Dakinis, Devas, Sky Dancers

This rope of the three worlds, Samsara,
Should be cut, Naropa. Look
Into the mirror of your mind, the place of dreams,
The mysterious home of the Dakini...

This rock of your body believing in an I
Must be ground to powder, Naropa.
Look into the mirror of your mind, the radiant light,
The mysterious home of the Dakini...

Naropa, you should strive
For Samsara and Nirvana's unity.
Look into the mirror of your mind, which is delight enternal,
The mysterious home of the Dakini...

You are worthy of bliss eternal Naropa,
On the path to infinite Reality.
Look into the mirror of your mind, which is Mahamudra,
The mysterious home of the Dakini...

Teachings Tilopa gives to Naropa. From H.V. Guenther, The life and teachings of Naropa, (Oxford University Press,1963) pp.

In the Hindu religion there is the term Deva (div- to shine) Apsaras, were the Nymphs of the Hindu heaven., Vikings called them Valkyries. Greeks called them Horae. Persians called them Houris, or Peris (Faries). Dakini is the name given by Buddhism, and in Tibetan it is Khandoma. In fact these are synonimous terms, which can be graded according to the Deva/Dakinis purpose and field of service.
Dakinis (literally “sky-goers”) are female deities who clear away obstacles and help bring about wisdom. They are embodiments of transcendent intelligence, the feminine principle. They are divided into wisdom dakinis, who are representations of enlightenment, and worldly dakinis, who manifest in many ways in form realms (also known as solar angels and lunar pitris. For further reading see A Treatise on Cosmic Fire A.A.Bailey)

In Buddhism there are five groupings of Dakini which also relate to the Five Dhyani Buddhas: Buddha, Ratna, Vajra, Padma and Karma.

Many great Buddhist teachings find their origins in the wisdom of the Dakinis. The life of Padmasambhava recounts how he was taught by Dakini, who “confierred upon him initiation of body speech and mind”.

Dakinis are also known to be “the forces welling from within”, “by which [one] is driven to master the hostile array of cravings, passions and delusions”, but can also be understood as being those cravings and desires.

The many distorted concepts of the Deva kingdom such as Devas or angels being gods whores etc are a product of human emotionality and its tendency to distort everything it sees, and to bend information to its every whim and desire. Ultimately There is a higher sexual union attained between Man and Deva, but not in the debased graphic context that many have portrayed, but instead as a mystic union of the consciousness with form where the male is symbolic of the human consciousness aspect and the woman as the deva or mental aspect, as symbolised in Tibetan mysticism known as Mahamudra (the great seal/ symbol). Devas are the consciousness behind form. The living being of all that exists, which would otherwise be thought of as inanimate. The force that maintains the harmony in nature. The magic of things which science struggles to explain.

Devas are a parallel stream of evolution to humanity. Humans and Devas evolve together in opposing directions. Humans are masculine in inherent nature and Devas areinherently feminine. Humans are love evolving intelligence to produce wisdom and Devas are intelligence evolving love to produce wisdom. Through the integration of the sacrifice brought about through love and the higher will developed via the individualised soul, humans expand in consciousness. Similarly by the integration of the understanding developed through active intelligence and potency of the energy of love developed through submission to the higher, Devas condense in consciousness, and thus through limitation become intense points of energy.

“The devas with the exception of those greater devas who have in earlier cycles passed through the human kingdom and are now co-operating in the evolution of man, are not yet self – conscious. They grow and develop through feeling and not through the power of conscious thought…. The devas seek to feel , whilst man seeks to know” (p90 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, A.A.Bailey).

Devas like Mothers nurture all forms. They are active intelegence. All diversity is born out of the womb of Deva, and is manipulated by their mind structure. Women demonstrate the devic quality of giving birth. The raising and molding of the growing child’s consciousness until it separates from the mother and matures as an individual.

They are mind, its primordial state, in contrast to Humans who are Consciousness, the “I” that resides within the form of the mind. To illustrate; when we seek deeply within ourselves with the question of “what am I?” we strip away all aspects of the samsara (formed realm) that pertain to our personality until we arrive at the sublimated consciousness the “view”. Everything that is stripped from us; forms, both subtle and gross, are devas. Devas, arranged hierarchically, are every thing that exists, from the order of a cosmic heavenly body, a human body, and right down to an atom and even sub atomic level. Naught exists in samsara that is not a devic construct. Devas exist in multifarious degrees of refinement, from the substance of coal the mineral to rarified thought form constructions of the plan for humanity for the next millennia.

Compiled by Angie O'Sullivan

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