THE TRUE CONTENT OF THE VEDAS (PART-IV)

Let us bring forth the Creation Plan once again, this time through the Upanishads.

Subala Upanishad defines the Absolute Non-manifest God in these words. IV.I. In the beginning this was non-existent, unestablished (in anything else), devoid of sound, devoid of touch, devoid of form, devoid of taste, devoid of smell, imperishable, not dense, not prodigious, originless, as one’s own self (he), sorrows not. That which is lifeless, mouthless, earless, speechless, mindless, splendourless, devoid of name and clan, headless, devoid of glowing redness (like fire), immeasurable, not short, not long, not gross, not minute, not small, not great, not definable, not obscure, not demonstrable, not manifest, not shrouded, without an interior, without an exterior. It does not feed on anything, nor does anything feed on it. One should attain this (Brahman) by recourse to the six means of truthfulness, charity, austerity, fasting, chastity (of mind and body) and complete indifference to worldly objects. One should also attend to the following three, self-control, charity and compassion. The pranas (vital breaths) of this (knower of Brahman) do not go out, even where He is they get merged. He who knows thus, becoming Brahman remains Brahman alone.

This is the description of Brahman, the Absolute Non-manifest God. Since Muslims give exactly the same description of Allah, we can conclude that Brahman and Allah are one and the same.

As per the Upanishads and Vedas, when this Non-Manifest God desired, it created a Manifest Self, which had a form, a seat, and appeared like a spirit, hence called Paramatma. Since Upanishads say clearly that this Manifest Self too worships the Non-Manifest Absolute God, we can safely say that there is no duality. The Absolute God is One and this Self or Spirit is the first of the Creation.

V.15. This (self) is all-knowing. This is the Lord of all This is the ruler of all. This is the indwelling spirit. This is the source of all. This, that is resorted to by all forms of happiness, does not stand in need of happiness of any kind. This, that is adored by all the Vedic texts and scriptures does not stand in need of Vedic texts and scriptures. Whose food is all this but who (himself) does not become the food of any. For that very reason (it is) the most excellent, the supreme director of all. Consisting of food (it is) the self of (all) gross objects; consisting of life (it is) the self of (all) sense organs; consisting of bliss, (it is) the self of dissolution, when there is not Oneness whence (can arise) duality? When there is not mortality, whence (can arise) immortality? (It is) not (endowed) with internal knowledge; nor with external knowledge; nor with both these kinds of knowledge, not a mass of knowledge, not knowledge, nor not-knowledge, not (previously) known or capable of being known. This is the doctrine relating to liberation. This is the doctrine of Veda. This is the doctrine of the Veda.

It appears that it was God’s desire that when the Creation Plan is discovered by humanity, no religion should be able to say that its stand got vindicated and other religions are inferior. That is why whereas Muslims believe in Allah, who is the Absolute God or Brahman, they have little idea about the Manifest Self or Spirit, despite the fact that Quran and other traditions have dropped innumerable hints. On the other hand, the Hindus have only a vague idea of the Absolute God, as they get confused by the Vedas talking about so many devas (devatas and devi), Manifest Self, Paramatma and so many other terms that have been used so often.

As regards to Muslims, while the Absolute God is the ultimate goal, Quran talks of the ‘face of Allah’, which if translated into English would mean the Manifest Self of God. Quran also says that the Spirit is God’s creation about which very little knowledge has been provided to man. We have given a tradition where the Ahlulbayt have refuted that the Spirit means Gabriel or Michael – the two most-important of angels. There’s mention of the kursi (throne) of God and there is mention of Prophet Mohammad going to skywards to that throne. The entire description shows that the place was a material one, where the Prophet had to pass through a garden, certain trees and was as close as two lances or less to the throne. This is the description of the Manifest Self, about which Muslim commentators have understood nothing till now. But the description of Manifest Self is present to such an extent that Ibn Taiymia, who is said to be the founder of Wahabi ideology believed that God has a seat on the 7^th sky, from where He runs the affairs. All Wahabis have this belief and they fail to explain that if God has a throne and rules from a place with great grandeur, why they still call Allah as non-manifest, without shape and form. Likewise, the remaining sects fail to understand that if God is all-pervading and invisible, why this mention of throne and 7^th sky and God’s hand and God’s face at so many places.

