Sir Lal: Once, a Deva came to see the Buddha and “could not balance his subtle, almost weightless body and was having a hard time standing up.” So, the Buddha asked the Deva to “make up a dense body so that he could stand firm.” I don’t recall the name of the sutta.
ME: It’s in the Hatthaka Sutta, sir.
Hatthaka Alavaka passed away as a Non-Returner and was reborn in the first of the five Pure Abodes known as Aviha. According to the Hatthaka Devaputta sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya, during one night the deity (Brahma) Hatthaka visited the Buddha at the Jetavana monastery in Savatti. When he was with the Buddha he could not stay upright properly as his body was so fine and the Buddha had to advise him to make his body a coarse one so that he could stand up in front of the Buddha.
As we know, the body of Brahmas is even finer than the devas. This may be why it had difficulty solidifying at first. Hatthaka was one of the anagami brahmas who taught the Dhamma to other deities.
