Names of Zeus: Hindu Trinity - Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu

There is a division of the powers of Zeus based on three forms of his name:

Zeus – He who brings together and creates.

Dias – He who separates, destroys, and wrings out.

Zinas – He who pervades and sustains everything.

The above knowledge from High Priest Hooded Cobra further confirms what will be related in this article, which is written by TG Karnonnos.

Representations of Zeus in ancient texts typically follow this format. In Ancient Greece, this was only known to those of higher spiritual faculty, from which we have certain references and grammatical features that highlight this division of his functions.

"Zeus" is a peculiar word with a unique grammatical nature in Greek. Beyond the subject form of Zeus, two separate grammatical forms exist: Dios and Zinos.

In essence, these are not just functions of the God but also relate to how a human initiate accesses the God. The discerning faculty is represented by Dias, who must constantly cycle through information and observation to access the state of Zeus—the Atmic level of consciousness. The Dias portion of a person involves the rebirth and death of the purely ignorant, static self in order to attain this holy state. For a link to be made between the two, one must invoke Zinas, the life-giver and restorer, who joins everything together.

Zeus

Strictly, Zeus, also known as Zeu or Zev, represents the state of purest and highest consciousness, being the pure Creator. Everything that exists is due to his presence, the ultimate reality.

Beyond mythology, there was a tendency to see Zeus as an epithet reflecting an ultimate being that was self-born and the originator of the entire universe. The Corpus Hermeticum and other writings reference this idea. Proclus, a total spiritual adept, affirms this in his own writings:

DIAS

Dias, Dios, or Dion references the role of Zeus as the divider and splitter of things, related to both separation and destruction. After the Titanomachy, Zeus and his brothers divided the cosmos by lot, with Zeus taking the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld—the primeval partition of the domains of the world.

He hurls the thunderbolt at the primeval Typhonic monster, slaying the forces of ignorance to create the initiate anew. The Hymn to Zeus by the Stoic Cleanthes praises the God of Gods for using his lightning to make the crooked straight and to prune all excess, bringing order to everything and harmonizing the cosmos by trimming away disorder and chaos.

Another Stoic, Chrysippus, reportedly said (according to Plutarch) that during the ekpyrosis (the conflagration or destruction), Zeus is that fire that “retracts back into himself, thus annihilating all that exists”—a dramatic image of Dias as the all-destroyer and all-renewer.

Yet, one major aspect of this idea of Dias is not just punishment or partition; it relates to using the mind and reason to obliterate forces of decay in the initiate and to make the right choices. Any choice involves the loss of some other outcome. Any progression involves the absence of something else.

It also relates to creation—dia in Ancient Greek means “because of” and “through.” Thus, from early on, the linguistic nuance of Dias carried the idea of agency and division: Zeus divides the world into ordered parts through his will, and through him, the boundaries of life and the distinct fate of each entity are determined.

From this mythology, we have the figures of Dionysus, Dione, and other instances. As Zagreus, the first Dionysus comes to Earth fully formed and is torn to pieces by the Titans, who split him into many separate aspects of being and consciousness. Zeus then swallows the divided and true heart of Zagreus—rescued by Athena from the crazed Titans—so he can be reborn and unified with his father. This is also an alchemical process related to the Magnum Opus.

In defeating the Titans and mastering the forces of the material world in mature form, Dias reestablishes a connection to Godhood.

ZINAS

Zinas, Zinos, Zen, or ‘Zan’ is the aspect of Zeus that pervades, unites, and preserves everything—the life-giver.

In Antiquity, this name was often considered old-fashioned and rustic by commoners and other non-initiates. In regions like Crete or Elis, Ζάν was the everyday name for Zeus, but to outsiders, it sounded archaic. It evoked the primeval Zeus, who was worshiped since time immemorial.

Some also related this term to taking oaths and cosmic order. The Olympian Zanes are a concrete example: each “Zan” statue was a symbol of Zeus punishing oath-breakers. Tragic poets of the 5th century BCE (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) frequently used Zinos, Zini, and Zinas in their elevated diction—partially because these older forms suited the metric and grand style of choral hymns, but also because these forms were associated with calls to unity and the general rhythm of life represented by the God of Gods in such artistic works.

