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Studies of

RIG VEDA Book 5

12 Hymns to Mitra and Varuna (With translation and commentaries of

Sri Aurobindo)

University of Human Unity Auroville INDIA

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Introduction

Adityas and other Gods.

The faculties of Consciousness in the Veda are seen as projected from the Divine

Mother, Aditi, Infinite Consciousness-Force. The supreme emanations of that

Consciousness-Force are called Adityas, the Sons of Aditi. There are seven of them:

Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Daksha, Amsha and Surya.

There are different classes of gods mentioned in the Veda: Adityas, Vasus, Vishve-

devas, Maruta-gana, Raudra-gana, etc. Although they differ from each other they also

share many features and powers in the process of manifesting the Divine, which makes

it difficult for the mind not used to distinguish the subtle differences in the commonly

shared features. Ordinary mind would only see the crowded common imagery assigned

to all of them. The ability to distinguish the particularities in the commonly shared

features Sri Aurobindo attributes to the higher mind. He writes: “Yet as all these things

form one in the realised godhead, as each element… contains the others in itself and

none of them can exist separately from the rest, therefore each of the Four

(Adityas) also possesses by force of his own essential quality every general attribute of

his brothers. For this reason if we do not read the Veda as carefully as it was written,

we shall miss its distinctions and see only the indistinguishable common functions of

these luminous Kings, —as indeed throughout the hymns the unity in difference of all

the gods makes it difficult for the mind not accustomed to the subtleties of psychological

truth to find in the Vedic divinities anything but a confused mass of common or

interchangeable attributes. But the distinctions are there… Each god contains in himself

all the others, but remains still himself in his peculiar function.”1 This particular ability Sri

Aurobindo assigns to the faculty of a higher mind.

Āditya-gaṇa is a class of deities, which distinctly differs from other types of gods such as

Višve-devās, for instance, who are the Universal Gods, operating already in the created

Universe, whereas Adityas are still representing the transcendental and supramental

1 Volume: 15 [CWSA] (The Secret of the Veda), Page: 497

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levels. In their original status they also differ from the Vasu class, though many times

they are called upon to be identified with the status of Vasus, especially when they are

to rise in the consciousness of man.

Vasu lit. means a ‘luminous dweller within the substance’, Agni is often invoked by this

name. And since Agni represents all the gods and godheads here and is their gate to the

manifested consciousness of man, as it were, this word is also applied to all of them

when used in this particular meaning of rising to the higher status from within. Thus

Adityas , Maruts , Ashvins , Indra , Ushas , Rudra , Vayu , Vishnu , Siva and Kubera are

invoked as Vasus then. In the post Vedic literature the class of Vasu, vasu-gaṇa,

consists of eight Vasus, the eighth one was born as Bhishma in the story of

Mahabharata.

There is also a clear distinction between the Adityas and the Maruts, or the class of

Rudras, though again they may be called upon to be identified with Rudras for a

particular purpose, in the same way as Agni can take any of the features of other gods

on himself. Rudras is a class of gods, especially when they are mentioned in plural,

indicating the sons of Rudra (sometimes identified with or distinguished from the

Maruts, who are 11 or 33 in number). In the Brahmanas and Aranyakas 11 Rudras are

mentioned together with their female energies Rudranis. Later, from Brahmanas

onwards, the number of Adityas grew to 12, which seem to represent symbolically the

twelve months of the Sun, Aditya.

The eighth son of Aditi

Surya Savitri is the Creator, representing the Supramental Manifestation in all its glory of

all the godheads, embodying all his brothers. He by projecting himself into the darkness

of Inconscient becomes Vivasvat of Martanda, Mortal Embryo, or Mortal Universe. It is

this dark Sun, who is hidden by the Titans in the Subconscious cave of Darkness, which

has to be recovered by the Sacrifice.

So Vivasvat is a Creator of the Universe, who thus carries within himself all the

potentialities of his seven brothers from whom they are to rise to their high throne, from

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where they could see both the Supreme realms of Existence and the Lower Nature.2 It is

only then they may arrive at a supreme perception of the Lord, Puruṣottama of the Gita,

or Īša of the Īša Upaniṣad.

The four transcendental Godheads or the Guardians of Light.

1) Varuṇa represents the Vastness of Infinite Being, Sat.

2) Mitra represents the luminosity and harmony of the Divine Consciousness, Cit.

3) Aryaman is the power of the Divine Tapas.

4) Bhaga is the Bliss of the Divine Fulfillment, Ananda.

Sri Aurobindo calls the first four Adityas the Guardians of Light, for they are guarding

the Transcendental Light from one side and from another introducing it into the lower

hemisphere. He writes in the Secret of the Veda: “Aditi is the infinite Light of which the

divine world is a formation and the gods, children of the infinite Light, born of her in the

Ritam, manifested in that active truth of her movement guard it against Chaos and

Ignorance.” 3

Sri Aurobindo defines the characteristics of the four first Adityas in this way:

“The Divine is existence all-embracing, infinite and pure; Varuna brings to us the infinite

oceanic space of the divine soul and its ethereal, elemental purity.

The Divine is boundless consciousness, perfect in knowledge, pure and therefore

luminously right in its discernment of things, perfectly harmonious and happy in its

concordance of their law and nature; Mitra brings us this light and harmony, this right

distinction and relation and friendly concord, the happy laws of the liberated soul

concordant with itself and the Truth in all its rich thought, shining actions and

thousandfold enjoyment.

The Divine is in its own being pure and perfect power and in us the eternal upward

tendency in things to their source and truth; Aryaman brings to us this mighty strength

and perfectly-guided happy inner upsurging. 2 RV 5.62.8 ā rohatho varuṇa mitra gártam átaś cakṣāthe áditiṃ dítiṃ ca / “O Varuna, O Mitra, you two are ascending to your throne from where you see Aditi and Diti, Infinite and Finite Consciousness”. 3 SV 475

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The Divine is the pure, the faultless, the all-embracing, the untroubled ecstasy that

enjoys its own infinite being and enjoys equally all that it creates within itself; Bhaga

gives us sovereignly that ecstasy of the liberated soul, its free and unfallen possession of

itself and the world.

