The real Demi-Gods of Hinduism

[barney]

HANUMAN - the monkey god - devotee of Rama

INDRA - King of the abode of gods

YAMA - the god of death

GAYATRI - personification of the Vedic hymn

GANGA - personification of the holy river

KAMADEVA - god of love

KUBERA - god of wealth

NARADA - the wandering seer who features in almost all the Puranas

VARUNA - the god of oceans

VISHWAKARMA - the divine architect of the universe

 

Celestial beings:

 

APSARAS: These are beautiful ladies, who dance in the court of Indra. Indra also uses them to lure the saints and sages who by their severe penance endanger his superiority as the ruler of Swarga (Paradise of Indra). In the Vedas they were personification of vapor and in the Puranas the ballet girls in Swarga. RAMBHA, URVASI and MENAKA are the most celebrated of them.

 

GANDHARVAS: Gandharvas are the celestial musicians who play in the court of Indra and also when some divine act of the gods had been completed in the interest of humanity. They are said to have a great partiality for women and are said to be exceptionally handsome.

 

KINNARAS: are mythical beings, with a body of a man and head of a horse. They are singers at the court of Indra. They are also sometimes said to be the minstrels of Kubera's palace at Mount Kailasa, which is also the abode of Shiva.

 

SIDDHAS: are classes of spirits of great purity and holiness, who dwell apart in the sky or mid-air between earth and heaven.

 

YAKSHA: They are the guardians of wealth and attendants of Kubera, employed to guard his gardens and treasure. They live in ALKA-PURI (yaksha-puri). The female of Yaksha is known as YAKSHINI.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I thought they were all Brahman. Why are you saying they are demigods?

[barney]

Now do you know what is confusion. This is what is happening to people who say Krishna is the Supreme and all the rst are demigods. As far as I'm concern it is clear in my mind and I know who am I. But do you know who you are? Go discover yourself and than we'll discuss about who is Krishna, Brahma, Shiva and all the rest.

[Guest guest]

Please answer the question, Barney.

 

"I thought they were all Brahman. Why are you saying they are demigods? "

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

first discover who you are.. then he will answer

[Guest guest]

I think it's obvious he does not answer... because what he says is inconsistent with his philosophy that everything is one.

 

This just goes to show that one should never blindly follow anything. Charisma alone attracts too many followers, but if one is prepared to think, he will often find that what he is taught does not stand up to intelligent scrutiny.

 

[barney]

From the look of things you seem to have many problems. One, you have difficulty in accepting truth. As death has many faces so do truth coz TRUTH comes in many forms and if you find it confusing than you are in trouble. As far as I am concern I am at peace and enjoying every minute of my life. Sorry, you cannot say so about yourself.

[Guest guest]

As far as I am concern I am at peace and enjoying every minute of my life.

 

so enjoy a little less and be more serious in what you're preaching

[Guest guest]

blah, blah, blah.

 

I'm still waiting for a straight answer, and I continue to note your complete inability to provide one.

 

Raghu

 

[barney]

What straight answer? All words are typed straight and I don't see any curved or winding sentenses. Please be specific and tell me which guest you are, A, B, C, D or E.

[Guest guest]

What straight answer? All words are typed straight

[Guest guest]

OK, since you seem pretty dense today, allow me to repeat the question.

 

You argue that it is wrong to praise one Deity as the Supreme over all others (even though shAstra-s do this explicitly) on the grounds that all deities are Brahman.

 

Yet, you go on to assert that some of these deities are in fact demigods.

 

So, are they demigods, or Brahman? Why is it okay for you to name some entities as demigods, and yet it is wrong for the shAstra-s to say that certain entities are demigods?

 

Where are you getting your information from? It is obviously not from the shAstra-s.

 

 

[barney]

I neither preach nor advertise. I post what is useful to my spritual guide and to share it with others. I am very much against anyone who says Hindus are praying to demigods. You my friend do not know me or understand me. I dislike anyone trying to distort the mind of Hindus and ISKCON is one of them whom I cannot stand for their kind of preaching. If they need to preach they should preach to non Hindus like Christians and Muslims. Krishna is one of the icon of the many deities in Hindu pantheon and to make him the Supreme God and show disrespect for other dieties is silly, ignorant and stupid of ISKCON members and its gurus. All forms of Hindu dieties are of the Supreme Brahman who is formless yet can manifest and who is Omnipotent. But you and your kind do not undertsnad this simple concept. You are trying to be sarcastic in questioning my belief. Why should it bother you? You should make sure your faith in your belief would liberate you and give you peace of mind and teach you to serve mankind in whatever way you can. That is called manu dharma [man's duty to society and himself]. So, stop being smart and start searching your soul for the hidden Brahman.

