Each and every race, religion, caste and creed have developed its own faith and belief system developed over a period of time and, they differ due to geography, history, and culture. The Greeks and the Romans, the Spaniards and the Mexicans, the Egyptians- all have their own mythology and Gods- like the God of Fire (Vulcan), God of Beauty (Venus), God of Underworld (Vulcan), God of Firs (Ignus), etc. some have the Stars, the Sun and the Moon as Gods. India, as 'bharata varsha' has the Sun and the Moon as gods; this may not be the sun and the moon that we see, but the power that be behind them that give the power to shine, support life! Moon is the deity of the Mind. There is no doubt as to the antiquity of the Hindu Gods and Sages. The Rk Veda eulogizes Agni, the God of Fire. We worship the deity that wards of impediments Ganapati, in fact,made of clay! We have the God of Fire (Agni), literally the one whom we praise and worship in Yajnya, havan and homa rituals. There is God of Air (Marut/Vayu), God of Rains (Varuna), God of Health (Ashvins), and God Rudra. Rudra Deva is praised in the Rk Veda. Rudra is there in every cell of our body! The beauty (sundaram) and truth (satyam) of Hindu Gods and goddesses are that they occupy strategic positions in our body (nadi) and not elsewhere. The Veda declares that the supreme Lord who created entered His creation! The heart is the seat of the Lord! It is the hrut-kamala on which the God Narayana and His Creative power Lakshmi is seated!
The Hindu scriptures are, initially, the spoken words of Gods and the learned sages. Each and every sound (shabda), the alphabet (akshara), manifest from the supreme as the shakti, mantra. The three manifest forms of power (shakti/Devata) are the chit, jnyan, and kriya called Raja-Rajeshvari or Mahalskshmi, Saraswati, and Lakshmi. Lakshmi Tantra gives detailed conversation bewteen Lakshmi and Indra about these and gives details of mantra, bijakshara, etc.
Mantra shastra is a compendium of all sacred sounds, words and the powers inherent in them. There is no doubt as to the origin of all these in our own body. But, it requires extraordinary purity to manifest these powers! There are scripture giving all the details with no authorship and the copyright restrictions. In fact all wrote their thoughts ideas in the name of their teachers and mentors! Many have come to be known as 'Upanishads'! Thus we have 108 Upanishads, 230 Agama shastra samhita, the Veda and its branches such as Vedanga, Veda upanga, Veda pratishakhyas, etc. numbering 40 (Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi), 18 Puranas, and the like. All these unwritten texts (scriptures?) were initially realized by the Rishis, drushtaras, (envisioned) not written but transmitted by teacher by word of mouth to their trusted disciples over thousand of years! Accordingly we have the narratives about our Gods, Goddesses and Sages and Rishis.
The Hindu scriptures are, initially, the spoken words of Gods and the learned sages. Each and every sound (shabda), the alphabet (akshara), manifest from the supreme as the shakti, mantra. The three manifest forms of power (shakti/Devata) are the chit, jnyan, and kriya called Raja-Rajeshvari or Mahalskshmi, Saraswati, and Lakshmi. Lakshmi Tantra gives detailed conversation bewteen Lakshmi and Indra about these and gives details of mantra, bijakshara, etc.
Mantra shastra is a compendium of all sacred sounds, words and the powers inherent in them. There is no doubt as to the origin of all these in our own body. But, it requires extraordinary purity to manifest these powers! There are scripture giving all the details with no authorship and the copyright restrictions. In fact all wrote their thoughts ideas in the name of their teachers and mentors! Many have come to be known as 'Upanishads'! Thus we have 108 Upanishads, 230 Agama shastra samhita, the Veda and its branches such as Vedanga, Veda upanga, Veda pratishakhyas, etc. numbering 40 (Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi), 18 Puranas, and the like. All these unwritten texts (scriptures?) were initially realized by the Rishis, drushtaras, (envisioned) not written but transmitted by teacher by word of mouth to their trusted disciples over thousand of years! Accordingly we have the narratives about our Gods, Goddesses and Sages and Rishis.
We have the Rk Veda Samhita which is almost a handbook of history and geography! There are beautiful descriptions of origin of the universe, origin of the earth, manifest forms of Gods and Goddesses, elemental gods, origin of life and the way the life-forms have manifested! There are almost a hundred meanings to each and every word of the Vedic verses. Of them at least forty are very important and six of them are extremely important! There are dummy, and meaningless sounds, alphabets and words introduced in the verses in order to keep the reader guessing! There are words which convey opposite meanings, or even negative meanings! Some of these are open to endless discussions even today.
Initially, there is only One supreme Almighty who manifests in different forms and functions due to His desire and will! Thus, we have Narayana, who manifests Himself as Lakshmi, who in turn manifests as Vasudeva, who manifests as Sankarshana, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and each of these manifest as shakti (the forces and powers of creation, sustenance and dissolution). All the great sages like the Sapta Rishis, and Atharva, Sanaka, skanda, Narada and others manifest from pure creation, Sankarshana, The elemental gods emanate from the powers of Pradyumnaand all the manes or pitrus and living beings from Aniruddha! One should not mistake the Gods of epics and mythology as compared to initial creation of forces, the desire and will of the Lord!
The Sun is one (in our solar system) and his twelve positions during the year of earth's revolution are given twelve names of Gods. So also, the Moon is one (satellite of the earth) and each of the day and night of the fortnights from Full Moon to Full Moon is given names of Goddesses! Some time each thought force is given a name and we call it a deity, god or goddess! Hence, we have millions and millions of these forces (like the electromagnetic waves, magnetic waves, sounds, and the like) as gods! Each one is given a name and thus, our Gods and Goddesses appear as desire, thoughts, images and imagination, creative energy, and sustaining forces!
Much of symbolism and imagination is involved in all these.
Initially, there is only One supreme Almighty who manifests in different forms and functions due to His desire and will! Thus, we have Narayana, who manifests Himself as Lakshmi, who in turn manifests as Vasudeva, who manifests as Sankarshana, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and each of these manifest as shakti (the forces and powers of creation, sustenance and dissolution). All the great sages like the Sapta Rishis, and Atharva, Sanaka, skanda, Narada and others manifest from pure creation, Sankarshana, The elemental gods emanate from the powers of Pradyumnaand all the manes or pitrus and living beings from Aniruddha! One should not mistake the Gods of epics and mythology as compared to initial creation of forces, the desire and will of the Lord!
The Sun is one (in our solar system) and his twelve positions during the year of earth's revolution are given twelve names of Gods. So also, the Moon is one (satellite of the earth) and each of the day and night of the fortnights from Full Moon to Full Moon is given names of Goddesses! Some time each thought force is given a name and we call it a deity, god or goddess! Hence, we have millions and millions of these forces (like the electromagnetic waves, magnetic waves, sounds, and the like) as gods! Each one is given a name and thus, our Gods and Goddesses appear as desire, thoughts, images and imagination, creative energy, and sustaining forces!
Much of symbolism and imagination is involved in all these.
One has to study the the puranas like the Brahmanda Purana, the Vishnu Purana, the Kurma Purana, Padma Purana, the Shiva Purana, the Markandeya purana and others to understand these enigmatic origin of gods and goddesses/
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