This quaternary is practically the later essential trinity of Sachchidananda,—Existence,

Consciousness, Bliss with self-awareness and self-force, Chit and Tapas, for double

terms of Consciousness; but it is here translated into its cosmic terms and equivalents.”

The Triple Status of the Supermind

Sri Aurobindo described the triple status of the Supermind in various ways. First we will

use his description in the philosophical terms. It is important for us in order to identify

the faculties of the next three Adityas and their functions, which will be directly

connected with the triple status of the Supermind.

1) Unity

2) Many in One and One in Many

3) Many

In the chapter The Triple Status of the Supermind. Sri Aurobindo writes about these

three levels: “The first founds the inalienable unity of things, the second modifies that

unity so as to support the manifestation of the Many in One and One in Many; the third

further modifies it so as to support the evolution of a diversified individuality which, by

the action of Ignorance, becomes in us at a lower level the illusion of the separate ego.”

This vision will be then projected into all the structure of the lower manifestation on all

its levels. We may always find these three elements in the life of every creature: (1) the

unifying oneness dominating over the individual elements, (2) the harmonizing diversity

and its relation with oneness, and vise versa, and (3) the diversifying individual

elements, deviating from the oneness as far as possible. These three will become the

major grades in the hierarchy of the mental-vital-physical structure of consciousness,

maintaining their approaches to the reality as a whole and to each other in particular.

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Sri Aurobindo also depicts the three layers of the Supermind in the psychological terms,

in relation to three activities of the intuitive mind, for Intuition is a flesh of the

Supramental light reaching out to the lower levels of consciousness. It is interesting to

compare the two, philosophical and psychological descriptions. Here is a psychological

one:

1) Imperative Supermind, which corresponds to Revelation. That is always true.

Nothing can stand against it. It is knowledge fulfilling itself by its own power.

2) Representative Supermind… represents the actual movements of potentialities

and shows that in operation. When Inspiration is changed into its supramental

value, then it becomes this Representative Supermind. Even this is not the

highest. There you know certain potentialities in thought and action working and

you can in many cases say what would happen or how a certain thing happened

if it does.

3) Interpretative Supermind, corresponding to Intuition. I call it Interpretative,

because what is a possibility on the mental plane becomes a potentiality on the

supramental plane and the Interpretative puts all the potentialities before you. It

shows the root cause of events that may become true on the physical plane.

When Intuition is changed into its supramental value, it becomes Interpretative

Supermind.4

Three Godheads of the Supermind

1) Dakṣa represents the power of Thought, All-discerning and All-distributing Power of

Supramental Consciousness.

2) Aṃša represents the diversity in Oneness supported by that Unifying Power of

Daksha.

3) Sūrya or Savitar represents all the seven Adityas and projects them into a lower

Creation. His rays represent the diversity in the domains of Svar.

Dakṣa is the Father of all the Adityas born for manifesting the Divine in the material

Universe. Even Aditi is born to him as his daughter, the cosmic universal Cow,

4 The Supermind, Vol.17, p.26, SABCL, 1971, Pondicherry

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supporting with her milk all the creation. It is in the Daksha that the triple conception by

the Lord within his Consciousness is taking place, 5 which creates the triple status of the

Supermind.

Sri Aurobindo speaks of Daksha in this way:

“Aditi is originally the pure consciousness of infinite existence one and self-luminous;

she is the Light that is Mother of all things. As the infinite she gives birth to Daksha,

the discriminating and distributing Thought of the divine Mind, and is herself

born to Daksha as the cosmic infinite, the mystic Cow whose udders feed all the worlds.

It is this divine daughter of Daksha who is the mother of the gods. In the cosmos Aditi is

the undivided infinite unity of things, free from the duality, advaya, and has Diti the

separative dualising consciousness for the obverse side of her cosmic creation,—her

sister and a rival wife in the later myth.” 6

Aṃša lit. means a ‘portion’, which implies two meanings simultaneously: oneness and

separateness. It is in this Amsha that the Jivatman is being shaped, projecting itself as

the Psychic being into the lower hemisphere of the Surya Savitri, the Creator.

Sri Aurobindo speaks of the second status of the Supermind in this way:

“In the second poise of the Supermind the Divine Consciousness stands back in the idea

from the movement which it contains,7 realising it by a sort of apprehending

consciousness, following it, occupying and inhabiting its works, seeming to distribute

itself in its forms.8 In each name and form it would realize itself as the stable Conscious-

Self, the same in all; but also it would realise itself as a concentration of Conscious-Self

following and supporting the individual play of movement and upholding its

differentiation from other play of movement,—the same everywhere in soul-

essence, but varying in soul-form. This concentration supporting the soul-form

5 RV 5.69.2 tráyas tasthur vrṣabhāsas tisrṇāṃ dhiṣáṇānāṃ retodhā ví dyumántaḥ/

“There stand wide three luminous Bulls 5 and cast their seed into the three Thoughts.”

6 SV 473 7 Cf to Saṃjñāna, Vijnāna, Ājñāna, Prajñāna.

8 Cf. to Aṃša Āditya

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would be the individual Divine or Jivatman as distinguished from the universal

Divine or one all-constituting self.”9

Seven Sons of Aditi

Thus the seven sons of Aditi, the Divine Mother are:

1) Varuna, Sat

2) Mitra, Cit

3) Aryaman, Tapas

4) Bhaga, Ananda

5) Daksha, Supramental Knowledge-Force

6) Amsha, Supramental Many in Oneness and Oneness in Many

7) Surya Savitri, Supramental Manifestation

So we can see that the whole range of the powers and consciousness was already

prepared in the Supermind as a Creator before the manifestation of Cosmos could take

place physically. Surya is the Creator of this Universe and at the same time he is the

Supreme Lord, who gathered all his power, consciousness and bliss to create himself

anew, to become many, bahu syām iti. 10

ADITI thus reflects through her sons the higher status of the Divine in the lower

hemisphere. Then she is called in the Veda Diti.

