Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Friday, December 2, 2016

“God” is Really the Lord of Hell and “the Devil” is Really God . . .?

To simply state the gist of my theory, the Hebrews were Hindus, or at least Abraham and his forefathers were before his tribe went west to Palestine (a theory many espouse outside of the official Western religio-historical establishment), and their god “Yahweh” bears much resemblance to and is likely derived from Deva Yama, the Hindu Lord of Death and Hell.  The Judeo-Christian “Devil,” in terms of the origins of said figure, similarly bears more than mythological resemblance to the God of Abraham's forefathers, Shiva (known as the Horned God to pre-Christian Europe), and possibly to Shiva's Consort, Devi Lalitha (Goddess Lalitha).

Below is the Indus Valley Seal showing Pasupati Shiva, and the Gundestrup Cauldron found in Denmark depicting the Horned God that European Christendom turned into "the Devil."


 



In other words, over the course of the development of the Abrahamic religions, Yama, the Hindu Lord of Death and Hell, was rendered as “God” (Hebrew Yahweh), and the figure who was formerly “God” (Sanskrit Brahman), i.e., to Abraham's forefathers, became figured as “the Devil” by the renderings of Judeo-Christian mythology.  Related to these conjectures, it seems the Hebrew rite of circumcision is similarly derived from a Hindu incest taboo rite.

I'll begin by noting something that bothered me from my days as a Southern Baptist minister and perhaps before.  Back in the day before I realized myself a yogi, whilst an undergraduate student at Oklahoma Baptist University and pastor at the First Baptist Church of Connerville, Oklahoma, or perhaps before (I resigned and later renounced all trappings of my ministry and moved to Chicago for grad school at the U of C after finishing my undergraduate degree), I made note of a rather confusing idiosyncrasy regarding the Judeo-Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell.

According to Jewish tradition, the destination of righteous Jews after they die is a place called “the Bosom of Abraham” or “Sheol” (New Testament, Luke 10:22).  Sheol is described as “down,” as in underground (Old Testament/Torah, Genesis 37:35).  The Hebrew word Sheol is generally translated to the Greek word “Hades” in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament), and that Greek term generally translates to the English “Hell,” if you didn't know!!  This troubled me a bit, but I brushed it aside, assuming some theological explanation was surely expounded in some doctrinal statement somewhere.

One other clue I was granted in those days that something was amiss in the orthodox Judeo-Christian narrative was a statement made by a rather stodgy religion professor at OBU after a lecture about Abraham and his crew moving west from “Ur of the Chaldese” to Palestine (Ur has been determined to be in close proximity to else a part of Indus Valley Civilization, identified by most archaeologists as having existed in far southeastern Iraq).  At the end of this lecture, Dr. Dawson said with rather a scowl:
“Now there may be those who tell you that Abraham is somehow connected to the Hindu god Brahma . . . but we know better than that, now don't we!” he said in a passively-aggressively threatening manner, almost certainly a warning to those wishing for a career with the church, if a clue to those real seekers of truth (whether intended as such or no).
  
(A seeming Hindu temple discovered in Silemania, Iraq near Ur. Depicted above is a murti depicting Hanuman bowing to Lord Rama)

I later explored that strand of the historical narrative to conclude that indeed, papa Abraham was a “Hindu” (if not a term coined until three thousand years later) before he went apostate and left the homeland and faith of his fathers.  Voltaire (1694-1778) posited that Abraham and his crew were a tribe of traveling Brahmin priests (Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, 1833, Vol. I, p. 405).  Abraham, Sarah and Hagar (Abraham's wife and her handmaiden, according to the Hebrew tradition) indubitably sound like Brahma, Saraswati (Brahma's Consort) and Ghaggar (the name of a tributary river to the Saraswati River), too much to be mere coincidence considering where Abraham and his tribe are touted by the Old Testament to have originated.  Some have further posited that the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are respectively very much patterned after the Hindu Trimurti, Brahma, Vishnu (Krishna) and Shiva, the names of God as Creator, Maintainer and Destroyer according to Hinduism, and thus the three primary Personalities of God according to the religion of Abraham's forefathers.

Abraham received his name from his god “Yahweh” (a name purportedly revealed to Moses five to seven hundred years later, though extant throughout the Old Testament) when he and his tribe left the land of his ancestors (Genesis 17:5).  Abraham also sounds rather quite like Abrahman, a Sanskrit term meaning essentially “no-God.”  Abrahman is a primary tenet of most forms of Buddhism, thus Hindus often refer to Buddhists as “atheists.”  According to sanAtana dharma (roughly translated as “keepin' it together forever,” in recent times known as “Hinduism”), if one is not devoted to a legitimate guru or form or expression of the Divine (brahman) then Yama, the Lord of Death and Hell, is one's Guru and guide in your pathway back to God.  

