Why is a particular holy sacrament offered to a deity?

Contents

• 1. Origin and meaning of Deities
• 2. The female deity (devi)
  • 2.1 Meaning
  • 2.2 Types of Divine Energy
• 3. Names of male deities
• 4. Origin
• 5. Abodes of deities
• 6. Number
  • 6.1 Other meanings of the word kot
• 7. Special features
• 8. Vehicles (vahan)

1. Origin and meaning of Deities

A. ‘A class of those who have divine bodies. The definition given by Yaska is as follows:

देव: दानात्‌ वा दीपनात्‌ वा द्योतनात्‌ वा ।
द्युस्‍थानो भवति इति वा । यो देव: सा देवता । - निरुक्‍त ७:१५

     Meaning: The word dev (देव) is derived from da (दा), dip (दीप्‌) or dyut (द्युत्‌) which mean to give an offering, to shine or to enlighten respectively. Since they reside in the dyu region (dyulok), they are called dev (deities). - Nirukta 7:15

B. Sayan when writing a commentary on the hymn “Agnimile....” has also given a similar definition.

C. In “देवशब्‍दो दानदीपनद्योतनानामन्‍यतममर्थमाचष्‍टे ।” the word dev either means offering, to shine or to give light.’⁽¹⁾

The word deity is used with reference to both a male and a female deity.

2. The female deity (devi)

2.1 Meaning

The female deity has the following meanings.

• Feminine deity: For example the sixty-four yoginis

• Consort of a deity: For example, Shiva’s consort is Parvati. In reality, male and female deities have a separate existence. It is the devotees who do the matchmaking between them !

• Manifest form of the energy of a deity: A male deity is the bija while the female deity is the energy. A female deity (devi) is an idol of energy created from the Divine Energy (Shakti) of male deities. In the Shakta sect this form of Divine Energy is considered the supreme deity, e.g. Adimaya.

2.2 Types of Divine Energy

A. Pleasant and fearsome

• Pleasant: Parvati, Amba, Gouri, Uma, etc.

• Fearsome: Kali, Chandi, Chamunda, Durga, etc.

B. Saviour and destroyer

• Saviour: It is used for protection of devotees.

• Destroyer: It is used for destruction of evildoers.

For more information on the female deity (devi) refer ‘Science of Spirituality : Vol. 9 B - Divine Energy (Shakti)’. For details on the form and weapons used by the female deity refer point 3.3 D - ‘Form of His weapons and their use’.

3. Names of male deities

Male deities have several Names due to the following reasons.

A. There are various Names describing different qualities of deities, for instance Lambodar (the big bellied one), Hari (the vanquisher of evil), Shiva (the pure one), etc. (Human beings are named based on the liking of those naming them.)

B. If according to the constitution of a devotee he is going to benefit more by chanting a particular Name of a deity then such a Name should be available. [Refer ‘Science of Spirituality : Chapter 9 - Path of Chanting The Lord’s Name (Namasankirtanyoga)’.]

4. Origin

The origin of deities occurs in the four ways given below.

• A. Through a resolve (sankalpa) : Just as the origin of the universe itself has occurred by God’s wish so also the majority of deities are created through a resolve.

• B. Through the medium of the Primal Mother - Aditi, Prajapati created radiance (tej), that is deities (Rugveda).

• C. Saints can create deities as well as mantras to attract deities, keep them in bondage and destroy them.

• D. Sometimes frequencies of two energies (deities) interact with each other and in the process a new deity (energy) may be created.

5. Abodes of deities

Heaven (svargalok): This is the abode of Lord Indra, the king of deities.

The dyu region (dyulok): Thirty-three crores of deities reside here. Information on heaven is given in the book ‘Science of Spirituality : Chapter 25 - Composition of the Universe’. The dyu region is a part of heaven.

According to the Vedas: The Rugveda and the Atharvaveda believe in thirty-three main deities of which eleven each live in absolute ether (akash), on absolute earth (pruthvi) and in absolute water (apa) (Rugveda 1.139.11). The (Atharvaveda 10.9.12) quotes that some reside in heaven, some in the cosmos (antariksha) and the others on the earth.

Implied meaning of a humourous sentence in this context: How meaningful the following humourous sentence is !

God is nowhere.

A. Here ‘nowhere’ means that ‘God is non-existent’.

B. If the word nowhere is split then the sentence becomes ‘God is now here’, that is present here this very moment. The real meaning is that He is all pervading.

6. Number

Though male and female deities have different Names according to the philosophy of qualified non-duality (Ekeshvarvad) there is only one God it is believed that these deities are not distinct from Him but are His varied manifest forms created to perform different missions. For instance devotees of deity Kali believe that only Kali is the Supreme deity and that deities Sarasvati and Lakshmi are but Her other forms.