So there are all the equivalents of the Seven Adityas within the lower Creation, there is

presence of All embracing Infinity of Varuna, there is a creative and harmonising all

Māyā of Mitra, there is a powerful presence of Aryaman, and the delight of Bhaga on all

the levels of Creation. It is because of the Sacrifice of the Divine Mother, Aditi, that the

higher states of Consciousness are projected into and present in the lower creation. It is

these who manifest the world.

This duality was created by the Supramental Consciousness-Force which thus maintains

the double process of the One: its diversity and its oneness. The Consciousness of the

9 Volume: 18-19 [SABCL] (The Life Divine), Page: 146

10 TaitUp 2.10.

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Supreme is thus including both, and exceeding them both. To rise to his Supreme

perception one must maintain both states simultaneously, as the Isha Upanishad says:

vidyam cavidyam ca yas tad vedobhayam saha, avidyaya mrtyum tirtva vidyayaamritam

ashnute. “The one who knows both simultaneously Knowledge and Ignorance, indeed

by Ignorance passes through the Death (as the field of constant change in Time and

Space) and by Knowledge enjoys Immortality (as the all knowing state of Being).”

It is a description of the Supreme Consciousness partaking in both, and infinitely

manifesting itself in time and beyond time being essentially one.

The Lord experiences the state of his Immortality within the transitory situation, within

time and space continuum, being infinitely free from them. It is only when man can

perceive both that he may rise to the highest consciousness of the Lord and see his both

poises of Diti and Aditi. And that is what these godheads are doing through man’s

consciousness, rising to their highest realization.

Surya Savitri the Lord of Creation

The Rays of the Sun thus build up the luminous planes, called in the Vedas Svar.

It has three luminous realms, called trī rocanā.

Which thus project the higher three realms of the Cosmic Mind, called tisro dyāvaḥ,

sustaining the three spaces of the Vital realms, called trī rajāṃsi, supported by the three

foundations of the Physical, called tisro bhūmīḥ.11

Sri Aurobindo translated trī rocanā as ‘three luminous worlds divine’: “three powers of

Light uphold three luminous worlds divine”, trí aryamā mánuṣo devátātā trī rocanā divyā

dhārayanta. 12 These three powers of Light as the triple status of the Supermind uphold

the three luminous worlds of the Svar, trī rocanā, supporting then the three heavens

trīṃ uta dyūn, and the three spaces of the mid-worlds, trīṇi rajāṃsi.

11 RV5.69.1 trī rocanā varuṇa trīmr utá dyūn trīṇi mitra dhārayatho rájāṃsi “Three worlds of the

Light you two uphold, O Varuna, three heavens, three mid-worlds, O Mitra!” The three luminous

worlds trī rocanā, (from root ruc, to shine) are the three levels of Svar. 12 RV 5.29.1. Volume: 18-19 [SABCL] (The Life Divine), Page: 142

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So the three luminous realms are projected into the three heavens of our mentality and

the three spaces of our vitality; and all of them are supported by Mitra and Varuna. It is

as if they penetrate it through from the beyond influencing them with their presence,

consciousness and power.

RV 2. 27.8 mentions also of the three bhumis:

tisró bhūmīr dhārayan trīmr utá dyūn trīṇi vratā vidáthe antár eṣām

rténādityā máhi vo mahitváṃ tád aryaman varuṇa mitra cāru

“They (Adityas) support the three earths, and the three heavens. Three are the laws

within the sacrificial gathering (inside the Antariksha). By the Truth the sons of Infinity

have their greatness here great, and that is Beautiful, O Aryaman, Varuna and Mitra.”

The Triple Worlds

There are three earths, three levels in the vital, and the three levels in the mind: tisro

bhūmīḥ, trīṇi rajāṃsi, and tisro dyāvaḥ, projected, as it were, from three worlds of Svar,

trī rocanā, as the Rays of the Sun of the Supramental Consciousness-Force.

WORLD SVAR SUPERMIND Mental mind, Vital mind, MIND Physical mind UNITY Mental vital, Vital vital, VITAL MANY IN ONE and ONE IN MANY Physical vital Mental physical, MANY Vital physical, PHYSICAL Physical physical The Mental Mind is what Sri Aurobindo calls in Savitri the Self of Mind, the Cosmic or

Universal Mind. The Vital Mind is the Universal Life’s Mind and the Physical Mind is the

one which manifests the physicality of the Universe. Human mind is also build on the

material ground, dependent on the physical brain, dealing with physical reality of the

Cosmos.

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And these are the three heavens mentioned in the RV 1.35.6 as tisro dyāvaḥ of Savitar:

two are his own realms and one is in the realm of Yama: tisro dyāvaḥ savitur dvā

upastāṃ ekā yamasya bhuvane virāṣāṭ. So it is the Mind of the physical Universe, which

is in the world of Yama, and the Universal Vital Mind and the Universal Mental Mind are

in the realms of Savitar, which Sri Aurobindo calls in his system of Knowledge: Higher

and Illumined Mind.

A Comparison of the Vedic and Sri Aurobindo’s terminology

If we were to compare Sri Aurobindo’s terms with the Vedic terminology we would see

this picture:

Supermind

Overmind trī rocanā, ‘three luminous worlds divine’

Intuitive Mind

Illumined Mind

Higher Mind tisro dyāvaḥ, three heavens

Mind

We have already mentioned tisro dyāvaḥ, the three realms of the Universal Mind:

Mental, Vital and Physical, which in Sri Aurobindo’s terminology are identified as

Illumined Mind, Higher Mind and Mind, but we did not speak about the three rocanas

yet, the three luminous realms of Svar. The particularity of Svar is that it begins in the

Supermind and extends itself into the Overmind and then to the Intuitive Mind. It is here

that the major difficulty of understanding of Svar lies. Sri Aurobindo speaks of Svar

differently in different contexts, sometimes he identifies it with the Supermind and

sometimes he underlines the difference between the two. It is the world of the Rays of

the Sun, which in its first stage, before going out, is still a part of the Sun and is Sun

itself. It is only later that the Rays disperse into the groupings of flashes in the

Overmental realms and finally become separate in the Intuitive Mind.

