Hindu Deities

"Parjanya and Vata, bulls of the Earth, you energize the heavenly waters (Purishas) (VI.49.6)."

"You, oh sacred fire, are the fast living one for living men. The Gods made you as the lord of the peoples of Nahusha. They made Ila the teacher of men (1.31.11)."

"We set you down, oh sacred fire, at the most holy place on Earth, in the land of Ila, in the clear brightness of the days. On the Drishadvati, the Apaya and the Saraswati rivers, shine out brilliantly for men. - Rig Veda III.23.4"

"Let the two heavenly Heralds, first, most wise, most fair, present oblation duly with the sacred verse, Worshipping God at ordered seasons decking them at three high places at the centre of the earth. Sarasvatī who perfects our devotion, Iḷā divine, Bhāratī all surpassing,— Three Goddesses, with power inherent, seated, protect this holy Grass, our flawless refuge!"

"Maruts, let there be for us a powerful hero, who is the almighty ruler of men, through whom we may cross the waters to good habitations and dwell in our own home with you (VII.56.24)."

"The rivers and the mountains cannot obstruct you. Wherever you decide, oh Maruts, there you go; and you travel around Heaven and Earth (V.55.7)."

"Of easy access for the Maruts is the Earth, of easy access is Heaven for their descent, of easy access are the paths of the atmosphere, of easy access are the mountains to those who move quickly (V.54.9)."

"Oh Maruts, you raise up from the ocean the rain, and as carriers of the heavenly waters (Purisha) make it rain (V.54.5)."

"Oh skillful Maruts, when through the nights and the days, oh powerful ones, when through the atmosphere and the region, when through the level ground you drive like boats, across all difficulties you are not disturbed (V.54.4)."

"The God Rudra is described to have possessed golden hair . . . yet we cannot make a Nordic viking out of him, as he had brown-hued skin-colour and golden-coloured arm. . . . Surely we cannot take the god Rudra as a specimen of race-miscegenation. . . . we beg to state that these allegories should be accepted as poetic fancies. They cannot be used as scientific data, for anthropological purpose."

"The Maruts, children of Rudra , are not divinities superior to their fierce and mighty Father; but they have manyhymns addressed to them and are far more constantly mentioned in connection with other gods, because the function they fulfilled was of a constant and immediateimportance in the Vedic discipline. On the other hand, Vishnu, Rudra, Brahmanaspati, the Vedic originals of the later Puranic Triad, Vishnu-Shiva-Brahrna , provide the conditions of the Vedic work and assist it from behind the more present and active gods, but are less close to it and in appearance less continually concerned in its daily movements."

"Worship thou Rudra for his great good favour: adore the Asura, God, with salutations."

"To what, Sudas, did you flow along with the rain and the nourishing waters? Come, oh Maruts, from Heaven and from the atmosphere and from here (the Earth). Do not stay in the distance. May the Rasa, Anitabha, Kubha, Krumu, and Sindhu not obstruct you, oh Maruts. May the Sarayu full of the heavenly waters (Purisha) not stop you (V.53, 2, 8-9)."

"Of the celestial Naga snakes I am Ananta; of the aquatic deities I am Varuna. Of departed ancestors I am Aryamaa and among the dispensers of law I am Yama, lord of death."

"What enemy is invincible? What constitutes an incurable disease? What sort of man is noble and what sort is ignoble?"

"O Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, what shall I do for You and Lord Balarāma, who are playing the part of ordinary humans?"

"The great sage, do not be angry. The number of people of the same name in the world are many. It must be that those who arrested you made a mistake."

"My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose."

"Riding on his terrible buffalo, the god of Death Yama hastened to that place. He was holding his sceptre (rod of chastisement). His physical body was yellow in colour. In prowess he was comparable to none. He was unparalleled in brilliance, strength and power of demanding obedience. His limbs were well developed and he wore garlands."

"As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni [also known as Māṇḍavya Muni], Aryamā officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts."

"I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Māṇḍavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarāja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatī, Vyāsadeva, in the kept wife of his brother."

"I know the knowledge that leads to heaven. I will explain it to you so that you will understand it. O Nachiketas, remember this knowledge is the way to the endless world; the support of all worlds; and abides in subtle form within the intellects of the wise."

"Spreading thy web with mightiest Steeds thou comest, rending apart, thou God, the black-hued mantle. The rays of Sūrya tremulously shining sink, like a hide, the darkness in the waters."

"May you all be ever protected by Lord Vāmana in the form of Trivikrama who, though being dwarf, is tall with a physique which is an embodiment of all sixteen branches of knowledge. He bears in his palm the Universe which gets disturbed by cloud Samavarta and Pramad, as they strike against the rocks of Kulagiri and create echo."

"It is astonishing to what a degree some remember instances from their past lives, whereas others have completely lost all memories of their former accumulations. A karmic cause does not completely explain such a marked difference in the understanding of life. Truly, the deciding factor in such understanding lies not in the circumstances of former lives, but in the acceptance of Agni. People call such wisdom a talent, but it is no special talent to keep Agni alight. Only the kindling of the centers produces uninterrupted vigilance of consciousness. Even a partial manifestation of Agni already preserves the accumulations inviolate. Agni is no violator, but our friend. It must be explained that the ascent of the spirit is indeed a manifestation of Agni."

