through this honor and love you will attain the supreme good.
All human desires are fulfilled by the devas, who are pleased
by selfless service. But anyone who enjoys the things given
by the devas without offering selfless acts in return is a thief.
- Bhagavad Gita 3:11-12
Deva (said to be pronounced: day' va) is a Sanskrit word which can be translated technically as "intelligent agent," or literally as "shining one."
Mythologically, there is a "god" or "goddess" connotation of the term. In the ancient literature every tree, flower, river, and mountain was represented by a deva in charge of organizing its intelligence. Cities and other large groups of people were also represented by devas.
In modern terms the word deva can also be understood to mean "organizing intelligence." According to the Wisdom teachings, devas are the great builders and maintainers of form.
Esoterically, a deva is an angel, a god, or a celestial being ~ whether good, bad, or indifferent. Devas are divided into many groups and are called not only angels and archangels, but also lesser and greater builders ~ the builders of the system.
The Deva Kingdom
The kingdom of devas is a parallel evolution of substance or intelligence which relates to consciousness in such a way as to give substantial form and appearance to it. (1)
As a whole, devas are on the evolutionary path, the upward way.
The building devas are the Universal Mind ... they not only embody the Divine Thought but are that through which it manifests, and its actuating activity. They are essentially motion. The lesser builders are more particularly the material form, which is actuated, and in their cohorts are the substance of matter (considering substance as that which lies back of matter). (2)
Deva evolution parallels that of the human kingdom, and is responsible for building all forms, from nature to the solar system, which consciousness uses as a vehicle ~ from a flower, to a human being, to a planet.
On the atomic subplane are the permanent physical atoms of all humanity and the appropriated atoms of the deva kingdom. The devas do not develop as do the human race. They reincarnate in groups, and not as individuals .... (3)
The Magical World of the Devas
More about experiences with devas
Photo
credit: Stretch N B Well
The ghostly vapors look like a Garden Angel / Deva offering a gift to
the plants.
(The
streetlight is near the eye of this deva, viewed from the side. She
has long
hair and wings that touch the top right of image; her arms are outstretched
toward the middle. Her feet rest upon the long slender leaf
plants. Also notice
on top of the fence post,
it's as if a plume of smoke is escaping; the
gardeners are known to burn sage, cedar
and sweetgrass.)
(1)
The
Nature of the Soul, Lucille Cedercrans, p. 394
[return to
place in text]
(2)A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice
A. Bailey, p. 616–617
[return to place in text]
(3) A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey, p. 910
[return to place in text]
Above description is compiled from the esoteric
teachings of Alice
A. Bailey and Lucille
Cedercrans.
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