[Guest guest]

so i have understood that you give false and concocted answers for the purpose to go against vaishnavas

 

(our friend has said it very well... "if you believe that all is brahman, why discriminate between brahman, gods and demigods?")

 

show disrespect for other dieties is silly, ignorant and stupid ....

 

yes it is stupid and the ones you hate so much do not do it. The problem is yours that you disrespect so much all deities to say that no one of them is an eternal spiritual personality but just an image, a shape from brahman

 

who is who dissrespect? you are a complete person, but you believe that shiva is not, he's only an image from brahman.. this is your belief

 

--

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I don't think you understood the question, Barney. Frankly, your tangential ramblings are really going nowhere.

 

Let us review some basic ABCs of VedAnta.

 

nArAyaNa is the supreme brahman, the supreme controller, and the master of all. This is the conclusion of the shruti, and it is upheld by all vedAnta traditions.

 

Other devatas like shiva, brahmA, indra, and so on are empowered administrators subordinate to nArAyaNa. This, too, is the unequivocal conclusion of shruti, your unqualified opinions notwithstanding.

 

Now, you get mad when someone refers to these anya devatas as "demigods" (subordinate deities). This apparently is based on some misguided, unfounded conception of yours that all of them are Brahman. Yet, you go on to assert the existence of other demigods; thus, you seem not at all uncomfortable in asserting that some entities are not Brahman. You just get angry when the shrutis disagree with you about who is, and who is not Brahman.

 

Thus, there are two elements to your hypocrisy:

 

1) You assert that the demigods are not demigods because you disagree with the idea that any deity is a "demigod." Yet, you go on to assert that other deities are "demigods."

 

2) You reserve the right to decide who is, and who is not, a "demigod." Yet you are not similarly liberal when others use that right to say for certain who is, and who is not, a "demigod" based on shAstra.

 

This hypocrisy aside, it all begs the question: on what basis do you assert that your opinions are correct?

 

- Surely not popular vote, since people in ignorance of brahma-jnAna cannot be expected to come to the correct conclusion merely by "majority rules."

 

- Not by shAstra, becuase nowhere in the shrutis are your conclusions upheld. Rather, they are frequently contradicted, and you simply ignore those references which you cannot explain away.

 

- Not by vedAnta-sUtra, because such ideas are nowhere discussed by vyAsa.

 

Thus, we are left with the conclusion that your opinions are purely your own, and/or of others who are as unqualified to speak on the subject as you are.

 

Raghu

 

[Guest guest]

Who's Gabriel,peter,angels,atlas,satan in islam and christianity?

 

Do you know what is mean by pantheism?Learn basics of hinduism first my dear friend

 

 

[Guest guest]

'nArAyaNa is the supreme brahman, the supreme controller, and the master of all. This is the conclusion of the shruti, and it is upheld by all vedAnta traditions.

 

Other devatas like shiva, brahmA, indra, and so on are empowered administrators subordinate to nArAyaNa. This, too, is the unequivocal conclusion of shruti, your unqualified opinions notwithstanding'.

 

The supreme controller and master of all? All of what? This universe, all universes, this galaxy, other galaxies. How can the people who writes these teachings know this anyway? The supreme controller told them that he/she/it is the supreme controller of them all? Or, did they figure it out themselves even though they are 'below' and only 'empower administrators'.

 

ps: my brain hurts

Celestine

 

[Guest guest]

How can anyone know who is the supreme controller of all and who isn't? Did the supreme controller and master of all tell them this? Or, did the 'administratiors' such as Krishna figure this out themselves even though they are below this supreme controller and therefore cannot really know for sure. How exactly did the folks who wrote down these teachings find this out? Magic? Did they have a chat site as well and did a poll?

 

Darn, my brain hurt!

Celestine

[Guest guest]

why aren't you more serious? these are the most important subjects

 

to fail in this field would generate problems for innumerable lifes.. so why all these jokes?

