Bhagvaan – It is composed of two words; bhag and vaan. With that break-up of the concept in mind, let’s first study the words balvaan, dhanvaan, and gyaanvaan. One who has bal (strength) is balvaan, one who has dhan (money) is dhanvaan, and one who has gyaan (knowledge) is gyaanvaan. By the same token, one who has bhag is bhagvaan. Parashar muni explains bhag as a combination of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. One who has all these six things in him is called a bhagvaan. That is why only Shiv and Vishnu (Narayana) qualify to be called bhagvaan. Now there are some more who are addressed as bhagvaan. It is because they are either the avatars of the original bhagvaans, such as Ram and Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu, or because they are in the pantheons of bhakti such as a Naarad muni and Hanuman.
Dev – In the Vedas, Dev is conceptually an archetype of a human being that has all the Aryan qualities in him/her. An Aryan is anybody who follows a spiritual path in life. Dev is an aspirational construct of a near-perfect Aryan who represents the spiritual truth and embodies all the spiritual values. Indra and Agni are the two main Devs from the Vedic times. But there are many other such as Soma and Varuna. David Frawley says, “The Gods reflect not the Divine in the image of man but rather man in the image of the Divine, in the image of all creation.”
Humans may become Dev by tapas (practice of austerities), and Devs may grow and diminish in divinity.
The idea of Indra Dev is this. In creation, a human being is born unsullied. Over time, (s)he gathers some experiences, develops a memory, and gets influenced by other human beings around. Slowly this business of life binds the person in fears, desires, and the karmic cycle. The naturally available potential of consciousness and self-awareness is lost in the noise and chaos of ignorance. Ego develops over time, and what might otherwise have been an effortless realization of unitary oneness of the world and cosmos around us degenerates into a divisive and deep-rooted separative ignorance. The animal tendencies become predominant and the individual is left being a shadow of creation, bereft of this other dimension of consciousness. Indra is that model of ideas and mental stance that sees these ‘truths’ of creation and destroys these worldly illusions (maya).
Indra, who is the lord of self-knowledge is metaphorically said to slay the dragon (vritra) of ignorance. When a man (or a woman) is said to encounter self-awareness and consciousness for the first time, it is represented as a Indra slaying the dragon of ignorance with a lightening bolt (vajra). David Frawley, in his book Gods, Sages, and Kings mentions, “Indra is the God of the awakened self or Divine being, Atman.” However, it is not Indra that holds the ignorant in his choke-hold and forces him to awaken. That desire and creative power has to come from the individual. This regenerative thoughts and intuition in an individual are represented as Devis (goddesses). The human awakening is made possibly by the duality of Indra and his Devis. If an individual is able to decondition his/her mind and awakens to consciousness, (s)he has become Indra. This awakening leads to a state of bliss known as Soma.
Agni, similarly, is not fire but “the energy of transformation, which is essentially the energy of consciousness.”
Indra, amongst the Vedic devs, is the most prominent. (Ishvara is another name that is sometimes used for Indra. Indra is considered to be king of all devs. Ishvara is traditionally the name used for Vishnu and Shiva.)
Ishta Dev – Now, imagine the following:
- If, as an archetype, the concept of Dev is difficult to comprehend, and
- Quite a few individuals have come close to exhibiting the qualities of Dev in real life, and
- As a human with limitations, I can only emulate one.
What do you do in such a situation? Well, you either pick one or you again create a new archetype that embodies the qualities that you like. This is the genesis of the concept of Ishta Dev – my Dev, the one that I like, the one that I can relate to, my personal opinion of what is worthy of worship. That is Ishta Dev, which is different from Ishvara.
Ishvara – For most Dharmics, Ishvara is another name for Brahman (the ultimate truth). Depending upon their denomination (Vaishnav, Saiva, etc.), Ishvara may represent Brahman with qualities and in the form of Vishnu or Shiva, or even Indra. Therefore, in some instances Ishvara can also be an Ishta-Dev. In his translation and commentary of the Yoga Sutras of Patanajali, Edwin F. Bryant explains the concept of Ishvara as, “the generic name for God in Hindu theistic traditions”. So, whatever is the impersonal Brahman (God), becomes the personal Ishvara in theistic Hinduism. (Five of the six schools of Vedic philosophy are theistic, except for Mimamsa.) Since, “Om has been understood as a sonal incarnation of Brahman“, it is used to meditate over Ishvara. It is eternal – not subject to cyclical creation.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami reminds us that Upanishads highlighted the three perfections of Brahman (Ishvara) – Absolute Reality, Pure Consciousness, and Primal Soul. As Absolute Reality it is “unmanifest, unchanging, and transcendent”. Timeless, formless, and spaceless. As Pure Consciousness, it exists everywhere in time and space as infinite intelligence and power. And, as Primal Soul, it is the Creator.
धार्मिक छवियाँ 
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