This is an article of the Devatas series. You can access all other previous articles at www.special thoughts.com
Continuing with the hierarchy of Devata-s, let’s look at the venerable Jeevaatma-s in Level 16.
Vishvaamitra
Everyone who does Sandhyaa Vandana three times (or two times or at least once) a day takes the name of Shree Vishvaamitra Rushi while doing Gaayatri Mantra Japa.
You may’ve already read a previous article on Veda and how/why it is the basis of our way of life. The 3 types of Veda-s (Rig, Yaju, and Saama) are summarized in one Sookta in the Rig-Veda called the Purusha Sookta. The first 5 verses of Purusha Sookta, referred to as the 1st Varga of Purusha Sookta, is said to be the summary of the entire Rig Veda. The next 5 verses of Purusha Sookta, referred to as the 2nd Varga, summarize the entire Yajur Veda. And the last 6 verses, called the 3rd Varga, summarize the entire Saama Veda.
Next, the 1st Varga of Purusha Sookta is summarized in the 1st line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (tat savitur-varenyam); the 2nd Varga of Purusha Sookta is summarized in the 2nd line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (bhargo devasya dheemahi); and the 3rd Varga of Purusha Sookta is summarized in the 3rd line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (dhiyo yo na: prachodayaat).
Further, the 1st line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (tat savitur-varenyam) is said to be abbreviated as “Bhoo:”, the 2nd line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (bhargo devasya dheemahi) is said to be abbreviated as “Bhuva:”, and the 3rd line of Brahma Gaayatri Mantra (dhiyo yo na: prachodayaat) is said to be abbreviated as “Swa:”. This is what is often chanted as “Bhoo: + Bhuva: + Swa:” or “Bhoor-Bhuvas-Swa:”. There is another word for this, which is not very popularly known to everyone, and that word is Vyaahruti. In other words, Vyaahruti = “Bhoor-Bhuvas-Swa:”
There’s another meaning ascribed to Vyaahruti. At various places in pretty much all the Hindu scriptures, there is mention of the “3 worlds”, which refers to “Bhoo:”, “Bhuva:” and “Swa:”. The word “Bhoo:” refers to “Bhoomi” (this world we live in) plus the 7 Loka-s inferior to “Bhoo Loka”, namely Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talaatala, Mahaatala, Rasaatala, and Paataala. Similarly, the word “Swa:” refers to “Swarga” (which has been talked about in a previous article titled “Devatas in Level 18 – Part 2”) plus 4 Loka-s superior to “Swarga”, namely Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satya Loka-s. And “Bhuva:”, also referred to as “Antariksha”, is basically what exists between “Bhoo Loka” and “Swarga Loka”.
In summary,
“3 Loka-s” = Bhoomi (plus 7 inferior Loka-s), Antariksha, Swarga (plus 4 superior Loka-s).
“7 Loka-s” = Bhoomi (plus 7 inferior Loka-s), Antariksha, Swarga, Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satya.
“14 Loka-s” = Paataala, Rasaatala, Mahaatala, Talaatala, Sutala, Vitala, Atala, Bhoomi, Antariksha, Swarga, Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satya.
Thus, Vyaahruti represents the summary of all the Veda-s and also refers to the entire “3 Loka-s” (which means the “7 Loka-s” and also the “14 Loka-s” as explained above). Going one more step further, the “Bhoo:” in Vyaahruti is abbreviated as the syllable “a” (अ), “Bhuva:” is abbreviated as the syllable “u” (उ), and “Swa:” is abbreviated as the syllable “ma” (म). Thus, Vyaahruti (“Bhoor-Bhuvas-Swa:”) abbreviates to the syllables “a” + “u” + “ma” (अ + उ + म), which further abbreviates to the syllable “Om” (ॐ).
In other words, according to the Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 15 – Verse 15, Paramaatma is the one who’s revealed and is experienceable through the entirety of Veda-s. Deducing from the above, Paramaatma is also the one who’s revealed and is experienceable through Purusha Sookta, through Gaayatri Mantra, through Vyaahruti and through Om. And therefore, the method of chanting the Gaayatri Mantra along with Om and Vyaahruti was brought into practice by Maharshi Vishvaamitra. Thus, “Om Bhoor-Bhuvas-Swa” got added to the Gaayatri Mantra, and this became known as Vishvaamitra Gaayatri Mantra. And this is what everyone chants every day.
Vaivasvata Manu
In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 – Verse 1, Shree Krishna says:
imam vivasvate yogam proktavaan ahamavyayam |
vivasvaan manave praaha, manu: ikshvaakave~braveet ||
Meaning:
I had taught this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvata (another name for Soorya), who taught it to Manu (Soorya’s son. His real name is “Shraaddha Deva”). And Manu (Shraaddha Deva) taught it to, his son, Ikshvaaku.
In the above verse, there is a reference to “Manu”, whose real name is “Shraaddha Deva”. So, why is he called “Manu”? This is because he is supposedly the first man of the “Manvantara”. What is a “Manvantara”? This requires some explanation on the Vedic timeline.
We know what a year is. A Decade is 10 years, a century is 100 years, and a millennium is 1000 years. What bigger unit of time have you heard of in the English language? We may’ve heard the terms “Age”, “Era” etc. But those terms are more like linguistic expressions. They do not have a specific number of years associated with them. But in the Vedic scriptures, there are specific terms for units of time that are much, much larger than a Millennium. The generic term to represent the next bigger unit of time is Yuga.
There are 4 different types of Yuga-s. The shortest of them is the Kali Yuga, which is 432,000 Earth Years. Bigger than Kali Yuga is the Dwaapara Yuga, which is 432,000 X 2 = 864,000 Earth Years. Bigger than Dwaapara Yuga is the Tretaa Yuga, which is 432,000 X 3 = 1,296,000 Earth Years. And bigger than Tretaa Yuga is the Kruta Yuga, which is 432,000 X 4 = 1,728,000 Earth Years.
1 Mahaa Yuga = 1 Kali Yuga + 1 Dwaapara Yuga + 1 Tretaa Yuga + 1 Kruta Yuga
= 432000 X 1 + 432000 X 2 + 432000 X 3 + 432000 X 4 Earth Years
= 432000 X (1+2+3+4) = 432000 X 10 = 4,320,000 Earth Years
1000 Mahaa Yuga-s (4,320,000,000 Earth Years) = 1 Morning of Brahma
Brahma’s Night is also 1000 Mahaa Yuga-s (4,320,000,000 Earth Years)
1 Entire Day of Brahma = 1 Morning + 1 Night = 4,320,000,000 X 2 = 8,640,000,000 Earth Years.
360 Brahma Days = 1 Entire Brahma Year = 8.64 billion X 360 = 3,110,400,000,000 Earth Years.
100 Brahma Years = 3,110,400,000,000 X 100 = 311,040,000,000,000 Earth Years
100 Brahma Years is called 1 Para Kaala, which is how long this universe will exist. After 1 Para Kaala, the entire universe will get recycled. This recycling process is referred to as Mahaa Pralaya. Please note that most people who attempt to translate the Sanskrit word “Pralaya” have used the word “destroy” or “annihilate”. I disagree with the use of such words as equivalent of “Pralaya” because destroy/annihilate is what Asura-s do, by their very nature. It doesn’t require any knowledge to destroy something. But recycling does. Therefore, I strongly disagree with expressions such as “Shiva, the Destroyer”. There cannot be anything more offensive to a Devata as venerated as Shiva. I prefer to say “Shiva, the Recycler of the Universe”.