Truth is that Muslims grope in the dark because they have not followed the Quranic verse which commanded them to believe in all the previous scriptures that have been sent from God. Fact is that Quran gives description of both the Absolute God – Allah – and the Manifest Self – the face of Allah or Spirit – but the Muslims fail to understand this and yet keep calling others to their religion in the name of dawa. Neither do the Muslims know about the identity of spirit, nor its relation with noor and zulmat – the guiding and misguiding forces created for our test.

Hindus too got deviated from their own scriptures and formed beliefs that couldn’t be confirmed by the scriptures. For instance, while Brahmana or Absolute God was Mahesh, Manifest Self or Paramatma was Vishnu and the first of the noors which divided to form several noors was Brahma or Prajapati or Visva, they formed a belief as per which Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh were on same pedestral and one was the creator, the other destroyer and the third one sustainer, thus creating an impression that they believed in more than One God. God, even according to the Hindu scriptures is One, He is known as Brahman – the Absolute God.

Brahma or Prajapati or Viswa – the first noor from whom several noors emanated – is distinctly described in Chapter VIII (verse 7) of Maitri Upanishad, which states:

And he, verily, is the self within the heart, very subtle, kindled like fire, endowed with all forms of him all this is food. In him are woven creatures here. He is the self which is free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, free from uncertainty, free from fetters, whose conception is the real, whose desire is the real. He is the supreme Lord, he is the ruler of beings, he is the protector of beings. He is the determining bridge. This self, verily, is the Lord, the beneficent, Creator of all, the golden germ, truth, life, spirit, the ruler, the unshaken, the pervader, Narayana. He who is yonder in the sun, he is one. To these who art this, endowed with all forms hidden in the real space, adoration.

You are requested to note the wordings. ‘He is the self which is free from evil…’. We have proved that 14 noor were created from the One Noor – Brahma – which were identical form to the first one. This is the reason why Quran, when it describes the Ahlulbayt about whom Mohammad claimed were create from noor, it takes guarantee that they were free from all evil and blemish.

Now we present the Creation Plan, which can be endorsed from all divine scriptures. Non-manifest Absolute God created the Manifest Self, which began worshipping the Absolute God. The Manifest Self desired that there are more worshippers so was created One Noor – Brahma – which divided to form 14 noor. However, at the same time, God also created zulmat or the negative force, whose job is to misguide while the job of noor is to guide and lead us to the worship of One God. The Manifest Self appoints Prophets and Apostles, sends revelations which when written became scriptures, and has put the affairs like rain, bestowing of food, life, death, etc. in the hands of the devas. Devas work chiefly in noor state, but when required, the noor gets manifest in human form to form a link between humanity and divinity. This is the three-fold Brahman, this is the true understanding of the concept of triad. The purpose of our worship is to recognize the Absolute God and His Creation Plan and to bow down in supplication only to Him. One who does this and performs righteous actions, he goes back to get united with God, i.e. attains nijaat or salvation. Both an elevated atma and knowledge of the Creation Plan are essential for salvation.

This is the reason why there is so much emphasis on knowledge in the Vedas. Several times over, it is stated that the doctrine of all Vedas talks of the knowledge of Self, which is also the doctrine that leads us to liberation. The commentaries and translations of Vedas do not seem to be talking about this subject. Why this discrepancy? Are all these verses talking about the real content of Vedas wrong? Or is it that we have understood the Vedas wrongly? You already know the answer after reading our translations and commentary!

The extent to which we have misunderstood the teachings of Vedas and Upanishad can be understood by this translation of a verse from Chhandogya Upanishad (I.9.1) which says:

(Salavatya asked:) ‘What is the support of this world?’) Pravahana replied), ‘ Space, because all these things (moving or not moving) originate verily from Space itself, and when they die they go to Space. Since Space indeed is superior to all these, Space is the ultimate goal.’

Is space alone our final destiny? How can you explain that it is space that is the support of this world and all the things originate verily from Space? No heaven, no good deeds, nothing; it is the space which is the ultimate goal of all!

Not only this, a great portion of Chhandogya Upanishad (that is considered as one of the greatest Upanishads) seems to be talking about the Earth, Fire, etc. along with a few additions like the sun, the moon, the heavens. At one place it says that one who knows that Earth is Himkara gets fully established on the spheres (II.17.1-2). At another place, it says that one who knows that fire is himkara, air is prastava, etc. gets fully established on the gods (devas), attains the spheres of these very devas, their splendour, (or) identity with them (II.19, 1-2).

