Vedic Vision of Consciousness & Yoga

YOGA FROM CONFUSION TO CLARITY

2010-03-30T00:16:00.080+05:30

New Arrival Books on Yoga From Confusion to Clarity Vols. 1 to 5 by Satya Prakash Singh and Yogi Mukesh, 1730 p, 5 Volumes, figs, ISBN : 81-87471-57-8, $325.00 (Includes free airmail shipping) PAYMENT(S) BY PAYPAL ONLY

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Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity is an original and refreshing series of five volumes of its own kind. Neither in the past nor in the present has such a work ever before been attempted by anybody except for the reference of a voluminous work we get about Hiranyagarbha, the Father of Yoga, in very remote past and whose work has been lost forever. The authors of these five volumes after making intensive research and study for the last 15 years endeavoured to restore the Yoga to its pristine purity.

The need for writing this work also arose out of the misconception of implanting the root of Yoga generally midway to Patanjali, the author of Yoga-Sutra. Indeed, it is due to this misconception of origin that confuses the full bloom of Yoga. Instead, the discipline is constrained as secret and mystic, unsocial and otherworldly and hence not only difficult to take up, but also counterproductive in many respects. It is due to the prevalence of this view of Yoga, that such a scripture as the Bhagavadgita has been mistaken as renunciatory, in spite of its most eloquent advocacy of karma-yoga. Another byproduct of this mistaken view of Yoga, particularly in the modern times, is the narrowing constraint to only physical and vital exercises, in the form of asanas and pranayama, as taught by some enthusiasts of the discipline currently in "yoga studios" and by popular media.

The special feature of the Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity is a sincere exploration to reveal of the history of Yoga, right from the Vedic or even the pre-Vedic era (prior to 3000 B.C.) and to reconstruct the roots of Yoga from the material scattered throughout the Veda as a system of Yoga by virtue of which, pre-Vedic and Vedic people became seers of Vedic mantras as the treasure-chest of the profoundest wisdom and knowledge, even at that primary epoch of human history. Thus was the foundation of Indian culture richly sewn with a broad and humane outlook, so lasting in character, we continue to be nourished today. In fact, the tapas and sadhana of the Vedic seers are a crystallized seed form of the discipline of Yoga in all its dimensions: the phases and varieties coming to be designated in course of time as jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga, dhyana yoga, mantra yoga, and hatha yoga, etc.

So far as the psychological perspective of the discipline is concerned, Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity brings to light man’s eternal quest for exploring into the mystery of consciousness well within himself, directly through self-consciousness. Instead of searching for motivations and desires for alleviation of any kind of suffering or afflictions in this world or furthermore in the wishes for the enjoyment of the plenitude of the world beyond, the authors direct our exploration within. As such, consciousness has been determined as the explorer as well as the field of exploration - as the object as well as the subject. In the common experience, the object is object and subject is subject, both are conceived as categorically different from each other. The interaction between the two is considered "a matter of fact" without needing any explanation concerning the mystery behind it. Philosophical attempts to solve the source of separation has resulted in the East in the form of Prakriti and Purusha as two absolutely independent realities, while in the West, it has led to the Cartesian dichotomy between Mind and Matter. Both these positions stop short of resolving the problem of explaining the why of the interaction between the polar entities of the subject and the object.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Professor Satya Prakash Singh is a renowned Vedic and Yogic Scholar. He holds a PhD Degree from the Banaras Hindu University of India and D.Litt from the Aligarh Muslim University. A former Chairman of the Department of Sanskrit and Dean of Faculty of Arts, Aligarh Muslim University, he is presently working as an Editorial Fellow in the Centre for Studies in Civilizations, New Delhi. He has also been Director of Dharam Hindu International Centre of Indic Research in Delhi as well as the Director of Vedic Research Centre Maharshi Sāndīpani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan under Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India in New Delhi.

Prof. Satya Prakash Singh is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards, including Ganganath Jha Award of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Rajaji Literary Award of Bhāratīya Vidyā Bhavan, Bombay, Banabhatta Puraskara of Sanskrit Academy, Uttar Pardesh, as well as being honored by the President of India`s Award of Scholar of Eminence.

His publications include:

Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead on the Nature of God

Sri Aurobindo, Jung and Vedic Yoga

Vedic Symbolism

Upanisadic Symbolism

Vedic Seers

Life and Vision of Vedic Seers

Vedic Vision of Consciousness and Reality

History of Yoga

Yogi Mukesh is an accomplished yogin besides being deeply grounded in the study of yogic literature of a variety of shades including Vedic, Tantric, Saiva, Vaisnava and Buddhist. He has been initiated in yoga by a reputed yogin while living in his company for years in sacred cave in western Uttar Pradesh. He is an extensively travelled scholar and sadhaka both externally and internally, having devoted considerable time of his life in several countries of the world as well as in the yogin`s cave.

ABOUT THE VOLUMES

Volume 1, Foundation of Yoga - Here is an attempt to trace the origins of yoga back to the Veda millennia before the advent of Patanjali with his Yoga-Sutra, which is commonly mistaken to be the earliest source-book on the discipline. By tracing the origin of so important a discipline as Yoga, this work not only presents correction of an great error of abysmal order but also brings to the fore the discipline in its pristine purity and abundance which resulted in the elevation of Angiras, Visvamitra, Vasistha, etc. to seerhood. The mystery of the Veda at such an early stage of human history gets cracked open revealing the traces of yoga to that antiquity. Besides showing sure indications to the discipline in the Vedic samhitas, it discloses the secret yogic practices of some of the most important seers of the Vedic age. If the technique of prananusandhana as developed by Angiras, has resulted in the way of access to pure consciousness through control of the vital, that of nadmusandhana, as epitomised by the female seer, Ambhrni, has led to the descent of Vedic Mantras to the seers with all their exquisite wealth of wisdom, knowledge and aesthetic values. While the chapter on Yogic Motifs in Indus Seals confirms the literary evidence adduced here by archaeological verity, the Critique of Patanjali brings to the fore the seminal points of departure of him from the royal road of Yoga, Raja-yoga, built up by the seers. Thus, if one wants to understand the secret of Spirituality in India along with the infallible way to it, one is sure to find this publication most refreshing and rewarding.

As this book is designed to confirm to course contents of Yoga, it will be of great use to graduates; post graduates, diploma, degree and research students of Yoga and the teachers alike.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 1 - Foundation of Yoga (238 pages)

Glimpses of Yoga in the Vedic Samhitas

Yogic motifs in Indus seals

Yogic Sadhana of Vedic Seers

Yoga as the cradle of the Vedic system of education

Consciousness and Yogic Sadhana in Saivism

A critique of Patanjali

Vedic vision of Bondage and Liberation

Volume 2, Psychology of Yoga - While the first volume of the Foundation of Yoga deals with the historical roots; the second volume concerns itself with the psychological which has been discerned in the form of consciousness.

Just as matter is the basic stuff physical sciences have to deal with, consciousness serves as the basic stuff of the science of spirit known as yoga. Any yogic practice apart from deep understanding of the nature of consciousness is doomed to the end in an exercise in futility. This is what has been brought to the fore by Vedic seers and Upanisadic sages in practice by diving deep into consciousness and declaring it as the source of everything in the world including matter itself. As such, what modern psychologists have declared as sub-conscious and unconscious, is only a covert form of consciousness. What has been recounted in the Veda as war between gods and demons is, thus, reducible to the seer's entry into these covert layers of consciousness and facing the odds. Searching of one's identity in the pure consciousness is liberation and immortality, while one's identification with the physical is bondage and mortality. The Mahamrtyunjaya mantra epitomises this secret at its best.

All this has been brought out here closely and cogently on the evidence of the galaxy of Vedic seers and Upanisadic sages with a view to recreate the real psychological foundation of Yoga which otherwise is being tossed around today like a kite snapped off its string. As such, the volume is expected to prove an authentic passage to enter into the citadel of yoga and experience the felicity lying await within. It will be helpful in clearing the cobweb of misunderstanding formed in the course of millennia and will benefit to all, including yoga teachers, practitioners, researchers and students who are doing graduation, post-graduation and Ph.D. in Yoga.

As this book is designed to confirm to course contents of Yoga, it will be of great use to graduates; post graduates, diploma requirements, degree and research students of Yoga and the teachers alike.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 2 - Psychology of Yoga (298 pages)

Consciousness - states and grades

Consciousness as a metaphysical force

Existential value of consciousness

Concentricity and universal creativity of consciousness

Consciousness of the Unconscious

Ordeals of the unconscious in the quest for consciousness

Contribution of Angiras, Ayasya, Bhrgu and Dadhyan to the discovery of the way to consciousness

Consciousness and immortality

Yoga and Vak

Aesthetics and Yoga

Mahamrtyunjaya Mantra as a way to Immortality

Volume 3, Asana (524 pages) -This volume discusses various kinds of asana, both gross and subtle with suitable pictorial illustrations, textual references and scientific notes on their effects on the body and the mind from both hygienic and yogic viewpoints. Combination of textual accounts with the modern physiological analysis is sure to be helpful in the understanding of the proper mode of these postures which otherwise are likely to cause damage to the body and disturb the mind instead of bringing succour to both of them. It also discusses preparatory asanas for beginners as well as for advanced practitioners. Practices of these asanas are described for preparation for one's for inner journey. Enumerates 108 postures.

The book is designed to confirm to the course contents of Yoga, and we hope that it will benefit everyone including Yoga teachers, practitioners, researchers and students who are working towards diploma, graduate, post-graduate and Ph.D.

One, who has established control over the asanas, conquers the three worlds.

-- Jabaladarshanopanisad - III.13

Practice of asanas removes diseases and brings stability and health to the body.

-- Hatharatnavali of Srinivasayogi - III.5.

Volume 4, Sat Karma, Mudra, Pranayama and Pratyahara - The fourth volume deals with what are known in yogic parlance as sat karma, mudra, pranayama, pratyahara. Sat karma is purification of the body. It includes what are known as neti, dhauti, basti, nauli, etc. These devices of purification of the body on the yogic line have been discussed in hatha-yogic treatises of the medieval age and are highly useful in the redemption of the body from various kinds of diseases. So is the case with the mudras and bandhas which, however, being purificatory of the body, are highly useful in leading to concentration of the mind. The utility of pranayama in the course of yogic sadhana is self-evident as prana and consciousness are closely interrelated. Various kinds of pranayama, have been deliberated upon in the volume including several practices that have remained generally unknown so far. It also discusses precaution and safety during the practice of pranayama. Pratyahara is that method in which the sense organs follow the sense-mind on the image held within, so that they can get sensations from within, thereby leading to the dissolution of the sensations of the sense-organs in the sense-mind, which finally itself dissolves in the consciousness or the Self. All these ingredients of yoga, as well its basic postulates, clearly and authentically are based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibility on the other.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 4 (237 pages) Sat Karma, Mudra, Pranayama and Pratyahara: Table of transliteration. Foreword. Preface. Introduction.

1. Satkarma

2. Mudras - (i)- Bandhas. (ii) Adhara Mudras. (iii) Mudras with combination of Bandhas. (iv) Postural Mudras. (v) Meditation Mudras.

3. Pranayama - (i) Prana and consciousness - Indra's Proposition of Prana as Consciousness - Relationship between Air and Prana - Air as the Cosmic Energy - Primacy of Prana over Senses and Mind - Convertibility of Prana into Consciousness - Development of Self from within the Vital - Transformation of the Physical into the Vital and Mental - Germ of the Instinct of Self-Protection and Procreation - Sygyzy of Life-Force and Consciousness - Consciousness and the Instinct for Self-Possession.

(ii) Pranayama - Importance of Pranayama - Suitable Place of Practice - Who Should Start the Practice of Pranayama - Best Seasons for Starting the Practice of Pranayama - Diet during the Practice of Pranayama - Prohibited Food and Acts during the practice - Method of Pranayama - Time and Practice and Duration - Attitude during Practice - Safety in the Practice of Pranayama - Obstacles in the Path of Yoga - Benefits of Pranayama - Final Aim of Sahita Kumbhaka.

(iii) Pranayama for beginners. (iv) Pranayama for advanced practitioners.

4. Unclassified pranayamas from the Upanisads

5. Kumbhaka Paddhati of Raghuvira

6. Pratyahara

Volume 5, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi - The stage of pratyahara, in its turn, is followed by the three next steps of Yoga known as dharana, dhyana and samadhi. They represent the crux of the process of yogic sadhana. This part of the sadhana is the subject matter of the fifth and final volume of the series. In view of the extreme subtlety of these steps, it has been considered better to indicate to the ways and means leading to successful coverage of these steps through relevant texts dealing with this part of the sadhana. With this end in view, selections have been made from such yogic texts as the Upanisads, Bhagavadgita, Vijnanabhairava, Malinivijayottaratantra, etc. which have been adduced here along with their English translation and necessary notes wherever required for clarification.

This last volume also includes and discusses for the first time the Epistemology of Yoga. It also includes a digest of the entire process and method of the sadhana put together succinctly and in a graded manner under "A Tractatus of Yoga". The formulations made here are for summarising the entire range of the sadhana in as brief a form as possible. These formulations have been made somewhat on the pattern of the classical authors of the sutra-form of literature dealing with subjects of utmost technical bearing requiring close attention of the reader. A significant difference in the process of formulation of the tractatus in this volume from that of the ancient Sanskrit authors of the sutras, lies in the fact that while the sutra preceded their expositions, made sometimes by the sutrakaras themselves and mostly by other exponents of them quite subsequently, here the formulations only follow the detailed exposition meant particularly to serve as a digest of the entirety along with all the difficulties involved in its coverage, understanding and practical application.

All these ingredients of yoga as well its basic postulates have been discussed clearly and authentically having been based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibilities on the other.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 5 - Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi (331 pages)

1. Dharana

2. Dhyana and Samadhi

3. Samadhi

4. Meditation on the sacred syllable Om as an aid to Samadhi

5. Role of the Kundalini in the attainment of Samadhi

6. Role of the nervous system and centers in the task of inculcation of the spiritual consciousness

7. Introverted perusal of light, sound and taste as ways to Samadhi

8. Fundamentals of the Epistemology of Yoga.

Appendices – Meditation Methods from- Vijnana Bhairava, Malinivijayottaratantra, Abhinavagupta’s Gitartha Sangrah, and A Tractatus of Yoga

Abhinavagupta

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Glitter Graphics

Abhinavagupta was born in Kashmir around 950 A.D, a great philosopher,yogin, tantric, a spiritual descendant of Somananda the founder of the Pratyabijnya the "recognition" metaphysics school of Saivite monism. He was genius and a prolific writer on Shaivism, aesthetics, music and a variety of other subjects.

Among his most notable philosophic works are the Isvara-pratyabhijña-vimarsini and the more detailed Isvara-pratyabhijña-vivrti-vimarsini, both commentaries on Isvara-pratyabhijña (“Recognition of God”), by Utpaladeva an earlier philosopher of the Pratyabhijna School.

His famous commentaries on poetics, drama, and dance; the Lochana on the Dhvanyaloka and the Abhinavabharati on Bharata Muni’s Natyasastra cover every aspect of Indian aesthetic and poetics. His theory of rasa is a landmark in Sanskrit art and literature.

According to the tradition, after completing his 70th year, Abhinavagupta entered the Bhairava cave near the village Bhiruva, along with his 1200 disciples and was never seen again. (image and concept developed by mukesh.veda)

MIRROR

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Once there was an artist who went to the court of a famous King and said, “I am a great artist who can make paintings such as you have never seen before.”

The King said, “Then make them here. But remember, there is no shortage of great painters in my court and I have seen very wonderful paintings.”