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Sri Aurobindo describes this phenomenon in his letter (LY 261) speaking of the levels of

the Overmind:

“There are different planes of the overmind.

1) One is mental, directly creative of all the formations that manifest below in the

mental world—that is the mental overmind.

2) Above is the overmind intuition.

3) Still above are the planes of overmind that are more and more connected with the

supermind and have a partly supramental character. Highest in the overmind ranges is

the supramental overmind or overmind gnosis. “

Commenting on the Hymn to Mitra and Varuna, Sri Aurobindo speaks about the three

rocanas as “the three luminous worlds in which the triple mental, the triple vital, the

triple physical find the light of their truth and the divine law of their powers.”

There is another fundamental difficulty in understanding of Svar, for, according to the

Veda, it was created last, after Heaven and Earth and Antariksha came into existence. It

is as if it requires a feedback, or a field of application. If the lower creation were not

there, Svar would not come into being. It is because of Agni being born in the lower

creation, calling for the light from above, that Svar finally manifests.

Cf. RV 10.88.2: gīrṇám bhúvanaṃ támasāpagūḷham/ āvíḥ súvar abhavaj jāté agnaú,

“[First] the World was swallowed by the Darkness and hidden within it. Then, when Agni

was born, Svar became manifest.”

The Hymn of Creation (RV 10.190) also speaks of Svar as being created last:

rtáṃ ca satyáṃ cābhīddhāt tápasó 'dhi ajāyata /

táto rātrī ajāyata tátaḥ samudró arṇaváḥ

“The Law and the Truth were born from the kindled Power of Tapas.

From that the Night was born, from the Night - the Ocean of Inconscient Waters.”

samudrād arṇavād ádhi saṃvatsaró ajāyata /

ahorātrāṇi vidádhad víśvasya miṣató vaśī

“From the Ocean the Year was born, distributing Days and Nights,

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the Master of All that changes.”

sūryācandramásau dhātā yathāpūrvám akalpayat /

dívaṃ ca prthivīṃ ca antárikṣam átho súvaḥ

“The Sun and Moon, the Establisher fashioned as before. Heaven and Earth and Space

in-between, and then - Svar!“

The explanation to this phenomenon we can find in the understanding of that fact that

there is a fundamental difference between the Illumined Mind and the higher realms of

the Intuitive Mind and the Overmind. Sri Aurobindo writes about it in his letter (LY 264):

“Intuition is above illumined Mind which is simply higher Mind raised to a great

luminosity and more open to modified forms of intuition and inspiration. …

The Intuition is the first plane in which there is a real opening to the full

possibility of realisation—it is through it that one goes farther—first to

overmind and then to supermind.”

He also defines the difference between the Illumined Mind and Intuitive Mind in his

Savitri, in the Canto The Self of Mind, where Intuitive Mind can be reached only through

the higher action of Intuition itself coming down from above to the Illumined Mind (see

the quotations at the end). It is through the overflooding directness of the Overmind via

Intuition that the Illumined Mind can come into contact with the Supramental

consciousness says Sri Aurobindo. In his letter he writes:

“…the thousand-petalled lotus—sahasradala—above commands the higher thinking

mind, houses the still higher illumined mind and at the highest opens to the intuition

through which or else by an overflooding directness the overmind can have with

the rest communication or an immediate contact.”13

13 LY 365

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Two lower triple realms of

Mental Vital

Vital trī rajāṃsi

Physical Vital

Mental Physical

Vital Physical tisro bhūmīḥ

Physical

Tri rajamsi, the three realms of the Vital are the levels of (1) the Higher Universal Life,

(2) the Universal Life, as such, with an entrance to the Infinite Darkness, and (3) the

Universal Life as it is known to us projected into the creation of material Universe.

So, the Mental Vital corresponds to the plane which Sri Aurobindo describes in the

Second Book of the Traveler of the Worlds, in the Ninth Canto The Paradise of the Life-

Gods. It is the Life Force which is on the other shore of Creation, beyond the darkness.

To reach to that shore Aswapati must cross the regions of the Eternal Night, which are

described in the previous two Cantos, 7 and 8: The Descent into Night, and The World

of Falsehood, The Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness.

It is only after crossing those levels of Infinite Darkness and Evil that he moves to the

realms of the Mental Vital and then to the Mind levels in the following Cantos; first to

The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind, which corresponds to the Cosmic

Physical Mind, depicted in the Veda as Heaven of Yama, ruling over men, yamasya

bhuvane virāṣāṭ, which is our human mind in its highest potential, and then to the

Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Mind, to the Cosmic Higher Mind’s regions.

Thus the realms of Life are the place where all the troubles, the dark forces enter into

our system of mental-physical existence. It is here in the Vital, Antarikṣa, that the bridge

is to be made by the Sacrifice to the higher powers of consciousness seeking their direct

and effective influence. It is here that the whole battle is going on between the Sons of

Light and the Sons of Darkness in the field of our Life.

The tisro bhūmīḥ are the three realms of the Universal Physical, determined by

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(1) the Mind, which makes it self conscious in manifesting and maintaining its form,

(2) by the Life, which makes it dynamic in its own movement;

(3) and with the proper Physical, as an faculty housing all other forces and levels of

consciousness taking their part in the material manifestation of the Divine.

Without physical being fully prepared there can’t be any direct Supramental influence in

the material Nature, for it is, as it is clear now, dragging down the vital and the mind

inherent in it, not allowing them to realize their full and free potential. And there is a

reason for it, for all of them are here only to manifest the Divine in matter, and not for

any other reason. Sri Aurobindo says in his letter to a Sadhak:14

“There can be no conquest of the other planes by the supermind but only an influence,

so long as the physical is not ready. … And how is it possible to perfect the mind and

vital unless the physical is prepared—for there is such a thing as the mental and

vital physical and mind and vital cannot be said to be perfectly prepared until

these are ready.”

Body as a Supramental creation

The triple conception by the Creator, depicted in the Veda, within his own

Consciousness creates the Supermind. The very physical consciousness is a result of this

conception and a part of its realisation.

The physical and mental consciousness are seen in the Veda as two luminous

firmaments, rodasi, supporting the growing Soul in this Creation.

