Dowson in his book has clearly mentioned that in the Ramayana, ‘mention is made of a female Manu, and it appears that the word is sometimes used for “the wife of Manu.” Truly, there is a female Manu, who is very much one of the fourteen and also the wife of a Manu (Ali, or Vayu or Rudra or Marut or Aditya). It is they, who were created in the beginning and it is said that God created the world when pleased with their worship. Therefore, they took the task of leading the world to the worship of that One God. Prophets kept coming but the man continued to kill them or change their teachings. Finally the manus themselves took birth on this earth. Thirteen of them have been killed till now and the last remains, who will appear sometime in future as the Kalki avatar or the 12th Imam. The day is not far when he will appear and remove all injustice, all evil, all inhumanity, all notions of wrong from this world and the world will return to the worship of One God. Then their work will be brought to conclusion.
Scholars of Sanskrit know this when they talk of a Nirakar (formless) becoming Saakar (manifest), but have been unable to understand truly what was being said in the scriptures. They also know about the devatas but are unable to understand the true relationship that exists between all these.
You will be interested to note that
In Upanishads, these devatas or Masooms have been compared to a tree, established in heaven, from whom the whole universe is filled. These, described as Person, or one entity, is beyond this world, are without form and without suffering. Those who know that become immortal, but others go only to sorrow, it is said.
See III.4 talks of Rudra again and cites his relationship with all the rest of devatas:
He who is the source and origin of devatas (powers), the ruler of all, Rudra, the great seer, who of old gave birth to the golden germ. (Hiranya-garbha), may he endow us with clear understanding.
In the aforementioned verse, Rudra is also invoked for a clear understanding so that all the obstacles in cognizing him and his true position get removed. Once we are able to do so, we will also realize the importance of other devatas, upon cognizing whose true identity and gaining knowledge about their true position, the path to immortality will be become clear and reachable.
We have already shown that Upanishads confirm that the devatas will come to shine on earth at a proper time. Mundaka Upanishad says:
Whosoever performs works, makes offerings when these are shining and at the proper time, these in the form of the rays of the sun lead him to that where the one lord of the devatas abide.
And see II.6.
As spokes in the centre of a wheel, everything is established in life; the Rg (verses), the Yajus (formulas) and the Samans (chants) as also sacrifice, valour and wisdom.
II.7. As the lord of creatures, thou movest in the womb; it is thou myself that art born again. O Prana, creatures – here bring offering to thee who dwellest with the vital breaths.
II.8. Thou art the chief bearer (of offerings) to the devatas; thou art the first offering to the fathers; thou art the true practice of the seers, descendents of Atharvan and Angiras.
II.9. Indra art thou, O Life (prana), by thy valour; Rudra art thou as a protector. Thou movest in the atmosphere as the sun, the lord of the lights.
See verse II.10:
II.10. When thou pourest down rain, then these creatures breathe (and) live in a state of bliss (thinking) that there will be food according to their desire.
Let us now see what Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad has to say. The second Brahmana (Chapter) talks of the creation of the world. Before you read kindly keep in mind that we are relying on the existing translations. Once scholars get to see the true content of these scriptures, fresh translations are sure to shed much more light on what is being talked about.
See I.II.1:
There was nothing whatsoever, here in the beginning. By death indeed was this covered, or by hunger for hunger is death. He created the mind (Mahat or Intelligence), thinking ‘let me have a self’. Then he (self) moved about, worshipping. From him thus worshipping, water was produced. ‘Verily’, he thought, ‘while I was worshipping water appeared, therefore water is called arka (fire). Water surely becomes one who thus knows the reason why water is called arka (fire).
This verse explicitly talks of the creation of the Manifest Self by the Non-Manifest and Absolute God. Scholars usually call this Self (Paramatma) as god. But this is clear from this description that Paramatma itself is a creation of God. And it says that the Self ‘moved about, worshipping’. If Paramatma is god, whose worship was it doing? This worship of the Divine Manifest Self was responsible for the creation of the seven who later became fourteen and subsequently the universe with all its creatures came into being.