These verses indicate that air, water, earth, etc. have a direct relationship with devas, translated by most commentators as gods, when in truth the word deva should either be translated as Divine Lords or Divine Lights. Fact is that air, water, earth, etc. are actually appellations for the devas, who were to later take birth in human form. Since the identity where they were to take birth was kept secret, their names when they would take birth too were kept secret and mere appellations were used. Thus Indradeva, Vayu Deva, Saraswati devi, Vasudeva, Agnideva and others are appellations of devas who took birth in human form and were called Ahlulbayt.

Likewise, see I.6.1-2 of the Chhandogya Upanishad.

This (earth) surely is Rk, fire is Sama. This Sama which is such is established on the Rk. This very one (Rk) is Sa (the first letter of the word Sama), fire is ama (the second portion of the word Sama). That makes up Sama.

Space indeed is Rk, air is Sama. This Sama which is such, is established on this Rk.  Space indeed is Sa, air is ama. That makes up Sama.

See how a link to Udgitha (syllable ‘Aum’) is also established with earth, air, space, etc. thus showing that the syllable Aum too has some relationship with these devas. Read what we have written in our earlier post in this series about Aum and you will conclude that Aum actually refers to the 14 devas and their role in leading us to God. The Upanishads also try to bring home the point that these so-called elements are also the cause of the Vedas.

It is not just Chhandogya Upanishad which gives long narrations citing link of these devas with the Udgitha (syllable ‘Aum’) and the three Vedas. It is these devatas and not the material fire, air, moon, earth, sun, etc. that are being described in the following passages of Prasna Upanishad, which we quote for you. It is stated clearly that they are life, they are the vital breaths, and Rig Veda, Yajur Veda and Sama Veda talk of none but them.

In the following passages from Prasna Upanishad, it is not possible to take the literal meaning of fire, air, moon, etc., because if we do so, we will have to accept these material things like air are our father, and accept that the prayer to protect and grant us prosperity and wisdom is addressed to air, fire, and other material things; thus making it an absurd statement. In fact, Radhakrishnan has translated these devatas to be god, which too is wrong, as they owe their origin to the One and Only God - the Ishwar, the Allah, the Brahman.

See what Prasna Upanishad, belonging to the Atharva Veda says:

II.1 Then Bhargava of the Vidarbha country asked him (Pippalada): Venerable Sir, how many powers support the created world? How many illumine this? And who, again, among them is the greatest?

See this clearly states that both believed that more than one power support this world. This has led some commentators to translate them as gods, which we have repeatedly said, is wrong. These devas support the world, and we have reasons to conclude from other Upanishads, and also from the Vedas, that they were initially five, but later became fourteen Manus or the fourteen devas.

II.2. To him, he said: ‘Ether verily is such a power – wind, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, eye and ear too. They, having illumined it, declare, “We sustain and support this body.”

Question was about the powers that support and sustain this world. Had there been just the five vital elements mentioned that are said to constitute the world, viz., earth, ether, water, fire and wind, then you would have reasons to believe that it is those components or constituents of the universe which are being described. We have already given you an idea, which will be further proved as you read along, that this belief of the five components supporting the universe is wrong, and it is the five devatas who were initially created, who further became 14 (inclusive of these 5) who are meant here.

Speech, mind, eye and ear do not logically fit with the five components or elements viz. fire, air, sky, earth and water. It is described later that they are our father and mother. Had it been just the five names, some would have still said that the five elements are being talked about. But how can ear be the father or mother? Likewise with speech, mind, and eye?

Pippalada is giving answer in the same manner in which the question is asked. First he is asked about the number of powers who support this created world, then the number of them who illumine it and the last question is who is the greatest. In this verse (II.2) the nine devatas are mentioned, who are born successively of the fifth of the five, thus making it the total fourteen. They all are the powers that support this world and illumine it. It is they who sustain and support this body.

The five, nine and fourteen that we have mentioned is not on the basis of our imagination. A little later, we will quote from two Upanishads that the five devas who got created from the mundane egg included a devi. Nine more devas were born from the progeny of the fifth, making it a total of fourteen devas, inclusive of one devi. Interestingly, the fourteen had only seven names and hence they are sometimes referred to as seven.

As we have said, one of the five is a devi (a female) called earth, who is also known by names like Saraswati, Parvati, Lakshmi, and many such names. In fact, Matsya Purana tells that she is known by about a hundred names in various parts of India. It was this devi who got to be worshipped as Sakti by a cult of Indo-Aryans.

