Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: An expert from a book discussing the possibility, that humanity may have, at one point or another, worshipped an Elder God or the Elder Gods. Though magekind knows these entities exist, they are vast and unknowable beings, indifferent to the existence of even the Great Races.
Verily, this whole world is Brahman. Tranquil, let one worship It as that from which he came forth, as that into which he will be dissolved, as that in which he breathes.
~Chandogya Upanishad, 14th Khanda, 6th century BCE
It is a curiosity, in how closely the eldritch truth can sometimes find its reflection in the Vendanta (वेदान्त) philosophy of ancient India.
The Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) is the concept of an all-encompassing creator-force that is, at the same time, the universe. For us, that bears a striking similarity to the Elder Gods and invites the question. Is this idea a suggestion that the worship of the Elder Gods bled into the mundane practices of the Norma?
There are parallels most certainly, and discrepancies can be easily explained with the concept being polluted by more mundane thinking once it became engrained in the mind of Norma. From the other, we must be careful not to cast our own Mask over these writings. Either can easily lead to the truth being obscured from us.
What we do know is that Brahman is the prime mover of the universe, the creative principle, the unchanging source of all change and also the seat of ultimate bliss. Everything in the world comes from Brahman but may have its individuality, be a distinguishable part of a greater whole. The Aitareya Upanishad (ऐतरेय उपनिषद्) also states, quite plainly, that “Wisdom is Brahman.”
So it is most definitely a mixture of attributes that we may be more willing to associate with the Elder Gods and others that we would not. In particular, the attribution of positive (in human eyes) attributes to an Elder God might be objectionable. But that is the intermixing and reframing of ideas we expect from such a crucial eldritch truth leaking into the collective knowledge. The very essence of the Masks humans construct, requires this reconceptualisation, this humanisation of something that is fundamentally inhuman and beyond the human value system.
While this concept of Brahman is still more a force than a person, other interpretations push this humanisation further. Commonly Brahma (ब्रह्मा) is seen as an example, but Brahma is only a part of Brahman, as are other gods. A form (saguna, सगुण) of the formless (nirguna, निर्गुण) Brahman. In the Devi Mahatmya (देवीमाहात्म्यम्), we find Mahadevi (महादेवी) – the supreme goddess who in some interpretations is a personified version of the Brahman, a universal creator force.
Interestingly, the concept of a female creator force is not that uncommon among the Other. As an example, the Elb refer to the Elder Gods as the Crone Mothers and, within their own academic environment tie this title to interactions with a Great Race we have so far failed to cross identify. Though, of course, it bears reminding that the difference between man and woman is based in human biology and are, as such, only tangentially applicable to other races, especially those of more exotic physiology. Mother, on the other hand, is a much more universal concept.
To conclude, before the main body of this work:
If our assumptions are correct, it would at the very least seem, that at some point humanity on the Indian subcontinent might have worshipped the Elder Gods as a goddess. And this belief either originates from elsewhere or represents a point of cultural convergence across many forms of life in the universe.
Esoteric Musings... 