See what Isa Upanishad has to say further:
I.6: And he who sees all beings in his own self and his own self in all (14) beings, he does not feel any revulsion by reason of such a view.
This verse too states clearly that there are more than one being inside us and hence it cannot be meant for God. It is the devas who pervade our soul and body to such an extent that there would be no life without them. That is why realizing one’s own self leads to recognition of the God (see verse I.7)
I.7. When, to one who knows, all beings have, verily, become one with his own self, then what delusion and what sorrow can be to him who has seen the oneness?
I.8. He has filled all; He is radiant, bodiless, invulnerable, devoid of sinews, pure, untouched by evil. He, the seer, thinker, all-pervading, self-existent has duly distributed through endless years the objects according to their natures.
I.12. Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the Unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in the manifest.
I.14. He who understands the manifest and the Unmanifest both together, crosses death through the manifest and attains life eternal through the manifest.
That we have deviated from the true path far enough can be seen from the fact that none of us knows the distinction between manifest and Unmanifest that the Upanishads are trying hard to preach. How then can we think of attaining salvation when it is clearly stated that salvation is directly linked to this knowledge?
God was fully aware of the nature of man and knew that majority of them would not be able to comprehend the presence of an Unmanifest God. Therefore, he created a Manifested Self, which divided into two, then from marriage of a self created out of one with the second self, two more were created, to make it five and then 9 took birth successively to make it fourteen. Lest these divisions make somebody think that their power diminished due to divisions, Upanishads have laborously tried to send the message that all were equal in power and status to the original Manifested Self of God, in spite of all divisions and retained all the characteristics of the original Manifested Self of God. This has already been described previously in Isa Upanishad itself, which says:
That is full; this is full. The full comes out of the full.
Perhaps Mohammad too was trying to convey the same message when he said:
First of us is Mohammad, last of us is Mohammad, the middle of us is Mohammad, all are Mohammad.
This same subject continues all through this Chapter. Verse I.6 states that he who sees all these Divine beings in his own self and his own self in all Divine beings, he does not feel any revulsion by reason of such a view. Verse 7 states that when, to one who knows the true nature of his own self and its relation to the selfs of Divine Beings and also with that of the One Self of God, all Divine Beings have, verily, become one with his own self, then what delusion and what sorrow can be to him who has seen the oneness?
Verse I.12 describes in clear words that it is not possible to do away with these Divine Beings, and neither is it possible to just cling to these Divine Beings and forget the One Self or Paramatma. Following either of the two paths leads to utter darkness. The 14 Divine Beings are part and parcel of the religion taught by God, and it is through these Divine Beings who collective form the Manifested Form of God that the Non-Manifested Godan be reached and salvation attained.
As regards to Muslims it is their common belief that all spirits were created much before the creation of Adam. Upon the creation, a pledge was taken from the spirits. Later in this book, you will find that the last hymn of Yajur Veda says that all things, be it sun or the moon, stars or earth, they are engaged in the worship of One God. Similar to this, Muntahiur Aamal, a revered book of the Muslims, talks of Yaume-Alast and says that each and every particle pledged the Oneness of God, at the time of Creation. That is why, when a pebble came on Mohammad’s hand, it started talking of the greatness of God.
The Holy Prophet said:
You shall not be annihilated, because you have been created to last till eternity. You only go from this life of actions (good or bad) to the life of happiness or misery.
In this regard, Pooya/Ali commentary states: “The creator Lord created a group of His chosen representatives, thoroughly purified them, gave them His wisdom, and then commissioned them to guide mankind, in every age and every clime, till eternity. One after another the prophets of Allah came with divine guidance at every stage of development in the human society; and in the end the last messenger of Allah, the Holy Prophet, came with the final message, after which the office of prophethood was terminated. To protect and preserve the revealed truth in its original form, uncorrupted, the merciful Lord, after risalat, established the institution of imamat, and appointed Imams (guide-leaders). Through the Imams, the thoroughly purified, the divine guidance will continue to guide the people to the end of this world. Allah has shown him (man) the right way (Dahr: 3), and given him the free choice to identify these rightly guided guides and obtain true guidance, or reject them and go astray.”
Verses 20 and 21 from Chapter IX of Gita are very important from our viewpoint, as they too talk of Indra’s role in guidance and granting salvation.
Knowers of the three (Vedas), soma-drinkers, purified from sin, worshipping by sacrifices, pray of Me the way to heaven; they, attaining the holy world of Indra (Lord of devatas) enjoy divine feasts in heaven.
They, having enjoyed that expansive heaven-world, then on their merit exhausted, they enter the world of mortality, thus conforming to the righteous notions implied in the three (Vedas), desiring desirable objects they obtain values which come and go. (Gita.IX.20-21)
This confirms thatKrishna agrees, and was said in the Buddhist scriptures that they would enter the world of mortality a human beings. ‘Righteous notions implied’ is reference to triad - the three stages – rather than the three Vedas. Even if Vedas are meant, it would mean Vedas and Gita are in sync with each other.
The aforementioned verses are very important because they describe the true identity of the devatas. They are being described as the knowers of the three Vedas, as soma-drinkers (we will prove later that soma is not a type of wine, as is generally believed), and as purified from sin. Also, it is said that they have gained a place in Indra’s heaven, on the merit of their sacrifices and prayers, and enjoy divine feasts there.
There are several people who maintain thatKrishna ’s teachings are different from that of the Vedas. As per our understanding, Gita has only endorsed the sanctity of the Vedas and if it has criticized anything, it is the digression from the Vedic teachings. This verse is a perfect example of this. Also, this presents another interesting point – that the devatas would enter the world of mortality, at some point of time, and says that the fact that they would enter the world is in accordance with the teachings of the Vedas. In subsequent chapters regarding Buddha and his Dhamma, we have shown that even the Buddha confirmed the coming of the devatas in a later age, thus also proving that both Buddha and Krishna were of one view in regard to the subject of the devatas.
From this it is clear that the God of Gita too endorses the identity of the devatas and even affirms to the Vedic view that the devatas would come in this world. But whether the Vedas really talk about devatas and their birth in this world, we will see later?
There are some who maintain that the aforementioned verses are not for the devatas but for ordinary men like us. They are of the view that the Hindu belief of re-birth is being talked about here. We do not hold this argument as true for various reasons. First, not we but the devatas are identified with the term ‘soma-drinkers’. Secondly, teachings of the Gita are absolutist in nature. Fact is that all the words of God are Absolutist in essence. For instance, when the God is called ‘Just’, it is taken for granted that He won’t commit even a trifle amount of injustice. If God is associated with ‘Truth’, we must believe that He won’t ever commit an act that has traces of untruth in it. All the various names of God as well as His words should be understood in similar manner. Gita surely is a word of God. Therefore, when the God says, Veda-knowers, we will have to believe that it is reference to those who know the Vedas to their entirety, and not the meaning of a single word or phrase in the Vedas is hidden or vague to them. Later, when we reveal the true content of the Vedas, it will become clear why the present day ‘scholars’ of Vedas cannot be meant here, who are yet to understand the true teachings of Vedas. It is this reason why we maintain that our worldly teachers and gurus cannot be taken to be meant by the term ‘spiritual teachers.’ This term would apply to somebody who is the best and perfect knower of spiritual teachings and nothing is unknown to him. Likewise, ‘wise’ would mean a person in whom even slight lack of wisdom cannot be expected. And such terms can only be used for Divine Persons, who are the devatas.
Also, when the term ‘purified from sin’ is used, it must be believed that not even a trace of impurity is found in them. Quran too has confirmed to the purity of the Ahlebayts, when it says:
Innama Yoridullaho Leuzheba Ankumrrijsa Ahlalbaite wa Yotahhirakum Tathira
Verily Allah desires to keep away all blemishes from you, O Ahlebayt (People of the Household) and keep you pure with perfect purification.
Their worship of the God too is perfect and their knowledge too is such that nothing is unknown to them (Read the lives of Ahlebayts on earth and you will get proofs of this claim as well). We have quoted from Gita here to prove that Gita is not against the Vedic and Upanishadic teachings, as is widely believed, but actually endorses them. What it is actually opposed to are the deviations from Vedic teachings that had taken place during the several centuries that elapsed betweenKrishna and the last of the Vedic hymns. Most interestingly, Gita also maintains that the devatas would take birth in this world and says that Vedas too carry the same message. We will know whether the Vedas maintain this same view when we study them later in this BOOK.
God also knew this predicament that people would face regarding in cognizing the true path, therefore He created a Self which divided to create the 14 devatas, who came down to earth as Divine Proofs, so that man recognize the true nature of God and what He expects from us. Only upon seeing the life of devatas on earth, we can know that gods are not what they have been made out to be, who roam around producing children, or with a phallus in hand, and who revel in luxurious living with apsaras dancing to their pleasure. Messengers sent by God tried their best to introduce these devatas to us and also gave hints about the time when they would come, so that we do not deviate from the worship of One God.
This is the reason why the devatas were introduced not only through the Vedas, among the Indo-Aryans, but all across the world, among various civilizations and regions. We can find their presence in the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian civilizations. This writer has even heard from a friend that some of these names were also common among the Red Indians of American Sub-Continent, far beforeColumbus
It is unfortunate that these Divine Personalities were given the status of gods in each of these civilizations. Once man forgot the true nature of these Divine Personalities, he deviated from the right path, and started worshipping the devatas themselves, which also included the idolization of these Divine Beings. This led to the creation of several religions, which kept deviating from the true path shown by God as time progressed.
I.6: And he who sees all beings in his own self and his own self in all (14) beings, he does not feel any revulsion by reason of such a view.
This verse too states clearly that there are more than one being inside us and hence it cannot be meant for God. It is the devas who pervade our soul and body to such an extent that there would be no life without them. That is why realizing one’s own self leads to recognition of the God (see verse I.7)
I.7. When, to one who knows, all beings have, verily, become one with his own self, then what delusion and what sorrow can be to him who has seen the oneness?
I.8. He has filled all; He is radiant, bodiless, invulnerable, devoid of sinews, pure, untouched by evil. He, the seer, thinker, all-pervading, self-existent has duly distributed through endless years the objects according to their natures.
I.12. Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the Unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in the manifest.
I.14. He who understands the manifest and the Unmanifest both together, crosses death through the manifest and attains life eternal through the manifest.
That we have deviated from the true path far enough can be seen from the fact that none of us knows the distinction between manifest and Unmanifest that the Upanishads are trying hard to preach. How then can we think of attaining salvation when it is clearly stated that salvation is directly linked to this knowledge?
God was fully aware of the nature of man and knew that majority of them would not be able to comprehend the presence of an Unmanifest God. Therefore, he created a Manifested Self, which divided into two, then from marriage of a self created out of one with the second self, two more were created, to make it five and then 9 took birth successively to make it fourteen. Lest these divisions make somebody think that their power diminished due to divisions, Upanishads have laborously tried to send the message that all were equal in power and status to the original Manifested Self of God, in spite of all divisions and retained all the characteristics of the original Manifested Self of God. This has already been described previously in Isa Upanishad itself, which says:
That is full; this is full. The full comes out of the full.
Perhaps Mohammad too was trying to convey the same message when he said:
First of us is Mohammad, last of us is Mohammad, the middle of us is Mohammad, all are Mohammad.
This same subject continues all through this Chapter. Verse I.6 states that he who sees all these Divine beings in his own self and his own self in all Divine beings, he does not feel any revulsion by reason of such a view. Verse 7 states that when, to one who knows the true nature of his own self and its relation to the selfs of Divine Beings and also with that of the One Self of God, all Divine Beings have, verily, become one with his own self, then what delusion and what sorrow can be to him who has seen the oneness?
Verse I.12 describes in clear words that it is not possible to do away with these Divine Beings, and neither is it possible to just cling to these Divine Beings and forget the One Self or Paramatma. Following either of the two paths leads to utter darkness. The 14 Divine Beings are part and parcel of the religion taught by God, and it is through these Divine Beings who collective form the Manifested Form of God that the Non-Manifested Godan be reached and salvation attained.
As regards to Muslims it is their common belief that all spirits were created much before the creation of Adam. Upon the creation, a pledge was taken from the spirits. Later in this book, you will find that the last hymn of Yajur Veda says that all things, be it sun or the moon, stars or earth, they are engaged in the worship of One God. Similar to this, Muntahiur Aamal, a revered book of the Muslims, talks of Yaume-Alast and says that each and every particle pledged the Oneness of God, at the time of Creation. That is why, when a pebble came on Mohammad’s hand, it started talking of the greatness of God.
The Holy Prophet said:
You shall not be annihilated, because you have been created to last till eternity. You only go from this life of actions (good or bad) to the life of happiness or misery.
In this regard, Pooya/Ali commentary states: “The creator Lord created a group of His chosen representatives, thoroughly purified them, gave them His wisdom, and then commissioned them to guide mankind, in every age and every clime, till eternity. One after another the prophets of Allah came with divine guidance at every stage of development in the human society; and in the end the last messenger of Allah, the Holy Prophet, came with the final message, after which the office of prophethood was terminated. To protect and preserve the revealed truth in its original form, uncorrupted, the merciful Lord, after risalat, established the institution of imamat, and appointed Imams (guide-leaders). Through the Imams, the thoroughly purified, the divine guidance will continue to guide the people to the end of this world. Allah has shown him (man) the right way (Dahr: 3), and given him the free choice to identify these rightly guided guides and obtain true guidance, or reject them and go astray.”