Among philosophers, however, the form Zin or Zinas was associated with life due to its linguistic convergence with zēn (“to live”). In philosophical and mystery-religion contexts, calling Zeus by this name was more than a dialect choice or grammatical case—it was a deliberate epithet, praising him as the source of vitality. In sum, Zinas emphasizes his nourishing and creative aspect, the continuous survival of nature under his aegis.

Plato, in the Cratylus dialogue, expressing through Socrates, noted that Zeus is called Zin (related to zaō, “to live”), combined as Zin-Dia, because through him all things live:

A major quote summarizing the division of the three comes from the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Cornutus:

THE TRIMURTI

A similar symbolism exists in India, where the same theme of Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer is present. All three of these Gods were initially associated with Indra—most blatantly Rudra-Shiva, but even the other two. The identities of these three Gods, known as the Trimurti, are well-marked and well-established, with wholly different traditions of worship and depiction in Indian culture.

Once again, the symbolism is clear:

Prajapati-Brahma(n) – He who brings together and creates.

Vishnu – He who pervades everything and sustains everything.

Rudra-Shiva – He who separates, destroys, and wrings out.

The Maitrayaniya Upanishad (a late Upanishadic text) mentions Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva together, implying they are manifestations of one Brahman. In some traditions, they are likened openly to the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer aspects of the same ultimate reality—just as water can be ice, liquid, and steam.

In India, such intricate matters have long been made public and given endless depictions, open discussions, and theological analysis for close to two millennia. Greek and Egyptian theology tended toward secrecy in conveying these types of forms. The open nature of these forms of the Gods in Indian culture ensures their survival.

The downside to this is that elements of such a complex subject being public can become perverted and distorted. Many have taken the primacy of Vishnu or Shiva over Brahma in texts very literally, including Shaivites (those who hold Shiva to be the ultimate God) and Vaishnavites (those who hold Vishnu to be the ultimate God). At the root, most of these stories are meant to be an allegory portraying the inability of Ultimate Reality to be perceived without the processes of sustaining or dividing happening first.

AUM

The trinity is represented in the Aum symbol (ॐ), the mantra representing the Ultimate.

अ (A) – Represents Brahma, the Creator. It symbolizes creation, beginnings, and birth. Associated with rajas, the passionate and creative force.

उ (U) – Represents Shiva, the Destroyer or Transformer. It symbolizes dissolution, transformation, and the completion of a cycle. Associated with tamas, the tenebrous and destructive force.

म (M) – Represents Vishnu, the Preserver. It symbolizes sustenance, preservation, and the continuity of life. Associated with sattva, the good and preservative force.

From the Renaissance onwards, the symbolism of these three letters has also been shown in Western occult works to refer to the Ultimate God in a veiled manner.

BRAHMA

Brahma, also known as Prajapati, represents the Ultimate Reality.

This assertion by Brahma in the quote above is a direct declaration that the core of one’s being (ātman) is one with the absolute reality (Brahman). The implication is that the true Self of all beings is Brahman, a unity similar to the quote of Cornutus above. The philosophical shift was towards an interior, formless principle, with the God Brahma’s creative function deriving from the power of that principle.

The Upanishads uphold Brahman as the ultimate unifier, “the Reality of all realities.” He is understood as an emanation of that one reality.

Brahma is also held to be self-created, born from a cosmic egg. We can see the similarity with the philosophical, self-created Zeus in other statements:

Brahma is represented as four-headed, showing his mastery of the four elements, directions, and the polarities of the universe. He is often shown with mala beads in his hand or on his chest, representing divine timing and the numbers of creation; a kamandalu, a water pot representing the ultimate source of creation; a ladle called the shruka, symbolic of stoking fire and stirring the waters of creation; and a lotus flower, symbolic of the Crown Chakra and his emanation from Shiva’s navel.

His mount, the swan named Hamsa, is known for its mythological ability to separate milk from water, which is seen as an allegory for being incompatible with lies and falsehood. It also represents the merger of the individual with the all-encompassing Brahman. The swan in Phaedo by Plato symbolizes spiritual purity and prophetic insight, with swans singing beautifully at the moment of death, conveying the soul’s transition to divinity. In some ways, the swan represents the barrier to Brahma for the ignorant.

Due to the sheer prevalence of sacred themes in Indian culture, there are many misunderstandings about Brahma. Certain historians and sectarians believe that there must be some sort of “competition” for ultimate Godhood among the Trimurti—a total and utter misconception—where Brahma simply “lost out” and was subordinated to the other two. This form, in contrast to Zeus, received less worship than Shiva or Vishnu simply because what this God represents is the most difficult and distant of all aspects attainable for human understanding.