The artist replied, “I am ready to meet any challenge.”

The best among the court painters were selected to compete with this artist.

The King warned the best painter of his court, “Use all your talent, do your very best. This is now a question of the prestige of my empire. See that you are not defeated by this foreigner.”

They were given six months to complete their work. The King’s painter began his work very seriously. With the help of ten to twenty co-workers he covered his whole wall with beautiful pictures. News of his paintings reached distant regions, and people came from afar to see his work. But a greater miracle than this was happening.

The artist said to the King, “I need no implements or materials for my work, nor any paints either. The only one condition that I insist upon is that the curtain covering my wall be not removed till the picture is finished.”

Each morning he would go behind his curtain, and reappear in the evening quite exhausted, with drops of perspiration on his forehead. But it was a matter of great perplexity, mystery and wonder that he did not carry any brush or paints with him when he disappeared behind the curtain. Neither were there any traces of colour on his hands, nor any spots of paint on his clothes and he carried no brush in his hands.

The emperor began to wonder whether he was crazy. How could there any competition under such circumstances? But it was necessary for him to wait for six months to fulfil the condition.

With great impatience everyone waited for the six months to pass. The news about the pictures of the court painter reached far and wide, and along with this news, the word also spread about this crazy competitor who had entered the competition without any paints.

After six months the emperor went to see the pictures. He was spellbound on seeing the pictures of the court painter. He had seen many paintings in his life, but never had he seen paintings of such unsparing skill. He then requested the artist to show his work. He removed the curtain covering his wall. On seeing it the emperor was very much puzzled. It was the same picture which his court painter had painted. The artist had created the same picture as the court painter, but with one additional feature: it was not painted on the wall, but emerged from twenty feet deep inside the wall.

The emperor amazed and he asked, “How have you done this? What is this magic?”

The artist replied, “I have done no magic. As I am an expert in making mirrors, I have turned the wall into a mirror by rubbing it continuously for six months. The picture, which you are looking at, is that of the court painter’s on the opposite wall. I simply turned the wall into a mirror.”

He won the competition, because shimmering in the mirror the court painter’s painting became infinitely more profound than its original. The court painter’s painting acquired great depth when seen in the mirror. It became a three-dimensional picture while the court painter’s was only two-dimensional; it had no depth.

The emperor asked the artist, “Why did you not tell us in the beginning that you only know how to make mirrors?”

The artist replied, “I am not a painter, I am a yogin.”

The emperor said, “This becomes more and more interesting. First you did not tell us that you make mirrors, and now you tell us you are a yogin. Why should a yogin make mirrors?”

The artist replied, “I have been making only mirrors since I made myself a mirror and saw the world in it. Just as I turned this wall into a clean mirror by continuously rubbing and cleaning it, so I made myself a mirror, pure as crystal, by keeping constant watch on myself. And such a beautiful image of this world as I have seen within was never seen without. The day, on which I saw and realised the world within me, I became like a mirror. All the animate and inanimate objects of the world have penetrated into me.”

The Spirit of Meditation

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Once there was a yogi. Every night he used to go to the banks of a river to simply sit there doing nothing just watching his own self, watching the watcher. This was his daily routine. One night, while returning from the river, he passed near a rich man’s house and the watchman of that house used to watch him daily passing by. He was puzzled because every night exactly at a particular hour the yogi would come back from the river. So he could not restrain himself and came out and asked the yogi, “Forgive me for interrupting you Sir but I am curious to know what your business is? Why do you go to the river? Many a time I have followed you, and there is nothing you do but simply sit there for hours and in the middle of the night you come back.”

The yogi replied, “I know that you have followed me many times because the night is so silent, I can hear your footsteps. And I know every day you are hiding behind the gate. But it is not that you are curious about me, I am also curious about you. What is your business?”

The watchman said, “I am a simple watchman.”

The yogi said, “My God, you have given me the keyword. This is my business too!”

The watchman said, “But I don’t understand. If you are a watchman you should be watching some house, some palace. What are you watching there, you are simply sitting in the sand?”

The yogi told him, “There is a little difference in your watching and mine. You are watching for somebody outside who may enter the palace while I am simply watching the watcher to know who this watcher is. This is my whole life’s effort; I watch myself.”

The watchman said, “But this is a strange business. Who is going to pay you?”

The yogi replied, “It is such a bliss, such a joy, such an immense benediction. Just a single moment, and all the treasures are nothing in comparison to it.”

The watchman said, “This is strange, I have been watching my whole life. I never came across such a beautiful experience. Tomorrow night I am coming with you. Just teach me because I know how to watch – it seems only a different direction is needed; you are watching in some different direction.”

Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness

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V. VIJNANMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF TURIYA CAITANYA

1.93 The fourth state of consciousness is distinct from the other three states, namely those of waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. It represents the vijnanamaya kosa.

1.94 It, indeed, is the creative throb of Consciousness meditated on particularly with reference to the Heart or centre of one’s being, as per the Vedic accounts.

1.95 It tends to take possession of the normal consciousness and becomes its constant associate. It is prabhava or the point of birth of a new consciousness.

1.96 It is called the state of manonmana or turiya-jagrata and is characterised by complete cessation of mental activities.

1.97 In fact, it is the state in which the yogin crosses the boundary of finitude and enters into the infinite, ananta.

1.98 The second sub-state of the turiya is called sarvartha and is supposed to be the playground of Aditi, Infinity, in which everything appears as a creative throb of Consciousness and delight.

1.99 The way to entry into this state is perusal of the inner awareness, surrender or exercise of the Will Power, iccha-sakti.

Brief Introduction to Mukesh

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Mukesh (b.21st September 1957) is a Postgraduate in Sanskrit and Philosophy and has worked as Private Secretary to the Chairman, Auroville Foundation, Auroville and also with Chairman of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi, with the Vice-Chairman of Maharsihi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan. He also worked in Dharam Hinduja International Centre of Indic Research as an Executive Secretary.

He is also a graphic designer, writer and has submitted articles to Sanskriti Magazine published from Canada (http://sanskritimagazine.com/) as well as presented research papers on Yoga as well as on Yogic Experiences of Consciousness besides being the creator of this Blog -- Vedic Vision of Consciousness & Yoga.

I am accomplished practioner of yoga besides being deeply grounded in the study of yogic literature of a variety of shades including Vedic, Tantric, Saiva, Vaisnava and Buddhist. For the benefit of students, teachers, scholars and researchers in the field of Yoga and Consciousness, I created this Blog as well as other blogs. My other blogs under construction are:

http://flowersofeternity.blogspot.com
http://asana-pranayama.blogspot.com
http://historyofindianliterature.blogspot.com/

At the present, I am working on a Project of Yoga as a co-author entitled – Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity -- in collaboration with Professor S.P. Singh, former Chairman and Head of Sanskrit Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Tracts on Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness - IV

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MANOMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF DREAMLESS SLEEP

1.69 When consciousness ceases to play the dual role of the subject and the object and withdraws itself entirely to itself, it is known as complete sleep or susupti. Here the cogniser becomes devoid of all contents, support and relation to objects.

1.70 It is called the seed of the universe where everything is merged in consciousness in the form of latent impressions which in the state of wakefulness give rise to the world of differentiated perceptions.

1.71 It is the microscopic equivalent of the state of universal destruction where all experiences of the realm of diversity melt into one or sameness.

1.72 Although the same cognising subject, as present in waking and dreaming states, persists here also, he appears to be absent on account of the absence of the object and the means of knowledge, with which he formerly identified himself.

1.73 In this state, the impurity of individuality continues to have infested the consciousness, leaving it in a state of abysmal emptiness. The individual consciousness in this state is called sunyapramatr.

1.74 In this state, manas is set at rest leaving only prana to function.

1.75 Here memory and its objects remain in the latent form.

1.76 For the yogin, the state of dreamless sleep lies quite close to the integral consciousness, as distinct from the waking and dreaming, since here the subject alone exists. It is called rupastha or restored to its original form because the Cogniser, as the creator of forms, lies in its pure form in this state.

1.77 While an average human being understands this state as one of absence of consciousness, for a yogin it is a kind of samadhi in which he is free of distinction between the subject and the object.

1.78 It is also known as the state of mahavyapti, the state of complete pervasion of consciousness in comparison to the dream state where the pervasion is partial.

1.79 Dreamless sleep, susupti, also has four phases.

1.80 When one is about to enter the state of deep sleep, there is a vague awareness akin to that of wakefulness, as it is potent with the residual impressions of the objective world.

1.81 This is called the emergent, udita, state – a state of susupti-jagrat or waking in dreamless sleep.

1.82 When latent impressions begin to proliferate, subtle traces of perception appear as one with one’s own true nature. This leads to greater self-awareness and brings one closer to higher consciousness. This is the state of susupti-svapna, dream in deep sleep. It is also known as vipula or extensive.

1.83 When residual traces of objective experiences get completely subsided, one has subtle and uninterrupted awareness. That is the state state of susupti-susupti and is also known as santa, tranquil.

1.84 On waking from this state, what the subject has lingering in his mind is a faint experience of sheer blessedness.

1.86 Repeated entry into the bliss of the state of deep sleep within deep sleep makes the experience more and more intense and vivid.

1.87 Finally one reaches the fourth state in deep sleep, susupti-turiya, which is a sub-state of transcendent consciousness and is highly blissful, suprasanna.

1.88 If the individual continues to dwell in this sub-state fully aware of his subjective being and its nature, it has the potentiality of getting matured into samadhi or the state of blessedness.

1.89 Normally, in the case of an individual, manas follows senses in their getting entangled with objects. But in the state of manomaya, the order is reversed inasmuch as here the senses follow the manas.

1.90 It results in further intensification on the focal point of consciousness leading to complete elimination of obstructions in the course of the flow of consciousness. This is vijnanamaya, the state of pure or higher consciousness.

1.91 If an individual were able to retain his awareness on the point between waking and sleeping, he is sure to have the experience of the supreme bliss of Consciousness.

1.92 It serves as the point of entry into the fourth state of consciousness, known as turiya.

(To be Continued....)

Tracts on Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness - III

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PRANAMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF DREAM

1.41 The dream state is the result of interiorisation of consciousness when tending to take rest inside after having moved outside for a certain duration.

1.42 In this state of rest, consciousness withdraws itself inward having dissociated itself from the world of organs of sense and action.

1.43 Here the individual consciousness, ceasing to be the perceiver, turns towards ideation on the basis of mental impressions formed in his consciousness by objects of the external world in the state of wakefulness.

1.44 This state occurs not only while one is asleep but also during the phase of perception in which the external object is represented by its ideas.

1.45 The impurity of karma persists here only as traces while the objects perceived inwardly are illusory creations generated by consciousness in the mind and hence are confined to the dreamer in regard to their perceptibility.

1.46 From the point of view of yoga, this state is higher and subtler than the state of waking consciousness and, as such, it is easier to rise from this to higher states of consciousness.

1.47 On account of this feature of it, it is called, established in itself, padastha or vyapta, pervasive.

1.48 It corresponds to the autonomous cognitive awareness, which is free to pervade everywhere, and is no longer conditioned by the object of knowledge.

1.49 Prana and manas, however, remain active in the state of dream, which has four sub-states.

1.50 First one of these sub-states is svapna jagrat, waking in the state of dream.

1.51 It is the state of vikalpas – ideas, fancies, reveries – independent of the external world and confined only to the dreamer.

1.52 It is also experienced when one is overcome with grief, passion, fear or madness, in which state the dreamer mistakes his mental projections for actual objects.

1.53 In this state, the individual is at times caught in the flux of objective perceptions and at others by the waves of his own mental impressions without being able to differentiate between the two.

1.54 This world of dream appears as real on account of acceleration in the action of the prana and apana. On account of its flexibility, this sub-state is also called gatagata, coming and going or rather one of blinking of consciousness.

1.55 The second sub-state of the state of dream is known as svapna-svapna, one of dreaming in dream.

1.56 It begins with the dream becoming hazy, disorderly and vague.

1.57 Here the dreamer remains afloat in the flux of consciousness where one thing may be transformed into another without looking strange. As such, it is also known as suviksipta, the sub-state of complete dispersion.

1.58 The third sub-state in this row is known as svapna-susupti, dreamless sleep in the state of dream resulting in enjoyment of peaceful sleep on the part of the dreamer.

1.59 In this state, the subjectivity or pramatrbhava of the cogniser is intense and he is able to examine the situation he find himself in and realise that the objects before him are not really a part of the external world since he is only dreaming.

1.60 Put in this state, the dreamer exercises better control over the series of his dreams by eliminating any incongruity or inconsistency in the motifs of his dream. While lying in this state, he He is able to experience a subtle touch of integrated consciousness. As such, it is also known as sangata or consistent.

1.61 When the dreamer remains fully aware throughout the whole phantasmagoria of dream and knows that he is only dreaming, the sub-state is known as one of witnessing or integrated consciousness, svapna-turiya.

1.62 It is also called the state of witnessing consciousness or integrated consciousness – samahita.

1.63 While the common man considers all these states together as one of simply dream and views various vikalpas of him as lacking in contact with the external world as a whole, the yogin experiences the state of dream as pervaded by his own consciousness.

1.64 The state of dream can be transcended through pranavayu-sthana-kalpana or prana-sandhana. It lies in the fixing of consciousness on the exhalation and inhalation of breath from the centre of the body.

1.65 While breathing-in and out, the individual is advised to maintain his awareness continuously at the meeting point of the incoming and outgoing breaths inside the body.

1.66 Alternatively, he can direct the focus of his consciousness to the point where the expiring and inspiring breaths stop for a split of a second outside the body.

1.67 This sadhana brings subtlety and refinement to the process of breathing with the result that manas or mind becomes cooled down.

1.68 Once one is settled down mentally and the prana becomes refined, one feels as if one were going into the state of sleep or torpor. That, however, is not really so. It is rather the beginning of entrance into the manomaya, the state of consciousness of deep sleep.

(To Be Continued...)

Tracts on Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness - II

2008-01-04T12:00:00.000+05:30

ANNAMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF WAKEFULNESS

1.18 Waking state is that form of awareness, which prevails when the subject’s attention is directed on sensations that come to it through the senses.

1.19 This state is the result of the projection of consciousness on what is sensed by it from the outside via the organs of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. The body, prana, senses and manas remain active in this state.

1.20 Perceptibility of the world outside, indeed, is owing to the cumulative activity of the senses, manas and prana.

1.21 The combine of the three is attended by limitations caused by sensory perception, bodily action and mental modifications leading to obscuration of the true nature of the cogniser.

1.22 From one point of view, this state is called pindastha, that is, the state in which consciousness manifests itself through the body. From a higher point of view, however, it is called sarvatobhadra – all-round auspicious, as it represents the state of consciousness manifest as the ubiquitous fullness of the objective being.

1.23 The waking state has four sub-states depending on the preponderance of anyone of the states of consciousness in it.

1.24 In the state of preponderance of the objective world on it, the sub-state of the waking is called jagrat-jagrat, the waking in the waking. In this sub-state, the objective aspect of the object is most prominent.

1.25 Here the individual’s consciousness works under the effect of perception of the world outside while the individual himself remains confined to his bodily sense at the cost of almost total unawareness of his true nature.

1.26 As such, this state is considered by yogins as abuddha, totally unawakened.

1.27 When the focus of consciousness is shifted from the object to its knowledge, that state is called dream in the waking state which is kindred to the state born of mental impressions or thinking or visualisation where one finds oneself staring at anything absent-mindedly under the effect of absorption in his own thoughts.

1.28 This sub-state is characterised by the prominence of consciousness of the knower in place of that of the world outside.

