IV: 25

Chapter 4, Verse 25

"There are some Yogis
Whose worship
Is an offering to the gods.
Others offer as worship
Their own souls
Into the fire of God."

Paramahansa Yogananda:

"There are many, many deities in the universe. The Tantra Shastra, a scripture dealing with chants and fire ceremonies, describes in detail the specific vibratory chants and root sounds to be intoned during a fire ceremony to invoke the presence of deities for the acquisition of powers and boons. Such worship of the gods (Devas) includes the practice of certain physical poses (Asanas) and associated spiritual techniques to awaken forces in the subtle body, which, in turn, stimulate the tissues, glands, and muscular vigor of the body.

Many saints in India have prayed to God to manifest in the forms of various deities and have had those prayers answered. The form assumed by a deity remains in the ether as a 'blueprint.' When a devotee calls with sufficient devotion on a deity who has been visualized by a God-communing saint, that deity will appear before the devotee. The deities are all present in the ether and can be invoked by any devotee in deep meditation.

Many devotees are not satisfied with the thought of a vast infinite, but need to conceive of God through some tangible form. As invisible water vapor is transformed by the chill of frost into ice, even so, by the transformative power of devotion, the invisible God and his cosmic light can be 'frozen' into a form that satisfies the yearning devotee. Nevertheless, let us always remember that spirit is only one. Manifested deities are only temporary personifications of the one spirit."