SHIVA

Shiva, Mahadeva, or Nara, the most popular and well-known of all Hindu Gods, functions as both a divider and destroyer—an inheritance from the Vedic Rudra, with whom he is associated. The Rig Veda calls Rudra-Shiva “Chief of All Born,” showing that he represents the splitting of consciousness in all beings.

One major attribute of Shiva is his role as a slayer of evil entities, being ferocious in his destruction of ignorance:

On a greater scale, Shiva presides over the pralaya, the great dissolution of the universe at the end of each cosmic cycle. Vedic and Upanishadic hymns describe how all creation eventually returns to the formless source, a process personified by Rudra. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad portrays the One Rudra as both the originator and dissolver of the worlds.

The Upanishads solidify Shiva’s identity as the one absolute reality from which all arises and to which all returns. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in particular, presents a singular divine principle, calling it Rudra, Shiva, and Isha. It famously declares, “Rudra is truly one; for the knowers of Brahman do not admit a second,” and describes him as the Lord of all worlds, who “stands behind all [divided] creatures” as their inner self.

Shiva is not just shown as a punisher but is often self-sacrificing. He swallows poison (Halahala) from the cosmic ocean to maintain the unity of the worlds, causing the separation of life from death.

His peaceful attributes conventionally deal with meditation and exercising the mind—one of the reasons he is known as Mahadev, the God of all Gods, or Adiyogi, the first Yogi. In his earthly form as the Adiyogi, he resembles Dionysus both in imagery and in mythology.

In artistic representation, Shiva is shown with the lingam, an aniconic symbol representing the separating masculine forces. He is also depicted with the crescent Moon, a symbol of duality and separation, yet also a symbol of his union with Shakti, personified by Sati, Parvati, and Kali. The trishula or trident, wielded by Shiva, represents the three locks of the soul that require unification.

Shiva’s mount is the bull, Nandi, representing mastery of the mind and sheer force. He is also depicted with a chariot. Around his neck, he wears the King of Snakes, Vasuki, showing his total mastery of the serpentine powers of the Kundalini.

VISHNU

Vishnu, or Narayana, another of the most famous Gods globally, embodies the sustaining and pervading principle that unites creation and distinction. He is present in and constantly sustains everything that exists, reflected in the name Narayana, which means "Shelter of Beings":

The Rig Veda acclaims Vishnu as the embryo, germ, or origin of the underlying cosmic order, Rta. Therefore, he is the spiritual core of the sacrifice that nourishes the Gods and the world, effectively serving as the pillar of the universe’s stability. Later, he becomes the bestower of Karma, determining the individual fate of each being.

By connecting the earth and the intermediate space to the heavens, Vishnu makes the universe a single, coherent domain where all creatures can dwell safely.

The unifying power of Vishnu has deep metaphysical resonance in later yogic and Upanishadic texts. His all-pervasive presence integrates the diverse elements of existence. The Maha Narayana Upanishad states that everything in the universe, from the most material to the most subtle, is pervaded and unified by the essence of Narayana:

Holistic visions of Vishnu found in the Vedas inspired later interpretations in which Vishnu is the Antaryamin (inner controller) in every living heart and the cosmic divinity immanent in every atom, making him the ultimate unifier of existence.

In comparison to Brahma, he is represented as four-armed, showing his active engagement in manipulating matter. The major symbol of Vishnu is Panchajanya, the conch shell, which represents the complexity of existence, with spirals associated with divine proportions. He also carries the Sudarshana Chakra, a discus that he throws at will, cutting through all things.

Vishnu’s mount is Garuda, a divine eagle. The eagle represents the ability to traverse anything, mastery of flight, and the pursuit of high-mindedness, but also the power to pierce through anything with its sharp claws. Zeus was associated with all three mounts, including the myth of Leda, in which he transformed into a swan.

THE SO-CALLED TRINITY

Now, it should be obvious where this theft of the "Holy Trinity" came from. Zeus-Brahma represents the All-Father and Creator; Dias-Shiva represents the manifested, separated Eternal Son; while Zinas-Vishnu represents the Holy Spirit of grace and edification for the believer.

This is all a stolen concept. Brahma was also appropriated to form the ultimate Hebrew patriarch, Abraham. There are many other examples of triadic thefts in the Bible involving characters.