1.29 This is the Awakened or buddha state for the yogin. It is also known as jagrat-svapna.

1.30 When in the waking state, the knower’s consciousness becomes completely free of the objectivity; there arises a complete blankness.

1.31 This is the sub-state of jagrat-susupti or deep sleep in waking state.

1.32 In this state of absence of objectivity, the yogin remains self-absorbed for a considerably long time enjoying the bliss of oneness of consciousness with everything.

1.33 From the yogin’s viewpoint this sub-state is known as prabuddha or intensively awakened.

1.34 With the preponderance of pramiti, suchness, in it, there arises the fourth sub-state of witnessing consciousness known as suprabuddha or fully awakened. In other words, this sub-state is known as jagrat-turiya, the fourth in the waking state.

1.35 Here the entire objective world appears as a sheer play of Consciousness.

1.36 The annamaya kosa is the proper receptacle of the waking state, as the individual remains engrossed in his body and the corresponding view of the world outside.

1.37 The individual lying in the state of the annamaya, may fruitfully use the subject-object contact as a means to the sadhana for entry into his real nature as is represented by the fourth and the most fundamental state of consciousness.

1.38 It can happen only if the experiencing subject is free of the purposive attitude towards the objective world on account of being satisfied with its sheer knowledge and rests within itself after the rise of cognition.

1.39 This is why meditation is practised on certain crucial points in the body or outside the body. Such techniques are known as sarira-sthana-kalpana, meditation with reference to a particular point in the body.

1.40 These points can be anyone of the five organs of senses or five organs of action, muladhara, navel, heart, throat and the central point between the eyebrows, on account of the cakras formed there.

(To be Continued....)

Tracts on Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness - I

2008-01-04T11:44:00.000+05:30

Everything emanates from Consciousness
Is sustained in Consciousness,
Abides in Consciousness,
Finally merges in Consciousness,
That which remains ultimately is Consciousness.

1.2 As countless rays emerge from the sun and ripples from the surface of the sea, so emerge from consciousness infinite worlds, including our own.

1.3 In this world the manifestation of consciousness takes two forms, the objective and the subjective. While the objective is the result of objectification of consciousness, the subjective is the consequence of restoration of consciousness to itself.

1.4 The parallelism of the objective and subjective gets graded into four as manifest in the four states of the human consciousness, namely, the waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and what in the Veda is called the fourth -- turiyam svid (later known as turiya).

1.5 The waking consciousness bears correspondence to the gross physical as available to us through our senses, the dream consciousness does so to the subtle, the consciousness of the state of dreamless sleep runs parallel to the causal while the fourth gets reflected in it on the axis of coincidence the Ultimate Reality itself.

1.6 Due to the parallelism of the subjective and objective and their coincidence in consciousness, every act of perception presupposes the corresponding sense organ while the latter’s power of perceiving anything has its source in manas or mind. Mind, in its turn, is dependent on the real cogniser lying behind it.

1.7. Sense and mind are just tools placed at the disposal of the Cogniser to make contact with the world outside.

1.8 To restore the Cogniser to its integrality is the concern of yoga.

1.9 Yoga is, thus, a system by which the individual consciousness retraces itself to its original state of purity and immensity.

1.10 The Cogniser is essentially self-luminous, self-conscious and free of the limitations of space and time.

1.11 Everything in this universe is interrelated. The bond of relationship is formed by the consciousness which is the secret sutra of the Upanisads.

1.12 Ignorance is caused by the breakage in that bond of interrelatedness.

1.13 Study of scriptures and books of the sort facilitates knowledge of consciousness to some extent but falls short of making us realise it as such.

1.14 Realisation comes only through intense and subtle awareness of one’s inmost core of being. In that core, consciousness lies in its undiluted integrity and is known as the fourth, turiya, as distinct from the remaining three states known as waking, dream and dreamless sleep (jagrat, svapna and susupti).

1.15 Inward movement to that core is undertaken successively via the annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, and vijnanamaya kosas which form different grades of our being.

1.16 Normally, our states of wakefulness, dream and profound sleep bring interruption in the free flow of consciousness. The interruption is caused by transition from one state of consciousness to the other.

1.17 All states of consciousness (waking, dream and deep sleep) are ascertained with reference to the Cogniser.

(To be continued.....)

Vedic Symbolism -- Ghrta (Clarified Butter)

2007-11-24T21:13:00.000+05:30

Ghrta is clarified butter. Since cow was in abundance in the Vedic age, there was also abundance of ghŗta. As such, it was a matter of great use in life. It was used in sacrifices as well as was an important ingredient of food. Consequently it has found a significant place in the Vedas.

Ghŗta was used during the Vedic period as well as throughout the whole history of India as a delicious and extremely nourishing food content is evident from the heavenly damsel Urvaśī’s statement in the Ŗgveda that she took a lump of ghŗta only once a day and on the strength of it moved around fully contented even after four years of departure from Pururavas. (Ŗgveda X.95.16 )

As the Vedic seer was in the quest of the essence of things, he did not permit the product of milk stop at the stage of butter. He saw to it that the butter could be made rather durable. With this end in view, he clarified it and thus could produce ghŗta, which is durable and can assume two forms, solid and liquid without losing anything in essence.

Vedic seer compares the look of Agni with the ghŗta prepared out of the milk of cow and clarified in fire (Rigveda, IV.1.6).

Needless to point out that the ghŗta prepared out of the cow’s milk is slightly yellowish as compared to that prepared out of buffalo’s milk, which is white. Seer Vāmadeva repeats the same simile when he observes that Agni in appearance is akin to perfectly clarified ghŗta, shining and taintless, as well as is gold (Rigveda, IV.10.6). Thus in the seer’s view, Agni, gold and ghŗta are kindred in appearance and basics in the total scheme of things.

As such, ghŗta comes to form the ideal of the appearance of gods and their costumes. Apām Napāt, for instance, along with waters in the form of smiling beautiful ladies around him, has been described as clad in attire akin to ghŗta in appearance (Rigveda, II.35.4).

Viśvāmitra also, like Gŗtsamada, views Agni as clad in ghŗta (Rigveda, III. 27.5). So is the case with Vāmadeva with respect to sacrifices, however. He describes them as ghŗtanirņijah, adorned in ghŗta (Rigveda, IV.37.2). Vasişţha also observes how Mitra and Varuņa have been given the attire of ghŗta by seers (Rigveda, VII .64.1). As is evident from the literal meaning of the word devatā, god, it is but natural for the latter to be shining. It is quite in keeping with this feature of gods in general that they are envisaged as robed in ghŗta signifying thereby their lustrous appearance.

The word ghŗta does not remain confined to its literal sense. When a particular deity is described as ghŗtaņirnik, the word ghŗta in this usage comes to signify particularly lustre rather than the substance called ghŗta.

Indeed when a particular word or object is used to point to a particular feature of itself alone instead of the whole of it, it becomes symbolic in its usage. It comes to signify something quite different and detached from what it literally stands for. Here ghŗta, for instance, is meant only to signify the lustrousness of the appearance of the divinity concerned.

Interestingly, the word pratīka, used subsequently to signify symbol as such, occurs several times in the Ŗgveda particularly in association with ghŗta.

In all such usages, ghŗta forms the first member of the compound while the second one is formed either by Agni or by Uşas.

In one such mantra, for instance, Agni is described as ghŗta-pratīka as also ŗtasya dhursad, sitting at the crest of Ŗta, the universal order or sacrifice (Rigveda, I.143.7). Here while ghŗta stands for lustrousness, pratīka signifies resemblance to. Thus Agni is called ghŗtapratīka on account of its resemblance to ghŗta in lustrousness.

The word pratīka has been taken sometimes in the Brāhmaņas in the sense of mouth (Brihadaranyaka Upanisad I.5.2). Pratīka signifies mouth by virtue of its power of consumption. This is what happens in the process of symbolisation also. Symbolisation entails de facto consumption of the object symbolised by the symbol.

For instance, when Uşas is described as ghŗtapratīka, ghŗta takes the whole of Uşas in its ambit and comes to the fore to represent her in all her lustrousness. In such cases, dimensional proportion between the symbol and the object symbolised stands rather discounted. It is in this discounting of the proportion, of course, that lays the utility of the symbol to a great extent.

The above, however, is just the elementary state of symbolisation. Starting from here it may take a long stride where neither the symbol nor the object symbolised is allowed to remain in its original form. One such case in relationship to ghŗta is the description of Uşas as cows milching ghŗta.

This expression is placed against the background of the description of Uşas in the plural as rich in cows as well as horses and heroes and invocation of them as such to cast their brilliant lustre down to the earth. With this ground-work they are conceived as cows yielding ghŗta for universal consumption and all round protection and well being (Rigveda, VII.41.7.).

If the Uşasas are expected to yield ghŗta, it is quite in the fitness of things to conceive of them as cows. Cows, however, do not yield ghŗta directly. Ghŗta is a product of milk produced through human effort.

Conceiving of Uşas as yielding ghŗta involves a long process of figurative thinking including representation of dawns by cows and abstraction of ghŗta out of the cow’s milk. Moreover, if Uşas as a cow is not the real cow, the ghŗta yielded by the Uşas-cow can by no means be the real ghŗta.

It must symbolise what Uşas has been characterised by in the first part of the mantra at least. These features of Uşas are their abundance in cows, horses and heroes. While cow, among several other things, stands for illumination and knowledge, horse and hero symbolise strength, particularly animal and human. Thus ghŗta would naturally symbolise illumination and strength by virtue of its properties of lustre and nourishment.

To be continued....

Hinduism and Environment Conservation

2007-11-23T19:13:00.000+05:30

In the struggle to sustain the earth's environment for the future generations, environmental studies have so far left unexplored the role of religion. But the human ecology is deeply conditioned by religious beliefs about our nature and destiny. Religious views and practices mould our attitude towards the relations with material life as well as help us to reappraise our ways apart from reorienting ourselves towards the resources of life.

If we examine the ecological underpinning & implications of Hinduism both in principal and practice, it would be a new field of study in religion. From the Rigveda to Bhagavadgita and the Ramayana to Gandhian ideals and contemporary issues from forest in the epic to sacred rivers Yamuna, Ganga and Narmada – Hinduism and ecology offers a wealth of perceptions on the way in which Hinduism and ecological issues are enmeshed.

Hinduism can be given a legitimate -- `Sanatandharma' which means `the eternal essence of life'. This essence of life is not only limited to humans but unites all beings – human and all other species, animal and plants with the universe that surrounds them and ultimately with the original source of their existence, i.e. the Creator. This perception of integral unity is what causes Hindus refusal to separate their religion from their daily life. To them all the religions are the part of the process of discovering the unity of all.

The Veda describes how each element was created and how they are all related one to another. The Rishis are of the view that the senses -- hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling are interrelated to a particular element and how all are woven together to form a living world where all the parts depend upon each other. If a disturbance is made in one part of this web, its balance will be upset which will cause disharmony somewhere else. This disharmony may just not only be in the outside world but also in the internal health of our own body. This kind of effect can be seen in 21st century in the damage done to nature and to our health by continued exploitation of the environment.

Most of the studies of ecological aspects of nature are recorded in Vedas & refer to the five elements of Eastern tradition; Water, Earth, Fire, Air and Akasha. Vedic people were one with Nature (RV.V1158/2-3) ``One is that which manifests in all" which in contemporary terms is expressed as ``everything is related to everything else". Nature is sacred since man depends entirely on it and because of this everything is sanctified (Av.xv11). Agni or Fire was thought one form of energy which exchanges in Universe (AV.111; 21, 1). Energy and matter as well as essence of God and man are one and the same and interchangeable .When bodily life ends; man like other things merges with universe. In the modern ecological terms matter is recycled and energy is one with different interchangeable forms.

Another important tenet in Hinduism is that of `Doctrine of Reincarnation'. According to it the Supreme Being incarnated Himself in the forms of various species, He said, ``This form is the source and indestructible seed of multifarious incarnations within the Universe and from the particle, portion of this form, different living entities, like demigods, animal human beings and others are created (Srimadbhagvadgita Mahapurana 1.3.5). Among the various incarnations of God are a fish, a tortoise, a boar, and a dwarf. His fifth incarnation was a man lion -- Narasimha. As Rama, He was closely associated with monkeys and as Krishna, he was surrounded by cows. These are few examples where different species are accorded reverence.

Furthermore, the belief in the cycle of birth and rebirth wherein a person may come back as an animal or a bird or a tree etc means that Hindus are called to give other species not only respect but reverence.

The network of groves that covered the subcontinent so impressed Sir Dietrich Brandis, the first Inspector General of forests in colonial India that he urged a system of forest reserves and preserves modeled upon it. In the 1880s, Brandis was already lamenting the destruction, under the British system of forest management – of what he and others called `Sacred Groves'- a destruction that has continued unabated and perhaps accelerated since independence due to greed and lack of political will and sensitivity. ``Sacred Groves are supposed to be pre-Vedic in origin (about 5000 B.C.E.). They certainly predated the Gautam Buddha, who was born in a Sal grove dedicated to the goddess Lumbani in the Himalayan foothill. The Sacred Grove may be considered as one of the best known ancient state – sponsored forest conservation efforts which were carried out by the emperor Ashoka after his conversion to Buddhism.

Bishnois, a sect of Hindus, consider their religious duty to save flora and fauna. They are still managing and developing Sacred Groves in Rajasthan what they call ``Orans'. Bishnois, the rural community of Rajasthan, are glaring example of tradition. They have set an example in world history as they constitute a role model of a community in rural India that display zeal for protecting the natural wealth and knowledge around them.

`Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam' is a very famous statement of the Veda which means that the whole earth planet is a big family. This reveals the wisdom of Hindu Rishis. Western civilization needs to discover the ecological balance and harmony which it has lost. The West has much to learn from the wisdom traditions of India taking advantage of the fact that we are now a global community and no longer limited to learning from a single tradition. The West needs to learn from others; to put aside their arsenals of mass destruction, other polluting agents and have the courage and vision to journey in new territory where these seemingly indispensable may be of little value.

About the Author -- Pankaj Rastogi

2007-11-23T19:04:00.000+05:30

Pankaj Rastogi is an Officer in the Indian Council of Philosophical Research an autonomous body under Department of Higher Education, Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development and is currently Officer-in-charge of the Academic Centre of the Council in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He is also acted as the Media Coordinator during the major national level academic programmes organized by the Luckow office of the ICPR for which he received appreciation from academicians and the media.

Interviewed famous personalities on TV such as Professor Kireet Joshi, internationally renowned Educationist , Philosopher ex-Chairman of Auroville Foundation and Indian Council of Philosophical Research; Yogacharya Swami Ramdev for Rashtriya Sahara daily newspaper, famous environmentalist Mr. Sunder Lal Bahuguna.

He has presented many papers on old age problem, Indian philosophy, yoga and society at various national seminars organized by reputed universities.

He has regularly appeared in Youth Magazine – a popular programme of All India Radio was assigned by the radio station to take interviews of eminent writers and poets including Mr. K.P. Saxena the famous satirist and script writer of bollywood film ‘Lagaan’.

Promoted NGO “Lakshya” on the issues relating to environment, Women & Child Development and participated in various activities of the organization.

Pankaj Rastogi is an Officer in the Indian Council of Philosophical Research an autonomous body under Department of Higher Education, Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development and is currently Officer-in-charge of the Academic Centre of the Council in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He is also acted as the Media Co-ordinator during the major national level academic programmes organized by the Luckow office of the ICPR for which he received appreciation from academicians and the media.
His email - pankajrastogi2002@indiatimes.com

17. Vedic Symbolism - Cow - V

2007-11-07T19:44:00.000+05:30

It is interesting to note that how the Upanişadic story of Satyakāma’s education by sage Haridrumata has a direct bearing on the highly symbolic mantra seen by Dīrghatamas .

