Devas Dictionary

Solar Devas.

See AGNISHVATTA; MANASAPUTRAS; PITRI(S)

(See also: Solar Devas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

devas

The demigods who reside in Svarga, led by Indra. They rule the universe and administer the necessities of life for its inhabitants.

(See also: devas , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Devas:

(Lit., shining ones) The gods of Hindu mythology.

(See also: Devas , Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

DEVAS: Celestial beings.

(See also: DEVAS ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Devas - celestial deities; beings situated in the celestial planets who are endowed with great piety, tremendous lifespans, and superior mental and physical prowess. They are entrusted with specific powers for the purpose of universal administration.

(See also: Devas , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Devas:

Devas: celestial beings.

(See also: Devas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Deva, devas:

god(s). Shining ones.

(See also: Deva, devas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Gnanasakti. See JNANA-SAKTI

(See also: Gnana-Devas, Gnan-Devas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Rupa-devas (Sanskrit) [from rupa form + deva divinity]

Celestial beings having form; that class of celestial beings or lower dhyani-chohans still having forms who "are the intelligent Rulers of this world of Matter, and who, with all this intelligence are but the blindly obedient instruments of the One; the active agents of a Passive Principle" (ML 107-8). These rupa-devas have completed their cycling as monads in the human stage and have graduated into the class next superior to mankind.

See also ARUPA-DEVAS

(See also: Rupa-devas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Arupa-devas (Sanskrit) (from a not + rupa form, body + deva divine being)

Formless celestial beings; suggested in The Mahatma Letters (p. 107) to refer to beings who were once men as we now are, but who have graduated out of the human sage into one of the two main classes of dhyani-chohans. According to this scheme, there are men; those superior to men who nevertheless were formerly men, divided into the rupa and arupa; and beneath men two classes who will be men in the future, such as asuras (elementals having a more or less human form) and beasts or elementals of a less advanced class which can be called animal elementals.

When used alone, deva is vague and indefinite, as there are celestial beings named devas who are neither ex-men, asuras, nor beasts, but may be looked upon as celestial spirit-elementals.

(See also: Arupa-devas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gnan Devas (Sanskrit) Lit., "the gods of knowledge". The higher classes of gods or devas; the "mind-born" sons of Brahma, and others including the Manasa-putras (the Sons of Intellect). Esoterically, our reincarnating Egos.

(See also: Gnan Devas , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Sanskrit dictionary. From Advaita to Yoga.

Please note that all words in grey, like "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

Buddhism: Basic Buddhist Dictionary

A basic dictionary of Buddhism terms. Please note that all words in grey like " Buddhism " are links to an archive with related articles.

yajna: (Sanskrit) "Worship; sacrifice."

One of the most central Hindu concepts - sacrifice and surrender through acts of worship, inner and outer.

1) A form of ritual worship especially prevalent in Vedic times, in which oblations - ghee, grains, spices and exotic woods - are offered into a fire according to scriptural injunctions while special mantras are chanted.

-       The element fire, Agni, is revered as the divine messenger who carries offerings and prayers to the Gods.

-       The ancient Veda Brahmanas and the Shrauta Shastras describe various types of yajna rites, some so elaborate as to require hundreds of priests, whose powerful chanting resounds for miles. These major yajnas are performed in large, open-air structures called yagashala.

-       Domestic yajnas, prescribed in the Grihya Shastras, are performed in the family compound or courtyard. Yajna requires four components, none of which may be omitted: dravya, sacrificial substances; tyaga, the spirit of sacrificing all to God; devata, the celestial beings who receive the sacrifice; and mantra, the empowering word or chant.

-       While puja (worship in temples with water, lights and flowers) has largely replaced the yajna, this ancient rite still continues, and its specialized priestly training is carried on in schools in India.

-       Yajnas of a grand scale are performed for special occasions, beseeching the Gods for rain during drought, or for peace during bloody civil war. Even in temples, yajna has its Agamic equivalent in the agnikaraka, the homa or havana ceremony, held in a fire pit (homakunda) in an outer mandapa of a temple as part of elaborate puja rites.

-        

2) Personal acts of worship or sacrifice. Life itself is a jivayajna.

-       The Upanishads suggest that one can make "inner yajnas" by offering up bits of the little self into the fires of sadhana and tapas until the greater Self shines forth.

The five daily yajnas, pancha mahayajna, of the householder (outlined in the Dharma Shastras) ensure offerings to rishis, ancestors, Gods, creatures and men. They are as follows.

-       brahma yajna: (also called Veda yajna or rishi yajna) "Homage to the seers." Accomplished through studying and teaching the Vedas.

-       deva yajna: "Homage to Gods and elementals." Recognizing the debt due to those who guide nature, and the feeding of them by offering ghee and uncooked grains into the fire. This is the homa sacrifice.

-       pitri yajna: "Homage to ancestors." Offering of cakes (pinda) and water to the family line and the progenitors of mankind.

-       bhuta yajna: "Homage to beings." Placing food-offerings, bali, on the ground, intended for animals, birds, insects, wandering outcastes and beings of the invisible worlds. ("Let him gently place on the ground [food] for dogs, outcastes, svapachas, those diseased from sins, crows and insects" Manu Dharma Shastras 3.92).