The body itself is seen as the outcome of a Supramental Creation, which at the first

glance is not easy to understand, but which explains why in the post Vedic spiritual

traditions together with disappearance of the Svar and the Supermind the body also lost

its priority and got reduced to be seen as an imprisonment and even as a problem in

finding our true self rather than a solution in manifesting the Divine in matter.

14 LY 1228

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Sri Aurobindo writes in his letter: “The supramental is necessary for the

transformation of terrestrial life and being, not for reaching the Self. One

must realise Self first, only afterwards can one realise the supermind.”

In the Vedas the Heaven and Earth, our mental and physical consciousness were

considered to be pure and conscious of the Divine. The body was seen as a fortress and

refuge for the soul of man against the forces of Darkness. It was referred to as ‘well-

made’, a dwelling place for the Spirit. The treatment of the physical body underwent a

fundamental change in the later Mayavada-oriented spiritual traditions, it was seen as

an obstacle and hindrance for the spiritual realisation, rather than the supporter of or

the field for realisation. It fell off into the domain of a lower consciousness and was

blamed for keeping soul here bound to suffering, against its will to be free.

The Seven Suns of the Supermind

Sri Aurobindo reconsidered the usual Yogic practices, oriented towards Liberation alone,

which came in the post Vedic Period, when the transformation of earthly life and

physical body was considered already to be impossible, to the Vedic view of

transformative practice: invoking the higher powers by the means of aspiration in the

heart and surrendering to them for the transformation. He introduces the ancient Vedic

methods of a Descent of Higher Consciousness and Power into our mental, vital and

even subtle physical and physical bodies for transformation.

It is as if he is looking at the physical body from above, seeing it from the Supramental

point of view. He writes about the seven centers in the body as the manifestation of the

Seven Suns of the Supermind in this way:

1. The Sun of Supramental Truth, - Knowledge=Power originating the supramental

creation. Descent into the Sahasradala.

2. The Sun of Supramental Light and Will-Power, transmitting the Knowledge-Power

as dynamic vision and command to create, found and organize the supramental

creation. Descent into Ajna Chakra, the center between the eyes.

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3. The Sun of Supramental Word, embodying the Knowledge-Power, empowered to

express and arrange the supramental creation. Descent into the Throat Centre.

4. The Sun of Supramental Love, Beauty, and Bliss, releasing the Soul of the

Knowledge-Power to vivify and harmonise the supramental creation. Descent into

the Heart-Lotus.

5. The Sun of Supramental Force dynamised as a power and source of life to

support the supramental creation. Descent into Navel Centre.

6. The Sun of Life-Radiances (Power-Rays) distributing the dynamis and pouring it

into concrete formations. Descent into the Penultimate Centre.

7. The Sun of Supramental Substance-Energy and Form-Energy empowered to

embody the supramental life and stabilize the creation. Descent into the

Muladhara.

The Concept of Sacrifice

Heaven and Earth, the mental and physical consciousness are housing souls here, as the

eternal amshas of the Divine, to perform the Sacrifice here, that is to invoke and bring

down the higher forces of Consciousness. The Heaven and Earth in a meanwhile are

supporting and nourishing them, protecting them from Abhva, the Chaos of the

Inconscient, which they have descended to convert and to save.

Agni, the Divine Will, the spiritual Father of all the evolving souls of men, is thus a

growing Lord in the Darkness, taking all of it into Himself and changing it into the Divine

nature.

Heaven and Earth, our Father and Mother, Mental and Physical Consciousness, were

seen as projected from the Supermind into the darkness of the Inconscient as the

Golden Embryo, first, the Hiranya Garbha. Then they got separated into two halves. The

upper one became Heaven and the lower Earth. The Space in-between became

Antariksha, introducing thus both the superconscient powers into the system and the

beings from below, from the Abyss of Abhva, to meet and to fight in this space. It is a

window to the Infinite Light and the Infinite Darkness. It is a place of a Sacrifice.

And in this space the soul of man is growing, supported by our physical and mental

consciousness. “Thus the soul is a battlefield full of helpers and hurters, friends

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and enemies.” – says Sri Aurobindo about the Vedic symbolism of the Sacrifice – “All

this lives, teems, is personal, is conscious, is active. We create for ourselves by the

sacrifice and by the word shining seers, heroes to fight for us, children of our

works.” “The soul of man is a world full of beings, a kingdom in which armies clash to

help or hinder a supreme conquest, a house where the gods are our guests and which

the demons strive to possess; the fullness of its energies and wideness of its being make

a seat of sacrifice spread, arranged and purified for a celestial session.

Such are some of the principal images of the Veda and a very brief and insufficient

outline of the teaching of the Forefathers. So understood the Rig Veda ceases to be an

obscure, confused and barbarous hymnal; it becomes the high-aspiring Song of

Humanity; its chants are episodes of the lyrical epic of the soul in its immortal

ascension. This at least; what more there may be in the Veda of ancient science, lost

knowledge, old psycho-physical tradition remains yet to be discovered.”

Sacrifice as a way to transformation

Agni calls to the Godheads from above and from within the depth of his own

Consciousness, thus introducing them and their transcendental presence here in the

earthly consciousness of man.

In his depth of his being he has an access to all the Godheads, for he himself represents

all of them here in the fallen Self.

It is by the Sacrifice performed by men in himself, that these transcendental Godheads,

Adityas are rising to their highest Throne, from which they will be able to see both the

Infinite and the Finite Consciousness.

Agni invokes and brings them here from the luminous realms of Svar, rocanād, into the

earthly mind, life and body of men, see RV 1.14.9:

ākīṃ sūryasya rocanād víśvān devān uṣarbúdhaḥ / vípro hótehá vakṣati //

“May the Invoker, the Ecstatic Priest, (Agni) bring here to us the Gods, who awake with

the Dawn, from the luminous world of the Sun, rocanād.”

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The Aim of the Sacrifice

The Union of the three levels of the physical consciousness with the three spaces of the

vital and three heavens of the mental consciousness is the aim of the Vedic Sacrifice.

For thus it effectuates the ascent to Svar’s three luminous realms, trī rocanā, introducing

the Supramental consciousness into the lower hemisphere.