To remind ourselves of the main points of the story, Satyakāma, an initiate in Vedic education, was given the charge of four hundred cows by the teacher and was asked to take them to the pasture land, take due care of them and not return to the school until they became one thousand.

Satyakāma does accordingly and when the cows reach the required number of one thousand, the bull from amongst the cows happens to initiate Satyakāma in the mystery of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. Supposing Brahman as four-footed, he proposes to teach Satyakāma in one aspect of Brahman called prakāśavān and explains it as comprising the four directions, i.e., east, west, north and south as different aspects of that phase of Brahman. After teaching so much, the bull directs Satyakāma to proceed on his return journey where Agni would teach him next into the mystery of Brahman.

When he stops in the evening and kindles the fire, Agni begins to teach him how the earth, the intermediate space, the heaven and the ocean form different aspects of one leg of Brahman known as anantavān.

Having taught him next in this regard the swan in its turn teaches him how Agni, Sūrya, Candra, and Vidyut form different aspects of the third leg of Brahman known as jyotişmān.

In course of this, the bird madgu finally teaches him how breath, eye, ear and mind form the fourth leg of Brahman known as āyatanavān.

This teaching by the four agencies proves so effective that when Satyakāma reaches in the presence of the teacher, the latter finds him as already fully enlightened leaving little scope for any further teaching except formalising what he already had learnt. (Chāndogya Upanişad, IV.4-9)

When we go through this account vis-a-vis the details embodied in the mantra, we have no difficulty in correlating the facts mentioned in them. In the first place, in the mantra, as well as in the story, it is the cow which forms the basis of the creation as well as learning about the mystery of creation. This suggests that the mystery of creation can be got unveiled by taking recourse to the fundamental principle of creation itself, as knowledge is closely associated with the object of knowledge.

Secondly, if in the story what Satyakāma is handed over are cows numbering four hundred, in the mantra also while creating the waters Gaurī at one stage shows herself as four-footed developing out of one-footedness and two-footedness successively. Four, of course, is a square number capable of serving as the basis of reaching perfection, which is symbolised by thousand.

Accordingly, if in the story the four hundred cows are to grow into thousand, in the mantra Gaurī at the state of perfection grows into thousand syllabled. Thus, if the four hundred cows correspond to the four-syllabic Gaurī or Vāk, the one thousand cows correspond to the thousand-syllabic.

Thirdly, if in the story it is when the cows grow into one thousand that the bull emerges out of them and enlightens Satyakāma in the knowledge of Brahman partly at least, and further shows the definite way to fuller enlightenment, in the mantra also it is equally well understood that when Vāk would become thousand-syllabled it would automatically make one enlightened in the whole mystery of creation out of the Ultimate Being whose Creatrix Gaurī is and which itself is directly mentioned by the seer almost in the same continuation just after a few mantras as ekam sat.(Rigveda, I.164.46)

Finally, if the bull of the story mentions the four directions i.e., the east, the west, the north and the south as constituting one of the four legs of Brahman, the mantra mentions the same together by the term pradiśaścatasrah, the four directions leaving only samudra to be mentioned further by Agni in the story.

In fact, as the earth, the intermediate space, the heaven, Agni, Sūrya, Candra, and Vidyut all are creations out of space, indeed in co-ordination with time, what the agencies other than the bull taught to Satyakāma is simply an elaboration on the bull’s teachings.

If this be admitted, it can confidently be said that it is the bull who is the real teacher of Satyakāma. And there is no misunderstanding about it that the bull is just a counterpart of the Gaurī of the Rgvedic mantra. He, indeed, is the same bull who in Vāmadeva’s famous mantra occurs as four-horned, three-footed, two-headed, seven-handed, threefold bound and as bellowing constantly from within the mortals having entered within them (Rigveda, IV.58.3).

The four horns of this bull may tentatively be taken to have been rendered into the four feet in the Upanişad, representing the four forms of manifestation of It in the world, i.e., spatial, temporal, physical and psychic. By virtue of lying inherent in the psychic being of the mortals, the bull is capable of emerging from within and teaching them about the Reality along with all its manifestations.

This is the real secret of the process of learning and knowing, all other things involved in the process being just accessories to this final objective, just as attainment to the state of thousand-syllabled Vāk is the final objective while the way to attaining to this objective lies in traversing along the path of monosyllabic, disyllabic, quadri-syllabic, eight-syllabic and nine-syllabic words. This psychology of learning has symbolically been brought out in the story of Satyakāma Jābāla through cows used as symbols.

16. Vedic Symbolism - Cow - IV

2007-11-07T18:18:00.000+05:30

The association of cow with Vāk starting from casual similitude and developing along the line of equivalence reaches its complete stage of symbolical identification and substitution at a number of places in the Veda to such an extent as to create the misunderstanding in the mind of scholars that the accounts of cow in the mantras are just matter-of-fact reporting of the then cultural scenario which was dominated by the presence of this useful animal as also by the seer’s earnest desire to have as many of them as possible and be benefited by her products including milk.

What a blunder and gross injustice has been committed by such scholars in this as well as several others, can be understood by the analysis of one relevant account presented in the form of three contiguous mantras seen by Dīrghatamas.

In the first one of these mantras, the cow has been requested to eat crops to her full content so that the seer and his associates may become fulfilled. She is further prayed to keep on grazing grass always, drinking clean water and moving around freely (Rigveda, I.164.40). Obviously, this seems to be an account of a certain cow lying at the disposal of the seer. Accordingly, while translating this mantra Griffith appends to his translation the remark: “This stanza is addressed to the cow who supplies the milk for libations.”

If so, how to account for the immediately following mantra in which the cow has been said to have lowed creating waters and expanding from one-footedness to two-footedness, four-footedness, eight-footedness, nine-footedness and then ultimately becoming thousand- syllabled in the highest heaven? (Rigveda, I.164.1)

In spite of the clear context of cow, Griffith translates gaurī as buffalo, which is entirely wrong and misleading. He himself seems to have been misled by the reference of water, which gaurī is said to have created. Since it is buffalo rather than cow which is fond of water and often dwells in water, Griffith ignores the etymology and finds easy way out in changing the meaning of the word itself under the predilection that what possibly would be meant here is the buffalo entering into water and beating it by her head, as is usual for this animal. What a blunder on his part!

Griffith and his sort of scholars are not wholly responsible for this aberration. It is rooted in the obscurity created by Yāska’s interpretation. Instead of explaining such a significant term as taksati, creating, he just substitutes it by kurvati, which is quite generic in its sense. Explaining various footsteps of gaurī, he takes ekapadi as madhyamena, dvipadī as madhyamena ca adityena, catuşpadī as digbhih, astāpadi as digbhih ca avantaradigbhih, navapadī as digbhih ca avantaradigbhih and sahasrākşara as bahudaka.

Thus, according to him, gaurī is creating water by means of air, the sun, the four directions, the eight directions and sub-directions and the sun. He takes sahasrākşara in the sense of bahudaka, full of abundant water. When gaurī itself is not explained, the whole attempt at explaining the other details becomes rudderless. In this state of directionlessness in the midst of detailed mention of directions, so significant an expression as sahasrākşara cannot but end in bahudaka. (Yāska, Nirukta XI.40)

As regards Sāyaņa, he also does not add anything significant to Yāska’s explanation except taking sahasrākşara as aparimitavyāptiyuktā but again falling back to udakavati, filled with water.

Although failing himself to add anything significant to Yāska’s explanation, Sāyaņa has done well to quote in his commentary the view of certain scholars without mentioning their names and affiliations. According to them, gaurī means Brahman in the form of Vāk. They take mimāya in the sense of the Vāk creating all and sundry objects in the world by way of giving them the verbal form.

They regard ekapadī as referring to the monosyllabic Om. According to them, while dvipadi refers to verbal and nominal forms of words, catuşpadī denotes the fourfold classification of words such as noun, verb, preposition and conjunction. They consider aşţāpadī as referential to the cases including the vocative, sambodhana while navapadī to either the above including the adverbs or to the nine places of vocalisation in the human body, such as the navel, the heart, the throat, etc. In their view, parame vyoman signifies the heart-space or alternatively the basal plexus.

One does not understand why Sāyaņa just quoted the above viewpoint quite indifferently while the fact is that it is this explanation, which is capable of providing the rationale for the proper understanding of the next mantra also, which too, otherwise, remains all the more obscure providing the scope for Griffith and his likes to reduce this one of the most significant mantras in the Samhitā totally as a nightmare. He translates it as follows:

“From her descend in streams the seas of water; thereby the world’s four regions have their being. Thence flows the imperishable flood, and thence the universe hath life.”

No doubt the mantra in question talks of oceans as also of the directions. But if the oceans were meant in their ordinary sense, how to explain the shedding of akşara, the imperishable into the kşara, the perishable, which obviously is a contradiction in terms. As a matter of fact, Gaurī of this mantra is neither a buffalo nor do streams of water in any physical sense flow from her. She is positively the cow in the symbolic sense representing the ultimate Creatrix of the world.

This gets confirmed by one of Visvāmitra’s mantras in which while elaborating on the mighty vision of absolute oneness of the ultimate reality it has been observed at the outset of the hymn that when the most primeval dawns came to shine, the great Akşara came to evolve itself in the original abode of the cow and that it is only as a consequence of this event that began the role of the gods in the cosmic creation and that all this bears out the ultimate oneness of the divinity of gods (Rigveda, III. 55.1).

It is from the Akşara of this order that the oceans and the directions are said in Dirghatamas’ mantra to be born. Interestingly enough this momentous trans-cosmic event is associated according to both the seers, Viśvāmitra and Dirghatamas, with the abode or being of the cow. As such, the cow in question, therefore, has to be taken as symbolic of the ultimate Creatrix, which is responsible for making the Supreme Imperishable Being undergo the antithetical process of perishability.

Association of akşara with cow, as is vindicated by Viśvāmitra’s mantra quoted above also, cannot be explained without taking this cow as symbolical of Vāk by virtue of her prolonged lowing of the monosyllabic Om.

Needless to point out that akşara is the irreducible most fundamental constituent of language. Just as atoms are the ultimate building blocks of the universe according to the Vaiśeşikas, even so akşara is the ultimate building block of language, which is the co-ordinate of the reality.

As per the philosophy of the Vedic seers, what is realised as ultimate on the microcosmic scale must prove ultimate on the macrocosmic scale as well. In fact, the entire approach of these seers to knowledge is based on this understanding. This is why akşara of the syllabic variety has been considered as identical to Akşara denoting the supra-cosmic reality. Indeed, it is this vision of the Vedic seer, which subsequently develops into the philosophy of Śabda -Brahman.

Thus Gaurī of Dīrghatamas is, indeed, the Śabda-Brahman itself given the feminine form of cow so as to bring out its role of creativity both on the side of Vāk as well as the reality.

If on the side of the reality she gives rise to oceans and directions out of herself and thus creates the basis of universal existence, she on the side of Vāk assumes the fourfold form of linguistic expression dilated upon by Dīrghatamas himself almost in the same continuation through the account of four steps of Vāk known only to those who understand things in their ultimate essence, three of which lying hidden in mystery while the fourth one being used by humans (Rigveda, I.164.45).

It is significant to note that dealing with the same situation of the imperishable reality giving rise to the perishable world, while Viśvāmitra refers to the footstep of cow, Dīrghatamas makes use of the expression of footsteps of Vāk. It automatically proves the essential equivalence of the meaning denoted by these so dissimilar expressions and therefore the symbolic nature of cow as also the particular idea symbolised by her.

15. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - III

2007-11-07T15:40:00.000+05:30

Another mantra worth observing in this regard is seen by seer Vacya Prajāpati. In this mantra Soma is said to be adorned by cows by means of their milk. This milk, again in the same hemistich, is replaced by matibhih, meaning mantras. This shows the equivalence of cow and milk both with the mantra. In the second hemistich, again the Soma juice is described as vipra, kavi and delightful as the heaven, svarcanah, on account of its wisdom (Rigveda, IX.84.). Thus while cows and their milk get rendered into mantra, the Soma juice turns eventually into kavi and kāvya, which obviously bespeaks of the symbolical usage of these objects in the text.

In a mantra seen by seer Gaya Plāta the symbolic use of cow with reference to mantra is clearer. In this mantra the seer prays to Maruts, Indra, Varuņa and Mitra to fill with substance the mantra, which they gave to him like the cow being filled with milk (Rigveda, X.64.12). Here the milk is equivalent to the substance of the mantra while the cow is equivalent to the mantra itself.

That cow in the Veda is pre-eminently symbolical of speech is evident from a mantra seen by seer Nema Bhārgava. He starts his vision of Vāk with the query as to where has gone the highest form of it while out of the Vāk used by inconscient beings one has settled down as the power of gods and four ones are milking energy in the form of milk (Rigveda, VIII.100.10). In the immediately following mantra, it is stated that the goddess Vāk has been generated by gods and is being used as such by all kinds of living beings and that she as cow with all the profundity of her voice should yield for us the required energy and come to us whenever earnestly prayed to (Rigveda, VIII.100.11).

It is evident from these mantras that it had become quite usual for the Vedic seer to talk of speech through the symbolism of cow. In this symbolic usage, several qualities of the cow were instrumental. At least two of them are quite evident from these mantras themselves. One of them is the melodious and profundity of the cow’s voice. It is quite close to the dilated pronunciation of the sacred Om. Due to this closeness, perhaps, just as the word Om came to be regarded as the source of all words whatever, even so the cow’s voice was taken to include within itself all possible varieties of voices capable of being produced by living beings.

By virtue of this quality of her voice, she came to be used frequently as a significant symbol of Vāk. Secondly, cow’s voice is closely associated with her milk yielded particularly for her calf. In fact, the cow produces her voice most frequently in the evening when after day’s grazing in the pasture she becomes eager to feed her calf with the milk. Due to this association of her voice with the milk intended to be delivered to the calf, cow became symbolical particularly of that Vāk, which is supposed to be most fruitful.

No doubt Vāk is Vedic in origin. This point is brought out beautifully in one of the mantras of the hymn to jñāna. In this mantra it has been stated that one who serves the cow of the Vedic Vāk well understanding it precisely and profoundly in the same sense as was intended to be communicated by the seer, he is comparable to the wrestler who does not get defeated anywhere, as against one who does not understand the meaning, is comparable to him who although keeping a cow for all practical purposes is really shorn of her since on account of not yielding any milk she is a cow just in name and appearance. (Rigveda, X.71.5)

14. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - II

2007-11-07T13:31:00.000+05:30

In one of the mantras of Viśvāmitra there is an account of one being who, immobile himself, carries on his back six loads while cows come close to him when he assumes the role of the most productive principle of creation and sustenance. His dynamics results in the birth of the three higher worlds. Out of these three also, two are hidden in mystery, the remaining one alone is tangible to us (Rigveda, III.56.2). The immobile being is obviously the Supreme Being who, in this instance, as well as in many other instances, is conceived as a mighty bull. It is out of Him that the creation has proceeded as His progeny. In view of the colossal massivity and variety of the created beings the procreator is conceived as most abundantly fertilising, varsistham.

