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How are deities associated with various organs in Human body?

Contents

1. Battles between deities and demons

‘Vedic sages have explained the spiritual meaning of battles between deities and demons as the fight of deities against the evil attitudes within themselves and the triumph over them. Later in the vast literature from the Brahman holy texts to the Purans they were described as true incidents and live battles enacted between the two classes of deities and demons. Several instances are quoted in the Purans in which demons acquire from Lord Shiva or God a boon of invincibility or victory over all the three regions (triloks), as a result of intense austerities and then along with it conquer heaven. Often deities have been terrorised by demons. One can learn from the Purans how Indra and other deities sought refuge in Lord Vishnu and fought the demons after Lord Vishnu granted them protection. The fact that Indra was the ruler of heaven piqued the demons. That is why when they acquired power, after undertaking austerities they first attacked heaven and then conquered the earth and hell (patal). In mythological texts such as the Ramayan, Mahabharat and Bhagvat, Devibhagvat, Vaman Puran and others one comes across several such rival couples of deities and demons. Some of them are Vrutra, Andhak, etc. versus Indra; Mahish, Shumbh-Nishumbh, Chand-Mund, etc. versus the female deity (devi); Virochan versus Varun; Maya versus Agni; Jambh versus Kuber; Sauchchar versus Vayu; Tripur versus Rudra; Tarak versus Skanda; Sindhur, Vighna versus Ganapati; Madhu, Kaitabh versus Vishnu; Ravan versus Rama; Narak, Dhenuk, Agha, etc. versus Krushna.’(1)

2. Assistant deities (ganadevata) and their number

According to the science of origin, gana means a small army of soldiers or a group of fellowmen. According to the Amarkosh, gana means trustworthy, originating from all directions or a group of pure particles (pavitraks). Assistant deities and their numbers are as follows.

Assistant deities Number Assistant deities Number
1. Maharajik 220 6. Aditya 12
2. Abhasvar 64 7. Sadhya 12
3. Anil 49 8. Vishvedev 10
4. Ya 36 9. Rudra 10
5. Tushit 26(63) 10. Vasav or Vasu 8

Attendants of the marut class (Marudgan) : ‘Maruts always live as attendants. They are either a hundred and eighty or twenty-one in number. That is why they are always referred to in the plural. They all look alike. Their chests are adorned with medals and necks with glittering necklaces. Their feet too are embellished with ornaments. Their weapons are also similar. They all wield an axe and a bow in the hand and spears on the shoulder. Golden crowns decorate their heads. Their chariots are of four kinds. Some of them are drawn by horses or deer. Some however travel with great velocity even without horses while others fly through space.

Maruts are the soldiers of deities and annihilate enemies of deities completely. They are knowledgeable, farsighted and poetic.

Rudra is their father and Prushni, their mother. Rodasi is their consort. One important mission of the maruts is to provide rainfall. They ascend from the ocean and cause rainfall. They are closely associated with clouds, lightning and raging winds.

During the post-Vedic period the maruts came to be considered as the sons of Diti and Kashyap. Their strength is forty-nine.’ (2)

3. Messengers of deities (devdut)

A messenger of a deity is a link between God and man. A mention of messengers of deities is made in all religions. The Purans describe messengers of the deities Shiva, Vishnu and Yama. These transport the subtle bodies of dead people to various regions depending on their sins and merits. The amount of Shiva principle in messengers of Shiva is 10% and that of Vishnu in His messengers is also the same. From the point of view of the average man even these messengers are like deities as the quantity of The Supreme God principle in him is only 0.0001%.

4. Yoginis

In the temple of the female deity, Kamakshi there are idols of yoginis. ‘Their total number is sixty-four. Sixty-three of them lie within the subtle body. The name of the sixty-fourth yogini is Saudamini. She is the supernatural power of the absolute form of Rama and Krushna. Nine out of the sixty-three yoginis are within the control of Lord Indra (king of the deities) and fifty-four are under the control of Lord Shiva.’ – H.H. Anna Karandikar, Dahanu

5. God and man

5.1 Chanting The Lord’s Name and being blessed with His vision

‘When a devotee who loves to worship some deity / incarnation chants the Name of any other deity and follows the respective norms of the Path of Devotion, he is able to get a vision only of that deity towards whom he fosters devotion in his mind (antahkaran). Even if one undertakes thirteen crores of chanting of Rama one gets a vision of Datta, Krushna or any other deity unto whom one is devoted.’(3)

5.2 Love or hatred shown towards God is reflected tenfold

Refer to point H – ‘The one who loves His devotees’.