One of the Hindu myths that tells why the Creator, Brahma, is not much worshiped in India is that early in the process of creation, Brahma (Himself a created Being, created to create) created this hot mama all Weird Science style, then He began to lust after her.  According to some tellings, Brahma grew a fifth head to continue to lust after this beautiful maiden when she sought to evade His gaze.  Shiva then comes along and informs Brahma that as He had directly created this mama, she is thus Brahma's daughter, and not someone He ought lust after.  Shiva then severs Brahma's fifth head with His fingernail—thus, it must have been a small head which Shiva did cut off of Brahma, i.e., a circumcision (Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty,  London, New York:  Oxford University Press, 1973, pp. 123-127). 

If Brahma, His Consort Saraswati and Ghaggar (a river tributary to the Saraswati) are indeed connected to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar of the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), as many have contended, then it is not a far stretch to assume that there is a connection in terms of the Hebrew rite of circumcision and the Hindu myth about Brahma losing His fifth head.  To follow this line of reasoning, in it's origin the Hebrew rite of circumcision was an incest taboo rite!  And indeed, it seems likely along those same strands of the mythological narrative and reasoning that Yahweh was in fact Yama, as would prescribed by the faith of Abraham's fathers for one who had left the religion of Brahman.

Essentially, Yahweh, worshiped by Jews and Christians as “God,” is actually the being Abraham's forefathers knew as the Lord of Hell!!  And then what did the Abrahamic project do next along those lines of reasoning but to render the figure who was God into “the Devil” in their myth-making.

It has been noted by scholars and indeed by popular culture that the figure of “the Devil” was largely a bastardization of the Horned God (see R. Lowe Thompson, The History of the Devil - The Horned God of the West - Magic and Worship, London:  K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1929), who was worshiped across Europe and parts of Asia as Cernunnos, and was and is known in India as Pasupati, the Protector of Animals and Souls, an ancient horned Avatar of Shiva found on the Indus Valley seal (5,000+ years old).  Deva is Sanskrit for “God” and Devi is Sanskrit for “Goddess,” and the term “devil” seems to have origins in Persia, quite near where many worshiped Deva and Devi, via the Avestan language (early Iranian used in Zoroastrian scripture) term daeva, which means “wrong gods,” or “gods who are not to be worshiped” (Wikipedia, “Daeva”). 
According to sanAtana dharma/“Hinduism,” the Goddess Mother of the Universe is known as Devi Lalitha, and is Herself as much brahman (“God”) as are Shiva and Vishnu.  Lalitha is overtly bastardized as “Lilith” in the Hebrew and Christian traditions, which say she was a woman who was supposed to be Adam's wife but who would not submit to him as greater, and who was thus exiled to the desert to copulate with and give birth to thousands of demons each day (reference). 

So to recap, I am essentially theorizing that:  the Jewish and Christian God Yahweh is actually a refiguring of Yama, the Lord of Hell according to the religion of Abraham's forefathers; the Judeo-Christian “Devil” is actually a bastardization or inversion of the God that much if of the ancient world (and indeed Abraham's tribe) worshiped before Abraham and his crew left the proximity of India and the religion of sanAtana dharma (“Hinduism”) circa 1900 BCE; and modern circumcision originated from an archaic incest taboo rite!!  Rather mind-boggling if not paradigm shattering concepts to wrap your mind around, no?!  

A description of Lord Yama that sounds rather like the "Judgement Seat" of "God" the Christians talk about, no?:

He is the god of departed spirits and judge of the dead. A soul when it quits its mortal form repairs to his abode in the lower regions; there the recorder, Chitragupta, reads out his account from the great register called Agrasandhani, and a just sentence follows, when the soul either ascends to the abodes of the Pitris (Manes) [ancestors], or is sent to one of the twenty-one hells according to its guilt, or it is born again on earth in another form. (http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/yama.htm)


Next diatribe of madman religio-historical theorization, whether published here or elsewhere:  Jesus was originally born as the Son of Shiva and Vishnu (that one time Vishnu/Krishna manifest as a sexy Goddess named Mohini) who is named Ayyappa, the Protector of Created Beings . . .

Jeffrey Charles Archer is a grad-school dropout, vagabond wandered, dilettante of a sadhu, and author of one published travel narrative, Memories and Musings of a Post-Postmodern Nomadic Mystic Madman. 