Being conceived as a bull, it was but necessary for Him to have cows as the medium of His act of procreation. In view of the diversity of the created beings, the medium of creation has been taken as many in the form of plurality of the cows. Sometimes, this need is fulfilled by conceiving the cow as variegated instead of being made plural. The six loads the bull is carrying without himself moving at all may understandably be taken as the well known six planes of being such as bhūh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah and tapah, the seventh one satyam being constituted by the Being himself. These six planes can conveniently be put under two groups, the higher and the lower. While the lower are the same as those indicated by the three vyāhŗtis pre-posed to the sacred gāyatrī mantra i.e., bhūh, bhuvah and svah, the higher ones are those corresponding to mahah, janah and tapah. Since these three higher planes of being begin with mahah, they are called mahih by the seer in the mantra. That tapah comes at the top of them is vindicated by the account of creation given in the famous Aghamarşaņa hymn, according to which the creative process started with tapas of the Supreme Being (Rigveda, X.190.I.). His tapas itself, therefore, comes to form the penultimate plane of existence while the ultimate one, that is satyam, is formed by the self-existence of the Being Himself. While satyam is His being, ŗtam is what forms the retas or seed of the bull with which his female counterparts, the cows, are impregnated resulting in the birth of the world of multiplicity. The inscrutability of the highest two planes in the triad is vindicated by the Aghamarşaņa hymn’s characterisation of the plane corresponding to janah as ratri, night (Rigveda, X.190.1.). Now if janah is inscrutable, the plane higher than that i.e., tapah, should be all the more so. The visibility or tangibility of mahah, the third one in the triad, is obviously due to its expansiveness.

In the light of this explanation it becomes clear how significantly the symbol of cow was used in the Veda for giving an idea of the event of cosmic creation. This proposition gets further confirmed by another mantra, seen by seer Vāmadeva who while explaining the role of Ŗta as the principle of universal sustenance as well as dichotomization and diversification, observes how the cows have entered into Ŗta by means of Ŗta itself (Rigveda, IV.23.9). Entering of the cows into Ŗta by means of Ŗta itself is suggestive of the cows’ ultimate oneness with Ŗta and via that with the ultimate creative being himself, i.e., the bull as conceived symbolically.

If cow owing to her magnificent procreative power as well as the dignity of her calf has been used as the symbol of the Creatrix on various planes in singular and plural both, she on account of her melodious voice produced in course of the expression of her fondness for her calf has come to be utilised as the most abundantly used symbol of the Vedic composition in the form of mantras.

Seer Vasistha observes about Indra that his true and beautiful cow being filled with abundant milk milches kine and horses for the sake of the sacrificer who devotes himself to the pressing of Soma (Rigveda, VIII.14.3.). Incidentally, one wonders why Griffith has translated this mantra so as to make Indra himself a cow as is evident from his translation.

“To worshippers who press the juice thy goodness, Indra is a cow yielding in plenty kine and steeds.”

In comparison to him, Sāyaņa is correct in his understanding of dhenu in this context as symbolical of the word of prayer characterised by truth, beauty and devotion to Indra! (Sāyaņa’s Commentary on Rigveda, VIII.14.3). This prayer is nothing but the Vedic mantra emerging from Indra himself and therefore described as Indra’s cow.

Cow indeed has closely been associated with the seeing and chanting of mantras addressed to the Divine. In one such mantra, Indra is regarded as a calf while the mantras addressed to him as cows. Just as cows rush to their respective calves at the end of the day, even so mantras rush to Indra being recited by the seer. (Rigveda, VIII.88.1)

In another mantra the seer Sunahśepa observes how his well-contemplated prayers are proceeding to Indra ardently like cows to their pastures (Rigveda, I.25.16). Similarly in another mantra seer Agastya says that his mantras are reaching Indra like cows licking their young ones (Rigveda, I.186.7). In a mantra seen by Viśvāmitra it has been stated that Indra is like a bull glorified and adorned by the wisdom of the seer and his cows are productive of energy (Rigveda, III.36.5). In another mantra, Indra is regarded as the bearer of mantras and as such is equated to a cow, which the seer wants to milk (Rigveda, VI.45.7). In all these cases the Vedic mantras have been equated with the cow.

In furtherance of this idea of similitude between the mantra and the cow, there are certain references in the Samhitās where perfect equation is observed between the cow and the mantra. For example, seer Harimanta in one of his mantras observes how wise and active seers squeeze out the immortal Soma juice, which is wisdom incarnate and that the regenerating prayers, as cows, go to it in the permanent original seat of Ŗta (Rigveda, IX, 72.6). In this mantra obviously neither the Soma juice has remained any physical juice nor the cow has remained the actual animal. Being characterised as kavi, while the Soma juice has become the perennial wisdom, the cow has assumed the form of the mantra arising out of that wisdom and culminating eventually in its merger into the ultimate source of all including the Ŗta.

The adjective punarbhuvah, prone to be born again and again, used for mantras as well as cows in this context is highly significant. If yathāpūrvamakalpayata occurring in the Aghamarşaņa Hymn could serve as the source of the idea of cyclic creation and dissolution of the cosmos in the Vedic tradition, references like punarbhuvah in this mantra must have formed the catalyst of the appearance and disappearance of the Veda in co-ordination with the state of creation and dissolution of the cosmos.

13. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - I

2007-11-07T11:39:00.000+05:30

Cow is one of the most commonplace spectacles of the Vedic age. She has been mentioned in thousands in the Samhitās as well as the Upanişads. Anywhere in the Ŗgveda if we read any set of ten mantras, we are sure to find reference to cow, as go, dhenu or aghnya or her product in the form of her calf, bull, ghŗta, etc. This shows unusual preoccupation of Vedic seers with the spectacle of cow.

Now the question is whether these references to cow are just description of the actual preoccupation of the seer with their kine, grazing them, confining them to their dwelling places, milking them, rearing their calves, preparing other products out of the milk, etc., or it has been utilised to suggest to something higher than the bare physical spectacle.

Writers on Veda in the modern times beginning with the advent of the Western scholars in the field have taken for granted the first alternative emphasising it to almost total relegation of the second alternative to the background.

This conclusion gets shaken if we take the trouble to go through the texts in the original, particularly with a view to piecing numerous images of the cow into an integrated picture so as to determine to ourselves the nature of accounts of this significant animal there. There is no denying about it that this animal in the Samhitā appears in her bare physical form also. While looking into the mode of her use in a particular piece of literature, one has not only to remain contented with her bare appearance but has to find out the nuances of her use in the imagery as well as the message sought to be brought home through references as well as detailed accounts.

In the Veda we find that besides some cases where cow seems to appear in her bare physical form, she occurs veritably as an object of comparison, substitute of abstract ideas and symbol of certain universal states of things or principles. The contexts where cow is used as an object of comparison relate to coming home, coming to the sacrifice, drinking Soma, producing mantras, dispelling darkness, etc. In one of Bharadvāja’s mantras, Indra is prayed to come to the sacrifice willingly in the same way as cows return home from the grazing ground in the evening (Rigveda.VI.41.1). Similarly, in another mantra seen by seer Śamyu, Indra is characterised as the lover of mantras and therefore it has been stated that the prayers are rushing to him like cows to their respective calves (Rigveda, VI.45.28 ). Here the prayer proceeding to Indra gets represented figuratively by the cow rushing to her calf towards the end of the day in particular. The Soma juice reaching the belly of Indra, as the ocean, likewise, is compared to suckling cows returning home, which, again, has been characterised as the source of Ŗta, the eternal order (Rigveda, IX.66.12). Here cows returning to the source of the eternal order do not remain the physical cow, in the same proportion as the Soma juice reaching the belly of Indra as ocean does not remain the ordinary Soma juice.

Proceeding on these lines, we find cow rising immensely from her physicality and embracing a definite state of universality. In one of the mantras it is the cow which has been pointed out as the mother of Maruts along with Rudra as their father (Rigveda, V.52.16). In another mantra, she is characterised as the mother of Rudras, daughter of Vasus, sister of Adityas and the navel of immortality. In this capacity, she is described as Aditi and it has been pleaded that she should not be killed (Rigveda VIII.101.15.). Obviously, when cow turns to be Aditi, the mother of Adityas and even beyond that as the mother of all gods, she crosses all limits of physicality and soars infinitely higher to the position of the Creatrix of the universe, the supernal status constituting the eternal source not only of all things but also of the delight sustaining the creation.

If her milk be taken as symbolic of ambrosia, she naturally will come to represent the source of that ambrosia. In the Veda the ultimate principle of delight has been represented in the liquid form of certain choicest edibles such as honey, Soma and ghrta. But, at the same time, the underlying idea behind all these gross representations is that of imperishability and continuity as well as delightfulness. If the fleetingness of the worldly beings and objects is the source of misery, as the great Buddha understood it most profoundly, the sense of continuity behind the flux must obviously be the source of all possible virtues such as truth, blessedness, etc. The amrta of the Vedas is the basis of this sense of continuity. Isa indeed is suggested to be conceived as the indweller of the universe of flux by the Isa Upanişad (Isa Upanişad, 1). The creativity of that all-creating and all-comprehending Isa is Aditi, the indivisible. All gods, including Adityas, Rudras and Vasus as well as everything else in the universe are produced out of her. To describe cow as Aditi, therefore, amounts to symbolising that most fundamental principle of existence by the cow. Cow, thus, is to be treated as the symbol of that principle. It is this principle which has been characterised as the source of Ŗta, the eternal dynamics (Rigveda, IX.66.12). Since the eternal dynamics is based on the eternal stasis, Ŗta is said to have its source in a certain principle of absolute stasis. Cow in this mantra is used as a symbol of that principle of stasis. It is in this capacity alone that she can be called the common mother of Adityas, Rudras, and Vasus.

That this role of cow is not just exaggeration but is the result of a pre-meditated cognisance of a certain principle of existence and symbolisation of it, is evident from the recurrences of this idea time and again in the Vedas. In one of the mantras seen by Dirghatamas, for instance, it has been stated that cow as Aditi has filled her udder with milk for the sake of people treading the path of Ŗta and making sacrifice (RV. I.153.3).

It is in keeping with this viewpoint that the highest footstep and, of course, the permanent abode of Vişņu has been characterised by the presence of cows having long horns and moving around (Rigveda I. 154.6). The presence of cows there is symbolic of that state of things in its infinite potentiality for creation while the characterisation of the same place by the fountain of mead is symbolic of its potentiality for providing the joy as well as sustenance of life in the universe below (Rigveda, I.154.5). The proposition gets confirmed from a mantra seen by Seer Nābhānedişţha in which the seer comes to realise the very navel of his being, which he feels as his original unitary abode and the place of the proximity of all gods together besides experiencing that he is all in all. Further he considers himself as the first-born of Ŗta, which the primeval cow has produced in the form of her milk as soon as getting inclined to manifestation (Rigveda X.61.19). Realising the navel or centre of one’s being is equivalent to reaching the most primeval state of existence. The cow milking Ŗta is obviously symbolic of the surge of creation along with the eternal laws of sustenance, out of that supreme state of things. Just as cow as an organic being produces milk out of herself spontaneously, even so the creation is surging out of that state of being organically and spontaneously.

12. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism - IV (2)

2007-10-31T15:27:00.000+05:30

As is evident from the history of evolution, it has taken aeons to develop Life out of Matter on this earth itself. The process must have been gradual and extremely slow and yet each point in the upward movement getting materialised in a state of transformation from Matter into Life. So must be the case with the range from Mind to Supermind.

Sri Aurobindo has delineated four distinct stages in the midst of the two. These he named as Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuition and Overmind. Vedic gods and goddesses, in his view, are assignable to one or the other of these stages or even to the sub-section of any one of them. The Ŗgvedic story of seer Dadhyan learning Madhu-Vidyā from Indra and imparting the same to the Aśvins with the horse’s head is illustrative of the point involved here.

This significant role of gods and goddesses has been kept couched in a thick garb of symbols not discernible to the ordinary mind. It is as thick as the Nature herself, only letting it to be discernible intermittently and that also just partly. In this respect, the whole Nature is considered by Sri Aurobindo as symbolic of secret messages communicated by the supramental Reality to the world below, particularly the human for its elevation and re-integration with It. Sri Aurobindo observes:

“The forces and processes of the physical world repeat, as in a symbol, the truths of the supra-physical action which produced it. And since it is by the same forces and the same processes, one in the physical worlds and the supra-physical, that our inner life and its development are governed, the Rishis adopted the phenomena of physical Nature as just symbols for those functionings of the inner life which it was their difficult task to indicate in the concrete language of a sacred poetry that must at the same time serve for the external worship of the Gods as powers of the visible universe.” (On the Veda, pp.328-29)

This view of Sri Aurobindo’s gets illustrated in his commentary on Ŗgveda I.170, a short hymn of just five mantras recounting a dialogue between god Indra and seer Agastya. The latter, as explained by Sri Aurobindo, represents the highly elevated human soul striving hard to reach the Ultimate Reality in the form of the Absolute transcending everything lower to it including even gods. This aspiration of the human soul represented at the moment by the seer Agastya looks to Indra as violative of the integral scheme of things. He reminds the seer of the dangers lying ahead in his way. He tells him how it is almost impossible to attain to the Absolute in isolation of everything else below. The argument he puts forth in this context is revealing. It is contained in the opening mantra of the hymn. This mantra has been taken note of by Yāska also but just to illustrate the use of nūnam in the Veda. As such, he explains the rest of the mantra in a casual way.

Sri Aurobindo delves deep into the mantra and brings out something not thought of any earlier. He considers the mantra as a cryptic statement of the nature of the Absolute by no one lesser than Indra, the lord of gods himself. The significance of Sri Aurobindo’s discovery in regard to this mantra can better be understood by presenting his viewpoint in contrast to the literal translation of the mantra as given by Griffith, for instance, which is as follows:

“Naught is today, tomorrow naught. Who comprehends the mystery. We must address ourselves unto another’s thought, and lost is then the hope we formed.”

In contrast to it, Sri Aurobindo translates it as under:

“It is not now, nor is It tomorrow; who knoweth that which is Supreme and Wonderful? It has motion and action in the consciousness of another, but when it is approached by the thought, It vanishes.” (RV.I.170.1)

In the footnote to his translation, Griffith makes the following remark on the mantra:

“Indra appears to have appropriated to himself the sacrifice intended for the Maruts, who complain, accordingly, of their dependence on another’s will and of their disappointed hopes.”

Yāska, on the other hand, takes the main theme of the hymn as lying in Indra’s complaint against Agastya who having decided to offer the oblation to Indra, happens eventually to offer the same to the Maruts (Nirukta, I.5). Thus there is a clear contrast noticeable between the viewpoints presented by Griffith on the one hand and Yāska on the other regarding the very theme of the hymn. These contradictions get resolved in Sri Aurobindo’s interpretation of the mantra and indeed the whole hymn.

The mantra, according to Sri Aurobindo, characterises the Absolute as lying essentially beyond the process of time presenting objects and events in the perspective of its three broad divisions, i.e., the past, the present and the future. It is on account of this transcendence that It is described here as wonderful suggesting It’s inexplicability. This meaning emerges from the first part of the mantra spontaneously and directly by taking everything as referring to the word adbhutam, the Wonderful, instead of diffusing the entire sense by forcing it to concur to the concocted tale of Indra lamenting over the denial of his claim on the prospective offering.

The second hemistich of the mantra explained by Sri Aurobindo expatiates on the nature of the cognizance of the same Reality. In his view, this part of the mantra states that though lurking around the consciousness divided between the subject and the object, the Absolute slips away from the grasp of the same consciousness the very moment it is sought to be contemplated on. According to him it suggests that the Absolute can be known only by transcending the state of division of the consciousness into the subject and the object through their proper fulfillment and by no means through sheer escape attempted individually. Sri Aurobindo discovers this significant meaning of the mantra holding firmly the central idea expressed in it as well as by reducing nūnam and svah to the status of the symbols of the footsteps of Time which the Absolute transcends.