The union of Agni, Vayu and Surya, was considered to be the aim of the Vedic Sacrifice,

where Agni was seen as the essence of Earth, Prithivi, Vayu as the essence of the Space

in-between, Antariksha, and Surya the essence of Heaven, Dyaus. So if these three fires

are united into one Fire then the aim of the Sacrifice is realised. For it recreates the

Oneness of the triple status of the Supermind here in the lower hemisphere by

completing it on all the levels of Consciousness.

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RV 5.6215 ṛṣi: šrutavit ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chandaḥ: triṣṭup

\/ten? \/tm! Aip?iht< Øu/v< va</ sUyR?Sy/ yÇ? ivmu/cNTy! Aña?n! , dz? z/ta s/h t?Swu/s! td! @k<? de/vana</ ïeó</ vpu?;am! ApZym! . 5-062-01 tt! su va?m! imÇavé[a mih/Tvm! $/maR t/Swu;I/r! Ah?i-r! ÊÊÿe , ivña>? ipNvw>/ Svs?rSy/ xena/ Anu? va/m! @k>? p/ivr! Aa v?vtR . 5-062-02 Axa?ryt< p&iw/vIm! %/t *a< imÇ?rajana vé[a/ mhae?i-> , v/xRy?t/m! Aae;?xI>/ ipNv?t</ ga Av? v&/iò< s&?jt< jIrdanU . 5-062-03 Aa va/m! Aña?s> su/yujae? vhNtu y/tr?Zmy/ %p? yNTv! A/vaRk! , "&/tSy? in/i[Rg! Anu? vtRte va/m! %p/ isNx?v> à/idiv? ]riNt . 5-062-04 Anu? ïu/tam! A/mit</ vxR?d! %/vIRm! b/ihRr! #?v/ yju?;a/ r]?ma[a , nm?SvNta x&td/]aix/ gtR/ imÇasa?we vé/[e¦a?Sv! A/Nt> . 5-062-05 A³?ivhSta su/k«te? pr/Spa y< Çasa?we vé/[e¦a?Sv! A/Nt> , raja?na ]/Çm! Aù?[Iymana s/hö?SwU[< ib-&w> s/h ÖaE . 5-062-06 ihr?{yini[R/g! Ayae? ASy/ SwU[a/ iv æa?jte id/Vy! Añaj?nIv , -/Ôe ]eÇe/ inim?ta/ itiLv?le va s/nem/ mXvae/ Aix?gTyRSy . 5-062-07 ihr?{yêpm! %/;sae/ Vyuòa/v! Ay?SwU[/m! %id?ta/ sUyR?Sy , Aa rae?hwae vé[ imÇ/ gtR/m! At?z! c]awe/ Aid?it</ idit<? c . 5-062-08 yd! b~ih?ó</ nait/ivxe? sudanU/ AiCD?Ô</ zmR? -uvnSy gaepa , ten? nae imÇavé[av! Aivò</ is;a?sNtae ijgI/va~s>? Syam . 5-062-09 15 The Secret of the Veda, p. 518

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The Lords of the Thousand-Pillared Home of Truth and Bliss The Rishi hymns the eternal and immutable Truth of which the Truth in mutable things is the veil; that is the goal of the journey of the manifested Sun of divine knowledge; it is the eternal unity of all things that are and the supreme Divine of which the Gods are various forms. Into it unite all the wealth of being and knowledge and power and bliss won by the sacrifice. It is the large vastness of the wide purities of Varuna and of the shining harmonies of Mitra. There, eternally stable, dwell the herds of the divine radiances of knowledge; for that is the happy field to which they here are travelling. The Impeller of the cosmic movement and journey pours out knowledge in us, the milk of the herds, by the dawns of the inner light and there descend the streams of the immortal existence followed by the single and perfect movement of Mitra-Varuna, the Light and the Purity, the Harmony and the Infinity. It is the rain of heaven which these two Godheads pour down, upholding the physical existence in its fruits and the celestial in its herding radiances of illumination. They thus create in man a force full of divine knowledge and a wide being which they guard and increase, a strewn seat for the sacrifice. This thousand-pillared force of knowledge they make a home for themselves and dwell there in the revelations of the Word. It is luminous in its form and its pillars of life have an iron strength and stability. They ascend to it in the dawning, in the rising of the Sun of knowledge and look with that eye of their divine vision on the infinite existence and the finite, the indivisible unity of things and their multiplicity. It is a home full and large with the sweetness and ecstasy of the supreme and inviolable peace and bliss which by their cherishing and fostering protection we seek to conquer and possess.

\/ten? \/tm! Aip?iht< Øu/v< va</ sUyR?Sy/ yÇ? ivmu/cNTy! Aña?n! , dz? z/ta s/h t?Swu/s! td! @k<? de/vana</ ïeó</ vpu?;am! ApZym! . 5-062-01 rténa rtám ápihitaṃ dhruváṃ vāṃ sūryasya yátra vimucánti áśvān dáśa śatā sahá tasthus tád ékaṃ devānāṃ śréṣṭhaṃ vápuṣām apaśyam /5.062.01 1. By the Truth16 is veiled that ever-standing Truth of yours where they unyoke the horses of the Sun; 17

16 The active cosmic Truth of things diffused and arranged in their mutability and divisibility of Time and Space veils the eternal and unchanging Truth of which it is a manifestation. 17 The eternal Truth is the goal of the divine Light which arises in us and journeys upward into higher and higher heavens through the shining upper ocean.