Generally it is said that there are thirty-three crores of deities. This means that there are thirty-three main deities and each has one crore (ten million) assistants, messengers, etc. Kot is the singular of koti (crores). As discussed in point ‘4’ earlier since there is creation and dissolution of new deities, their number cannot be determined. Yet the number of the basic thirty-three crores of deities remains constant.

According to various schools of thought the thirty-three crores of deities are constituted in the following way :

The thirty-three main deities are as follows.

• 12 adityas, 11 rudras, 8 vasus (masters of the eight directions), Indra and Prajapati. At times in the thirty-three deities two Vishvedev are included instead of Indra and Prajapati. Other variations of these thirty-three deities are inclusion of Prajapati and Vashatkar or Vak and God (Ishvar) instead of Indra and Prajapati.

• 11 crore deities are associated with each of the three main deities Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.

• The thirty-three deities are as follows - 7 male deities, 7 female deities, 7 infant deities and 7 as vehicle deities. The remaining 5 deities which comprise the five centres (kendra) - Vayu, Agni, Varun, Indra and Aryama were worshipped without a definite form (a definite form could not be decided). They are referred to as adhibhut deities or adhidev.

6.1 Other meanings of the word kot [kot is the singular of koti (crores)]

A. Types: Deities are classified in various ways as benevolent and harmful, worthy and unworthy of worship, living and non-living, superior and subordinate and Vedic and Pauranic.

B. Nude: A quote says ‘कोटरी सा महामाया’. This means that the Primal Mother is nude. Deities are also referred to as digambar. The word digambar (दिगंबर) is derived from dik (दिक्‌) and ambaraha (अंबर:). Dik means direction and ambaraha is clothing. So deities are those with the directions as their attire. Deities do not have clothing on their bodies but in order to please their devotees, when granting them a vision they don clothes. The colour of the clothing of every deity too is predetermined. For instance Lord Indra (king of deities) wears red clothing, Yama (deity of death) wears yellow, Varun (deity of rain) dons black and Kuber (deity of wealth) is adorned with white robes. [Saints of a high spiritual order (Paramhansas) too may be nude.] The reasons for nudity of deities are given below.

• They are without any or beyond bondages (vishrunkhal).

• A covering is needed only to hide fallacies. Since deities are the Truth there is no need for them to wear robes.

• Deities of Nature for example the earth, mountains and rivers are nude.

   

C. Those created in a cave, a hollow or in darkness: A hollow is the space between the union of two different frequencies.

D. Those residing in a valley.

E. Radiance

F. Incomprehensible: Attendants (gans), spiritual particles (pavitraks), etc. are things beyond the comprehension of the intellect.

7. Special features

A. Devoid of a moustache and a beard: Deities do not have a beard and a moustache.

B. Fragrance: Their bodies emit fragrance. At times without any apparent reason a seeker experiences fragrance. This is due to the manifestation of a deity over there, at that time. Their bodies emit a fragrance even if they are cut.

C. Food: Bodies of deities are composed of the fire element hence they are able to partake of the offering of food (naivedya) after converting it into an aerial form. As against this, since bodies of ghosts are aerial in nature they are unable to convert food into the aerial form and thus remain hungry. Consequently their desires remain unfulfilled.

D. Sexual life: Deities have a sexual life but no progeny. Prajapati, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Minakshi (Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasarasvati) however are deities who do not have a sexual life. According to their qualities they are referred to as male deities (dev) or female deities (devi). Progeny of deities are only symbolic.

E. Personality: Since deities also have defects such as jealousy, envy, etc. in their personality they too experience unhappiness to some extent and have to face the consequences of the actions which they perform. Even the king of deities, Lord Indra had to undergo punishment for His mistakes.

    ‘Vedic deities are believed to behave righteously. It is opined that all deities are righteous, refrain from deceit and protect veracious and righteous men. The Rugveda attributes more importance to the energy and prowess of deities than to their qualities of Righteousness and honesty. Deities mainly survive on sacrificial fires (yadnyas); hence they maintain a friendly relationship with people who perform them.’⁽²⁾

    ‘The Brahman period displays the humanisation of deities with greater propensity. Deities from the Rugveda were in human form but did not possess all the qualities of man. This shortcoming was overcome during the Brahman period. Deities too developed multifold relationships like man. Relationships like parents, children and siblings were established. This led to arguments and conflicts between them. That is why it is said that deities should be worshipped for acquisition of opulence or for fulfillment of desires but that one should not try to emulate their behaviour (न देवचरितं चरेत्‌).’⁽³⁾

F. Immortality: Initially deities were not immortal.

• They performed a sacrifice called Somyag to appease Agni (deity of fire) and the Sun deity, Savita. These deities then blessed them with immortality. Deities are sons of the Primal Mother, Aditi. The book Shatpath Brahman states that ‘som’ is a drink endowing them with immortality.