It is in this broad perspective that he is able to explain the rest of the mantras also. While taking Indra as the Illumined Mind, he regards the Maruts as symbolic of the principle of Life. With this basic postulate, he explains the second mantra as a query of the principle of Life represented by the Maruts as also by Agastya as to why it is not being permitted to proceed upward towards the Absolute by itself. Sri Aurobindo’s translate it as follows:

“Why dost thou seek to smite us, O Indra? The Maruts are thy brothers. By them accomplish perfection; slay us not in our struggle.” (RV.I.170.2)

This query of the principle of Life symbolised by the Maruts on the universal scale and by Agastya on the individual, gets answered back by Indra representing the Illumined Mind in the sequel which in Sri Aurobindo’s translation reads as follows:

“Why, O my brother Agastya, art thou my friend, yet settest thy thought beyond me? For, well do I know how to us thou willest not to give thy mind.” (RV.I.170.3)

This remark of Indra’s is a warning to the individual against becoming egoistic and selfish and yet seeking to reach the Absolute which is impossible in any case. Incidentally, it is this basic idea which gets elaborated subsequently in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Purāņas in the form of Indra presenting hurdle before tapasvins in their effort to attain to the Ultimate lying beyond him. Indra with all the loftiness ingrained in his nature as recounted in the Veda can by no means be so mean as to be envious of petty mortals and stop their progress upward. If the stories concerned smack of anything like this, that must be due to mishandling of them by subsequent authors. As a matter of principle conforming the main thrust of ideas embodied in the Veda, Indra’s intervention in the efforts of the tapasvin concerned ought to be intended for integrating him with the totality of the reality rather than letting him proceed just individually under the impulsion of egoism and personal ambition which, as a matter of fact, have no say in regard to the Absolute. The world has emerged from the Absolute as a whole and therefore it is only as a whole that it can re-enter into It (Brhadaranyaka Upanisad V.1.1). If the individual be regarded as a whole in himself and therefore comes to consider himself as entitled for this re-entry, he at least would have to wait until his entire being, comprising the physical, vital, mental and supramental, gets perfectly filled with the sense of the Absolute. Attainment of perfection at the cost of negligence of any of these components is not possible according to the Veda as understood by Sri Aurobindo. This is why Indra intervenes again and again in course of the sādhanā of the tapasvin, including Viśvāmitra and Agastya. Such intervention is an essential part of his duty assigned to him by Ŗta and by no means anything undertaken just arbitrarily. To consider such an intervention on his part as a sign of degradation in his post-Vedic character, as scholars have generally done, is rather baseless. Indra has never been the supreme godhead in the Veda, except only when used as a symbol of It. Normally he is a god of the mid-region. As such, he should be concerned basically with something of the intermediate level in our being. This is why Sri Aurobindo considers him as symbolic of the Illumined Mind lying intermediate to the Mind and the Supermind.

It is in this capacity that he comes in the way of Agastya who is in a hurry to reach the Absolute by disregarding the lower levels of his being, particularly the demand of the vital on him. As is evident from Ŗgveda I.179, he eventually gets persuaded by Indra to return home and fulfill the rest of his responsibilities concerning artha and kāma and make his advancement to the Transcendent Reality in an integrated way. In the last mantra of that hymn it has been observed in conclusion that by digging the soil by means of spade the seer came to be fulfilled in wealth and progeny as well as strength and thus in both the kinds of purusarthas, that is, artha and kāma on the one hand and dharma and moksa on the other, to use the post-Vedic terminology for what has been termed in the mantra as ubhau varnau, both the objectives. (RV.I.179.6)

Indra’s suggestion to him to this effect is evident from the next mantra in the hymn under discussion which in Sri Aurobindo’s translation reads as follows:

“Let them make ready the altar, let them set Agni in blaze in front. It is there, the awakening of the consciousness to Immortality. Let us two extend for thee thy effective sacrifice.” (RV.I. 170.4.)

Obviously, in this mantra, Indra suggests to the seer to get ready the sacrificial pit and kindle the fire so that he and the seer both together in co-operation may perform the sacrifice with a view to awakening the immortal consciousness from within. It is under this persuasion that the seer takes up the spade, cultivates the field besides producing the progeny and comes to fulfilment of both the objectives of life expected of us by gods, as is stated in Ŗgveda I.179.6 quoted above. From this, it can very well be inferred that the sacrifice suggested by Indra for seer Agastya to perform does by no means lie in just kindling fire and putting oblations into it. This sacrifice is basically the real discharging of duties obligatory on oneself not just for the sake of discharging them but for using them as stepping stones for ascension to the consciousness of immortality. Making the fire-altar ready, kindling the fire and putting oblations into it as well as digging the soil by means of spade, all these are symbolic of the practical undertakings of life obligatory on oneself not just for their accomplishment but as a means to ascending higher on the ladder of consciousness. Digging the ground for the sake of preparing the fire-altar is symbolic of strengthening oneself economically so as to serve as a firm basis for the subsistence of life and awakening of consciousness. Presence of the sacrificer’s wife on the sacrificial ground and her active participation in the whole affair symbolises the necessity of fulfilment of the demands of kāma on oneself while offering in the kindled fire stands for one’s exclusive devotion to the task of higher development in the consciousness.

Agastya’s submission to the persuasion of Indra forms the burden of the last mantra of the hymn which in translation reads as follows:

“O Lord of substance over all substances of being, thou art the master in force! O Lord of Love over the powers of love, thou art the strongest to hold in status! Do thou, O Indra, agree with the Maruts, then enjoy the offerings in the ordered method of the Truth.” (RV.I.170.5.)

Obviously, this is a mantra of reconciliation on behalf of Agastya who otherwise was not willing to care for Indra and offer anything to him, as is evident from the third mantra in the hymn. Now he gets himself fully prepared to offer everything to Indra so as to get it transformed and serve as a means in the ascension. His plea with Indra to agree with the Maruts is suggestive of the necessity of concordance between the Higher Intelligence or the Illumined Mind and the principle of Life. Discordance between the two in the make-up of the aspirant cannot permit the latter to go ahead with any tangible success. Transformation of the vital and mental both leading to their mutual concordance is the sure way to success in the awakening of the higher consciousness. To quote Sri Aurobindo:

“It is precisely by the progressive surrender of the lower being to the divine activities that the limited and egoistic consciousness of the mortal awakens to the infinite and immortal state which is its goal.” (On the Veda, p.290.)

Thus, we see how when explained in this way by decoding the symbolic significances of keywords and figures the hymn yields a rich harvest of ideas integrated, systematised and highly worthwhile, as against the anecdotal method adopted by earlier authorities beginning right from Yāska and leading us nowhere except trivialising the character of the gods as well as of the seers, as against the central thrust of ideas embedded in the Veda.

11. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism - IV (1)

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Sri Aurobindo has taken care of almost all the aspects of Vedic symbolism including seers, metres, gods and goddesses. He indeed has put forth a symbolic system which has the potentiality of explaining comprehensively and homogeneously everything in the Veda. This system was evolved in course of his intensive yogic sādhanā resulting on the one hand in the making of his own philosophical system known as integral Vedanta and on the other in the formulation of his view of the Veda particularly the symbolism involved in it. While the crux of his philosophical system is embodied in his magnum opus, The Life Divine, his theory of Vedic symbolism is formulated in his Secret of the Veda, both these works were serialised in the Arya concurrently during the years 1914-20. To understand his theory of the symbolism, it is essential to have some idea of his philosophical system which in itself seems to have been formulated as much by his understanding of the Veda from within its symbolic system as by his own yogic experiences.

To put it summarily, there are mainly seven pillars on which his philosophical system is built up. These pillars are: Existence, Consciousness, Delight, Supermind, Mind, Life and Matter. There is nothing hypothetical about these seven principles. They summarize the entire spectrum of reality conceivable by the human consciousness. Apart from Matter, Life and Mind which are the physical components of the being, Existence is absolutely necessary for the admittance of these components themselves.

The admittance of these components including Existence itself is dependent inevitably on consciousness. Consciousness, in its turn, is to be found nowhere operating just as mere awareness but as oriented to a certain end characterized by some or the other shade of Delight.

Lastly, the entire spectrum of these six factors coalescing with one another has the involvement of a certain system behind it evincing the working of a super intellect and serving as the basis of the human understanding of the nature of things by all means, including the commonsense, psychological, philosophical and scientific. Sri Aurobindo terms this supervening principle as Supermind.

The Supermind is the intermediary lying in the middle of the rest of the six principles. It is flanked by Existence, Consciousness and Delight on the one hand and by Matter, Life and Mind on the other. Its function lies in the conversion of the former three into the latter three as well as in the re-conversion of the latter into the former. It is on account of these processes of conversion and re-conversion that there is commotion involving movement, change, growth, mutilation, and transformation taking place constantly in the spectrum of the reality, actual and conceivable.

According to Sri Aurobindo, Vedic gods and goddesses are forces, formulations or agencies of the Supermind operating in the midst of these processes of conversion and re-conversion going on all planes of being. That is why there is constant commotion in their behaviour as recounted in the Veda in the form of coming into being, expanding, fighting, striking, emerging, illuminating, consuming, protecting, guiding, rescuing, sustaining, providing, helping, etc. Although everything in the world is the result of the operation of these forces, no matter tangible to the human consciousness or not, it is their operation between the Mind and the Supermind which in particular is the object of seeing of the Vedic seers.

In his view, this operation is oriented towards transformation of the mental into the supramental. Though the same operation is going on as per the orientation of the nature of things itself, human consciousness of the same operation as well as its own concerted striving in that direction is sure to stimulate and expedite the process of upward movement.

Vedic seers, according to Sri Aurobindo, are the scions of this stimulation and expedition. It is particularly with this end in view that they contemplate on gods and goddesses, seek to propitiate them by means of prayers and sacrifices.

The effectiveness of the role of gods and goddesses in this respect emerges from the pivotal position they occupy in the spectrum of the reality ranging from the mental to the supramental. The range between the mental and the supramental is by no means small. It is almost as large as that between any other two pillars of the reality such as Matter and Life, Life and Mind.

Introduction to Professor Kireet Joshi

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( I am happy to inform my readers that Professor Kireet Joshi one of the greatest educationists, philosophers and yoga expert has kindly given his consent to contribute his articles and works on this blog, which will not only further enrich this blog in matters of yoga, philosophy but also benefit readers.)

Kireet Joshi (born on 10th August, 1931) studied Philosophy and Law in Bombay University. In 1953, he was awarded gold medal and Vedanta prize for having stood 1st class 1st at the M.A. examination. In 1955, he was selected for the IAS and posted as Assistant Collector of Surat in 1956 but resigned in the same year to devote his life to the study and practice of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga at Pondicherry. He was responsible for the establishment of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Educational Research at Auroville.

In 1976, the-then Prime Minister of India, Late Smt. Indira Gandhi requested him to advise the Government of India, particularly, to impart dimension of value-education to the entire system. Subsequently, in the same year he was appointed Educational Adviser to the Government of India and later as Special Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. He was also the Member-Secretary of the National Committee on Vishwabharati, under the Chairmanship of Dr. K.L. Shrimali. Subsequently, he was instrumental in redesigning and redrafting of the bill for Vishwa Bharati University, Shantiniketan.

He developed the idea of Indira Gandhi National Open University as also of Pondicherry University and the Bills for both them were drafted by him. Subsequently, both these universities came to be established.

In 1981, he was appointed Secretary of Auroville International Advisory Council, which consisted of the Union Minister of External Affairs, Director-General of UNESCO, Minister of Culture of Bulgaria and Shri J.R.D. Tata. He established Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Educational Research at Auroville.

He was Member of the University Grants Commission from 1982 to 1988 and also the Member-Secretary of National Commission on Teachers.

He played a major role in the establishment and development of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He shouldered the responsibilities of Member-Secretary of this Council from 1981-90, during which Indian philosophical tradition came to be encouraged and supported through original research and publication programme. Assisted Professor D.P. Chattopadhyaya in formulating a National Project on History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture (PHISPC), and worked as its Member-Secretary during its formative period from 1981-90.

Initiated and developed Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratisthan, New Delhi which was later shifted to Ujjain and renamed as Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratisthan (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh). He served as its Founder Member-Secretary from 1987-93. He also framed and implemented scheme of financial assistance to Vedapathis and also for providing scholarships to students of the Veda and Vedic knowledge. He secured from the Government of India an endowment of Rs. 7 crores for this Organisation as a result of which it has been able to develop a number of activities connected with Vedic research.

He made valuable contributions to the field of education at international level and was a member of India’s delegation to UNESCO’s conferences in 1976, 1980, 1984, 1985 and 1988. He was elected Vice-president of International Commission on Education at Geneva for a period of two years from 1976-78. He was Chairman of UNESCO Committee on International Education for a period of four years (1983-87). He was Vice-Chairman of the UNESCO Institute of Education, Hamburg, during 1986-90.

The Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla was redesigned in 1982 under the recommendations of the Kriplani Committee of which Dr. Kireet Joshi was the Member-Secretary. He was Member of the Executive Board of this Institute from 1983-89.

He has supported programmes of child education and advocated that the child should be the centre not only of the educational system but of the whole nation. He provided guidance and impetus to the Bal Bhavan movement in the country and was Member of the Children’s Film Society from 1974-77.

He was the President of Dharam Hinduja International Centre of Indic Research, New Delhi (Hinduja Foundation) from 1993 to August 2000; Chairman of Auroville Foundation, Auroville (1999-2004) and Chairman of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) for two consecutive terms (5th June 2000 to 6th June 2006).

Kireet Joshi has written on a number of subjects connected with culture, science, spirituality, yoga and education. His works include: Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Education for Personality Development, Education for Character Development, Veda and Indian Culture, Bhagavadgita and Contemporary Crisis, Philosophy of Education for the Contemporary Youth, Philosophy of the Role of the Contemporary Teacher, Philosophy of the Evolution for the Contemporary Man, Sri Aurobindo and Integral Yoga, Education for Tomorrow, Education at Crossroads, Glimpses of Vedic Literature, Portals of Vedic Knowledge, Towards Universal Fraternity, Landmarks of Hinduism, Veda Aur Bharatiya Sanskriti, Vaidik Vangmaya ka Itihasa and Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Other Essays.

His edited work include: “The Aim of Life”, “The Good Teacher and The Good Pupil” and Mystery Excellence of Human Body. He continues to write on the themes connected with the Vedic literature, educational issues and Integral Yoga. He is Editorial Fellow of PHISPC and currently working on a volume entitled: Synthesis of Yoga.

He is recipient of 1989 award of the Indian Council for Child Education for outstanding contribution in this field. He is also recipient of the National Citizen’s Award for 1989. The degree of D.Litt (Honoris Causa) was conferred upon him by Rahstriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati in 1996.

Kireet Joshi has studied French, Sanskrit and Hindi. Gujarati is his mother tongue.

Kireet Joshi is the Founder Managing Trustee of The Mother’s Institute of Research; Vice-Chairman of Indian Philosophical Congress (IPC) and recently he played a key role in the establishment of Vedic University at Tirupathi.

10. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism - III

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Vedic symbols are to be interpreted not in isolation but in relationship to each other. This is one of the basic propositions of Sri Aurobindo in course of his discussion on Angirasa. Working of this formula is to be seen in the sequel in regard to the same Angirasa legend with a view to determine the particular sense or system of ideas it might have been intended to communicate, as per Sri Aurobindo’s explanation.