-       manushya yajna: "Homage to men." Feeding guests and the poor, the homeless and the student. Manushya yajna includes all acts of philanthropy, such as tithing and charity. The Vedic study is performed in the morning.

The other four yajnas are performed just before taking one's noon meal. Manu Dharma Shastras (3.80) states, "Let him worship, according to the rule, the rishis with Veda study, the devas with homa, the pitris with shraddha, men with food, and the bhutas with bali."

Mystics warn that all offerings must be tempered in the fires of kundalini through the power of inner yajna to be true and valuable, just as the fire of awareness is needed to indelibly imprint ideas and concepts on one's own akashic window.

See: dharma, havana, homa, puja, sacrifice.

(See also: Yajna , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Deva (Devas) :

Deva (Devas)

(Sanskrit) A word meaning celestial being, of which there are various classes. This has been a great puzzle for most of our Occidental Orientalists. They cannot understand the distinctions that the wonderful old philosophers of the Orient make as regards the various classes of the devas. They say, in substance: "What funny contradictions there are in these teachings, which in many respects are profound and seem wonderful. Some of these devas or divine beings are said to be less than man; some of these writings even say that a good man is nobler than any god. And yet other parts of these teachings declare that there are gods higher even than the devas, and yet are called devas. What does this mean?"

The devas or celestial beings, one class of them, are the unself-conscious sparks of divinity, cycling down into matter in order to bring out from within themselves and to unfold or evolve self-consciousness, the svabhava of divinity within. They then begin their reascent always on the luminous arc, which never ends, in a sense; and they are gods, self-conscious gods, henceforth taking a definite and divine part in the "great work," as the mystics have said, of being builders, evolvers, leaders of hierarchies. In other words, they are monads which have become their own innermost selves, which have passed the ring-pass-not separating the spiritual from the divine.

See also: Deva (Devas) , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Vishwa-devas: A group of twelve minor Vedic deities.

(See also: Vishwa-devas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Jnana-devas (Sanskrit) (from jnana knowledge, wisdom + deva god)

Gods of knowledge or wisdom; the higher classes of gods or devas including the manasaputras, agnishvattas, and kumaras. In one sense these jnana-devas are our reincarnating egos; in another, the term is applied to high sages such as the mahatmas, with the implication that they have been successful in attaining, or are in training for attaining, self-conscious union with the god within.

(See also: Jnana-devas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Spirit-kings Incarnated devas or demigods become human, mentioned as a dynasty of the Lemuro-Atlanteans. These monads, manifesting as devas, assumed bodies to rule over the less evolved men of their own period; but because they descended into matter and therefore were manifesting as rupa beings, they had the possibility of falling into error or evil, as happened historically with more than one who took the left-hand path and corrupted their Atlantean subjects. The dynasty of the spirit-kings, like the general run of the Atlanteans, were divisible into those who followed the right-hand path, and those who followed the left-hand path. The former were called Sons of Light, and the latter Sons of the Shadow.

(See also: Spirit-kings , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

puja: (Sanskrit) "Worship, adoration."

An Agamic rite of worship performed in the home, temple or shrine, to the murti, sri paduka, or other consecrated object, or to a person, such as the satguru. Its inner purpose is to purify the atmosphere around the object worshiped, establish a connection with the inner worlds and invoke the presence of God, Gods or one's guru.

During puja, the officiant (pujari) recites various chants praising the Divine and beseeching divine blessings, while making offerings in accordance with established traditions. Puja, the worship of a murti through water, lights and flowers in temples and shrines, is the Agamic counterpart of the Vedic yajna rite, in which offerings are conveyed through the sacred homa fire. These are the two great streams of adoration and communion in Hinduism.

Central steps of puja include:

1)    achamana, water sipping for purification;

2)    Ganapati prarthana, prayers to Ganesha;

3)    sankalpa, declaration of intent;

4)    ghanta, ringing bell, inviting devas and dismissing asuras;

5)    avahana, inviting the Deity ;

6)    mantras and dhyana, meditating on the Deity;

7)    svagata, welcoming;

8)    namaskara, obeisance;

9)    arghyam, water offerings;

10) pradakshina, circumambulation;

11) abhisheka, bathing the murti;

12) dhupa, incense-offering;

13) dipa, offering lights;

14) 1naivedya, offering food;

15) archana, chanting holy names;

16) arati, final offering of lights;

17) prarthana, personal requests;

18) visarjana, dismissal-farewell.

Also central are pranayama (breath control), guru vandana (adoration of the preceptor), nyasa (empowerment through touching) and mudra (mystic gestures). Puja offerings also include pushpa (flowers), arghya (water), tambula (betel leaf) and chandana (sandalpaste).

-       atmartha puja: Karana Agama, v. 2, states: Atmartha cha parartha cha puja dvividhamuchyate, "Worship is two-fold: for the benefit of oneself and for the benefit of others." Atmartha puja is done for oneself and immediate family, usually at home in a private shrine.

-       parartha puja: "Puja for others." Parartha puja is public puja, performed by authorized or ordained priests in a public shrine or temple.

See: pujari, puja, yajna.

(See also: Puja , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

sagga (sagga): Heaven, heavenly realm. The dwelling place of the devas. Rebirth in the heavens is said to be one of the rewards for practicing generosity (see dana) and virtue (see sila). Like all waystations in samsara, however, rebirth here is temporary.

See also sugati.

 (See also: Sagga , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)