Durgadas explains the historical nature of Lucifer and his connection to eastern Shukracharya, as well as the inner or occultic nature of this deity. 

 Shukra-Lucifer, the Angel of Light

By Durgadas, Ved Kovid, AYT

(c) Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham.
All Rights Reserved.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced without direct permission from the author, either electronically or in any other manner.

Lucifer in the Western tradition or Phosphorus (The Morning Star) has come into Christianity and fused with the ideas of Satan from the Judaic tradition, while bearing no similarity to such. However, we may ask, where did this tradition originate?

The influence of the Zoroastrian dualism is well-known upon Judaism and also later Roman culture, as also the cult of Mithras. The contact with not only Indo-Iranian peoples as the Persians and Scythians, but also the Indians is well-known from the time of Alexander the Great, but goes back long before then through Greek geographers.

In India, Lucifer's counterpart is known as Shukra, whose name also means "effulgent" and also "semen". The story goes that he was the son (descendant) of the Rishi Bhrigu and once went to study with Rishi Angirasa whose son, Brihaspati became the perceptor of the Devas or Celestials. After some time, Shukra became annoyed with Angirasa as he favoured his own son Brihaspati over his other students. As a result Shukra left the Angirasas and became the student of Rishi Gotama and learnt from him instead, having contempt for Brihaspati, his former Guru's son.

As a result of this, he chose to join forces with the Asuras or the older Titan-Gods cum negative forces and support them in their battles, becoming their Guru, hence he was known as Asura Guru or Danava Guru (Guru of the Titans / Negative Forces).

Shukracharya attained the great boon and power of reviving the dead through the sanjivanividya. Through this power, he was able to revive all of the dead Asuras on the battlefield against the celestials or Devas - hence they sought to also gain this power for themselves.

The Bhrigus themselves are also controversial figures in Indian history. Bhrigu Rishi himself is cursed by his own daughter, Lakshmi for insulting her husband Lord Vishnu by trying to irritate him through placing his foot on the deity’s chest to awaken him. Bhrigu sought out to test all three deities in the trinity to see which one was the Supreme – which turned out to be Vishnu, who was not angered by Bhrigu’s tricks, but rather, massaged his foot! His wife however cursed Brahmins and deprived them of wealth.

Others such as Parashurama of southern India or Kerala, where the Bhrigus were centered, himself son of Jamadagni Bhargava, renounced his Brahmanism and adopted the role of a Kshatriya or warrior and succeeded in wiping out the Kshatriya race from the earth as a result of their insulting and killing his father and destroying the ashram. He is hence credited with the science of dhanurveda or martial arts and also the occult techniques that went with this system, being seen in astrology and Vaishnavism as an avatar of Vishnu and also Shukra (Venus). Like Shukra, Parashurama's mother (Renuka) was also behaded and brought back to life; Shukra's own mother shielded the Asuras from the Devas during their wars by paralysing the Devas. The Mahadeva or higher deity Vishnu, seeing this decided to kill Shukra's mother (Kavyamata) by beheading her. Later however she, like Renuka was brought back to life - however, the seer Bhrigu himself cursed Vishnu with having to assume numerous avatars or human births as a result of his killing a woman. It is hence also here that Shukra-Lucifer is responsible for the deity's human incarnations or in flesh - some of which perhaps transferred into the Christian idea and was part of the idea that Jesus had come to atone for man's sins (when in fact it is the reverse).

Shukra as being connected to the planet Venus in Indian mythology is also related to the materialistic King, Vena and also the goddess Lakshmi, both descended from Bhrigu Rishi and related to planet Venus and materialism through wealth, prosperity and especially vanity or beauty – and also another controversial Vensuian / Bhrigu figure who is known to have become corrupt due to his materialism.

Vena himself had a son Prithu who was formed from his body after it was embalmed, Shukra also becoming one of his Gurus. The earth Prithivi is actually named after Prithu as the primal Emperor of the Earth. This here relates to a similar story of the primal man and woman, Adam and Eve. Here however, King Vena gave birth to his son through his own DNA.

The idea of Lucifer as a "fallen angel" comes into Christianity from the Vedic tradition of the Angirasa seers that Shukra left and refuted, as Brihaspati was the Guru of the Celestials and hence he became Guru of the Negative Forces opposing him, due to his jealousy. Angirasa is synonymous with and also connected to Greek Angelos for messenger, as also the split betweenseer families (Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings).  This is connected to the ancient idea of the Divine Fire or Agni being the medium between man and the celestials.  In fact, Agni is also described as the first of the Angirasa Seers (Rig Veda, I.31.5). Shukra, also called Ushana also establishes Agni as the invoker or Hotar in the Rig Veda(VIII.22.17), showing his connection to him and also the Angirasas. This here appears to have been the Roman origin of Lucifer as the "fallen Angel" (angelos, aka he left the angirasas who were patron priests of the Devas or Celestials and instead joined the Asuras or the Negative Forces as their guide).