[barney]

Need I explain? It is all there in the puranas. Read and understand. Ramayana will tell you why Hanuman is worshiped by devotees of Rama. You do not undersand why I said we are all Gods. May be you should ask a qualified Guru and not some senile old man claiming to be guru.

[Guest guest]

 

Need I explain? It is all there in the puranas. Read and understand. Ramayana will tell you why Hanuman is worshiped by devotees of Rama. You do not undersand why I said we are all Gods. May be you should ask a qualified Guru and not some senile old man claiming to be guru.

 

 

Well, I have yet to see anything in the rAmAyana or the purANa-s which states that we are all Gods.

 

Raghu

 

p.s. I've actually studied those texts too. I think it's obvious to everyone that you have not.

 

[ram]

the lord says that one should ONLY worship him, vasudeva, the Self of all, the supreme brahman, the supreme controller, regulator, who beyond mind and words, who is undersood through the sastras, who is an embodiment of bliss, who incarnated in the house of vasudeva by manipulating his own maya. the lord also says that he is essence of all vedas is vasudeva, the lord who appeared as the son of vasudeva. also, he shows that one need not worship indra when one is worshipping him, vishnu. that he is the god of devatas. it is obvious that there can be but only one god. if there are multiple gods as in pantheism, then arises the confusion of whose will shall be done. the lord also says that i am only to be worshipped not the "demi gods", who are his servants.

 

but there are different "demigods" like shiva, karthikeya, indra, rahu, ketu, varuna, candra etc. in different upanishadic texts they are all glorified as supreme brahman. vaishnava interpretation is to say that the supreme lord vasudeva is glorified in all these texts. it is supported by the statement of the sastras that the vedas, itihasas and puranas glorify only the supreme lord hari. that shiva etc., came from narayana. so to worship shiva etc. considering them supreme is considered to be demigod worship by the vaishnavas where as the worship of them as devotees of the lord who can bestow devotion to the lord by his mercy is considered acceptable. but as guru is an embodiment of the demigods, the vaishnavas dont find the need to worship the demigods as they worship the guru and krishna. by worshipping krishna all the demigods are also satisfied because he is their dear lord too. by worshipping the guru, krishna is satisifed.

 

is there a problem with this most satisfying explanation ? on that later.

[Guest guest]

shAstra-s are very clear on the point that there ARE other entities known as devas besides srIman nArAyaNa, and that these other devas are infact subordinate to Him.

 

No amount of Advaitic propaganda will change the very clear statements in shruti and smriti. It is a matter of what the shAstra-s say, and not even a question of interpretation.

 

The "demigods" are not glorified as the Supreme Brahman. Rather, it is the Supreme Brahman who is sometimes glorified by names which also happen to be names of demigods. Two people who have the same name are not necessarily the same person. This is such a simple and easy to understand concept, but the Advaitins and pseudo-Advaitins on this list make a mess of it in order to advance their theory that actually all devatas are Brahman. Though why some devatas who are Brahman worship other devatas who are also Brahman seems to be a point on which they have no clear, logical answer. And why we can be Brahman, yet not know we are Brahman, and why we should worship some other Brahman, is also unclear. Then there is the whole question of where mAyA comes from, if Brahman only exists, and how this mAyA covers Brahman in the first place. Indeed, the inconsistencies go on and on, and the half-hearted attempts of self-proclaimed Advaitins to answer them remain eternally unconvincing.

 

Anyway, this is not about Advaita vs Vaishnavism. It is about people who can think and prefer to cross-examine the evidence, vs people who cannot, and thus make up things as they go. Barney simply makes all kinds of wild claims with absolutely no support, and when called to substantiate them, he just spams more postings.

 

When critical thinking is evaded in favor of flowery cult-propaganda, this is to be known as cult propaganda at its best.

 

[Guest guest]

they are there to assist the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan Sri Krishna. Whenever He is on Earth, the demigods all come before Him so they can assist Him in his Divine Plan.

thats my understanding of it, if i am wrong or incorrect please guide me.

[Guest guest]

ho's Gabriel,peter,angels,atlas,satan in islam and christianity?

 

Gabriel and the angels are subordinate to the Godhead, Peter is a human saint, satan is a fallen angel (who's crime was overstepping his own authority), and atlas is not in islam or christianity at all.