5.3 Missions of some deities

Deity Mission
1. Family deity
    (kuladevata)		 Fufillment of materialistic desires
and spiritual progress
2. Dhanvantari,
    Ashvinikumars, Surya		 Physical health
3. Parvati Marriage, marital happiness
4. Kamadev Sexual pleasure
5. Prajapati Progeny
6. Lakshmi, Kuber, Agni,
    the eight vasus		 Money, wealth
7. Indra Power
8. Vishvakarma Architecture
9. Chitrasen Music
10. Nataraj Dance
11. Sarasvati, Ganapati,
      Mahadev		 Numbers, alphabets, intellect
12. Janardan Final Liberation (Moksha)
[according to the Vaishnav sect]
13. Shiva Final Liberation (Moksha)
[according to the Shaiva sect]

5.4 Organs and mantras of deities

Every bodily action requires energy. Every energy has a specific name, for instance the energy which induces sneezing is called deity Chakpadi. To understand the association between organs and deities first chant the word ‘arka’ for one minute and note in which sense organs namely, the ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose some sensation is felt. Only then read the following paragraph.

Thirty-one seekers attended a workshop on Spirituality. None of them knew the meaning of the word arka. After chanting the word ‘arka’ they experienced sensations in various sense organs as follows : 19 seekers – in the eyes, 4 – in the ears, 4 – in the tongue, 3 – in the nose and 1 – on the skin. From this, one can deduce that there exists some relationship between the word ‘arka’ and the eyes. Arka is one of the Names of the Sun deity (Surya). The Sun deity and the eyes both being associated with the absolute fire (tej) element, after chanting arka, a majority of seekers felt the sensation in the eyes.

The following table illustrates the relationship of various organs with deities and also how the Name of a particular deity should be chanted to improve the function of a particular organ. The point to be noted here is that specific chanting will be beneficial only if the function of an organ is impaired due to a spiritual factor, that is a reduction of vital energy (pranshakti) and not if the cause is physical or psychological.

Organ Mantra of the deity
‘A. Sense Organs
   1. Ears Om Dikdevatabhyo         (ॐ दिक्‌देवताभ्‍यो नम: ।)
namaha
   2. Skin Om Samirnaya namaha    (ॐ समीरणाय नम: ।)
   3. Eyes Om Arkaya namaha         (ॐ अर्काय नम: ।)
   4. Tongue Om Varunaya namaha      (ॐ वरुणाय नम: ।)
   5. Nose Om Ashvinikumarabhyam (ॐ अश्विनीकुमाराभ्‍यां नम: ।)
namaha
B. Motor Organs
   1. Organs of
       speech		 Om Agnaye namaha         (ॐ अग्नये नम: ।)
   2. Hands Om Indraya namaha         (ॐ इंद्राय नम: ।)
   3. Legs Om Upendraya namaha,   (ॐ उपेंद्राय नम: ।,
Om Vishnave namaha        ॐ विष्‍णवे नम: ।)
   4. Anus Om Yamaya namaha        (ॐ यमाय नम: ।)
   5. Sex organs Om Prajapataye namaha, (ॐ प्रजापतये नम: ।
Om Brahmadevaya           ॐ ब्रह्मदेवाय नम: ।)
namaha
C. Antahkaran
   1. Conscious
       mind		 Om Chandraya namaha    (ॐ चंद्राय नम: ।)
   2. Subconscious
      mind		 Om Achyutaya namaha     (ॐ अच्‍युताय नम: ।)
   3. Intellect Om Chaturmukhaya          (ॐ चतुर्मुखाय नम: ।)
namaha
   4. Ego Om Shankaraya namaha    (ॐ शंकराय नम: ।)’(4)

5.5 Names of Vishnu and parts of the body associated with them

Name of Vishnu Part of
the body		 Name of Vishnu Part of
the body
1. Govind Right arm 10. Aniruddha Right eye
2. Trivikram Both lips 11. Purushottam Left eye
3. Shridhar Left arm 12. Adhokshaj Right ear
4. Hrushikesh Right leg 13. Narsinha Left ear
5. Padmanabh Left leg 14. Achyut Navel
6. Damodar Anterior part
of the head		 15. Janardan Heart
7. Sankarshan Upper lip 16. Upendra Posterior part
of the head
8. Vasudev Right nostril 17. Hari Right shoulder
9. Pradyumna Left nostril 18. Shrikrushna Left shoulder

5.6 Deities of organs

These are referred to as presiding deities (adhidaivat) in the Vedas. They are : Indra of the hands, Vishnu of the feet, Surya (Sun deity) of the eyes, etc. Functions of the respective organs occur due to these deities.

