitaye svāhā--oblation to the unchanging abode.

agnaye sviṣṭakṛte svāhā--oblation to the maker of the right sacrifice.

dharmāya svāhā--oblation to the religious duty.

adharmāya svāhā--oblation to the ir-religious duty

adbhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the waters.

oṣadhivanaspatibhyaḥ svāha--oblation to the herbs and trees

rakṣho-devajanebhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the demons and gods

gṛihyābhyaḥ svāhaa--oblation to the household deities.

avasānebhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the deities dwelling in the outskirts of the house.

avasānapatibhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the leaders of such deities

sarvabhūtebhyaḥ svāhā --oblation to all spirits or the deities of the five primordial elements.

kāmāya svāhā--oblation to the god of love.

antarikṣāya svāhā--oblation to the wind blowing in the sky

yadejati jagati yaccha cheṣṭati nāmno bhāgo'yaṁ nāmne svāhā--oblation to the Supreme Being who is the totality of words in the Veda and also whatever there is in this world moving as insentient and whatever that acts as sentient.

pṛthivyai svāhā--oblation to the earth.

antarikṣhāya svāh--oblation to the spirits dwelling in the sky.

dive svāhā--oblation to the heaven

sūryāya svāhā--oblation to the sun

chandramase svāhā--oblation to the moon

nakṣhatrebhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the asterisms

indrāya svāhā-oblation to the chief of gods

bṛhaspataye svāhā--oblation to the preceptor of gods

prajāpataye svāhā--oblation to the lord of creatures

brahmaṇe svāhā--oblation to the four-faced creator

svadhā pitṛbhyaḥ svāhā--oblation to the departed ancestors

namo rudrāya paśupataye svāhā--Salutation and oblation to Rudra, the lord of living beings

devebhyaḥ svāhā-- oblation to the devatas translated as devartasgods

pitṛbhyaḥ svadhāstu--oblation to the manes

bhūtebhyo namaḥ--salutations to variety of  devatas (gods)

manuṣyebhyo hanta--oblation to men

prajāpataye svāhā--oblation to the lord of creatures

parameṣṭhine svāhā--oblation to the four-faced creator dwelling in Brahmaloka  1..

The above paragraph contains thirty-six short mantras used in worship and oblation.  Of these the first six ending in svāhā are employed for offering oblations connected with the Vaiśvadeva rite. In this rite the Supreme Being is worshipped --1 as Fire, 2 as the sum total of deities or All-devatas, 3 as the permanent plenitude, 4 as the permanent ground, 5 as the unchanging abode, and 6 as the maker of the right sacrifice.

Whenever offerings are made to the manes, the deities and men, the terms employed for oblations are svadhā, namaḥ and hanta respectively. These special words of address give them pleasure.

Devatas, like guests, are made happy by sweet words of courtesy. The word Pitṛu denotes two types of super-human beings—those who are permanent dwellers of the Pitṛu loka and those who are transplanted to that region from the earth when they depart from the body.

  
yathā kūpaḥ śatadhāraḥ sahasradhāro akṣitaḥ | evā me astu dhānyaɱ sahasradhāramakṣitam || dhanadhānyai svāhā || 2||

Just as a perennial well is supplied with water by hundreds and thousands of springs, so may I have an inexhaustible supply of grain from a thousand sources! For that end, I offer oblations to the wealth-holding deity! Hail!

This mantra is an invocation addressed to the Supreme through the deity Dhanadhānī, the supplier of man's subsistence.

There is a whole group of passages in the Taittirīya Saṁhitā laying down food rules and praising Anna-devatā. Life depends upon food.  So, nothing is more fundamental than the supply of food which sustains life.

The Taittirīya Upaniṣad III 8-9 also emphasizes the necessity of acquiring much food through the worship of Anna-Brāhman and sharing it with the needy.

ye bhūtāḥ pracharanti divānaktaṁ balimicchanto vitudasya preṣyāḥ | tebhyo baliṁ puṣhṭikāmo harāmi mayi puṣhṭiṁ puṣhṭipatirdadhātu svāhā || 3||

With the intention of acquiring prosperity, I present offering of food to those spirits who are the servants of Rudra (dwelling on the cremation ground) causing pain to creatures by death and bereavement, and who wander about day and night in search of tribute! May the lord of prosperity grant me all prosperity! Hail!

The Rudra-anuvāka of the Yajurveda speaks of the various forms of Rudra dwelling in the sky, on the earth, in the firmament, as leaders of creatures, as agencies that hurt men through food and wander about with weapons. Wind, rain and other causes of destruction are also attributed to these agents of Rudra.