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Very good disertación, is there any way I can post it in my Facebook page?

Jeffrey Charles Archer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeffrey Charles Archer said...

Certainly. Feel free to do so Rogelio. Namaste.

Jon Thorpe said...

I am wondering, in the context of what you've said here, if you have ever considered the similarities between Brahma and his wife Saraswati, and Abraham and his wife Sarah? I have seen some say that the 4 are the same individuals. I study many of the world's religions and am well acquainted with Sanatana Dharma and its derivatives and because of that I am very much on board with your conclusions stated here and find them not at all fantastical nor irrelevant or unlikely. If one looks at Indian religions one finds that they often have a cosmology or plane structure that begins in the physical and the worlds of duality and go up to the Bliss Plane or where the Atman exists undiluted and without duality, in much the same way that Sant Mat or Sikhism looks at things. If one looks at YHWH, the angry god of the Old Testament, it becomes obvious that he is not the Eternal, but has rather human like emotional states, being angry or even jealous at many instances in the Bible. If one looks at Kabballah, they list the Demiurge which is less than the Creator God, as being Satan or the Negative Principal. If YHWH is bound by so many lesser emotional states, then he himself is the Demiurge, or Satan and not God Itself, which I think is very similar to the way you have written things in this piece. Sat Naam in Sikhism or Anami in Sant Mat are both names for the non dual Godhead beyond the dualistic divisions in the planes, thus is the actual Godhead. From your writings here I have to say that I agree although I arrived at my view entirely on my own, I think I arrived at the same place you spoke of. Well said~!

Jeffrey Charles Archer said...

I have yet to determine whether Abraham & Sarah are a multiform or are Avatars of Brahma & Saraswati or otherwise. Regardless, I believe them important players in a discursive play of "to be or not to be?" as shown by the "A" at the beginning of Abraham's name, i.e., Abrahman ("not-God" in Sanskrit). It seems not unlikely their tribe had a conflict with Abraham's tribe, else that Moses decided to represent it as such. Regardless, I definitely believe the Abrahamic (Abrahmanical) religions offer at least a rhetorical challenge to the established notion of Brahman...perhaps as a better sort of dualistic construction than might manifest otherwise in this Dark Age known as the Kali Yuga. I.e., "Of we're going to play binary games in this age, let's make the either/or a debate in which both 'sides' are constructed in a way that promotes dharma, like Hinduism (which touts brahman) and Buddhism (which generally touts Abrahman) both promote dharma.
Namaste

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jay said...

I've been researching for decades & trying to find similarities in Vaisnavism & Christianity. From Bhagavat Gita I've understood the concept of devil & hell are totally different from what the Bible teaches. The Bhagavat Gita is spoken by Sri Krsna, the Supreme personality of God.
head Himself. The eternal spiritual world is named Goloka Vrndavan. This is our original home.

Sri Krsna has innumerable spiritual forms, such as Vishnu,Ramachunder, Nrshinga, Kapila etc.

Brahma, Saraswathie, indra Kuvera & many others are demigods who are entrusted with universal administrative duties. Therefore they are fallible,just like humans. Yamaraja is not Satan, neither is Shiva. Yamaraj is the superintendent of death. After death, the "very sinful" souls go to him for punishment & rebirth. There are 28 hellish planets. The maximum time duration for punishment in each hellish planet is only six minutes of Yamaraj's time ( 36 hours of earthly time) AFTER due punishment, another physical body is given to the soul to continue life ACCORDING TO THE SOUL'S DESIRE.
The moment the soul desires to turn his attention to his master( God) then THE Lord as supersoul within his heart guides him on his journey back home(Goloka Vrndavan)

The creation of Satan, including an eternal hell, makes no sense. Why would an all loving God, create innocent souls & then burn them for eternity just because they've not surrendered to him. Even a pious atheist is condemned to eternal hellfire. This is foolosophy not philosophy.

It's important to know that Satan & hellfire has REPLACED THE TEACHINGS OF REINCARNATION after it was banned by emperor Justinian 553 after Jesus left the planet.
This has shattered much of Jesus's teachings. Whatever was accepted and practiced as Christianity ceased to exist after the council of nicea & many other councils that changed the Bible to suit the needs of the church & the politicians.
How much knowledge can be obtained from a book that has 31102 verses & 50000 errors, and followered by 45000 different denominations.



Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!

Unknown said...

