[dey-vuh]
A generic term used to describe a class of celestial beings. Also referred to as God in Hindu mythology.
▵ Glimpses of the Beyond
Whatever the scriptures would judge me as, all the other beings – those who are called devas and gods – are extremely happy with me. In India, in the Sanskrit language, when we say “god,” we are not referring to the Supreme Being. The word “deva” literally means “a radiant being.” There are many radiant beings. They say their population is also growing. Shiva himself said that either their blessing will see humanity through, or their displeasure will end the human race. It all depends on whether the devas are happy or not. I see they have been extremely happy with me.
▵ From Stagnation to Radiance
Shiva himself said that when women outnumber men on this planet, at that time Kali Yuga will come to an end. Right now here [referring to the number present at the consecration] women clearly outnumber men. When Kali Yuga ends the next yuga is supposed to bring forth better people. It will bring forth devas. The word ‘deva’ literally means a radiant being.
Essentially, all life upon this planet is solar-powered. It is just that some life holds what comes to it; some life radiates what comes to it. If you choose to radiate, you become a deva. If you hold back you become a rakshasa[1]. Not because you do something that somebody thinks is bad do you become a rakshasa. You become a rakshasa because you have no sense of giving.
Giving does not necessarily mean this or that; just that your life process is a giving. When you are this way, giving will happen the way it needs to happen. It is not that you have to think, ‘Where should I give? How much should I give? What should I give?’ That calculation destroys everything. If there is a certain sense of giving in everything that you are, if you become a giving, you become a deva. Sitting here, consecration after consecration, if you continue to remain a rakshasa – ‘what can I get’; ‘what can I get’ – you will get a stone in the end or maybe nobody will even bother to put a stone.Giving does not necessarily mean this or that; just that your life process is a giving.
If you transform your life from ‘What can I get?’ to ‘What can I give?’ if every moment of your life is a process of giving, you become a deva. Giving is not about developing an attitude. If you allow life to happen, it is a giving. The nature of life is like that. If it holds it becomes stagnant. Only if it keeps flowing, this is a beautiful experience.
If you horde life, if you become a stagnant life, it is a miserable life. You will have everything, yet you will have nothing. You will have more than everybody but you will have nothing in your experience, because life is not in quantities. Life is only in the intensity of experience. ‘How much do I have’ doesn’t make your life big or small; how intensely you are experiencing it right now, is what makes your life big or small. There is no sense of holding back, because you have looked at life a little more carefully and you understand there is nothing here that you can give since there is nothing here that you brought. Everything has only been taken, no giving business.
Why we are doing something, that could have been done very simply and easily with a certain level of privacy, with such a large number of people, is to transform you into devas, so that you become a process of radiance, you become like a mirror which reflects everything. ‘If I give away everything what’ll happen to me?’ The whole world will become yours that is what will happen to you.
▵ Glimpses of the Beyond (Isha)
▵ From Stagnation to Radiance (Isha)