You have seen earlier that Mind (Mahat or Intelligence) has been given place in other Upanishads as one of the seven names along with fire, water, air, sky, earth and ego.
Importance given to this knowledge is itself a proof that there is some vital information here that we have not understood so far. In essence, it means that one who possesses this knowledge become united with God. Also, one thing is clear, worshipping is the essence of the Self, reason for creation of the entire cosmos, and also us.
Here’s another reason, which refutes the view of those people who claim that the Self is Absolute God. Verse II.4 talks of a second self in I.II.4.
He desired, let a second self (body or form) be born of me. When he was born he opened his mouth he cried, bhan. That indeed, became speech.
You have seen earlier how Mohammad said that Ali and Mohammad were divisions of the same noor (light). We claim that this second self, created from original Self was that of Ali, not in the human form, but in the form of noor or spirit or power or a physical form of some sort, who later took birth in human form and was named Ali.
Brhad-aranyaka states:
When he (second self) was born he opened his mouth he cried, bhan. That indeed, became speech.
In the next verse, it is even stated that the Rig-Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, the metres, the sacrifices, men and cattle, all were born from this Speech, thereby leading us to conclude that Speech is another name for the noor of light. If you wish to see this in the life of Ali, you will find him reciting the Quran, three days after his birth, when the child was given in the hands of Mohammad, and when the Quran was not even revealed to Mohammad. Upanishad confirms the same when it says when he was born he spoke. Moreover, Ali’s speeches recorded in Nahjul Balaghah by Syed Razi reveal that he was the greatest of all orators. There was even an instance when discussion was going on speaking without use of a particular alphabet and Ali stood up to give an entire sermon spontaneously and not once during the entire sermon that particular alphabet came. No doubt, if the great source of all speech comes to earth in human form, there must be traces of it in his personality.
Now see I.II.5 of Brhad-aranyaka:
With that speech, with that self he brought forth all this whatsoever exists here, (the hymns of) the Rig-Veda, (the formulas of) the Yajur Veda and (the chants of) the Sama Veda, the metres, the sacrifices, men and cattle. This second self is also called Aditi.
Another interesting point to be noted is that this second self is named Aditi. Aditi, we know is known as the mother of the devatas, according to Hindu scriptures. She is also the second half of the Aditya (the sun, used for Ali). Aditi, for sure, is the one and only devi among the fourteen devatas. It is unfortunate that while the name of Aditi abounds in the scriptures, including the Vedas and Puranas, scholars have not related the two together. Truth is that Aditi, the first of the divisions of the Self, as has been said in this Upanishad, is the same Aditi, the character described in various scriptures.
I.II.6:
He desired: ‘let me sacrifice again with a greater sacrifice.’ He rested himself, he practiced austerity. While he was thus rested and heated, fame and vigour went forth. The vital breaths, verily, are fame and vigour. So when the vital breaths departed, his body began to swell, but the mind was on the body.
Radhakrishnan says that ‘heat’ is symbolic of a hen warming the egg. No doubt, progeny is being talked about here. You have seen earlier how Muslim books have talked of the world being created from light-heat. The self wanted to give a greater sacrifice, therefore, he practiced austerity and rested, and heated (gave birth) to vital breaths – fame and vigour (Hasan and Husain, Husain’s sacrifice was the greater sacrifice, about which we will know later that the people of the time knew of this sacrifice and prayed that they be alive when this devata would come so that they could sacrifice their lives along with the devata).
I.II.7:
He desired, let this (body) of mine be fit for sacrifice and let me have a self through this. Thereupon, it became a horse, because it swelled, it has become fit for sacrifice. Therefore the horse-sacrifice came to be known as aswa-medha. He who knows this, verily, knows the asva-medha. Letting it remain free, he reflected: and at the end of a year (after a time-gap) he offered it to himself. He gave up the animals to the divinities. Therefore (men, priests) offer to Prajapati the sanctified (horse) dedicated to all the devatas (all the divisions of Self or all the illuminators of knowledge). Verily, that (self) which gives of heat is the horse-sacrifice. His body is the year. This fire is the arka and that these worlds are his bodies. So there are two, the sacrificial fire and the horse sacrifice. Yet again they are one divinity, even death. He overcomes repeated death, death cannot get hold of him, death becomes his body, and he becomes one with these divinities.
