Atman, Brahman and Ishwara are considered ultimately one and
the same.
Ishwara is the manifestation of Brahman. It is said that Ishwara is like the reflection
of the Cosmic Spirit seen through the mirror of ‘Maya’. Ishwara is the
instrumental cause of creation on the basis of ‘Dharma’ and ‘Karma’ using his
divine power (Maya). Ishwara is able to alter the
jiva’s destiny based on prayer and effort of the self (jiva-atma). However the
creation of the jiva and jagat will not be possible by Ishwara and Maya unless
Brahman remains the substratum present in all creation.
When seen as a
creator of the world Ishwara is called ‘Brahma’, when seen as the preserver of
the world, Ishwara is called ‘Vishnu’ and when seen as the destroyer of this
world prior to creation of the new world, Ishwara is called ‘Shiva’. It is said that Lord Vishnu represents
complete ‘ Satvik Guna’ preserving and maintaining goodness. Lord Brahma made of
the ‘rajas Guna’ is full of passion and responsible for creation. Lord Shiva
dominated by the ‘tamas Guna’ is responsible for the destruction of the world. The
trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh (Shiva) are also known as ‘Guna Avatars’. In
the Advaita Smarta philosophy Ishwara in the form of Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti
(Durga, Devi), Ganesha, Kartikeya (also known as
Murugan/Skanda) and Surya are all considered to personify the Supreme God
Brahman.
Just as the world is only an empirical reality, Ishwara is
also empirically real but not the absolute truth. Similarly other Deities are also
considered to exist and may be considered of a lower order known as ‘Devas’ or
angels. These Devas are said to reside in ‘Indra Loka’ or ‘Swar Loka’ and Indra Deva is their leader. There
are said to be fourteen ‘Lokas’ (worlds or planes of existence) and there are
various interpretations of these Lokas. Some say they are worlds one above the
other whereas another interpretation is of every larger spheres or spaces. The
sphere of Lokas seem to describe the larger creation all part of ‘Jagat’ which
is not restricted to just this world as we humans know it and experience it in
this life.
The three Lokas starting from the earth are described as as
the Bhu Loka (earth), Bhuvar Loka (region from earth to sun) and Swar Loka (the entire
solar system which is said to be the abode of the Devas), The fourth, Mahaloka is said to be the stellar space as Hindu astrology divides the space visible
to humans from earth into 27 nakshatras or constellations of stars each one
based on one prominent star. The ‘Mahaloka’ is where saints reside and are
therefore more powerful than the Devas living in Swarloka. ‘Janaloka ‘ is said
to be encompassing Mahaloka and is seen to be the
galaxy ‘Milky Way’ thus being the abode of all living beings of this galaxy
including humans, Devas and others. Still greater is the ‘TapaLoka’ which is
said to be the region of space that contains multiple galaxies which are
grouped with the Milky Way galaxy. Therefore other inter galactic civilizations
reside here. ‘Satya Loka’ is the
greatest of all containing all galaxies and the whole universe and this is
rightly therefore the abode of ‘Brahman’ and thus also known as ‘Brahmand’.
The other seven ‘Lokas’ associated with hell are Atala,
Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Maha Tala and Patala which are smaller
spheres than the earth, said to be below the earth. Some define these as the
layers beneath the surface of the earth which make up the surfaces all the way
to the crust of the earth which rages like hell-fire.
Thus the Vedic scriptures are interpreted by some to say
that the Universe is a mighty hierarchy of living beings, super human, human
and sub human although it follows that Devas and other beings described in the
mythology may be in non physical forms suitable for existence in spaces such as
our solar system, other galactic planets and stars. At the head of the
hierarchy stands the One representing the first step taken by Atman on the path
of self limitation or self sacrifice. As per this explanation, humans have
devolved from higher living beings as each being has manifested from the
highest state of pure consciousness. This belief that proposes that human
beings have not evolved from other animals, but they have devolved down from a
spiritual world posits that when the human soul is released after death,
depending on its good deeds it ascends higher or lower. Very good souls get the
opportunity to rise all the way to Swar Loka and beyond thus taking birth in
other higher civilizations in their next ‘life’. Whereas some souls remain in
the spiritual space above the earth and take rebirth in human form or still
lower forms depending on their previous ‘Karma’. According to some schools of
thought Hindu scriptures suggest that each living creature was created by
Ishwara and none evolved from another living being as is commonly believed in
science. There are said to be totally 8.4 million species of living beings in
the whole of creation. 900,000 species of aquatic, 2,000,000 species of plants,
1,100,000 species of insects, 1,000,000 species of birds, 3,000,000 species of
beasts and 400,000 species of human beings. Not all these species are present
on this planet and not all are present at the same time.
If one were to
believe in the empirical existence of Ishwara, Devas and Lokas (even though not
in the same spatial and temporal dimensions that humans comprehend), does that
mean that creation begins with the same energy ‘Maya’ and dominance of
positive, negative or neutral energy are manifested as the trinity of Gods?
Some
knowledge of these Devas from the Vedas must be real and rest must be human imagination
superimposed upon the Devas. Just like the Greek Gods these Devas are perhaps the
manifestations of Brahman for another ‘Loka’ and human beings who are less
perfect and less powerful than these Devas have been created for ‘earth’.
(Neither apes at one point converted into humans and nor did the Devas at one
point convert into human form. Just the avatar of Brahman or manifestation of
Brahman i.e. Ishwara’s creation started with highest order beings i.e. Devas,
then humans may have been created and then animals and other lower order
beings) When the next cycle came, depending on karma of the universe, some of
these beings were not present in some cycles of the universe and then returned
to existence in next cycle which may explain why modern science thinks that
lower order animals actually pre-date humans.
However it is not
clear what exact form these Devas are in. Whether they have a physical form as
depicted in mythology or a spiritual form so
they can reside anywhere including in our mind is not clear. In many other
Hindu teachings Ishwara is said to be a perception of the mind and thus Devas or
Deities are said to reside in the mind. Ishwara is said to be Brahman in a form
that the limited human mind can comprehend. The Lokas are said to correspond to
layers of imagination of the mind.
The verse from the ‘Rig Veda’ (‘Nasadiya
Sukta’) as translated
in Wikipedia is quite apt:
.......’ But, after
all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
the gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?’........