The Matsya Purana explicitly states about itself that it is the dispeller of all ignorance and should be read after saluting Narayana, Nara, Narottama, Devi Saraswati. (I.3). Narayana is God but who are Nara and Narottama who have been mentioned with Devi Saraswati? Is it not proof that there are certain Nara (man) and Narottama (supreme among men) and a devi who are worthy of our respects, after God. You will know later that Nara, Narottama and Devi are the first three of the five devas. Narottama and Devi’s union formed the Golden Germ (hiranyagarbha) which resulted in the birth of two devas, and nine more devas were born from the progeny of younger son of Narottama and Devi. Since this Devi is Sakti, we have reasons to believe that Shiva is the Narottama (supreme among men), as Shiva and Sakti are worshipped as husband and wife.

We agree that some of the claims that we have mentioned above are not in accordance with the existing beliefs of the Hindus. But we assure you that our view is based on truth and you will find proofs of each of our claims, as you proceed with reading. Another revelation that you will find is that there is a direct relationship of Indradeva with Nara and Vayudeva with Narottama. This is a view that is exclusive to us. As you read, you will find that Nara, when he took birth on earth, was referred to as Indradeva and Narottama or Shiva, when he took birth on earth, was referred to as Vayudeva by the Vedas. Indra and Vayu are the two highest devas of the fourteen who were to take birth at a later stage. Vayu is also referred to as Marut or Aditya or Manu or Rudra and there are several names that have been given to Indra. In fact, it is this multiplicity of names that has confused the scholars. So much so that in spite of the fact that the Matsya Purana specifically states the various names of Devi, we continue to see these names as different devis even to this date.

We will show later in our study of the Yajur Veda how Saraswati, the daughter of Indradeva, was married to Vayudeva, from which the two Aswins were born, one of whom is called Agnideva. It was from Agni’s progeny that the 9 devas were born successively, thus making it a total of fourteen. We request you to remember this, as we will confirm this relationship time and again, so as to prove that these five devas (which include one devi) are the root-cause of the creation of this world. They are the masters of our organs of senses and actions, they are the pure and wise talked about in Gita and it is they whose life on earth is subject of discussion in the Vedas.

However, if you are not attentive, you will lose out on unearthing the mystery yourself, as they are known by several names. We have already mentioned that Matsya Purana has listed more than 100 names of Devi, and there may still be few that it has failed to list. This is in spite of the fact that the Devi does not occupy the chief position in the Vedas. The greatest number of hymns are assigned to Agni (fire), Indra and Vayu (air). Therefore, you must not be surprised if you find Agnideva, Indradeva and Vayudeva referred to by multiplicity of names. The same is the case with the names of other devas.

In the succeeding verse of Prasna Upanishad, (II.3), Prana (Life) is introduced as the cause of entire life on earth. This proves that Life has been used for the first noor – Brahma - which divided to form 5 and later 14 noor. We says this because in our earlier quote from Maitri Upanishad which descrbed Brahma or Visva, it was stated: “In him are woven creatures here.” This Life or Noor divided fivefold to create the five Divine Beings. This Life sustains and supports all life on earth.

II.3. Life, the greatest of them, said to them: ‘Do not cherish this delusion; I, alone, dividing myself fivefold, sustain and support this body.’

Since nine devas were further born of the five, the importance of these five is being told in the next verse. Indra, his daughter Saraswati, Indra’s brother Vayu married to Saraswati and their two sons – the two Aswins – sustain and support this world. The nine devatas are born successively from the younger of the two Aswins, named Agni (fire). The five owe their origin to Brahma, which owes its origin to the Manifest Self and these have been created due to manifold division of Brahma or Paramatma or Prana. Thus, it is evident that these devas are sustainers and supporters of all bodies. It is the five devas, along with the remaining nine, who came down to take birth in this world at a later period.

II.5. As fire, he (Life, prana) burns; he is the sun. He is the bountiful rain god (deva); He is the wind (Vayu). He is the earth, matter, deva. He is being and non-being and what is immortal.

That the word deva is described with matter confirms that it is the five devatas who are being described here. They are fire, sky (representing rain), wind or air (Vayu), earth, matter (at other places, the fifth is water), whom people wrongly think as the five elements. They are the five devatas on whom this world is supported. The rain-god (truly, the Lord of rain) is Indra, who is the head of all.

We will know later that the 13 devatas had only 6 names, one name repeated several times over, in the progeny. The fourteenth deva is actually a devi. So the 14 devas have 7 names, one of whom will be that of a woman. The same is said in verse I.2.4 of Mundaka Upanishad in signs. It must be noted that the name Mundaka signifies one who is shaved or liberated from error and ignorance. See the verse here:

The seven moving tongues of the fire are the black, the terrific, the swift as mind, the very red, the very smoky-coloured, the spark blazing, the all-shaped (or all-tasting) goddess (devi).

Chapter II of Mundaka Upanishad of the Atharva Veda too describes the relationship of the One God with these devas. It also tells how the five devas, termed as Life (Prana) in Prasna Upanishad that we have already quoted before, are part and parcel of our self; without them there will be no life in this world. And no world at all.

II.I.I. This is the truth. As from a blazing fire, sparks of like form issue forth by the thousands, even so, O beloved, many kinds of beings issue forth from the immutable and they return thither too.

Just as sparks from fire have the same properties as fire but are not fire, just as rivers have the same water as oceans but are not called oceans, likewise the devas have the same characteristics as God but are not God.

II.I.2: Divine and formless is the person. He is without and within, unborn, without breath and without mind, pure and higher than the highest immutable.

The Non-manifest Form of the Absolute God is being talked about here, whose Manifest Form or Manifest Self led to the creation of devatas.

II.1.3: From him are born life, mind, all the sense-organs (also) ether, air, light, water and earth, the supporter of all.

II.1.4: Fire is His head, His eyes are the sun and the moon, the regions of space are His ears, His speech the revealed Vedas; air is His life and His heart the world. Out of his feet the earth (is born); indeed He is the self of all beings.

Aren’t the same names are mentioned here that constitute Life, as told in Prasna Upanishad. They are clearly not the names of five elements. Even Radhakrishnan and various other commentators know that. That is why they try to give altogether new meanings to these verses, thereby enhancing the vagueness and absurdity. Read for yourself how Radhakrishnan describes this verse: “Sankara points out that the world which issues out of him is not real. It is as real as the person from whom it issues. So even the author is said to be unreal, being the manifestation of the Supreme Brahman through maya. Anandagiri points out ‘The whole creation is traced to the personal Lord Ishwara who along with the principle of objectivity is a manifestation of the Absolute Brahman.’ So somebody says the world, the person and the author, all as unreal. So if everything is unreal, why are they taking pains to explain unreal things. And they ignore the countless remarks like ‘this is truth, this is real knowledge, this is the way to heaven’ and so on. Perhaps they too are unreal things.”

Irony is that unable to understand these vague explanations, we as well as the commentators, describe the Upanishads as philosophical treatises of such high order that it is not possible for common man, devoid of spiritual powers, to understand. And we take for granted that the so-called acharyas are knowledgeable enough to understand all this, despite it being philosophical discussion of such high order that we could not get to the head and tail of it. Henceforth, we start revering them as great persons. They are given asanas to sit as well as charity and dakshinas; a lot many of these revered persons are even carried on shoulders by their devotees, lest their feet would fell on the ground. Is all this the teaching of Gita and our religious scriptures?

See More Examples

If there are still a few doubts about the evolution of devas from the Manifest Self of the Non-Manifest Absolute God, then we invite you to read the following passage from Khand II of the Subala Upanishad of Shukla Yajur-veda. These devas were created as Manifest form or Divine Proofs of Brahman. We have already described that initially they were five, who later became fourteen, yet the fourteen had seven names, which were repeated in the progeny. One of the fourteen was devi, the female essence of the Absolute Self. As regards to Upanishads, we are banking only on the generally accepted translations. Truth is that their authenticity is very much established in the existing translations of the Upanishads even though these translations have been done by those who never understood the true content.

Khanda II Subala Upanishad says that:

The Atma (or the Self of Purusha) is Hiranyajyotis (or golden or effulgent Light) into which all the universe is absorbed. He divided Atma (his Self) into two moieties; out of one moiety, the woman was created; and out of the other, man. Having become a Deva, He created the Devas. Having become a Rishi, He created the Rishis; also He created Yakshas, Rakshasas, Gandharvas, wild and domestic beasts and others such as cows, bulls, mares and horses, she-asses and assess and Visvambhara (the Supporter) and Visvambhara (the earth). Becoming Vaisvanara (fire) at the end (of creation), He burnt up all objects. Then (in dissolution), prithvi was absorbed in apas, apas in agni, agni in vayu, vayu in akas, akas in indriyas (organs), indriyas into tanmatras (rudimentary properties), tanmatras into bhutadi, bhutadi into mahat, mahat into avyakta, avyakta into akshara (the indestructible), akshara into tamas (darkness). And tamas becomes one with the supreme Lord. And then there is neither Sat nor asat, nor Sat-asat. This is the teaching of Nirvana and this is the teaching of the Vedas. Yea, This is the teaching of the Vedas.

Note the sentence: “Having become a Deva, He created the Devas.” This confirms the view of Paingala Upanishad and Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad, which state that there was One Manifest Self which divided into two to make two similar selfs, which were also similar to the original self. From union of one (female devi) out of the first deva with the second deva, two more were born, making it five. The remaining nine were created successively from the fifth, in succession, thus making a total of fourteen devas or fourteen guardians of the fourteen spheres.

Also note that the Self of the Purusha (Nara) is described as the Atma and there is reference to the Golden Egg as well. Reference to this Egg can also be found in Niralamba Upanishad. We will prove from various Upanishads later that this egg was responsible for the creation of the fourteen devas, all identical to each other and also identical to the Purusha or Nara, from whom all creation began.

Adhyaya II of the Paingala Upanishad mentions the presiding deities of the organs in the following order:

Dik (the quarters), Vayu, Arka (the sun), Varuna, Ashwini Devas (they are actually two, one of them being Agni), Indra, Upendra, Mrtyu (the God of death), Prajapati, the Moon, Vishnu, the four-faced Brahma and Sambhu (Siva).

Since it is a universally accepted fact that Ashwini devas stand for two devas, you can count the number as 14. The names that appear in Khanda V of Subala Upanishad too are 14, though it is not mentioned here that they are devatas, as if people already knew that. The names are as follows:

Sun, dik (the quarters), earth, Varuna, vayu, Vak (speech), Agni, Indra, Vishnu (or Upendra), Mrtyu, Prajapati, Moon, Brahma, Rudra (name of Siva).

The two lists are similar though not exactly identical. Ten of the fourteen names are same, and four are dissimilar. As regards to the dissimilar names, this is due to the fact that the devas were known by several names. For instance, we know that Sambhu and Rudra are the names of Siva, so we can say that the same deva is meant even when two seemingly different names are taken. Likewise, we know from our study of various Upanishads that Aswini devas actually refers to two devas, who are brothers. One of them is Agni, which is given separately in the other list. This is the reason why the list that mentions Aswini devas carry only thirteen names, while there are fourteen names mentioned in Subala.

Now we are left with Upendra and one of the Aswini Devas from Paingala Upanishad and earth and Vak from Subala Upanishad. On the basis of the similarity of the 12 names and the fact that there is conclusive proof that various appellations of devas have been used (as in the case of Sambhu and Rudra for Siva), we are justified in concluding that the aforementioned passage too describes the role of fourteen devas in creation and sustenance of the world, including our bodies.

Now that you know that this narration too describes the devas, read the above passage again to see what it has to say. You will find that these deities are pertaining to the spiritual and control various objects of the body, whose functions pertain to the elements. The nadis bind them. And it is they who are in the nadis, in prana (life), in ananda, in the akash of the heart, and within all else. It is they who constitute the Atma (Self). It is they who should be worshipped; they are without old age, death, fear, sorrow, or end.

Thereafter, a long passage describes the Atma; we invite you to read it again so as to know more about it and its constituents. It is these devas who are the adhidaivata and hence they Kshetrajanas (knowers of the field). We request you to keep this derivation in mind while reading the Gita, which has talked about Kshetrajanas on various occasions. Unable to know what does it mean, commentators have given absurd explanations to the term.

Another point that we wish to stress here is the presence of names like earth, Vayu (air), Agni in the list of fourteen deities. Though two, sky and water are missing here; it is reason enough to prove that the five original elements are actually the name of the five deities, created prior to everything else. As regards to the other two, it is very much possible that any other of their appellations might have been used. For instance we know for sure Akash (Sky) is the same as Indra, but we will prove it only later.

Also, the presence of the name Vishnu in the list of 14 should not confuse you. Vishnu truly is the foremost state from whom all these fourteen devas have been created. All fourteen together have link with Vishnu. If one of the fourteen is called Vishnu, that is to indicate its link with Vishnu.

Varaha Upanishad too has given a long narration citing a relationship between agni, vayu, etc. with consciousness and atma inside our body. Most of the passages seem non-comprehensible. This is perhaps because the translators, not being aware of the truth, have translated it as per what they had understood. Our view is that this Upanishad too needs to be retranslated in the light of the observations being given by us. What does appear clearly from this Upanishad is that recognition of this Self, that constitutes the devas, leads to salvation. Moreover, all the sins are burnt up, if a person recognizes their true identity.

Thus all the sins collected together during many crores of births are burnt up.

Also, it is said towards the end that a person who recites this Upanishad becomes a jivanmukta, i.e. gets freedom from rebirth or attains salvation. Gita too has endorsed the same view when it describes wisdom as the knowledge of the relationship between our Atma and Paramatma. Now we know that our atma (self) is linked with the Supreme Self (Paramatma) only through these devas. This recognition, and not meaningless rituals or oblations, actually lead to salvation or freedom from the cycle of rebirth.

Likewise, verse II.I.8 of the Mandukya Upanishad of the Atharva Veda states:

From him come forth the seven life-breaths (seven pranas), the seven flames, their fuel, the seven oblations, these seven worlds in which move the life-breaths, seven and seven which dwell in the secret place.

Isn’t it a clear enough proof of what we are trying to put across all through? Seven has a distinct link to fourteen, when it is said that ‘seven and seven (equal to fourteen) dwell in the secret place.’ Contrarily, Sankara has explained the seven pranas (life-breaths) in these words. They are described “as the seven organs of sense in the head i.e. two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth’. These are compared to the seven different sacrificial oblations. The perceptions produced by their activities are the flames of the sacrifice. The activities of the different senses are co-ordinated by the mind which is located in the heart.”

Is there any sense in this explanation? Sankara is surely in the dark. In clear words, seven pranas (lives) are being talked about. This writer doesn’t understand how the seven pranas (life-breaths) have been taken to mean the seven organs of sense, that too in the head. It is common knowledge that there are five organs of senses and four of them are in the head. Sankara did not understand even this trifle thing that two nostrils don’t make up two organs. If this were true, then that would mean that there are ten organs of senses in the hands.

It is clearly indicated that the seven pranas are the seven flames, their fuel, the seven oblations, and these seven pranas are inherent part of the seven worlds. On the whole there are seven and seven, which comes to fourteen devas or pranas. In actuality the fourteen have seven names and the same names are repeated among the remaining seven. Also, it is clearly mentioned that these devas dwell or would take birth at a secret place; the place of their birth being unknown. If you have been reading the previous posts of this series, you must have seen that even Rigveda talks of the devas taking birth at a secret place.

If Sankara couldn’t realize that life-breaths cannot be equated with organs of sense in the head, he should have realized that this isn’t true by the last part of this verse which says that they dwell, not in the head or body, but at a secret place. Yet, he continued with his commentary without admitting even an iota of doubt and without realizing that he would lead many men astray.

II.I.9: From him, all the seas and mountains, from him flow rivers of every kind; from him are all herbs and their juice; by which, together with the elements, the inner soul is upheld.

Unfortunately, as per the author of Religious Consciousness, all this is talk of the unreal by an unreal author. Hence, there is no reason to take it seriously. How unfortunate indeed that the discussion of the Manifest form of the Absolute God creating the entire cosmos has been made to appear in such a mundane fashion? Also read the verses again, and see if the organs of the senses in the head gel with the other things described here, as the great commentator Sankara has said.

II.I.10. The person himself is all this, work, austerity and Brahma beyond death. He who knows that which is set in the secret place, he, here on earth, O beloved, cuts asunder the knot of ignorance.

He who knows the seven and seven (equal to fourteen) pranas emanating from the Divine Person or Paramatma – the Manifest form of the Non-manifest God – is removed from ignorance and attains enlightenment. Even Gita says that such a person alone attains to wisdom and gets united with the Divine Spirit. Ultimate goal is to reach the Supreme Brahman, but only through the path of these devas, which we will prove later are the ones meant by the word ‘Aum’.

Does this give answer why we were justified when we translated word ‘shakr’ in the Vedas as ‘14’ about which it someone said that though 14 is also the meaning, it has no relevance.

Keep reading. More proofs are to come.

To be continued…