In II.7, the knowledge of these men is referred to as ‘sanctified’, or ‘proksitam’. Aswa-medha sacrifice, it is evident was initiated in remembrance of this greater sacrifice of the devatas. It is clearly stated that upon reflecting, he gave himself to the beasts (meaning men with beastly qualities or rather those under the influence of their animal selfs). Not knowing the true significance of these verses, commentators like Radhakrishnan have used divinities and animals together. Fact is that people with animal selfs killed Husain; it was a sacrifice that he gave for upholding of Divine teachings. Again two types of sacrifices are talked about, pertaining to the death of Hasan and Husain due to dissimilar circumstances and it is stated that in spite of that, “they are one divinity, even (in) death.” They are to ‘alabhata’, ‘offer’ or ‘sacrifice themselves for Him’.
It is clearly stated “Yet again they are one divinity” that all the divinities are one and the same. And we find Mohammad too saying that the fourteen were one and the same. He said:
The first is Mohammad, the last is Mohammad, the middle is Mohammad and all are Mohammad.
Once again, II.7 indicates that some divine secret is being talked about.
He (who knows this) overcomes repeated death, death cannot get hold of him, death becomes his body, and he becomes one with these divinities.
Subject of discussion, though largely incomprehensible, is very important and person who knows what is being talked about “overcomes repeated death, death cannot get hold of him, death becomes his body, and he becomes one with these divinities.” The word ‘divinity’ proofs that all through it is the divine beings or devatas who are being talked about. Is there any doubt that divinities or devatas are subject of discussion all through whose knowledge is so vital for us?
If you recall, this Upanishad had talked of deliverance and vehicle/s of religious truth in the beginning. Till here, first five of the devatas and their origin have been discussed as per existing translations. You have already seen before how these five are together termed as Prana or Life. Also, nine more devatas were created from the progeny of fifth, in succession, to make it fourteen. The last or the fourteenth of them too is Mahiman or Mohammad, just as the first, from whom all the rest were created, was Mahiman or Mohammad. The last devata is to appear in future, and upon his appearance and the subsequent martyrdom, the entire cosmos will disintegrate into death again. This too has been described at countless places in Puranas and Upanishads.
If no secret is being talked about here, then why it is being repeatedly said, “He who knows this stands firm wherever he goes.” So much of weightage is given to “this knowledge”, in verse after verse.
It is queer why commentators have failed to notice this. Without this, all the talk of Upanishad remains just plain rhetoric? No words of God are spoken without any inherent meaning. Will merely knowing the fact that the world was created in such and such manner be enough for a man to stand firm? Discounting this vital truth will discount all the so-called spiritualism that the Upanishads are talking about. Truth is that the names of the devatas were in circulation during the period (we will prove later that people were waiting for them and expecting them to arrive), which got lost with time. What their names will be, when they come to earth, were kept secret, but their attributes and events of life were well known, so that when they would come, people recognize them and grasp their teachings. It is these devatas who are being referred to as ‘pious men’, ‘Purusha’ and so on. Unfortunately, none of the commentators of Upanishads or Vedas have tried to explain who these people are, whose description can be found everywhere, be it in Upanishads, Vedas or the Gita.
It is also stated in this Upanishad that speech, life-breath, eye, ear, mind and vital breath, all need to understand and acknowledge the reason for creation of this universe. It is also mentioned that the demonic forces will try to replace this knowledge (which is sanctity in itself, as per Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad) with evil. They will succeed through removing their names from speech, life-breath, eye, ear and mind. But when they will try to remove their presence from the vital-breath, they will themselves get vanquished.