Sri Aurobindo starts his deliberation on this legend with the cognisance of the fact that Angirasas occur in the Veda as seers, Fathers and gods all at the same time. In Ŗgveda V.11.6, for instance, Angirasas are said to have discovered Agni from within the forests and at the same time Agni itself has been addressed as Angiras, the son of force arising out of churning and becoming a force by itself (Rigveda, V.11.6.). It is significant to note that in the same mantra the Angirasas have been taken both as seers and god Agni.

In another mantra they are described as the sons of heaven and the heroes of the Asura bestowing riches upon Viśvāmitra as well as prolonging his life (Rigveda, III.53.7). Here they play the role of gods besides this they are addressed as pitaro manuşyāh, the human Fathers. Now the problem is how one and the same persons can be gods, seers and Fathers at the same time.

On this issue, Sri Aurobindo puts forth two possibilities:

“Two entirely opposite explanations can be given of the double character of these seers, divine and human. They may have been originally human sages deified by their descendants and in the apotheosis given a divine parentage and a divine function; or they may have been originally demigods, powers of the Light and Flame, who became humanised as the fathers of the race and the discoverers of its wisdom.” (On the Veda, p.182)

Sri Aurobindo gives a symbolic concretisation of certain psychic forces sometimes as seers and at others as Fathers and gods. One of the bases behind his exposition is the liquidity of the Sanskrit language as it is used in the Vedas where names usually are adjectival in character. Instances are Gotama, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Bharadvāja, Vasistha, Dirghatamas, Nābhānedistha, Uśanā Kāvya, etc., who, in Sri Aurobindo’s view, “have become types and symbols of certain spiritual experiences and victories and placed in that capacity side by side with the gods.” (On the Veda, p.183)

He concludes: “It is not surprising, then, that in this mystic symbolism the seven Angirasa Rishis should have become divine powers and living forces of the spiritual life without losing their traditional or historic human character.”

Sri Aurobindo concentrates on determining the nature of the role played by the Angirasas in the legend of recovery of the cow, sun, dawn, etc., from the darkness and finds them as playing their role in association with not only Indra but several gods. He finds close resemblance of their name with the word Agni, both having been derived from the common root anj, which means to anoint. He gets support for this proposition in the Brahmanic statement equating Angirasas with angāra, burning coal. He refers to Ŗgveda X.62.6 which describes the Angirasas as sons of Agni having been born from the heaven in diverse forms and being equipped with nine rays of light and even ten and therefore shining most brilliantly amongst the gods (Rigveda, X.62.6). Commenting on the content of this mantra, he observes that there is a definite symbolism involved in the account and that if taken to refer to the sun, which is most plausible one on the physical side, it would obviously be difficult to explain their human character and seerhood of mantras. As regards the idea of identifying the most brilliant one amongst the Angirasas with the sun, Sri Aurobindo refutes this suggestion with the remark: “We must not imagine that the Vedic poets were crude and savage intellects incapable of the obvious figure, common to all languages, which makes the physical light a figure of the mental and spiritual, of knowledge, of an inner illumination. The Veda speaks expressly of `luminous sages’, dyumato viprāh and the word suri, a seer, is associated with Sūrya, the sun, by etymology and must originally have meant luminous.” (On the Veda, p.188)

He refers to instances bearing Angirasa’s identification with Brhaspati or rather Brhaspati’s identification with Angirasa. One of them is Ŗgveda VI.73.1, where Brhaspati has been described as Angirasa and rich in oblations, besides being one of the first-borns, guardians of Ŗta and piercer of the mountain (Rigveda, VI.73.1). He also points out to Ŗgveda X.47.6 where Brhaspati occurs again as possessed of seven rays, wisdom of Ŗta and as supremely intelligent as well as an Angirasa worthy of going close to and capable of bestowing upon mankind luminous and mighty wealth (Rigveda, X.47.6).

Angirasas are also closely associated with Vāyu and Indra. As regards the Maruts, they are characterised by Sri Aurobindo as “luminous and violent gods of the storm and lightning uniting in themselves the vehement power of Vāyu, the Wind, the Breath, the Lord of Life and the force of Agni, the Seer-Will,” and therefore as “seers who do the work by the knowledge, as well as battling forces who by the power of the heavenly Breath and the heavenly lightning overthrow the established things, the artificial obstructions, in which the sons of Darkness have entrenched themselves, and aid Indra to overcome Vritra and the Dasyus.” He regards them as “the Life-Powers that support by their nervous or vital energies the action of the thought in the attempt of the moral consciousness to grow or expand itself into the immortality of the Truth and Bliss.” (On the Veda, p. 191)

Indra has also been brought close to the Angirasas. In one of the Rgvedic mantras, while, on the one hand, he has been prayed to become a bull in regard to virility, a friend in regard to friendship, a possessor of Rks in the midst of those who possess Rks, the best companion of Maruts in regard to speed, he, on the other, is expected to become the best of the Angirasas in regard to behaving like the Angirasas (Rigveda, I.100.4). Sri Aurobindo considers all the adjectives used for Indra here as applicable equally well to the Angirasas also. He states:

“This Indra who assumes all the qualities of the Angirasas is the Lord of Swar, the wide world of the Sun or the Truth, and descends to us with his two shining horses, hari, which are called in one passage sūryasya ketu, the sun’s two powers of perception or of vision in knowledge, in order to war with the sons of darkness and aid the great journey…Indra must be the Power of the divine Mind born in man and there increasing by the Word and the Soma to his full divinity. This growth continues by the winning and growth of the Light till Indra reveals himself fully as the lord of all the luminous herds which he sees by the `eye of the sun’, the divine Mind master of all the illumination of knowledge. ” (On the Veda, p.193.)

According to Upanişads Indra is the divine mind. The story of Umā Haimavatī recounted in the Kena Upanişad, while Agni represents Vāk and Vāyu Prāņa, Indra stands for the divine mind and gets therefore intimated to Brahman through Umā Haimavatī (On the Veda, p.193.).

Aitareya Upanişad states that the Atman, after its entrance into the human body via the saggital suture, was seen as such for the first time by Indra. Indeed, it is on account of his seeing Brahman as embodied in the human personality, says the Upanişad, that Indra has come to be given his name Indra (idam + dŗ, this he saw) (Aitareya Upanişad, III.13-14).

The Bŗhadāraņyaka Upanişad points out to the same status of Indra almost in continuation of the same state of things, though in a reverse order. It conceives of Indra as lying like a puruşa in the right eye along with his wife in the left eye, observing the world in co-ordination with her in the state of wakefulness. They are said to meet together in the heart-space in the states of dream and dreamless sleep and subsist on the subtlest substance of food lying in the heart. His way out from the body is the nerve rising upward from the heart and going to the saggital suture. It is while moving through this nerve that he happens to see the Atman or Brahman (Bŗhadāraņyaka Upanişad, IV.2.2-3.)

Sri Aurobindo’s view on Indra in the Veda gets validated by these Upanişadic accounts. The position of Indra thus determined, it becomes relatively easier to trace the identity of the rest of the figures associated with the legend of Angirasas.

Uşas is also one of these figures. Her involvement in the legend is evident from two significant adjectives used for her. She, on the one hand, has been addressed as angirasatamā and on the other as indratamā. Both these adjectives occur in the same mantra while angirasatamā occurs once in another mantra but that also having been seen by the same seer, namely Vasişţha. Now the oneness of the seer in both the usages and oneness of the devatā for whom both the adjectives have been used, can very well be expected to serve as the key to the opening out of the lock of mystery associated with the legend.

The mantra uses both the adjectives together and read as follows:

“Endowed with opulence in riches, the Dawn has become most full of Indra power and has given birth to the inspirations of knowledge for our happy going. The daughter of Heaven, the goddess, most full of Angirasahood places her riches at the disposal of doers of good works.” (Rigveda, VII.79.3)

Commenting on it, Sri Aurobindo observes:

“The riches in which Usha is opulent cannot be anything else than the riches of the Light and Power of the Truth; full of Indra power, the power of the divine illumined mind, she gives the inspirations of that mind (sravansi) which lead us towards the Bliss, and by the flaming radiant Angirasa-power in her she bestows and arranges her treausres for those who do aright the great work and thus move rightly on the path, ittha naksanto angirasvat (Rigveda, VI.49.11)”

Thus, there is some sort of complementarity between Indra and Angiras. While Indra represents symbolically the illumined mind serving as the source of inspiration, Angiras stands for the flaming radiant power of action for right and noble action which is characteristic of Agni. Uşas, on the other hand, operates on both these planes, i.e., the plane of inspiration as well as that of radiant flaming action. It is on account of her dual role that she has been addressed as both indratamā and angirastamā in one and the same mantra.

Sri Aurobindo translates it as follows:

“Dawn, heaven born, has opened up (the vital of darkness) by the Truth and she comes making manifest the vastness (mahimānam), she has drawn away the veil of harms and darkness (druhas tamah) and all that is unloved; most full of Angirasa-hood she manifests the paths (of the great journey).” (Rigveda, VII.75.1)

Sri Aurobindo’s comments on these mantras as:

“Again we have the Angirasa power associated with the journey, the revelation of its paths by the removal of the darkness and the bringing of the radiances of the Dawn; the Paņis represent the harms (druhah, hurts or those who hurt) done to man by the evil powers, the darkness is their cave; the journey is that which leads to the divine happiness and the state of immortal bliss by means of our growing wealth of light and power and knowledge.”

Finally, determining the symbolic significance of the Angirasas, he observes:

“The immortal lustres of the Dawn which give birth in man to the heavenly workings and fill with them the workings of the mid-regions between earth and heaven, that is to say, the functioning of those vital planes governed by Vāyu which link our physical and pure mental being, may well be the Angirasa powers. For they too gain and maintain the truth by maintaining unhurt the divine workings. This is indeed their function, to bring the divine Dawn into mortal nature so that the visible goddess pouring out her riches may be there, at once divine and human, devi martesu manusi, the goddess human in mortals.” (On the Veda, p.196)

9. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism - II

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Sri Aurobindo provided us with the clue to the understanding of Vedic accounts in general as centring around the gods like Agni, Indra, Soma, Aśvins, Mitra, Varuņa and Bŗhaspati, and goddesses like Sarasvatī and Uşas as also objects like cow, horse, gold, water and light, and he proceeds further to explain certain legends germane to the Vedic thought involving the interaction of almost all the above mentioned forces and objects together and therefore potent enough to show the working of the meanings assigned to each one of these agencies and objects together synthetically. Most prominent among them, in Sri Aurobindo’s view, is Angiras. As such, he deals with it at length.

The legend of Angiras involves the working of several gods and goddesses such as Indra, Brhaspati, Aśvins, Soma, Vāyu, Agni, Pūşan, Uşas and Sarasvatī. The basic problem ith legend is the confinement of cows by some adversaries in a certain cave. The names of those who have kept confined the cows are Vŗtra, Vala and Paņi in particular. The problem is as to what this legend refers to. Is it an actual incident? Or, is the whole account out and out symbolic?

As usual is the case, the modern scholarship takes this legend as reflective of the ancient Indian scenario in which the non-Aryans were driven out of the plains and were contriving against the newcomers from behind hills and mountains. They in particular would steal away their cows and keep them confined in narrow valleys and caves. Rescuing of the cows from their clutches became a great problem with the new settlers particularly as they were mostly not acquainted with those regions. Out of this helplessness they naturally used to pray to their favourite gods and goddesses so as to procure their help in the task of rescuing the cows.

Sri Aurobindo refutes this explanation on the ground that it is incompatible with the actual words of the seers and states:

“It is easy to suggest, as do the scholars who would read as much primitive history as possible into the Veda, that the Paņis are the Dravidians and Vala is their chief or god. But this sense can only be upheld in isolated passages; in many hymns it is incompatible with the actual words of the Rishis and turns into a jumble of gaudy nonsense their images and figures.” (Sri Aurobindo: On the Veda, pp.160-61.)

Sri Aurobindo further observes that the Vedic seers use the legend not as an event of the past but as a recurrent affair of the life of the seer involved so deeply in his quest for knowledge and wisdom. If the cows were lost and recovered prior to the composition of the mantras, the seer no more did require to get them back from the aborigines and, with that end in view, pray to the gods and goddesses to help him in the act of restoration. As against it, the fact is that Indra, for instance, continues to repeat the same feat again and again and constantly remains “the seeker of cows” and “restorer of the stolen wealth,” as Sri Aurobindo puts it. (On the Veda, p. 162)

Moreover, had the legend been an actual event of history, and Angirasa, Saramā, Vala, Paņi, etc., as actual characters of that historical event, it ought to have been restricted to them alone and not spread over other seers. As evidence, Sri Aurobindo refers to a mantra in the fifth mandala of the Ŗgveda where seer Kumāra Ātreya while praying to Agni talks of his having been divested of his cows in the absence of the protector and makes the request for their being released by the thief so that god Agni may drive them back home (Rigveda, V.2.5.). In this account of theft and restoration of the kine, the entire role has been played by Kumāra Ātreya as the seer and Agni as the god instead of Angiras and Indra respectively.

The thrust of the idea involved takes a different turn. This is evident from the mantras immediately preceding it. Sri Aurobindo translation is as follows:

“I beheld afar in a field one shaping his weapons who was golden tusked and pure bright of hue; I give to him the Amrita (the immortal essence, Soma) in separate parts; what shall they do to me who have not Indra and have not the word? I beheld in the field as it were a happy herd ranging continuously, many, shinning; they seized them not, for he was born; even those (cows) that were old, became young again.” (Rigveda, V.2.3-4.)

As regards the meaning of these mantras, Sri Aurobindo observes:

“What, we may fairly ask, are these shinning herds, these cows who were old and became young again? Certainly they are not physical herds, nor is it any earthly field by the Yamuna or the Jhelum that is the scene of this splendid vision of the golden–tusked warrior god and the herds of the shining cattle. They are the herds either of the physical or of the divine Dawn and the language suits ill with the former interpretation; this mystical vision is surely a figure of the divine illumination. They are radiances that were stolen by the powers of darkness and are now divinely recovered not by the god of the physical fire, but by the flaming Force which was concealed in the littleness of the material existence and is now liberated into the clarities of an illumined mental action.” (Sri Aurobindo: On the Veda, pp.162-63)

It is significant to note that the account of the theft of the cows is given in these mantras not as an event of the past but as a simile to bring out metaphorically something of entirely different nature. This is evident from the term yūtham na used in the fourth mantra and gobhir na in the fifth meaning `like the herd of kine’ and `as from the cows’ respectively. These usages bear out the fact that the seer is intending to communicate a certain secret idea bearing some sort of similitude to the event of loss or separation of cows and intense desire or aspiration for its restoration. Since the mantras are addressed to Agni, who forms the devatā or real subject matter of them, it is outrageous to interpolate anything from outside bearing a casual reference to the main theme by way of just analogy and declare it as the main burden of the account.

Uşas is another deity associated with the task of rescuing the cows. Sri Aurobindo refers to a mantra seen by Rishi Vasistha in this regard which reads in his translation as follows:

“True with the gods who are true, great with the gods who are great, sacrificial godhead with the gods sacrificial, she breaks open the strong places, she gives of the shinning herds; the cows low towards the Dawn.” (Rigveda, VII.75.7.)

Involvement of the Dawn in rescuing the cows transforms the nature of the cows themselves. Had any real incident of rescuing certain cows from the clutches of certain adversaries been intended to be depicted, the act might have been staged either in the night time or in the day time and least of all at the time of the dawn of the day which has naturally to do with the victory of light over darkness rather than with any event of theft getting so important as to be referred to by so many seers while praying to so many gods and goddesses including Uşas even.

Sri Aurobindo further refers to mantras recounting the Aśvins’ involvement in the act of freeing the cows. He quotes a mantra addressing the Aśvins as Angiras besides referring to the act of rescuing the cows. The mantra in his translation reads as follows:

“O Angiras, ye two take delight by the mind and enter first in the opening of the streams of the cows.” (Rigveda, I.112.18.)

Commenting on this mantra Sri Aurobindo observes that “the sense is evidently the liberated, outflowing stream or sea of the light,” rather than any incident of freeing any cows from anywhere, as was expected from the association of the name of Angiras who is the main character in the act of rescuing the cows from the cave of the Paņis. (Sri Aurobindo: On the Veda, p.163)

Sri Aurobindo raises the pertinent question whether there is “a definite sense in these variations which will bind them together into a single coherent idea or is it at random that the Rishis invoke now this and now the other deity in the search and war for their lost cattle.” (On the Veda, p. 164).

The answer which he offers to the problem is highly revealing inasmuch as it suggests the real way out in the midst of apparently disconnected details of bewildering nature embodied in the Vedas. He states:

“If we will consent to take the ideas of the Veda as a whole instead of bewildering ourselves in the play of separate detail, we shall find a very simple and sufficient answer. This matter of the lost herds is only part of a whole system of connected symbols and images. They are recovered by the sacrifice and the fiery god Agni is the flame, the power and the priest of the sacrifice by the Word, and Bŗhaspati is the father of the Word, the Maruts its singers, Saraswatī its inspiration by the Wine, and Soma is the god of the Wine and the Ashwins its seekers, finders, givers, drinkers. The herds are the herds of Light and the Light comes by the Dawn and by the sun of whom Pushan is a form. Finally, Indra is the head of all these gods, lord of the light, king of the luminous heaven called Swar, -- he is, we say, the luminous or divine Mind, into him all the gods enter and take part in his unveiling of the hidden light. We see therefore that there is a perfect appropriateness in the attribution of one and the same victory to these different deities and in Madhuchchandas’ image of the gods entering into Indra for the stroke against Vala. Nothing has been done at random or in obedience to a confused fluidity of ideas. The Veda is perfect and beautiful in its coherence and its unity.” (Sri Aurobindo: On the Veda, pp. 164-65).

Sri Aurobindo brings in another feature of the legend which cannot be accounted for in terms of the historic event. As per the latter, the objects stolen by the Paņis and rescued by Angiras with the help of Indra and, of course, Saramā, were simply cows. This central theme of the legend is sure to break down if horse also gets included along with the cows. As a matter of fact, this really occurs in several mantras in the Samhitā to which Sri Aurobindo draws our attention. He refers to a mantra addressed to Indra where the latter has been said to have opened out the stall hiding within it horses as well as cows (Rigveda, VIII.32.5.). In another mantra seen by Rebha Kāśyapa, Indra again has been prayed to deliver the horse as well as the cow to the Soma-squeezing and liberal sacrificer and by no means to the Paņi (Rigveda, VIII.97.2.). Apart from the inclusion of horse and particularly in the context of the mention of Paņi here what is difficult to understand is the probability of Indra delivering the cows to Paņis who, as per the prevalent interpretation, were deadly opposed to Indra and his followers, the Aryans. If the Aryans and non-Aryans were so dead against each other, where was the probability of Indra, the leader of the Aryans delivering the cows and horses to the Paņis in any case who represented the non-Aryans? The seer ought not to have felt such a danger at all under those circumstances. The real clue to the understanding of the hidden meaning of the account, however, lies in the significant adjective used in common for the horse and the cow craved for by the seer. That adjective is avyayam. When man himself is cognised and addressed so frequently in the Veda as martya, mortal, by the seer, how can an actual horse or cow be imperishable in his eyes?

In view of these as well as well as several other difficulties involved in the interpretation of the legend in the above simplistic historical way, Sri Aurobindo concludes:

“From these examples it will appear how closely the different symbols and parables of the Veda are connected with each other and we shall therefore miss the true road of interpretation if we treat the legend of the Angirasas and the Paņis as an isolated mythus which we can interpret at our pleasure without careful regard to its setting in the general thought of the Veda and the light that that general thought casts upon the figured language in which the legend is recounted.” (Sri Aurobindo: On the Veda, p.169)

8.Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism - I

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After the Upanişads and Yāska, Sri Aurobindo is the most revealing light on the symbolism used in the Veda. There is a colossal difference not only of time from the Upanişads and Yāska to Sri Aurobindo. As regards the Upanişads, they came immediately after the Vedic Samhitās but for the intervention of the Brāhmaņas and the Āraņyakas and in certain cases without any such intervention at all. As such, they were most intimate to the spirit of the seers. The students who came to the Upanişadic sages for higher knowledge were well versed in the Vedas. Under these circumstances, the Upanişadic sage had only to hand over to them the key to this citadel of knowledge in the form of precise hints and suggestions and the whole thing became obvious to the student already fully charged with inquisitiveness.

More or less, the same conditions prevailed during the age of Yāska. No doubt, a considerable course of time had passed and consequently the Vedic words, phrases and idioms were becoming archaic to the people. Extremely short and cryptic remarks on mantras made by Yāska as against the word-by-word explanation of Sāyaņa millennia afterwards bear out the relatively convenient position in which Yāska had his placing in regard to the Vedic lore. Scholars of the time, no matter be they interpreters and teachers of Veda, grammarians, linguists, historians, mythologists, priests, astronomers, and the like, were equally devoted to the Veda. If there was any note of dissent in this whole House of scholarship, that was the lone and feeble voice of Kautsa which was silenced by Yāska in just one round of argumentation. If that voice reverberated in the Indian horizon, that was only centuries afterwards in the form of Jainism and Buddhism which, however, had little to do directly with textual interpretation of the Veda.

Conditions became entirely different by the time of Sri Aurobindo. The predominantly ritualistic interpretation of Sāyaņa with the involvement of stupendous scholarship in it had already reduced the Veda to the position of just a text on ritualism to be recited on sacred occasions but to be kept faithfully concealed so far as the understanding of its meaning was concerned. It was considered most precious no doubt in regard to knowledge also, but there was no scope for human effort left any more in this respect beyond keeping it safe from the evil eye of the infidel.

This position of standstill continuing for centuries came to be disturbed by the advent of the Westerners in the area. Through rigorous research they discovered that in the Veda there was neither the knowledge and wisdom believed to be there by the tradition nor the meaninglessness imputed by Kautsa but a world of meanings belonging to the primitive life of mankind. This fabulous discovery attracted the attention of a large number of scholars from the West perusing various disciplines such as history, culture, anthropology, religion, sociology, mythology and linguistics. With great perseverance they subjected the Veda to threadbare analysis from their respective viewpoints offering explanation for each and everything there in their own ways. The result was that each and everything in the Veda got apparently explained but in a way amounting to the conclusion that there was nothing worth the name in it except indirect portrayal of primitive life lived by the Aryans having entered the portals of India. It was like the early psychologists dissecting the body and not finding any trace of the soul there, abandoning the early Greek position and re-engaging themselves exclusively in the pursuit of psychology bereft of the psyche.

The result was that the Veda no longer remained a sacred book embodying a world of knowledge and wisdom tempting enough for anyone to go through with any deeper interest beyond the conjectures, guessing, contrivances, machinations, destitutions, and aberrations of the primitive life, save a spark of wisdom here and there which too was explicable in terms of chance occurrences.

This newly introduced viewpoint by the Westerners ruling over the country got so settled on the Indian psyche that except for the lone voice of Swami Dayanand Saraswatī, almost all of them took it as the last word on the Veda and went about using it as something axiomatic. After this, even if anyone of the Indians thought of anything new regarding the Veda, that had necessarily to be developed only under the framework provided to him anew. B.G. Tilak’s “Arctic Home in the Vedas” is a glaring example of this attitude. He dissented from the propositions of Max Muller etc., only to take the original home of the Vedic people farther off to the Arctic region.

There is a lot of difference between a text remaining unexplained and the same explained contrary to its basic spirit. It is under this precarious condition that Sri Aurobindo happened to come to the Veda. By his time the Veda was being taught in Indian universities and colleges as a dead book, no less dead than the Egyptian Book of the Dead, wherein students were being taught just the grammatical structure, literal translation and explanation, if any at all, confined well within the framework prepared by Peterson, Wilson, Griffith, Macdonell, etc., amounting to portrayal of primitive life centring around cows, bulls, milk, horses, chariots etc., as objects of longings and Nature as the article of worship. Promptings of the heart of Sri Aurobindo, as well as the visions he had had in course of his yogic sādhanā, telling an entirely different tale to him regarding the Veda, obliged him to study the Veda afresh leading him to find it as laden with profound knowledge and wisdom but couched in an array of symbols hard to penetrate through ordinarily.

After propounding his method of Vedic interpretation at length, Sri Aurobindo in his Secret of the Veda starts his interpretation of the symbols with Agni. He takes Agni as “the divine will perfectly inspired by divine Wisdom, and indeed one with it, which is the active or effective power of the Truth-consciousness.” (Sri Aurobindo, On the Veda, p.76, Pondicherry, 1956.) By “Truth-consciousness” he means the principle of Rta inherent in the Supreme Being and operating in the world as the agency of order. He associates this meaning with Agni particularly on the basis of the latter being characterised a number of times in the Veda as kavikratuh, having the will-power of the seer. The seer obviously stands for truth while his will-power denotes the power or consciousness of truth. Apart from this symbolic expression used for Agni, the latter at the very next step in the same mantra seen by Madhucchandas, has directly been described as satyah, truthful and citrasravastamah, most abundantly possessed of the word of wisdom. From the word hotŗ used for Agni in the same mantra he gets the hint of the latter’s working as the power of Truth in the work (Rigveda, I.1.5). Besides operating on the cosmic scale, Agni is recognised by the Vedic seer as indwelling the human heart also. Sri Aurobindo treats sacrifice in Agni as symbolical of “continual self-offering of the human to the divine and a continual descent of the divine into the human.”

Agni has also been associated in the Veda with the household. This has generally been taken to indicate to the fire kept burning in the house of the sacrificer. Sri Aurobindo interprets it differently. On the basis of a pertinent reference in which the phrases rtam brhat and svam damam have been used together and as almost equivalent to each other, he derives the obvious conclusion that the house of Agni must mean the vastly operative principle of Ŗta whose truth-consciousness Agni is. (Rigveda, I.75.5.)

Sri Aurobindo takes up Goddess Sarasvatī for his decoding. Sarasvatī occurs in the Veda as a river as well as a goddess. Recently the actual bed of the river has also been discovered through aerial photography. In the Ŗgveda, Sarasvatī as a river is said to emerge from the high Himalayas and merge in the sea. This has now been corroborated by recent researches. Now the question is what this Sarasvatī, as a matter of fact, was. Was she originally a goddess or merely a river? Sri Aurobindo does not deny the possibility of Sarasvatī having been an actual river also. But as the goddess of learning, as described in the Veda, she must not be a mere personification of any river whatsoever. Even then, however, how could the goddess of learning come to be associated with the stream of water? After raising this question, Sri Aurobindo refers to a point in the Greek mythology where Muses, the goddesses of learning, has been associated with an earthly stream of water known as Hippocrene. This river is said to have sprung from the hoof of the divine horse Pegasus. The horse smote the rock with his hoof and the waters of inspiration gushed out forming the river Hippocrene. Sri Aurobindo very rightly identifies Pegasus with the Sanskrit pājas meaning force, movement or footing. “The stroke of the Horse’s hoof on the rock releasing the waters of inspiration”, he observes, “would thus become a very obvious psychological image.” (On the Veda, p. 106). Thus, he shows the obvious possibility of representation of the string of inspiration by the stream of water.

Identification of Sarasvatī with inspiration gives a definite clue to the solution of the problem of sapta sindhava, the land of seven rivers whose identification with Punjab along with the Western part of Uttar Pradesh is being held even until now as a certainty. If Sarasvatī can represent the string of inspiration coming down from Ŗta, the truth-consciousness of the Eternal, will other river-goddesses associated so closely with her remain mere rivers, asks Sri Aurobindo. Via a discussion on the significance of the number seven used for these rivers in the Veda he eventually reaches the conclusion that they represent the seven planes of being which may be determined as the physical, vital, mental, supramental and the planes of delight, consciousness and existence. Sri Aurobindo states: “…the seven rivers are conscious currents corresponding to the sevenfold substance of the ocean of being which appears to us formulated in the seven worlds enumerated in the Purāņas.” (On the Veda, p.113)

Next to river and water, Sri Aurobindo takes up the problem of light, darkness, dawn, etc., as involved in the understanding of the Veda. The relevant accounts are explained by Sāyaņa in terms of breaking of day which was so essential for the performance of sacrifices. The Western Indologists, on the other hand, take it as a reflection of the state of mind of the newcomers of India who must naturally have been afraid of night and darkness in the alien land and therefore would have craved for the coming of the dawn and rising of the sun. Arguing on their behalf, Sri Aurobindo observes that even if we take the cow, so closely associated with the dawn, in the symbolic sense, it is quite possible to regard her as simply the symbol of the physical light. Sri Aurobindo states:

“Why should we not, even accepting this inevitable conclusion that the cow is an image for Light, understand it to mean simply the light of day as the language of the Veda seems to intend? Why suppose a symbol where there is only an image? Why invite the difficulty of a double figure in which “cow” means light of dawn and light of dawn is the symbol of an inner illumination? Why not take it that the Rishis were praying not for spiritual illumination, but for daylight?” (On the Veda, p. 146)

The difficulties which Sri Aurobindo feels to lie in this facile explanation is that in that case it would necessarily have to be admitted that “the Vedic peoples sat down to the sacrifice at dawn and prayed for the light when it had already come” and that “it was only after they had sat for nine or for ten months that the lost light and the lost sun were recovered by the Angirasa Rishis.” (On the Veda, p. 147). Moreover, he asks, in that case, “What are we to make of the constant assertion of the discovery of the Light by the Fathers - Our fathers found out the hidden light, by the truth in their thoughts they brought to birth the Dawn?” (Rigveda, VII.76.4.). He further points out that “If we find such a verse in any collection of poems in any literature, we would at once give it a psychological or a spiritual sense” and therefore suggests that “there is no just reason for a different treatment of the Veda.” (On the Veda, p.147)

In view of these facts, he ultimately comes to the conclusion that “The Night is clearly the image of an inner darkness; by the coming of the Dawn the Truths are won out of the Nights.” In regard to the Sun, he observes: “This is the rising of the Sun which was lost in the obscurity – the sun of Truth.” (On the Veda, p.149). In this connection, while explaining the symbolic significance of gold so often mentioned in the Veda he observes that it is “the concrete symbol of the higher light, the gold of the Truth, and it is this treasure, not gold coin, for which the Vedic Rishis pray to the gods” (On the Veda, p. 149).

Regarding the symbolism of Dawn, he points out in the same continuation: “Everywhere Dawn comes as a bringer of the Truth, is herself the outshining of the Truth. She is the divine Dawn and the physical dawning is only her shadow and symbol in the material universe.” (On the Veda, p. 150)

He finds support for this contention in the constant association of the Vedic Dawn with Aditi and Ŗta. Aditi is the mother of gods and so is said to be the Dawn, besides being directly stated as a form or power of Aditi (Rigveda, VII.76.4). As regards her association with Ŗta, it has been stated that she follows effectively the path of the Truth (Rigveda, I.124.3). Negating the feasibility of the interpretation of Ŗta here on sacrificial and naturalistic lines as sacrifice or water in this context, Sri Aurobindo points out: “Here neither the ritualistic nor the naturalistic sense suggested for ŗtam can at all apply; there would be no meaning in a constant affirmation that Dawn follows the path of the sacrifice or follows the path of the water.” (On the Veda, p. 152)