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there the ten hundreds 18 stand still together; That One,—I have beheld the greatest of the embodied gods. 19 Interpretation: Sri Aurobindo writes in the Secret of the Veda: “The self-luminous One is the goal of the Aryan-minded; therefore the seers worshipped him in the image of the Sun. One existent, him have the seers called by various names, Indra, Agni, Yama, Matarishwan. The phrases “That One”, “That Truth”,20 occur constantly in the Veda in connection with the Highest and with the image of His workings here, the Sun. In one sublime and mystic chant the refrain returns perpetually, “The vast mightiness of the Gods,—That One.” There is the goal of that journey of the Sun by the path of the Truth which we have seen to be also the journey of the awakened and illumined soul. “Concealed by this truth is that Truth of you,” of Mitra and Varuna, “where they unyoke the horses of the Sun. The ten hundreds meet there together,—That One, I have seen the supreme God of the embodied gods.” But in itself the One is timeless and our mind and being exist in Time. “It is neither today nor tomorrow; who knoweth That which is transcendent? When it is approached, it vanishes from us.” Therefore we have to grow towards it by giving birth to the gods in ourselves,21 increasing their strong and radiant forms, building up their divine bodies, and this new birth and self-building is the true nature of the sacrifice,—the sacrifice through which there is the awakening of our consciousness to immortality.”22 Explaining the transcendental character of the Kings Varuna and Mitra Sri Aurobindo says: “But beyond our farthest skies in the supreme ocean of light and expanse of the highest superconscient ether our haven awaits us in a Truth hidden by lesser truth, even as in the inconscient Night darkness is enwrapped and protected by an ever greater darkness. That is the truth of King Varuna. Thither the Dawns shining arise, the rivers travel and the Sun unyokes there the horses of his

chariot. And Varuna contains, sees, governs all this in his vast being and by his illimitable knowledge. All these oceans are his, even to the Inconscient and its nights so opposite in their seeming to his nature which is that of the extended radiance of one eternal, vast sun of happy light and truth. Day and Night, light

18 The entire plenitude of the divine wealth in its outpourings of knowledge, force and joy. 19 The One, the Deva veiled by his form of the divine Sun. Cf. Isha Upanishad, “That splendour which is thy fairest form, O Sun, that let me behold. The Purusha who is there and there, He am I.” 20 Tad ekam, tat satyam—phrases always carefully misinterpreted by the commentators. 21 Devavīti, devatāti. 22 Amṛtasya cetanam.

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and darkness are symbols in his infinity. “Luminous Varuna has embraced the nights; he holds the Dawns within him by his creative knowledge; visioned, he is around every object.”23 “If the purity, infinity, strong royalty of Varuna are the grand framework and majestic substance of the divine being, Mitra is its beauty and perfection. … King Varuna is one who sleeps not, but is awake and mighty forever, eternally an effective force and worker for the Truth and the Right. Still he acts as the guardian of the Truth rather than constitutes it, or constitutes rather through the action of other godheads who avail themselves of his wideness and surging force. He keeps, drives even the shining herds, but does not assemble them in the pastures, an upholder of our powers and remover of obstacles and enemies much more than a builder of our parts. Who then gathers knowledge into this nodus or links divine action in this sustainer of works? Mitra is the harmoniser, Mitra the builder, Mitra the constituent Light, Mitra the god who effects the right unity of which Varuna is the substance and the infinitely self-enlarging periphery. These two Kings are complementary to each other in their nature and their divine works. In them we find and by them we gain harmony in largeness: we see in the Godhead and increase in ourselves purity without defect basing love faultless in wisdom. Therefore these two are a great duo of the self-fulfilling godhead and the Vedic word calls them together to a vaster and vaster sacrifice to which they arrive as the inseparable builders of an increasing Truth.” Sri Aurobindo beautifully describes the Transcendental and its breakthrough into the lower realms of mind and life in Savitri: There is a being beyond the being of mind, An Immeasurable cast into many forms, A miracle of the multitudinous One, There is a consciousness mind cannot touch, Its speech cannot utter nor its thought reveal. It has no home on earth, no centre in man, Yet is the source of all things thought and done, The fount of the creation and its works, It is the origin of all truth here, The sun-orb of mind's fragmentary rays, Infinity's heaven that spills the rain of God, The Immense that calls to man to expand the Spirit, The wide Aim that justifies his narrow attempts, A channel for the little he tastes of bliss.

23 SV, p. 502

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Some shall be made the glory's receptacles And vehicles of the Eternal's luminous power. These are the high forerunners, the heads of Time, The great deliverers of earth-bound mind, The high transfigurers of human clay, The first-born of a new supernal race. The incarnate dual Power shall open God's door, Eternal supermind touch earthly Time. The superman shall wake in mortal man And manifest the hidden demigod Or grow into the God-Light and God-Force Revealing the secret deity in the cave. Then shall the earth be touched by the Supreme, His bright unveiled Transcendence shall illumine The mind and heart and force the life and act To interpret his inexpressible mystery In a heavenly alphabet of Divinity's signs.24 In the next passage Sri Aurobindo shows how mental lesser truth is covering up the supreme Truth, and how the Transcendental is influencing and forming our life from the beyond, dripping as a bright hue, through the gold lattices and the shields of the terrestrial mind: This brilliant roof of our descending plane, Intercepting the free boon of heaven's air, Admits small inrushes of a mighty breath Or fragrant circuits through gold lattices; (hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitam mukham) It shields our ceiling of terrestrial mind From deathless suns and the streaming of God's rain, Yet canalises a strange irised glow, And bright dews drip from the Immortal's sky. A passage for the Powers that move our days, Occult behind this grosser Nature's walls, A gossamer marriage-hall of Mind with Form Is hidden by a tapestry of dreams; Heaven's meanings steal through it as through a veil, Its inner sight sustains this outer scene.25

24 P 705 25 p 104

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tt! su va?m! imÇavé[a mih/Tvm! $/maR t/Swu;I/r! Ah?i-r! ÊÊÿe , ivña>? ipNvw>/ Svs?rSy/ xena/ Anu? va/m! @k>? p/ivr! Aa v?vtR . 5-062-02 tát sú vām mitrāvaruṇā mahitvám īrmā tasthúṣīr áhabhir duduhre víśvāḥ pinvathaḥ svásarasya dhénā ánu vām ékaḥ pavír ā vavarta / 5.062.02 2. That is the utter vastness of you, O Mitra and Varuna; there the Lord of the movement milks the herds of his stable radiances by the days. Lo, you twain swell all the streams of the Blissful One and your one wheel 26 moves in their path. Vocabulary: īrmā, ind. in this place, here, to this place; going constantly, or instigating [Sāy.] RV. dhenā, f. a milch cow pl.; any beverage made of milk RV.; a mare (?) , i , 101 , 10 v , 30 9; speech , voice (?) , i , 2 , 3 (Sāy. ; cf. Naigh. i , 11); N. of the wife of Brihaspati TĀr.; pavi, m. (perh. orig. "brightness, sheen"; cf. pāvaka ) the tire of a wheel (esp. a golden tire on the chariot of the Ašvins and Maruts) RV. AitĀr. the metallic point of a spear or arrow ib., the iron band on a Soma-stone ib., an arrow Nir. xii,30; a thunderbolt Naigh. ii, 20; speech; fire L.