In the current Para Kaala, the first half (referred to as Paraardha i.e., 50 Brahma Years) has already passed. We are currently in the second Paraardha and in this, we are currently on the first Brahma day of the 51st Brahma Year. Each Brahma Day is divided into 14 Manvantara-s. So, each Manvantara ranges from 1000/14 ≈ 71.43 Mahaa Yuga-s. Each Manvantara has:
- 1 Manu (considered the first man of that particular Manvantara. In other words, the term Maanava basically means descendants of Manu.
- 1 Indra, who presides over the universe for the duration of that Manvantara (this is not the same as Devendra, who we’ll elaborate on in a future article)
- 7 Rushi-s, popularly known as Sapta Rushi-s, who act as councillors for Manu and Indra.
- 1 Upendra, who is the overall supervisor for the duration that Manvantara (Upendra is always a form of Paramaatma)
The above 4 positions last for 1 Manvantara, and when one Manvantara concludes, and the next Manvantara begins, the above positions change hands.
So, where are we in the current day of Brahma? How many Manvantara-s have we crossed already? Which Manu is the son of Vivasvaan (Soorya) who’s mentioned in the above verse from the Bhagavad Gita?
In the current day of Brahma, we’ve already crossed 6 of the 14 Manvantara-s. We are currently in the 7th Manvatara. The Manu of the current Manvantara is actually the son of Vivasvaan, whose name is Shraaddha Deva. And it is this Manu that Shree Krishna refers to in Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 – Verse 1. Current Manvantara is called Vaivasvata Manvantara as it is named after the Manu of this Manvantara, who is son of Vivasvaan (Soorya). He is therefore referred to by the name Vaivasvata Manu, and is one of the Devata-s in this level 16.
Sapta Rushi-s
As mentioned above, we are currently in the 7th Manvantara of Brahma’s current day (morning) and each Manvantara has 1 Manu, 1 Indra, 1 Upendra and 7 Rushi-s. Much earlier in the current morning of Brahma, and much before the current i.e., the 7th Manvantara, there existed the 1st Manvantara, which was referred to as the Svaayambhuva Manvantara. This Manvantara too had a Manu, who is referred to as Svaayambhuva Manu. And the 7 Rushi-s of Svaayambhuva Manvatara were Mareechi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha. These 7 Rushi-s too are in this level 16.
These 7 Rushi-s are all sons of Brahma. Among them Maharshi-s Atri, Angiras and Vasishtha have each contributed an entire Mandala of Mantra-s to the Rig Veda. Rushi Pulastya had 2 sons, namely Vishravas and Agastya. Vishravas’ sons were Kubera and Raavana.
The 7 Rushi-s of the current Manvantara are as below:
- Atri (father of Dattaatreya, Durvaasa, and Chandra)
- Vishvaamitra (who gave us the practice of chanting Gaayatri Mantra along with Om and Vyaahruti)
- Vasishtha (Guru of Vaivasvata Manu and his entire lineage all the way to Shree Raama)
- Kaashyapa (father of 12 Aaditya-s and Daitya-s; One of the 12 Aaditya-s is Urukramae, Vaamana. Kaashyapa also took his next Avataara as Vasudeva and became the father of Krishna. Thus, Kaashyapa Rushi has been instrumental in bringing the Paramaatma down to the Earth, taking 2 Avataara-s. This is indeed an extremely tall accomplishment.
- Gautama (whose Patni was Ahalya, who had become like a rock due to her husband’s curse and was revived by Shree Raama)
- Jamadagni (father of Parashurama)
- Bharadvaaja (who gave an entire Mandala of Mantra-s to the Rig Veda and was Drona’s father)
As you can see, some of the above Rushi-s have lasted a long time from the 1st Manvantara to the 7th Manvantara. Humanity has benefited for such a long time from the knowledge of the Veda that these Rushi-s have brought to us. We chant the Mantra-s that they gave us every day. We need to be extremely grateful to them.
Next week, we’ll continue our journey up the hierarchy of Devata-s to Level 15.
