ONE GOD ONE RELIGION PART 1-N: Devatas Further Described in Detail

DEVATAS FURTHER DESCRIBED IN DETAIL

Verses 20 and 21 from Chapter IX in Gita are very important from our viewpoint, as they even mention the name of one of the Devatas, viz. Indra. It seems that even Nataraj Guru is aware that Indra is the Lord of the rest of Devatas, as he has mentioned ‘Lord of gods’ in the bracket. From our view, it should have been ‘Lord of the Devatas’ or ‘Lord of the Divinities’ as it is already established that they all, including Indra, are God’s creation and if due to some reason God granted special powers on them, that does not give them the status of gods.

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 gods) 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

The aforementioned verses are very important because they describe the true role of the Devatas. Chief of the Devatas viz. IndraDeva is being mentioned and his role in bestowing salvation is described on those who know the Vedas, who are soma-drinkers, who remained purified from sin, who worshipped by giving sacrifices and who prayed from the Paramatma, thus conforming to the righteous notions implied in the three Vedas. If you remember, earlier Paramatma had said that the Devatas do not know Its origin but here it is saying that IndraDeva bestows salvation (leads the person to heaven) who worships Paramatma and such a person enjoy divine feasts there. Isn’t it interesting that IndraDeva doesn’t give salvation to people who worship him or who worship the rest of the Devatas but he bestows salvation to people who worship the Paramatma, whose origin he himself knows not? It is a very important observation from Gita; you will truly understand its importance as you read further. 

Verse 21 of Chapter IX is still more important as it again talks of the Vedas. There are several people who maintain that Krishna’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 (See our commentary of Gita). 

From this it is clear that the God of Gita too endorses the identity and position of the Devatas and even affirms to their role in bestowing salvation. 

As you progress reading more, you will realize who the Devatas are who are being talked about all through. We have brought the subject here to prove that Gita is not against the Vedic and Upanishadic teachings, and 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 Krishna and the last of the Vedic hymns. Most interestingly, Gita also maintains that the Devatas would take birth in this world (see our commentary of Gita) and says that Vedas too carry the same message. You have also seen earlier that Upanishads too are giving hint that the Noor or Light of Devatas will come in human bodies on earth when it is talking of devatma-sakti being mutable and immutable. We will know soon whether the Vedas maintain this same view when we study them later in this BOOK.