THE TRUTH ABOUT FIVE AND SEVEN
It is unfortunate that the answer to the mystery lies in the Upanishads itself, and yet we have been unable to reach the truth.
If you recall the text from Niralamba Upanishad we presented before, you will find Mahat, Ahankara and the five elements viz. Akash, Vayu, Earth, Water and Fire are described. In other words, two plus five are described, which equals seven. You have also seen Mundaka Upanishad which had described the ‘seven moving tongues of fire, one of whom is a Devi’, giving a hint that out of 7, one is a Devi and therefore the remaining 6 must be Devas.
It is indeed unfortunate why our worthy commentators couldn’t equate the 7 here with the 7 divinities mentioned in other Upanishads, which together constitute Brahma [the devatma-sakti] created by the Manifest Self (Paramatma). They couldn’t reach this conclusion despite the fact that all through the Vedas we find Devatas mentioned by names like Vayu (Air) Deva, Agni (Fire) Deva, etc.
In the aforementioned quote from Upanishad, Mahat and Ahankara were mentioned with 5 other elements and their link with Brahma is specified. Whereas the following verse from Chhandogya Upanishad mention of 5 persons of God and calls the 5 as door-keepers of the heavenly world besides elaborating their role in salvation.
See what III.13.6 of the Chhandogya Upanishad says:
They indeed, who are these five persons of Brahman (the Absolute God), are the door-keepers of the heavenly world. He who thus knows these five persons of Brahman, as the door-keepers of the heavenly world, a hero is born in his family. He who knows thus these five persons of Brahman, as the door-keepers of the heavenly world, attains the heavenly world.
Do you now realize why such importance has been placed to the 5, who have been translated as elements? At other places, they are even called the guardians of faith and controllers of our organs of sense and action, and despite such clear wordings, our worthy scholars continued to describe them as the 5 elements viz. the material space, air, fire, water and earth. As per them, the material fire, sky, water, etc. are the door-keepers of the heavenly world, it is their knowledge that is most sacred and it is through knowing the nature or composition of water, we attain the heavens. What lofty philosophical thoughts, indeed! Ask them to write a book on the logistics of this relationship and they might even do that; if you do not understand what they are trying to prove, there is some fault or lacuna in your bhakti or intellect! This is how they were explaining their irrational logic till now.
Our scholars continued to give their meaning despite the fact that Mahabharata and Ramayana are full of narrations about AgniDeva (fire), VayuDeva (air) and others. Krishna is said to have met AgniDeva in forest, Rama is said to have given Sita in AgniDeva’s protection, Hanuman is said to have been the son of VayuDeva while one of the Pandavas was said to be the son of the AgniDeva. There are countless episodes in the Puranas where the Devatas are described, talking and meeting people. Devi Saraswati (Earth) too is mentioned as goddess Earth at several places. In spite of all these, when agni, vayu, earth etc. are used separately, the learned commentators wish to see these names as 5 basic elements and even disregard the eulogies mentioned in the Vedas and Upanishads regarding the 5 who are sometimes referred to as the 5 persons of Brahman (God) and sometimes as all Life itself.
Nearly all the information that we possess about Krishna is based on the knowledge gained through Puranas and Mahabharata, yet we discount the identity of Devatas as fabrications and baseless myths, whose accounts are present in abundance in those very Puranas and Mahabharata which introduce Krishna to us.
Fact is that Gita too has endorsed the importance of the Devatas. Our view is that till the time of Krishna, people were far more knowledgeable about the identity of Devatas, and it was only in the succeeding period that they forgot their identity. What circumstances forced the knowledge of Devatas to wane from our lives is not known with certainty. However, whether it was the Pandavas, the Kauravas or the revered saints of the time like Bhishma and Drona, all knew far more about the Devatas than what we know now. That is why Arjuna, who is asking questions wherever he does not understand a point, is silent when the God mentions Devatas, Prajapati (Lords of the peoples) or talks of Indra’s heaven. Truth is that Bhagavada-Gita has even allowed the worship of the Devatas to some extent but called it unorthodox approach. This is in spite of the fact that the entire teachings of Gita revolve around establishing the worship of One Absolute God and negating all pseudo-gods that were being worshipped by the people of time.
The mystery you need to understand at this stage is there is a group of Divinities, which plays a very important role in the Divine Creation Plan. They are collectively referred to as devatma-sakti and have been described as rope to salvation. They are the link between God and man and it is through cognizing their path alone that freedom from rebirth and death can be attained. Real mystery is that they are at times described as 7 (with one of the 7 being a Devi), thereby confirming that remaining 6 are Devas. At some places, the first 5 of these 7 are invoked, which shows that the first 5 of the 7 (which have been wrongly understood as the 5 elements) have somewhat more importance. As you read, you will find that the 7 are at times also described as 14.
If you understand this mystery from the Upanishads, it will mean you have understood the Divine Creation Plan. This will further mean that the path of salvation becomes stark and clear for you to tread upon.
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