Functions of the Gods. 63 



meaning for the majority, because the sight of those 

 who wrote them is but little developed in these 

 days, and few are they who can see as the seer saw 

 of old. 



Each of these great Gods has under him a host 

 of subordinate Gods who carry out his decrees. 

 The constitution of an ordinary state will give you 

 a very good picture of the government of the solar 

 system. We have at the head an Emperor or an 

 Empress ; then the officers who represent that su- 

 preme authority in separate divisions of the realm ; 

 there is the one central authority over the whole, 

 and the officers who wield it in different areas of 

 the Empire. Then these officers are graded in 

 rank, and we have higher and subordinate Minis- 

 ters, Judges, Magistrates, in descending order, each 

 with a smaller and smaller district to administer, 

 the functions of each becoming more limited as you 

 descend the official ladder ; and each responsible to 

 his official superior. That is really a very good 

 picture of the government of the solar system ; the 

 head of all is Ishvara Himself ; His Viceroys are 

 the great Gods, each with his own vast area over 

 which he rules, and each with his official hierarchy 

 under him, until you come down to the lowest 

 Devas, who carry on the work in the limited area 

 of a village of the solar system. 