Verses 20 and 21 from Chapter IX of Gita are very important from our viewpoint, as they too talk of Indra’s role in guidance and granting salvation.
Knowers of the three (Vedas), soma-drinkers, purified from sin, worshipping by sacrifices, pray of Me the way to heaven; they, attaining the holy world of Indra (Lord of devatas) enjoy divine feasts in heaven.
They, having enjoyed that expansive heaven-world, then on their merit exhausted, they enter the world of mortality, thus conforming to the righteous notions implied in the three (Vedas), desiring desirable objects they obtain values which come and go. (Gita.IX.20-21)
This confirms that
The aforementioned verses are very important because they describe the true identity of the devatas. They are being described as the knowers of the three Vedas, as soma-drinkers (we will prove later that soma is not a type of wine, as is generally believed), and as purified from sin. Also, it is said that they have gained a place in Indra’s heaven, on the merit of their sacrifices and prayers, and enjoy divine feasts there.
There are several people who maintain that
From this it is clear that the God of Gita too endorses the identity of the devatas and even affirms to the Vedic view that the devatas would come in this world. But whether the Vedas really talk about devatas and their birth in this world, we will see later?
There are some who maintain that the aforementioned verses are not for the devatas but for ordinary men like us. They are of the view that the Hindu belief of re-birth is being talked about here. We do not hold this argument as true for various reasons. First, not we but the devatas are identified with the term ‘soma-drinkers’. Secondly, teachings of the Gita are absolutist in nature. Fact is that all the words of God are Absolutist in essence. For instance, when the God is called ‘Just’, it is taken for granted that He won’t commit even a trifle amount of injustice. If God is associated with ‘Truth’, we must believe that He won’t ever commit an act that has traces of untruth in it. All the various names of God as well as His words should be understood in similar manner. Gita surely is a word of God. Therefore, when the God says, Veda-knowers, we will have to believe that it is reference to those who know the Vedas to their entirety, and not the meaning of a single word or phrase in the Vedas is hidden or vague to them. Later, when we reveal the true content of the Vedas, it will become clear why the present day ‘scholars’ of Vedas cannot be meant here, who are yet to understand the true teachings of Vedas. It is this reason why we maintain that our worldly teachers and gurus cannot be taken to be meant by the term ‘spiritual teachers.’ This term would apply to somebody who is the best and perfect knower of spiritual teachings and nothing is unknown to him. Likewise, ‘wise’ would mean a person in whom even slight lack of wisdom cannot be expected. And such terms can only be used for Divine Persons, who are the devatas.
Also, when the term ‘purified from sin’ is used, it must be believed that not even a trace of impurity is found in them. Quran too has confirmed to the purity of the Ahlebayts, when it says:
Innama Yoridullaho Leuzheba Ankumrrijsa Ahlalbaite wa Yotahhirakum Tathira
Verily Allah desires to keep away all blemishes from you, O Ahlebayt (People of the Household) and keep you pure with perfect purification.
Their worship of the God too is perfect and their knowledge too is such that nothing is unknown to them (Read the lives of Ahlebayts on earth and you will get proofs of this claim as well). We have quoted from Gita here to prove that Gita is not against the Vedic and Upanishadic teachings, as is widely believed, but actually endorses them. What it is actually opposed to are the deviations from Vedic teachings that had taken place during the several centuries that elapsed between
God also knew this predicament that people would face regarding in cognizing the true path, therefore He created a Self which divided to create the 14 devatas, who came down to earth as Divine Proofs, so that man recognize the true nature of God and what He expects from us. Only upon seeing the life of devatas on earth, we can know that gods are not what they have been made out to be, who roam around producing children, or with a phallus in hand, and who revel in luxurious living with apsaras dancing to their pleasure. Messengers sent by God tried their best to introduce these devatas to us and also gave hints about the time when they would come, so that we do not deviate from the worship of One God.
This is the reason why the devatas were introduced not only through the Vedas, among the Indo-Aryans, but all across the world, among various civilizations and regions. We can find their presence in the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian civilizations. This writer has even heard from a friend that some of these names were also common among the Red Indians of American Sub-Continent, far before
It is unfortunate that these Divine Personalities were given the status of gods in each of these civilizations. Once man forgot the true nature of these Divine Personalities, he deviated from the right path, and started worshipping the devatas themselves, which also included the idolization of these Divine Beings. This led to the creation of several religions, which kept deviating from the true path shown by God as time progressed.
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