Moving further, let us now see what Brahmana III of Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad says:
Third Brahmana again talks of the knowledge being discussed earlier. This knowledge is so important that even the devatas used this knowledge to gain victory over demons. Demons, who did not chant the Udgitha and tried to replace it with evil, perished in the end. Says Anandagiri: “The fact that this knowledge is the Udgitha can be understood by word ‘proksitam’ meaning sanctified, mantra-samskrtam.” Unfortunately, this knowledge has remained lost to us till now.
This Brahmana starts with the description of demons and the devatas, thereby confirming that the evil forces too have remained in existence right from the earlier time. In fact Prajapati created both these forces prior to the creation of humans. That is why verse I.III.1 says: “There were two classes of the descendants of Prajapati, the devatas and the demons.” Subsequent passage of this Chapter tells how, when the demons knew that the devatas would overcome them so they tried to pierce evil everywhere. Initially they succeeded in corrupting the knowledge from the speech, eye, ear, mind and life-breath but when the demons wished to obliterate the knowledge from the vital-breath, they themselves were vanquished and the devatas were victorious. Is this not similar to the Quranic promise? Promise has been made to Mohammad that there will be a time when he would become pleased and his mission would gain a victory. There are descriptions in Purana regarding the Kalki avatar and sayings of Mohammad which confirm that there will be a time when the humanity will shed its evil and return to the path of One God.
This shows the lofty position of devatas in relation to our life. We know now that the cosmos was created after the creation of the devatas. But what we do not know yet is the fact that the cosmos was created out of the noor or light of the devatas and they continue to be an important constituent of the entire cosmos, including our selfs. A little later, we will mention those Upanishads that explicitly tell how the 14 devatas – the fourteen guardians of the spheres and the rulers of our organs of senses and action – are part of our beings, so much so that when the last of the devata on earth is killed, the entire cosmos will be destroyed. That the world is heading towards dissolution is evident from the fact that 13 of the Masooms have already been killed and only the last remains, waiting for the suitable time when God would ask him to appear. That day is not very far away.
There is no doubt that evil attempting to corrupt or obliterate the names of the devatas is being talked about in this Chapter. That the subject returns to the talk of creation of the devatas in the succeeding chapter further substantiates this claim. It is clearly stated that though the demons would gain victory initially, it will be the devatas whose knowledge and teachings would gain superiority towards the end. That time is going to come soon.
I.III.9. That divinity, verily, is dur by name, because death is far (dura) from it. From him who knows this, death is far off.
I.III.10. That divinity, verily, after having struck off the evil of these divinities, even death, made this go to where the end of the quarters is. There he set down their evils. Therefore one should not go to people (of that region), one should not go to the end (of the quarters), lest he meet there with evil, with death.
I.III.11. That divinity, verily, having struck off the evil, the death, of those divinities, next carried them beyond death.
It is clear from the aforementioned verses that life beyond death is related to the knowledge of the devatas described above. Once the evil is struck off and the knowledge of Udgitha is known, people would attain salvation. After all, Gita has clearly stated that salvation or freedom from rebirth is directly related to the recognition of the Manifest Self of God. The fourteen devatas were created from that Manifest Self, and we know that Mohammad is the chief of them all.
Later in III.16, it says:
Thus, verily, that divinity carries beyond death him who knows thus.
And see III.17:
Then it chanted food for itself. For whatever food is eaten is eaten by him alone. In it is established.
Consequently, the last of the devatas, the Mahiman, too would die. This is evident from the translation ‘Then it chanted food for itself’. All food, all riches of the world, are due to the presence of the devatas on this earth. As it is said, ‘in it is established (all food).’
In Islam, one who dies while on the right path is called ‘shaheed’. The word shaheed has become synonymous with martyrdom. You will be interested to know that ‘shaheed’ is derived from ‘shahadat’, which means ‘to give testimony or bear witness to.’ Gita and Upanishads too say that salvation is not possible without knowledge of the role of these Divine Beings in our lives. Gita has even said that the good deeds too would not be enough to grant salvation. A person who commits good deeds will be sent to heaven but will return again to this world when another creation will take place. Those who perform good deed and possess the desired knowledge gets free from ceaseless cycle of repeated births.
