"Deities, as we see them, are not essentially superior individuals living in faraway worlds that sometimes come to the rescue of human beings, even if their manifestations may give that impression. In truth, if we realize the true nature of our minds, the deities reveal themselves as being not different from our own minds. As long as we do not realize it and live in the duality I/other, the deities enter the play of duality and a relationship is established between these two poles of manifestation, I and the deity.

Let us suppose that in a dream we meet a deity. We would be sure of the individual existence of that deity. Also, we would be sure of the reality of the "I" who, upon seeing the deity, would feel joy and devotion. However, in truth, the person perceiving the deity and the deity would both be manifestations from the same inexpressible essence, the mind itself. In the same way, for those who live on a relative level, the deities appear on a relative level without being separated from their essence, which is none other than the essence of the mind."

Bokar Rinpoche