This prayer here is, therefore, addressed to Rudra, after proper offerings to his destructive emissaries, so that the obstacles in the way to the attainment of prosperity are removed through his grace.

The word vituda comes from the root tud to prick or to pierce, and so vituda here is Kālāgni- Rudra, who pierces the creatures with various kinds of sorrows caused by the acts of Nature — various diseases, pestilence, inclemency of weather and climate. According to the lot of each one, the creatures are exposed to them.

auṁ tadbrahma | auṁ tadvāyuaḥ | auṁ tadātmā | auṁ tatsatyam auṁ tatsarvam | auṁ tatpurornamaḥ || 1||

Om that is Brahman. Om that is Vāyu. Om that is the finite self. Om that is the Supreme Truth. Om that is all. Om that is the multitude of citadels (the bodies of creatures). Salutations to Him!

Here this formula and the immediately succeeding one are given for Japa to be performed in order to remove all one’s sins.

In the other place this formula is given as a substitute for Gāyatrī together with its subsidiaries given for mental repetition when a person performs prāṇāyāma.

Both Bhaṭṭabhāskara and Sāyana explain the mantra adopting two philosophical view-points:

The syllable Om commencing each phrase announces that the passage is meant for magnifying Paramātman, and also for emphasizing His all-pervasive and all-inclusive nature.

According to Bhaṭṭabhāskara, Brahma here stands for expanding Prakṛti, which is but a mode of Brahman, Vāyu stands for the power of the Supreme perceptible as universal movement, Ātman for the individual self, and the word Sarva stresses the all-creating nature of the Supreme.

He takes the term puru in the sense of great or strong and explains namaḥ as namana or transformation, and so the phrase purornamaḥ is explained as the transformation of the universe into the shape which is powerful—or as the transformation of the Supreme Reality as Parāśaktī into the form of the universe.

Sāyana interprets Vāyu as Hiraṇyagarbha or Sūtrātman embodying the power of knowledge and activity inherent in the universe, and Ātman as the individual soul—both being derived from the Supreme.

He accepts the reading puro namaḥ and explains puraḥ as the nominative plural of pūḥ meaning a walled city, to which the gross and subtle body of creatures are often compared in the scriptures.

In the view of Sāyana, three alternative measures of breath are used in the act of prāṇāyāma according to the breathing capacity of individual aspirants.

oṁ antaścharati bhūteṣu guhāyāṁ viśvamūrtiṣu | tvaṁ  yajñastvaṁ vaṣaṭkārastvam indrastvaɱ rudrastvaṁ viṣṇustvaṁ brahma tvaṁ prajāpatiḥ | tvaṁ tadāpa āpo jyotī raso'mṛtaṁ brahma bhūrbhuvaḥ suvarom || 2||

That Supreme Being moves inside the heart of created beings possessing manifold forms. O Supreme, Thou art the sacrifice, Thou art the expression Vaṣaṭ, Thou art Indra, Thou art Rudra, Thou art Brahma, Thou art Prajāpati, Thou art That, Thou art the water in the rivers and the ocean, Thou art the sun, Thou art flavor, Thou art ambrosia, Thou art the 
body of the Vedas, Thou art the threefold world and Thou art Om.

The first line here announces that the Supreme described above is hidden in the hearts of all created beings, in the various shapes and the fauna and flora of the world.

In the next, the worshipper directly addresses the Supreme and exclaims: Thou art the sacrifice etc.

Words like Vaṣat, Svāhā, Svadhā, and Hanta are employed while making offerings to gods, manes and men.

Great gods like Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, the progenitor of mankind, sacrifices and formulas, of offering, water and light, and other facts of the world are indiscriminately collected here and asserted to be one with the Supreme. The worshipper thereby thinks that there is nothing other than the Supreme and that everything has its value derived from the Supreme.

According to Sāyana, the mantra is employed for the contemplative worship of the Supreme after Gāyatrī-visarjana connected with the twilight-devotion.

Related Mantras

haṁsaḥ śuciṣadvasurantarikṣasaddhotā vediṣadatithirduroṇasat .nṛṣadvara-sadṛtasad-vyomasad abjā gojā ṛtajā adrijā ṛtaṁ bṛhat .. 

That which is the sun who abides in the clear sky, is the Vasu (the air that moves) in the mid-region, is the fire that dwells in the sacrificial altar and in the domestic hearth as the guest, is the fire that shines in men and in the gods, as the Soul, is the fire that is consecrated in the sacrifice, is dwelling in the sky as air, is born in water as submarine heat, is born in the rays of the sun, is the fire that is directly seen as the luminary, and is born on the mountain as the rising sun—that is the Supreme Truth, the Reality underlying all.

This stanza in jagatī metre is the well-known Hamsa- mantra describing the Supreme Reality as it appears to the sage who has been illuminated. Its original place is in the Rigveda IV 40, 5. It is found in the Vājasaneyī Saṁhitā X 24, XII 14, and the Kaṭha Upaniṣad V 2.

Al­though in the common usage the word Haṁsa denotes a swan, in religious literature it stands for the Self, finite as well as Infinite, the Self and the Supreme, because of their uniqueness and unity.

According to the interpretation accepted here, the Sun is called Haṁsa because he moves everywhere; his abode is heaven, he is the animating power of air in the mid-region.

While gods like Indra are invisible, the sun is directly visible to all. He rises in the eastern mountain. His presence is known by the rays and by the submarine heat of water.

ajāmekāṁ lohitaśuklakṛṣṇāṁ bahvīṁ prajāṁ janayantīɱ sarūpām .
ajo hyeko juṣamāṇo'nuśete jahātyenāṁ bhuktabhogāmajo'nyaḥ 

There is one unborn Female (Māyā, the uncaused substance of the universe) red, white and black (representing Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) producing manifold offspring of the same nature.

There is one unborn (in the generic sense - some Jīvas who are attached) who lies by her taking delight in her; there is another unborn (in the generic sense - those who are not attached) who leaves her after having enjoyed her.

Avidya, Māyā, and Prakṛti are taken to be synonyms.

Prakṛti is the uncaused cause of the remaining categories posited to explain the stages of universal evolution. Therefore it is one and unborn.

The term Prakṛti being grammatically feminine in gender represents the unborn Female giving birth to the rest of creation.

Red, white and black represent either Tejas, Ap and Annam taught in Chāṇḍogya VI 4-1 or the three guṇas Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

The manifold offspring produced by Prakriti is described as having the same nature because the guṇas of Prakriti extend to every part of its effects.

In the second half of the stanza two types of individual souls, āsakta and virakta (passionate and dispassionate), are described—the former enjoy pleasures under the bondage of Māyā and the latter are averse to the pleasures and so are liberated from the thraldom to Māyā.

 The word bhuktabhogā implies that the latter have done with enjoyments supplied by Māyā and so they are no more enslaved by her.

  
yasmājjātā na parā naiva kiṁcanāsa ya āviveśa bhuvanāni viśvā .
prajāpatiḥ prajayā saṁvidānastrīṇi jyotīɱṣi sachate sa ṣoḍaśī  

The beings born from Prajāpati are not separate from Him. Before their birth nothing whatsoever existed other than Him, who entered all the creatures of the world as their in-most Self. Prajāpati has identified Himself with the creatures. He imparts the three luminaries, fire, sun and moon, luster by identifying Himself with them. He is endowed with sixteen parts.

[Shodasi here refers to 5 Karmendriyas, 5 Jnanendriyas, 5 Panchabhutas and the Mind. With 3 Gunas it adds up to 16+3=19. With twelve months in Smvatsara (which mens Brahman alone) it adds upt0 n19+12=31. Together vwithIndra and Prajapati they make  up 33. Thus the 33  aspects of Brahman are glorified as 33 koti nor kind Devatas in detail in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  Gunas also present Rajas as Brahma, Sattva as Vishnu and Tamas as Siva in Puranas]

 This passage occurs in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa III 7 9.

Prajāpati is the Divine Provi­dence who creates all beings, who supplies them with the ten senses and mind and the five elements (Panchabhootas) constituting their bodies and the three luminous worlds (Sun, Moon and Stars) in which they dwell, and who supports them as the indwelling Spirit.

appendix   b

VEDIC YOGA AND THREE GUNAS

By David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri)

[A yogi knows that the path towards satisfaction of the senses by sensual desires is broad, but it leads to destruction. He knows also that vast majority follow that path. The path of a yoga practice is like the sharp edge of a razor, narrow and difficult to tread, and there are very few who can follow it. A yogi is fully aware the paths of ruin or of salvation lie within him. The Yogi who is also human is also affected by the three gunas. By his constant disciplined study of himself and other objects which his senses tend to pursue, he learns which thoughts, words and actions are prompted by tamas and which by rajas. With unceasing efforts he weeds out and eliminates such thoughts as are prompted by rajas and tamas and he works to achieve a saattvic frame of mind. When the Sattva guna alone remains, the human soul has advanced a long way towards the final goal of liberation.

Pull of Gunaas can be compared to pull of gravity. The discipline perfected by Yoga enables the practitioner (Saadhaka) to be freed from the pull of Gunaas. Once the Yogi experiences the fullness of creation or the Creator, his thirst for objects of senses vanishes and he looks at heat or cold, pain or pleasure, in honor or dishonor, in virtue or vice with dispassion ever after. To him triumph and disaster look the same. He then liberates himself from the pairs of opposites and passes beyond the stage of pull of Gunas. He is then called Gunaateeta, one who has transcended the Gunaas. He is free from the shackles of birth and death, from pain and sorrow and becomes immortal. He no longer has any self-identity as he lives experiencing the fullness of the Universal Spirit. He thus attains Liberation or Kaivalya as mentioned by Patanjali in his Rajayoga. Please see below what yoga master David  Frawley has to say:]

The Vedas present a vast pantheon of deities (devatas) on many different levels, often said to be innumerable or infinite in number. For a specific number the Gods are said to be 3339 in total. This number is clearly a play on the number three. One of the main early efforts to classify the Vedic Gods (as in the Brihad Devata of Shaunaka) was to reduce them to the three prime deities for the three worlds.

Agni or Fire on Earth (Prithivi)
Vayu or Wind in the Atmosphere (Antariksha)
Surya or the Sun in Heaven (Dyaus)

The Rigveda is organized in this way with the hymns to Agni generally coming first in most of its ten books, then the hymns to Vayu and Indra, and finally the hymns to the Sun.

These three deities meanwhile are three aspects of the One God or the Purusha, the supreme consciousness principle and higher Self that is pure light. The term Deva for deity itself means ‘a shining one’ or form of light. It is related to the term Dyaus, meaning heaven and so refers to the heavenly or celestial lights. Vedic deities represent the main forms of light (Jyoti) in the universe.

Relative to this principle of light, we can equate the three main Vedic deities of Agni with heat, Vayu with electrical force, and Surya with pure light. These forms of light, however, do not only represent the corresponding forces of nature. They also represent the inner light or the forms of consciousness. They are the three aspects of the Purusha or Cosmic Person. Each has its psychological significance, with Agni or fire as speech (Vak), Vayu or wind as breath (Prana) and Surya or the Sun as the perceptive aspect of the mind (Buddhi).

Vedic deities and the Vedic Yoga follow the threefold law of manifestation in the universe. Naturally the question arises as to what extent this correlates with the three guna theory of classical Samkhya and Yoga.

 Any student of classical Yoga is well aware of the importance of the three gunas in yogic thought and practice. Few, however, are aware of their Vedic background and the deeper understanding that a Vedic perspective brings to them.

In the philosophy of Yoga, derived from the Samkhya system, all matter in the universe is reducible to one primary substance called Prakriti. Prakriti literally means the original power of action. It does not refer to substance in the physical sense but to the potential from which all forms of matter, energy and mind can arise. Prakriti is the original state of pure potential out of which all things become possible. Prakriti is the latent state of substance, like the seed that holds the potential for a great tree. It is the prima materia of the world of which matter, energy and mind are manifestations. Prakriti, we could say, is the causal or original form of all substances, from which their subtle and gross forms arise. It is extremely subtle, ethereal and transcendent, forming the basis for space that is its first material form. It is the basis of all manifest qualities.

Prakriti itself is said to be a composite of three prime qualities as sattva, rajas and tamas.

Sattva is the power of harmony, balance, light and intelligence – the higher or spiritual potential.

Rajas is the power of energy, action, change and movement – the intermediate or life potential.

Tamas is the power of darkness, inertia form and materiality – the lower or material potential.

Perhaps the simplest way to understand the gunas for the modern mind is as matter (tamas), energy (rajas) and light (sattva), the main factors of our physical universe.

The three gunas reflect the three worlds of Vedic thought.

Earth is the realm of tamas or darkness, physical matter.

The Atmosphere, also called rajas in Vedic thought, is the realm of action and change symbolized by the storm with its process of lightning, thunder and rain, but it indicates energy or subtle matter on all levels.

Heaven is the realm of harmony and light, sattva. It indicates light as a universal principle which is the causal or original form behind the gross and subtle elements or forms of matter and energy.

The entire universe consists of light that moves in the form of energy and gets densified in the form of matter. The three great lights of Agni, Vayu and Surya energize these three worlds as the spirit within them.

The first is Agni or Fire on the Earth. Fire is hidden in our bodies, in plants, in the rocks, and in the very core of the Earth itself.

The second is Vayu or Lightning in the Atmosphere. The power of the wind, which creates lightning, circulates through the atmosphere.

The third is Surya or the Sun in Heaven. The Sun represents the cosmic light of the stars that pervades the great space beyond this world.

These three lights are interrelated. We could say that lightning is the fire in the Atmosphere and the Sun is the fire in Heaven. Or fire is the Sun on Earth and lightning represents the solar force in the atmosphere. Or lightning on Earth creates fire and in Heaven it energizes the Sun.

These three lights also reflect the three gunas.

Agni is the tamasic form of light, the fire that is hidden in darkness.

Vayu is the rajasic form of light, light in its active and energetic mode as lightning or electrical force.

Surya is the sattvic form of light, light as pure illumination (prakasha).

The movement from tamas to sattva is a movement from Earth to Heaven. It occurs through bringing the light out of the Earth (Agni) and raising it to Heaven (Surya). This requires crossing the Atmosphere through using its forces (Vayu).

 In the Vedic view these three forms of light (Jyoti) are the three forms of the Purusha or the higher Self that is also defined in terms of light. In the Vedic view light is consciousness, not simply a material force. These three lights are also the three aspects of our being. These visible lights are manifestations of the invisible divine light of consciousness that illumines all things, including visible light and darkness. The three gunas and three worlds exist within us, as do their light forms as our powers of our own awareness.

Agni – Earth – tamas – body – speech (vak)

Vayu – Atmosphere – rajas – breath (prana)

Surya – Heaven – sattva – mind (manas)

In this sense sattva as light is also mind, rajas as energy is also the vital force and tamas as matter is also our bodily expression the foremost of which is speech.

Sattva – light – mind

Rajas – energy – prana

Tamas – matter – body

As matter, energy and light, the three gunas prefigure the insights of modern physics that equates mass, energy and light.

These three aspects of the Purusha or consciousness principle reflect the three aspects of Prakriti or the material principle. In the Vedic view, therefore, the science of the three gunas connects not only with Prakriti but also with the Purusha. The gunas are not simply the powers of Prakriti; they reflect the nature and presence of the Purusha as well and its reflection into the world. The Purusha is threefold in its human manifestation as speech (body), breath and mind, just as Prakriti or the world is threefold as earth, atmosphere and heaven or as matter, energy and light.

Agni is light or the Purusha in the realm of matter or the earth. Vayu is light or the Purusha in the realm of energy of the atmosphere. Surya is light or the Purusha in the realm of light or heaven. In the Vedic view, the Purusha or consciousness principle is not limited to embodied creatures but pervades these great forces of nature as well.

Understanding these light forms of the gunas helps us use the science of the gunas not only to understand Prakriti but also to understand the Purusha. The Vedic Yoga works with these three light forms or three forms of the Purusha in order to master and transform the three forms or aspects of Prakriti.

Agni – physical body and internal organs – speech – mantra yoga – tamas – matter – five gross elements

Vayu – vital body and motor organs – breath – prana yoga – rajas – energy – five pranas

Surya – mental body and sense organs – mind – Dhyana yoga – sattva – light – five subtle elements

Agni as the power of speech is the means of purifying and controlling both the physical body and physical matter and mastering the guna or quality of tamas. Through it we can control our internal organs and the gross elements. The Yoga of speech involves chanting, singing, internal repetition of mantras and meditation on mantras. Through it we gain control of the subconscious mind.

Vayu as the power of the breath is the means of purifying and controlling the vital body and the realm of energy and mastering the guna of rajas. Through it we can control our motor organs and the five pranas (five motor actions). The Yoga of the breath involves pranayama. Through it we gain control of our emotions.

Surya as the power of thought is the means of purifying and controlling the mental body and the realm of light and mastering the guna of sattva. Through it we can control our sense organs and the subtle elements. The Yoga of the mind is meditation. Through it we can control of the rational mind and direct it towards knowledge of the higher Self.

This information should provide the reader a sense of the vastness of the Vedic Yoga and how much later traditions relied upon its insights, even when using an apparently different language.

In this context please go through my related Discourses delivered in the past:

http://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2011/10/ashtaangayoga-of-pataanjali.html

http://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2013/11/trigunasthe-three-strands-or-aspects-of.html