This makes it clear that all so called ‘Jehad’ is useless until the Muslim testifies the importance of the Masooms and dies giving testimony to the fact that the Masooms control all things around us. Anybody who recognizes his or her worth before dying is a shaheed, even if he dies a natural death.
Quran confirms that those who die shaheed are alive and get their sustenance (food) from divine means. The same is being talked about in verse I.III.18.
I.III.18: These divinities said, ‘Verily, just this much is whatever food there is and that you have obtained for yourself by chanting. Now let us have a share in this food.’ He said, ‘then sit around, facing me’. ‘So be it’. They sat around him on all sides. Therefore, whatever food one eats by this breath, they are satisfied by it.
So do his relations come to him who knows this, he becomes the supporter of his people, their chief, their foremost leader, an eater of food and their lord. Whoever among his people desires to be the equal of him who has this knowledge, he is not able to support his own dependants. But whoever follows him and whoever, following him, desires to support his dependents, he, indeed, will be able to support his dependents.
Life after death is being talked about here. Again, it is clear that God is not mentioned here. It is evident that there are several divinities, who sit around the man who has been carried beyond death. We have seen earlier that Mahiman in the beginning and Mahiman in the end had devatas in between. All those who were carried beyond death and who knew the divinity truly will sit with the chief divinity (Mohammad) and have food alongside him. Other divinities too will be there. And whatever food will be given, those who will eat it will be satisfied by it.
That is why Quran said:
Those who die on the path of Allah are not dead but they are alive and get sustenance (food) from us.
It is clear that nobody understood the Divine game-plan till now. The Absolute God (Ishwar or Allah) created the Manifest Self, a visible and manifest power by the name of Vishnu. The Manifest Self not just created the one Noor (or light, described as Brahma, which is the positive power) but also Zulmat (or light, which is the negative power) as two distinct paths and then created the human beings, with option to chose either of the two paths. Noor divided to create 14 Manus or Devatas with seven names (they were five initially called the Panjetan in Islam and later became 14) while the forces of darkness too may have undergone similar process. This explains why Quran describes Satan as not individual but with its own forces. This also explains why forces of darkness have been given such enormous powers. How else can you describe that Satan (the fact that it is there is confirmed in Quran and even Buddha described it as ‘Mara’) could be the invisible power that is ceaselessly working to deviate the entire humanity from the Straight Path and has been largely successful till now. This is the reason why the Manifest Self, after creation of Adam, said to the angels, “You do not know what I know.” This Divine game-plan was not known even to the angels. Satan may have been the chief of the negative powers or one of the agents of negative power, but unless you accept our interpretation as true, you will find hard to explain who deviated the previous creations from the Straight Path, so much so that Quran is witness that the angels said regarding Adam at the time of his creation: “Will you create someone who will create bloodshed on earth.” The fact that angels were referring to another creation that indulged in bloodshed previous to creation of Adam and Satan was seemingly the most pious of that extinct creation; so pious that it was given a place among the angels.
The role of the Noor is the reverse of the role of the forces of darkness (zulmat). It is a power created by Manifest Self that ceaselessly works to lead humankind to the worship of God. Even when it is in Noor or light state or when it comes down to live on earth it is continuously working for the same objective. Till now, it appears that the negative forces (forces of zulmat) are gaining an upper edge. But it is the promise of the Manifest Self in Quran that Noor will eventually be victorious. Once that happens (consequent to the coming of the Kalki avatar or Mahdi) all the humanity will return to the true path of supplication to One God – the Absolute God.
Gita confirms that those who perform righteous acts without possessing knowledge of those who have been created as the torchbearers to Brahma’s Heaven may get temporary rewards after death but eventually they will have to come back to earth, more likely in a lower state. It has even been said that sacrifices and works of merits too would not serve any purpose, in terms of getting salvation, if those who are to show the path to salvation are not identified. The ‘seven moving tongues of fire’ - the devatas with six names and a devi - will show the path to salvation.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Role of devatas in our lives
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment