Who is God (Deva) ?

God in Sanskrit is 'Deva'
Deva is derived from the root 'divu'
Divu means : 'divu kreeDaa, vijigeesha, vyavahaara, dyuti, stuti,swapna, moda,mada, kaanti, gatishu'

A crude translation would be : Divu is to mean -- game,above-all, business, light, praise, dream, joy, pride, glow,end-of-all

• Deva is one, for whom the whole world is a game; from creation of this world till its destruction, its all a game for Him. He does not have to perspire to create this world. Everything is His leela. So He is known as deva
• Deva is one, who is above everything else, who is taller than the tallest, higher than the highest, bigger than the biggest and greater than the greatest. So He is known as deva
• Deva is one, who takes care of all the day-to-day business of this world, who looks into all the activities of each and every being, without whom, nothing moves --tena vina truNamapi na chalati. Thus He is deva
• Deva is one who is the source of all light, the light through which everything lights up-sun,moon,stars-the light through which everyone sees, the light which sees everyone. Hence, He is deva
• Deva is one, whose praise is sung by all the words spoken by every being. Every sound produced in the universe is nothing but His praise. So, He is deva
• Deva is one, whose dream -is this world; the one who makes us dream, the one who is responsible for dream, sleep and awakening of all beings. Hence, He is deva.
  

While each and every meaning is more than sufficient to talk about His greatness forever, the remaining meanings can be similarly deduced.
(From, lectures by BG)

Everything is there in Yoga

'Yegdaagella aite' (everything's there in yoga) book by Belagere Krishnashaastri on Mukundoor Swami
... There was a small stream of water flowing. Water was streaming out between two small rocks. At one end, there were water bubbles getting formed and disappearing; the sound generated by the continuous flow of water was very pleasant.
Swamiji started speaking (laughing) with wonder in his eyes and innocence on his face.
"look, look, its so funny-look at the water bubbles; so many get formed here, go till there and look at that point over there, theres nothing.This is very funny !
Why was it created in the first place ? Why and how did it flow till here ? and why did it vanish suddenly leaving no trace of its existence ? and what did it gain by travelling thus far ?
what was formed, what flowed, and what vanished ? everything is water.
Our story is also similar, isnt it ?For some reason, we are born, in the same stream, go till a point and then, suddenly disappear.Thats all is our life.
Wonder! If you think that everything in this world is a wonder, it is, otherwise, nothing is !"
When he ended, he had explained the secret of creation in such simple words with the example of a water bubble.

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We were walking through a burial ground. The whole place had bodies burried everywhere.There were samadhis built on top of some of the places where bodies were burried.
Swamiji said, " They say, these dead people have become samadhi here; made samadhi for dead people.
What is samadhi for a dead body ? You should get samadhi when you are alive; if that happens, then, that is Lord Shiva. This body is the burial ground, and Lord exists here; its acceptable only if you get samadhi when you are alive"

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There was a group of people sitting in front of Swamiji, talking with Him with the same enthusiasm; there was never a shortage of laughter when swamiji was around.
Somebody started speaking about how big Bangalore is. Swamiji was listening patiently asking questions with his usual innocence and wonder-struck eyes.
"Have you been to Bangalore ?" Swamiji asked. Somebody said, yes.
"They say, its very big?"; 'yes, swamiji, its very big'
"The Lord governing this whole state is there, right ?" 'yes, he stays there in a big building'
"This guy(referring to himself), had gone there once !"
"oh.. is it ? swamiji, when did you go?"
"some time back, he (again, himself) wanted to see Bangalore. He started walking and within some 6-7 miles, reached Bangalore. There were shops, hotels, houses. Then, somebody said, 'this is not Bangalore, this is Banavara'" (everyone laughs)
"oh.. what a fool has he been, that he considered Banavara to be Bangalore"
"then, he took a bigger road, and started; he then found a bigger place; buses, trains, shops, buildings..; he roamed around everywhere; then somebody said, 'this is Arasikere' !"
"then, started moving again, wherever he stopped thinking it was Bangalore, it was some other place, Tiptur, Tumkur.. and finally he reached another place"
"There were big shopping malls, so many people....fully crowded, big multi-storeyed buildings, big roads, what not ?"
"Everyone whom I asked, said, that it was indeed Bangalore;
then, I wanted to see the King, who rules; I asked somebody. He showed me the big building, where the King stays"
"...I went inside ! oh.. it was such a nice place ! and then I saw the King who governs the whole of this province !!
He was sitting in a big chair; these eyes are not sufficient to see him; and when I went there.. I had nothing to speak" He stopped.
When we tried to assimilate all his thoughts, we realised, he was talking about the the path of Yoga.
Bangalore is the state of Samadhi--the King is the Lord whom we have to realise--the smaller towns (Banavara, Arasikere) are all the different siddhis obtained while following the path of Yoga.
Our goal is to reach the Lord; we get a lot of siddhis on the path. But, if we stop there or return from there, we will not reach our destination. And when we reach there, we will not have anything to speak, silence would have overtaken speech.
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