Speeding-forth in All Directions

Ananyagamin

The Bodhi-Being Ananyagamin first appears at the end of the Avalokiteshvara segment, “descending from the eastern sky and standing on the top of the mountain range surrounding this world.” He tells Sudhana that he once associated with a Buddha named “Born of Universal Light.” While spending time in the majestic Buddha-land of the Buddha, he assimilated that Tathagata’s Bodhi-field thus awakening with that Self-Same Mind of Light. Being thus liberated he was enabled to “speed-forth in all directions.” This is indicative of the Light-Empowerment of such a Bodhi-field and the supernal-gnosis produced echoes forth in all ten-directions. Yet, because the Essence of this Buddha-gnosis is so omnipresent, It can extend Itself instantaneously without actually having to “speed-forth” anywhere, since It is already everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Hence, Ananyagamin was able to pass through so many Buddha-fields in one single instant of thought—yea, actually “prior-to” any thought instant:

As many eons as atoms in untold buddha-lands have passed since I left that world Full of Light. With each thought I take as many steps as atoms in untold buddha-lands, and with each step I pass as many buddhalands as atoms in untold buddha-lands, in all of which are buddhas. I go to all those buddhas, and honor each buddha with the finest mentally produced offerings, stamped with the cosmic seal that has no formation, approved by the buddhas, pleasing to all enlightening beings. I also observe the oceans of sentient beings in all the worlds, penetrate their minds, discern their faculties, and appear to them bodily in accord with their inclinations and interests, speak of the Teaching, radiate auras of light, and provide them with various material necessities. I adapt my form for them, ceaselessly striving to guide them to perfection. And just as I proceed in the east, so do I also proceed in the south, west, north, northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest, the nadir and the zenith.

Mahadeva

The great Celestial-Being Mahadeva (akin to Vishnu ) is indeed filled with supramundane abilities; he first appears extending his “four-arms” in the four-Cardinal Directions:

Then the celestial Mahadeva extended four hands in four directions,
brought water from the oceans with extreme speed and washed his face; he
scattered golden flowers over Sudhana and said, “Enlightening beings are
hard to get to see, extremely hard to get to hear. They rarely appear in the
world, being so exalted. They are supreme lotuses of humanity, saviors of the world, refuges for the world, reliances for the world. They are great
suns, makers of light for sentient beings, the ones who show the path of
safety and peace to those on the path of delusion. They are guides to the
truth, leaders on the way to the citadel of omniscience. I think ‘killer of
wrong views’ is the name for enlightening beings, in that they manifest
themselves to those whose minds are undefiled, they appear before those
whose deeds are pure, they imbue those who are free from evils of speech
with the light of eloquence, and at all times they stand before those whose
intentions are purified. Son, I have attained an enlightening liberation called
`cloud net.'”

After singing the praises and qualities of Enlightening Beings, Sudhana implores Mahadeva to expound on the nature of this “cloud net.” Mahadeva replies saying that it refers to saving sentient beings as with a great net. The net encompasses and conforms to all of their needs:

“Furthermore, to those who are intoxicated with the enjoyment of objects
of desire, who are very greedy for the enjoyment of objects, I make objects
appear impure. To those filled with anger, those who are arrogant, conceited,
proud, and haughty, those who should be led away from strife, I show
terrors like fiends and ghouls who feed on flesh and blood, and show them
that it is all the vehemence of arrogance. To those who are lazy and negligent
I show the dangers of fire, water, kings, and brigands, to stir them to
vigor and diligence. Thus with various appropriate means I turn them away
from bad conduct and get them to develop good qualities, to destroy all
impediments to the transcendent ways, to make the necessary preparations
for the transcendent ways, to cross over all the precipitous paths on the
mountains of barriers to enlightenment, and to enter the unobstructed state.

Mahadeva, like some majestic Santa Claus, also bestows upon Sudhana heaps of gold and silver and assorted jewels, all serving to symbolize the practice of giving to others.

He then said to Sudhana, “Take of these and give gifts, do good works, make offerings to buddhas, take care of beings by generous giving, get them to practice transcendent relinquishment, teach the world by giving, show relinquishment, which is hard to do. In the same way as I give you all these goods, so also do I make relinquishment habitual in countless sentient beings whose sense of generosity is not repressed. Having gotten them to plant roots of goodness with the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community, and spiritual benefactors, I get them to aspire to supreme perfect enlightenment.

All of this reveals that abundant generosity is indeed a god-like quality.