5.7 Organs and the five cosmic elements

The five cosmic elements namely pruthvi (absolute earth), apa (absolute water), tej (absolute fire), vayu (absolute air) and akash (absolute ether) are also referred to as the deities of absolute earth, absolute water, absolute fire, absolute air and absolute ether respectively.

First chant vayu, the name of one of the cosmic elements, for one minute and note which sense organ is affected. Then read the following discussion.

At a workshop after chanting vayu, 10 out of 28 people felt a sensation in the skin and 3 people experienced some fragrance. No one experienced anything in the eyes, ears and tongue. Since the skin originates from the vayu element most people experienced a sensation in the skin.

The following table gives the element from the five cosmic elements, its characteristic and relationship with organs.

Cosmic element / deities Characteristic Organ
1. Akash (absolute ether) Word (sound) Ear
2. Vayu (absolute air) Touch Skin
3. Tej (absolute fire) Form Eye
4. Apa (absolute water) Taste Tongue
5. Pruthvi (absolute earth) Fragrance Nose

5.8 The three humours in the body (tridosh) and deities

Wind (vata), bile (pitta) and phlegm (kapha) are the three humours in the body.

Hanuman is the deity of wind and phlegm and Shiva and Ganapati are the deities of bile.

5.9 Deities of illnesses

They are termed as deities instead of distressing energies because illness supervenes when merits in one’s destiny decrease. Thus there is no question of deities causing the distress.

5.10 Deities and destiny of man

A. Deities of organs itself mean fate or destiny. If the deities are pleased with physical, verbal and psychological actions then destiny is favourable but if actions are unrighteous it is unfavourable. Pleasing deities with spiritual practice itself means nullifying destiny.

B. The universe is under the control of deities. When deities are appeased they endow happiness to man and if displeased they give sorrow.

C. Man nullifies his destiny by experiencing it while Lord Brahma nullifies His destiny by giving rise to creation.

5.11 Alphabets, deities and benefits

In the Devanagari script alphabets have been divided into eight categories, that is a (अ) – k (क) – ch (च) – t (ट) – t (त) – p (प) – y (य) – sh (श). Every category has a specific deity. If any poetic composition is begun with an alphabet from a particular category of alphabets then benefits are derived as given in the table below.

Category Deity Benefit
A Som (Moon) Longevity
K Angarak Fame
Ch Budh (Mercury) Acquisition of
wealth
T Guru (Jupiter) Fortune
T Shukra (Venus) Fame
P Shanaishchar Slowing
Y Surya (Sun) Death
Sh Rahu (dragon’s head),
Ketu (dragon’s tail)		 The null state

 

5.12 Deities, God and man

स्त्रीणां चरित्र: पुरुषस्‍य भाग्‍यम्‌ ।
देवो न जानाति कुतो मनुष्‍य: ।।

Meaning: If deities do not perceive the character of women and the destiny of man then how will man perceive it ?

This is because deities can only see man’s actions but God knows even his thoughts.

 

 

Reference:

 

 

‘Supreme God, God, Incarnations and Deities’, published by Sanatan Sanstha.

Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh. Publisher: Pandit Mahadevshastri Joshi, Secretary, Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh Mandal, 410 Shanivar Peth, Pune 411 030.
First edition : Vol. 3 to 10, Second edition : Vol. 1 and 2
[1]. Vol. 4, Pg. 441           [2]. Vol. 7, Pg. 88

[3]. Shri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavlekar Yanchi Pravachane. Compiler : G. S. Gokhale. Publisher : R. B.Ghanekar. Secretary, Shri Sadguru Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavlekar (Sansthan), Chaitanyopasana, P. O. Gondavle Budruk 415 508, Taluka Man, District Satara.

[4]. The Vedantasar of Sadanand, Ed. 1934. Edited by Colonel G. A. Jacob. Publisher : Pandurang Javaji. Nirnay Sagar Press, Mumbai 400 002.

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