In later times,  Shukra is invoked for his knowledge on astrology and architecture, especially in southern India, where he is the patron Guru along with Agastya Rishi of the occult sciences. Like the Mayans, the south Indians also follow a Venusian system of astrology, known as Bhargava relating to the Bhrigu Seers. He is also the patron deity of the Vimanas in his special planetary system, where both the Devas and Asuras pray to Lord Shiva or Brahma in the Puranas to gain boons from Shukra / Ushanas who builds mysterious cities and palaces (such the Crystal Palace as for the Panadavas in the Mahabharata) and various machines as the massive Vimanas or flying machines and cities of ancient India. This also establishes the Biblical connection of the Romans in the Christian tradition of Lucifer as the master of occult arts and sciences. 

Vedic Ushana is said to have been somewhat of a craftsman in Vedic terms, and even creates the vajra or thunderbolt with a thousand points, for Indra (V.34.2) as per the Rig Veda. The term Maya Danava and Asura Maya for Ushanas in later times mean “Wise Asura”, a term coined in the Rig Veda itself, where it relates him to Soma, as knowing all the births of the deities, and hence his wisdom  (IX.97.7). Soma is also compared to Ushana’s wisdom in another verse (IX.87.3), where he is called Rishi and Vipra or Seer and Sage. The split between the Devas and Asuras and their role-reversal is also seen in the offshoot of the Vedic faith - the Atharvan (Athravan) sect of Zoroastrianism that saw Asuras as the Gods and Devas as the Anti-Gods. Here, the supreme deity is Ahura Mazda (Sanskrit: Asura Medha - the wise Asura) which has strong connections to Ushanas-Shukra and his Asura-origins as also his connections to Agni or the Fire as previously mentioned in relation to Vedic Ushanas and histending of the sacred Vedic deity of fire, Agni. 

The Maitreya Upanishad (VII.9) also interestingly states that Brihaspati himself assumed the form of Shukra for the purpose of false knowledge. This appears to connect with the idea of the Self and the body as the Self, such as Virochana of the Asuras in the Upanishads (Chandogya Upanishad I, 7-8) who revered the body as the Self where as Indra of Devas revered the Self apart from the body - hence the two schools and ideas of dualism. Virochana appears as the father of the ancient but pious Demon-King Mahabali in southern India (Kerala), who also had Shukra as his Guru. Mahabali himself was the grandson of Prahlada who was the great devotee of Vishnu responsible for the deity taking his Narasimha of man-lion form to save him from his wicked father, Hiranyakashipu. 

In the ancient tale, Mahabali however due to his grandfather's side as a devotee of Vishnu, rejected the pleas of his Guru, Shukra who wished for Mahabali not to grant the dwarf-Brahmin (Vishnu in disguise) three steps of land. Shukra was against Vishnu for killing his Mother, as also he was against the Devas or deities themselves. He also tried to warn Mahabali (as Vishnu had come to chastise Mahabali's tyrannical rule due to egotism) that he was Vishnu in disguise. Granting him three steps of land, Vishnu then assumed the three steps on earth, heavens and the netherworlds, giving Mahabali the lowest netherworlds to rule. It appears here also, his story was interwoven with that of his Guru Shukra's in the Roman Biblical tales. 


This tale however is extremely ancient, as also the Indra-Virochana connection of Devas and Asuras. The Kaushitaki Upanishad (III.1) mentions Indra killing the people of Prahlada, the grandfather of Bali and father or Virochana. This obviously refers to Indra as the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu as that of Indra in the Vedas, and the people of Prahlada being his father (Hiranyakshipu), aunt etc. who tried to kill the saint. It is hence possible such ideas reached the Greco-Roman world in earlier times or perhaps via Indian monks in Alexandria or visiting Athens.

What is most striking of all of these parallels is that in later times, Shukra is seen as ruling the region of Romakapura (Roma) in the western regions, making his influence and perhaps cult associated there by Hindus as they saw it (like southern Indian cities) as a materialistic oasis, which is always associated with Shukra or Lucifer.

This is reflected in not only his being the Guru of ancient tyrants as Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada, Virochana, Mahabali etc. but also those such as Ravana in later times, who married his daughter, Mandodari Earlier kings of the lunar dynasty in India such as Raja Yayati also married his daughter Mandodari, Devayani. Many kings sought his daughters, due to their beauty and hence such regions were associated with him that were materialistic and Venus-based cultures as southern India, later Rome and also the Americas (Mayans, with their Sun-God Viracocha as Virochana) - and perhaps even Egypt, since the Gopura or Pyramidal-style of archirecture is also known as characteristic of the Asura-Mayan style in India, throughout south-east Asia and the Americas, which derives from his Shilpa Shastra tradition.

In India, Shukra still holds a high place, presiding over the sixth day of the Hindu week, Shukrawar or Friday. This is the day we contemplate the finer things in life such as wealth, aesthetics, property, luxury items as cars, clothing etc. It is also a day that we can consider the inner-wealth and values that Shukra grants us as well which are always twofold in nature - antara (inner) and bahya (external).

In the form of inner-wealth, Shukra provides us inner knowledge and the knowledge to transform our base desires and senses (shukra or semen) into amrita (immortal nectar) or the Soma.

