Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## The Lack of Liberation by Ordinary Devas
**Yoga Shastra, Second Light, Verses 6-7 (62)**
Those Devas who are tainted by the marks of attachment, such as women, weapons, prayer beads, etc., and who are engaged in giving curses and boons, their worship, etc., does not lead to liberation. ||6||
**Explanation:** Devas who adorn themselves with women, beautiful women, weapons like tridents, prayer beads, damaru (a small hand drum), etc., and who perform dances, destruction, laughter, or ostentatious displays, become worshipped by the people. But in truth, these women, weapons, prayer beads, etc., are all indicators of their attachment, aversion, and delusion. Women are the cause of attachment. If a Deva is truly detached, then what is the purpose of having a woman? Even ordinary humans in the world have women, and these Devas also have women, so what is the difference between the two? Weapons are a sign of aversion, they are kept out of fear of an enemy or opponent, or due to one's own weakness. Prayer beads are a sign of one's ignorance. Beads are used to remember a great person. Therefore, there must be a greater Deva than these so-called Devas. Those who are truly detached Devas, free from attachment and delusion, do not have women. Because they are free from aversion, they do not have prayer beads, which are a sign of forgetfulness or a symbol of great worship. Attachment, aversion, and delusion are the root of all vices. These three are the source of all vices. Being eager to punish through killing, binding, cursing, or striking, and to grant boons, etc., as a form of grace, are both caused by attachment and aversion. If even the supreme Devas are like this, then they cannot be the cause of liberation. In the world, even ghosts, spirits, and demons are considered to be Devas, and no one can stop them from believing in their own divinity. ||6||
This indicates the lack of the cause of liberation in those ordinary Devas. ||63||
How can those Devas who are unstable in their minds due to engaging in plays, laughter, music, etc., which increase attachment (delusion), grant liberation, the peaceful state, to the beings who have come to them for refuge? ||7||
**Explanation:** Here, liberation, free from all worldly entanglements, can only be understood through words like "perfect knowledge," etc. How can Devas who are unstable in their minds due to worldly titles like plays, laughter, music, etc., grant the peaceful state of liberation to their devotees who have come to them for refuge? A castor oil plant cannot be compared to a wish-fulfilling tree. Therefore, only the truly detached Deva, free from the vices of attachment, aversion, and delusion, can grant liberation; not other Devas who are tainted by many vices. For this, we present many useful verses (verse meanings) here:
"How can Rudra, Brahma, and Vishnu, who engage in wrong and inappropriate activities, be omniscient or detached, being inferior to ordinary people? Having a woman is a sign of lust, taking up weapons is a sign of aversion, prayer beads are a sign of ignorance, and a water pot is a sign of impurity. Rudra has Rudrani, Brihaspati has Tara, Brahma has Savitri, Pundarikaaksha has Padmalaya, Indra has Sachi, Surya has Rannadevi, Chandra has Rohini, the daughter of Daksha, Agni has Swaha, Kamadeva has Rati, and Yamadeva has Dhumoorna as their wives. Thus, it is clear that Devas have women, and each of them has weapons. And since each of them has worldly pleasures, there is doubt about their divinity. Therefore, it can be said without a doubt that they have not touched the state of the supreme Deva.
Even in the Sugata, who proclaims the world to be void due to ignorance, divinity does not arise. After the voidness is proven to be false, it is futile to speak of nihilism. And even if it is proven, without proof (when the proof itself becomes void), the voidness of the other side cannot be established. Then how can the voidness of one's own side be established? The Sugata believes in the momentariness of all things, then how can the doer be connected to the fruit of his action? How can the momentarist be the cause of the violence he commits? Similarly, how can the momentarist's memory recognize him or how can he behave? To give one's own body, filled with worms and other creatures, to a tiger; this is also a gift..." ||7||