Bhairitu wrote: > Gods, BTW, are just personifications of the subtle fields > that sages experienced in meditation. They were personified > so that the ordinary person could conceptualize them. > You got it backwards, once again, Mr. Bharat2. The Vedic Devas are the personifications of the forces of nature, like the Wind, Fire, Earth, etc. Devas are supernal deities, not persons or states of conciousness.
The Devatas of later Hinduism are deified heroes, such as Krishna, Rama, Ramchandra, Vasudeva and Devaki. They are deemed transcendental persons, described in the later Vedic literature as the subtle fields of conciousness. Ordinary village people don't have a problem with conceptualizing persons as heroes or devatas.