@jay - I'll attempt a response that is bound by my current state of consciousness/degree of understanding mainly to point out for your consideration a few differences even if only in interpretation and from a wholistic POV from having studied many religions and compared the similarities and differences. First, it must be noted that what the Soul is and what Its viewpoint is are things that no two people necessarily agree on, so that makes it hard to determine exactly what you indicate when you say "ACCORDING TO THE SOUL'S DESIRE." I personally wouldn't use that word as a thing that Soul is even capable of or uses as it is a thing that the human uses as well as the various lower bodies which IMO makes it a lower aspect of being, not necessarily one of Soul.

One can easily say that Satan is or isn't any of the negative creations based on differences in traditions, their stories, and the various attributes given to each, but as a concept I think the differences become much more vague and irrelevant. I personally see it more from a Sikh point of view where the Negative pole that rules the lower planes is not God, but works for God serving ITS purpose, which also demonstrates the reason for the existence of such a being under an "all loving God(head)."

This comes down to the importance of the individual learning from direct experience rather than from teachings or stories told that one never actually experiences. The point being that the Anami so loves each Soul that IT send it to be incarnated and to go through both karma and dharma as It learns so that It may progress through various stages of development and levels of consciousness until it eventually becomes God Realized and is able to consciously serve and work with God. Satan is merely one piece of the process that plays a part in the development of each Soul. In the Biblical context, Satan (or as Sikhs call it, Kal Niranjan) is the same being that they of lower mind worship as their god, not realizing the dual nature of that being, YHWH, such as in the Bible, being an angry or jealous "God."

Obviously once Soul develops beyond duality, the pure spiritual planes become available as It continues Its spiritual growth toward the end goal. In some cases the desire to grow and reach the highest state possible is that basic "desire of Soul" you mentioned. At a certain point it becomes something beyond a simple desire, and is rather a basis of existence that transcends personal desire. You may be of a different opinion though and that is fine. Just an idea you can consider if you choose. It is worth mentioning however that Satan or YHWH, or Kal Niranjan still has to reincarnate, and so is no freer than any other Soul in that the lower aspects must still be dealt with in some way and learned from.

Just a few points though I agree with everything concerning the Roman empire and the things it did to the early Judaism that Ioesus practiced and the various things that it became later, all of which were actually based on Zoroastrianism and contain elements of within (the other Abrahamic paths included). Reincarnation was certainly known to the Hebrews at the very least from the influence of the Silk Road and the cultural and religious effects of those who traveled it, but it was quite possible that Persians were at odds with the Indian religions for whatever reasons. Some theories hold that Buddha was actually a Persian as well, though that is not widely accepted as of yet.

I find all of this of great interest!

Whitewitch said...

Very interesting read. Thank you!

Whitewitch said...

Sounds interesting.

robby said...

Brahma is nothing but atom carbon which once had five valency and was at that time not capable of creating organic life. It lost one valency i. e. On head later on and became capable of creating organic life. Hence the srashtikarak creator.

Pankaj said...

Good article, however this article has not given reasons for

1. formation of new religions, be it abrahmic religions or Buddhism and Jainism in india.
2. Later religions or bhakti movement( which did not culminate in religions other than sikh) , in India.
3. We should not look for the simalarity in religions, we should also look for the differences arised, and why it was required.

Unknown said...

The ShrastiKarta is Lord Vishwakarma or Prajapati

Vigty said...

Hi
A few important points
1) have you read bhagavatam?
It describes an western coastal( goa suburbs) king by name of Arhat.
2) this Arhat is a monster, who gets his mind high on religion like drugs without any real enlightenment but fake show all the while. He is said to create jainism ( yeah this purana bashes the beginning of jains). So this arhat is also said to spoil the discriminative abilities of common man and create delusion in society. He is later banned by vishnu to live in desert and come out during kali yuga.
2) a very important figure of 20th century India was sai baba( sage) of shirdi.
He in a conversation with a devotee, once accused the devotee of hating Islam.
Devotee said it's definitely worth it hating this motherload of all evil activities.
Sai baba replies that" Yes, reality is bad but retorts that you devotee already worship Islamic gods before Islam.
Devotee confused and asks how.
Baba asks " Don't you worship the hand God"
Devotee proclaims yes and that hand symbol is a ancient feature of jaina religion. So your arhat was basically either abrahman or Mohamad. It doesn't matter who is who but that purana gives a wonderful description of the kind of society such reality distorting religions can create.
See how easy clues are found in hindu readings regarding history of world.
You can look into the hand symbol of jainism and maybe find some clues within islam in connection. Some form of arhats original religion must have been the inspiration of Mohamad or wherever it started from( zoroaster)?)