"Indra, an ocean of wealth (I.51.1)."

"Indra has an extent like the sea (I.30.3)."

"To Indra I direct my songs in an unceasing flow, like waters from the bottom of the sea (X.89.4)."

"Not ceasing, not coming to rest, his body is hidden in the middle of their depths. The waters move around the secret body of the serpent. Indra's enemy lies in extended darkness (I.32.10)."

"The translations by Grassmann and Ludwig show once again quite strikingly the errors that an exegesis that wants to see in the Veda something other than a purely Indian monument and that does not take Indian views into account must lead to. ... Here, verse 1 says that the gods determined that the place where a man who makes a sacrifice is to be found is the east. Such a man, the text says directly, is the east, but verse 4 says that in the west is a miser who lets nothing come of it and a rich man who gives no gifts. ... "In the west are the ill-wishers whose horses are badly harnessed; in the east are those who are here for giving, who give a variety of gifts," i.e. the misers who have given bad horses are to be in the extreme west, the region of the sunset, thus of darkness and therefore of raksas, while the generous are to be in the east, the region of the sunrise, thus in the eternal light, which is what 10, 107,2 says. So 7,6,3 is to be translated quite literally: "He (Agni), the Eastern One, has made those who do not make sacrifices into Westerners," i.e. he, the bright one, has plunged them into deep darkness."

"Agni, the Lord of Fire, rules over all the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system. (p. 65)"

"Indra has an extent like the sea."

"All songs give increase to Indra who is as expansive as the sea."

"He slew the dragon lying at the foot of the mountain. The creator fashioned for him his flashing thunderbolt. As milch cows bellowing as they flowed, directly the waters entered the ocean."

"Shiva is by no means a non-Vedic god, and Indra never really disappeared from popular Hinduism but lives on under another name."

"Temples were built in ancient times in Tamilnadu for worshipping Indra. Grand festivals were celebrated by the Tamil kings in honor of Indra, the “the national hero of the Aryans.’ Indra was so much cherished by the Tamil people, that priority of worship was given to him in the great Epic Silappadikaram’ – the epic of the Anklet. Besides, references to Indra worship are found in Tholkapiam (600 BCE) Purananuru, Paripadal Aingurunuru and Pattupaddu, all belonging to the Sangam period. Certainly Seran Senguttuvan, his brother Illango Adikal, and, above all, the great Sangam Poets were not naïve as to accept Indra the lord of the Aryans who were the enemies of the Dravidians as their God, How can historians reconcile these contradictory views?"

"All songs give increase to Indra who is as expansive as the sea (I.11.1)."

"Indra, extensive as the sea (1.52.4)."

"Agni, the sum-total of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of fire; He is the Flame and that which the Flame destroys. (p. 602) All potentiality lies in the vitalising, energising power of Agni, and in His ability to stimulate. He is life itself, and the driving force of evolution, of psychic development and of consciousness. (p. 606)."

"Oh Agni, for your firm law our words like cattle are spoken, as rivers to the sea (VIII.44.25).24"

"Agni, you move to the ocean of Heaven...to the waters which are beyond the luminous heaven of the Sun and to those which stand below it."

"All delights converge in Agni, as seven mighty streams the ocean."

"Far far away hath Agni chased those Dasyus, and, in the east, hath turned the godless westward."

"Agni, whose vesture is the ocean. (VIII. 102.4-6)."

"Vaiśvānara the God, at the sun's setting, hath taken to himself deep-hidden treasures: Agni hath taken them from earth and heaven, from the sea under and the sea above us."

"All delights converge in Agni, as seven mighty streams into the ocean (I.71.7)."

"The legend of Indra’s slaying VRtra… in the Vedas is merely an allegorical narrative of the production of rain. VRtra, sometimes also named Ahi, is nothing more than the accumulation of vapour condensed or figuratively shut up in, or obstructed by, a cloud. Indra, with his thunderbolt, or atmospheric or electrical influence, divides the aggregate mass, and vent is given to the rain which then descends upon the earth."

"Indra was the god of the thunderstorm that puts an end to the oppressive summer heat and opens the rainy season.... However, the Buddha arrived just in time for Indra to play a role in his career. it was Indra himself who persuaded the freshly awakened Shakyamuni to start preaching his newfound path. Buddhist monks then spread the cult of Indra to foreign lands as far as Japan. Indra’s weapon, the lightning or vajra, became the emblem of instant Enlightenment. The sought-after “Self-nature” (Chinese zixing) is present all the time, deep in all of us; but when we embark on the path of meditation and finally awaken to it, it strikes like lightning."

"Indra stands accused (of destroying the Harappan civilization)."

"Agni – (Sk.). The God of Fire in the Veda; the oldest and the most revered of Gods in India."