The Rig Veda itself notes on the transforming of Shukra into Soma:

'And now let the powerful one accept the sacred-bowl filled with milk, white, filled with Shukra' (Rig Veda.IV.27.5)

Here is the transformation of the lower-energy we talked about of the Shukra or semen in the lower-chakras, representing the genital organs and lust, and it’s being transformed into the higher Soma or immortality through the awakening of Kundalini from the base of the spine up to the Crown of the where, where it is transformed into this immortal elixir (Amrita or Ambrosia). This here is the blessing of Shukracharya (lit. "teacher of the semen") - the force that guides the semen up the sushumna and transforms it into soma. Here, he holds this transformative power in his anatara or inner-form.

The sacred bowl here is hence filled with Shukra, the Divine seminal fluid, which is transformed to Soma in the Crown Chakra, when it is taken up the Sushumna, the middle-current in Yoga representing the subtle channel in the spine, through which one accesses higher powers, and through which the Kundalini Shakti ascends as Udanavayu, the up-moving air or breath, which has a purifying nature as a pierces the chakras and transforms this lower / base seminal fluid into the nectar of immortality in the Crown of the head. This is also the meaning of vayu or air in the Vedas which purifies the shukra into soma (or soma in its base state).

Shukra as the Asuracharya or Guru of the Asuras also means he has the power to control them. Asuras in one light are also the aspects of Lord Shiva known as ganas (hosts) who in some tales, Shukra as another son of Shiva next to Skanda and Ganapati controls, under Ganesha's supervision. These asuras are the hard to control forces in Yoga, the pashus (beasts) personified as pranas (breaths). Asura itself derives from asu (life-breath) and ra (to rule). It hence makes them synonymous with the ten Rudras or pranas of the Upanishads. 

In the Vedas, Shukra is himself even equated with Soma (later Shiva as Sundara or Kameshwara):


“Father and generator of the gods, the skillful, the Pillar of the Heavens (ie. Shiva-Linga) and supporter of Earth. Rishi and Illuminated Sage, greatest of people, apart and wise, Ushana (Shukra) in knowledge” 
-Rig Veda.IX.87.2-3

His connection to Shiva however and Yoga goes back to the Vedas, where the archetype Yogi, Lord Indra represents the power of Shiva, as also in later times through the vajrayana traditions of Tibet that continue ie vajra or thunderbolt-like wrathful forms of Vedic Indra as Shiva.

Ushana is often Indra’s (later Shiva) companion in the Rig Veda. In one verse, he is also associated as coming to Indra with the deities, and the same verse also lauds Indra as saving the Yadu peoples from the floods (Rig Veda, V.31.8).

The Rig Vedic verse (IV.26.1) commences with the Seer Vamadeva realising himself as Indra (Shiva) and proclaiming “I am Manu and I am the Sun” , and also includes that he is also Ushana – linking these Sages – Manu of the flood with Surya (hence Manu as Vaivasvata) of taken as a proper noun rather than a symbolic statement, as some have.

These connections here to his higher occultic nature hence connect him to Lord Shiva and also further connect him to the Christian idea of Lucifer, as also the older Gnostic forms in the western world.  It shows us that Shukra of India or Lucifer in the West have many such connections of which here, we see that the ideas of Shukra can all be traced back to the oldest of the texts of the world and India, the Rig Veda, however, his later association with Rome is also noted in later Indian texts - Romakapuri however denoted both the materialistic western people of India (Sindhis to Iranians) as well as the people of southern India in later times as well due to his influence in these regions. Romakapuri hence denoted any materialistic region associated with this deity - Kerala in south-western India, the Yadava-capital in western India in Gujarat, the materialistic cities of Gandhara to also Rome in Europe and the SE-Asian Pyramidal dwellings in Indonesia as also those in the Americas of the Mayans. 

We also see the actual origins behind his Christian symbolism and that he is also no evil entity himself, but as the Jewish people saw Satan (adversary), was an angel under God’s command which we would say acted in the mode of rajas or passion in the Yogic sense. This is also further stated in the greater traditions of the Upanishads aforementioned, that also see him as having a purpose for deluding the asuras through his philosophy – much how the Buddha is also seen to have had the same purpose and role in Puranic Hinduism as an avatar. 

Shukra is to be propitiated on Fridays or when in his own signs (Taurus and Libra). On these days, one can meditate upon Shukra and also be gareful for all the luxuries we have in life - our health, our sensory faculties, our knowledge - whatever we wish. Turning this into an inner form helps us understand the ananda (bliss) and pushti (grace) that exists in the world. It helps us understand that true dhana (wealth) is not about materialistic possessions we wish to have or lust after, but what we already have and to use these for our own inner purposes and to help others, as Shukra himself did by becoming the perceptor of the Asuras and also through his own tapas or austerities to gain deeper wisdom in statecraft which he imparted to many in the history of the world, including the wisest of elders in the Mahabharata era, Bhishmacharya of whom he taught political science.


References / Bibliography:

- Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham: Traditional Yoga, Book 1: The Yoga of Indra, Academy of Traditional Ayurveda, 2013

- David Frawley: Gods, Sages and  Kings: Passage Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1991

-Rig Veda Samhita