• Deities conquered death by observing celibacy (brahmacharya) and undertaking austerities (Atharvaveda 11.5.19).

• Deities exist in each and everyone. So, even if one being perishes, the deity survives in the others. Thus deities are immortal.

G. No spiritual practice: Deities do not undertake spiritual practice. That is why they permanently remain in the dyu region (dyulok). Man however can undertake spiritual practice and attain the Final Liberation (Moksha).

H. Favourite fragrance: Favourite fragrances of some deities are enlisted below. That is why they are offered incense sticks accordingly.

• Ganapati: Kevada (a fragrant flower)

• Vishnu: Rose

• Datta: Panadi (a fragrant creeper) and vala (a grass with fragrant roots)

• The female deity (devi): Mogra (a white fragrant flower) [for a benevolent cause] and henna (for destroying evil)

I. Music: Letters and musical modes (ragas) associated with some deities are given below.

• Brahma: Vowels

• Shiva: Five musical modes including Bhairav, Shri, Hindol, etc.

• Parvati: The Malkansa raga.

J. Holy sacrament (prasad) : The holy sacrament offered to each deity is also fixed. The chosen sacrament can absorb the energy of that particular deity in a greater quantity and can retain it for a longer period. Thus the person who partakes of that offering is benefitted.

K. Holy ash (vibhuti): The deity from which maximum energy will be absorbed by holy ash depends on the substance from which the ash has been obtained. Hence the holy ash used for a particular deity is made from a particular substance, for instance holy ash for Lord Shankar is made from human ash obtained from the crematorium.

L. Manifestation of a deity: The word manifestation is used in the context of becoming visible. Deities do have a form but one cannot perceive it with ordinary (gross) vision. ‘Why does the formless assume a form?’ This is discussed in point 3.3 A ‘Why does the formless assume a form ?’. In spiritual literature one comes across more examples of female deities like Narmada, Ganga, etc. assuming a form than of male deities like Himalay.

Some special features of a deity seen even after its manifestation are given below.

• The feet do not touch the ground.

• There is no blinking.

• The body does not become dirty.

• There is no sweating.

• The body does not cast a shadow.

• Floral garlands on the body do not wither.

M. Form : The number of heads, hands, feet, etc. in deities varies according to the degree of the superhuman nature. For instance Lord Datta has three while Shadanan has six heads.

N. Instruments : Most of the male deities are associated with Shiva and Vishnu while majority of the female deities are associated with Parvati. Hence they wield weapons of Shiva, Vishnu and Parvati in their hands. Some main instruments and their implied meanings are given below.

8. Vehicles (vahan)

The word vahan (वाहन) has been derived from वृ वह वाहणे which means to transport.

Shape : In the ancient times as seekers began to perceive a little from the subtle dimension, after undertaking spiritual practice they realised that specific frequencies of the deities were coming from somewhere. As they progressed further they realised that these frequencies had the form of an animal/bird, e.g. of Nandi (the divine bull), Garud (the divine eagle), etc. Consequently seekers began to consider animals like Nandi, Garud, etc. as deities. Later as they understood more of the subtle dimension they perceived that Nandi and Garud were the vehicles of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu respectively and that instead of Nandi and Garud the frequencies came from those deities. They then concluded that animals and birds like Nandi and Garud were vehicles of deities.

Speed : The speed of vehicles of deities is known as rhansa. Rhansa is the speed which can continue with the same pace despite obstacles. It is accelerated whenever there is an obstacle. Hence no matter how many obstacles there are, vehicles of deities travel with a constant speed. (The other meanings of the word rhansa are the tandav dance, opening of the third eye of Lord Shankar, a wind blowing at a high speed, etc.)

Nature of the vehicles : Vehicles of deities are not real; they are the gross forms of energy of a deity used by it to travel from one place to another. This is akin to a female deity (devi) being the gross form of the total energy of a male deity. Actually deities can travel anywhere by a mere resolve (sankalpa). They do not require vehicles.

Invoking deities (avahan) : Deities do not manifest witout an invitation except if a devotee is in crisis. The implied meaning of invoking a deity is inviting it to come quickly along with its vehicle (vahan).

Reference:

‘Supreme God, God, Incarnations and Deities’, published by Sanatan Sanstha.

Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh. Publisher: Pandit Mahadevshastri Joshi, Secretary, Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh Mandal, 410 Shanivar Peth, Pune 411 030.
First edition : Vol. 3 to 10, Second edition : Vol. 1 and 2
[1]. Vol. 4, Pg. 421           [2]. Vol. 4, Pg. 434
[3]. Vol. 4, Pg. 439, 440