Axa?ryt< p&iw/vIm! %/t *a< imÇ?rajana vé[a/ mhae?i-> , v/xRy?t/m! Aae;?xI>/ ipNv?t</ ga Av? v&/iò< s&?jt< jIrdanU . 5-062-03

ádhārayatam prthivīm utá dyām mítrarājānā varuṇā máhobhiḥ vardháyatam óṣadhīḥ pínvataṃ gā áva vrṣṭíṃ srjataṃ jīradānū / 5.062.03 3. You uphold earth and heaven, O Mitra King and King Varuna, by your greatnesses; you increase the growths of earth, you nourish the shining herds of heaven, you pour forth the rain of its waters, O swift in strength. Interpretation:

Sri Aurobindo explains the symbolism of the ocean and the rivers in connection with the King Varuna: “From this idea of the oceans arose naturally the psychological concept of the Vedic rivers. These rivers are everywhere. They are the waters which flow down from the mountain and ascend the mind ranging through and illuminating with their flow the dark subconscient secrets of Vritra; they are the mighty ones of

26 The unified movement, when the lower wheel of the Sun is struck away; the inferior truth is taken up into the unity of the higher truth from which it now seems to be separate in its motion.

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Heaven whom Indra brings down on the Earth; they are the streams of the Truth; they are the rain from its luminous heavens; they are the seven eternal sisters and companions; they are the divine waters who have knowledge. They descend upon the earth, they rise from the ocean, they flow to the ocean, they break out from the doors of the Panis, they ascend to the supreme seas. Oceanic Varuna is king of all these waters. “In the uprising of the rivers” it is said “he is a brother of seven sisters, he is in their middle.” And another Rishi has sung, “In the rivers Varuna is seated upholding the law of his works, perfect in will for empire.” Vasishtha speaks with a more explicit crowding of psychological suggestions, of “the divine, pure and purifying waters, honey-pouring, in the midst of whom King Varuna marches looking down on the truth and the falsehood in creatures.” Varuna too, like Indra with whom he is often associated, releases the waters; sped from his mighty hands they too, like him, become all-pervading and flow to a limitless goal. “The son of Infinity, the wide upholder, has loosed them forth everywhere; the rivers journey to the truth of Varuna.” Not only the goal, the march too is his. “Varuna of the puissance and the thousandfold vision beholds the goal of these rivers; he is the king of the kingdoms, he is the form of the rivers, for him is a strength supreme and universal.” His oceanic movement envelops all the kingdoms of being and ascends to the Paradise of the heaven of heavens. “He is the hidden ocean” it is said “and he climbs passing beyond heaven; when he has set the sacrificial word in these dawns, then with his luminous foot he tramples asunder illusions and ascends to Paradise.” Varuna, we see, is the oceanic surge of the hidden Divine as he rises, progressively manifested, to his own infinite wideness and ecstasy in the soul of the god-liberated seer.” There are wonderful statements explaining the mystery of this creation in double terms of the dweller and the dwelling.

Cf. vasām rājānaṃ vasatiṃ janānām, “the King of the dwelling places and the Dwelling Place of those who are born in the body.” Indicating that all the dwelling places are for him to dwell and at the same time He himself is a dwelling place of all those creatures, which got embodied in the physical body, who were born. Cf. also with: “The one who sees all the beings in himself and himself in all the beings… etc.”

yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupašyati sarvabhūteṣu cātmānam tato na vijugupsate/ yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ, tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ šoka ekatvam anupašyataḥ// ĪšUp There is an interesting description of the relation between the lower and higher creation in Savitri, how the higher transcendental realms determine and conceive

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the creation below through the intermediaries, ‘the sovereign Kings of Thought’, ‘Intercessors with a luminous Unseen’: In a sublimer and more daring soar To the wide summit of the triple stairs Bare steps climbed up like flaming rocks of gold Burning their way to a pure absolute sky. August and few the sovereign Kings of Thought Have made of Space their wide all-seeing gaze Surveying the enormous work of Time: A breadth of all-containing Consciousness Supported Being in a still embrace. Intercessors with a luminous Unseen, They capt in the long passage to the world The imperatives of the creator Self Obeyed by unknowing earth, by conscious heaven; Their thoughts are partners in its vast control. A great all-ruling Consciousness is there And Mind unwitting serves a higher Power; It is a channel, not the source of all. The cosmos is no accident in Time; There is a meaning in each play of Chance, There is a freedom in each face of Fate. A Wisdom knows and guides the mysteried world; A Truth-gaze shapes its beings and events; A Word self-born upon creation's heights, Voice of the Eternal in the temporal spheres, Prophet of the seeings of the Absolute, Sows the Idea's significance in Form And from that seed the growths of Time arise.27 Vocabulary: jīradānu, mfn. (Pat. on Pāṇ2.1-1 , 4 Vārtt. 1 and vi , 1 , 66) dropping or sprinkling abundantly RV. AV. jīra, mf(ā)n., quick, speedy, active RV. (Naigh. ii , 15); driving (with gen.) RV. i , 48 , 3 ; m. quick movement (of the Soma stones) , v , 31 , 12 dānu, mfn. valiant, victor, conqueror; m. a class of demons (cf.dānava) RV. (f., i, 54, 7); n. a fluid, drop, dew ({-naspatī} m. du. of Mitrā-Varuṇā or of the Ašvins RV. pinv, 1. P. , to cause to swell, distend to cause, to overflow or abound RV. AV. Br.; {pinvate}, to swell, be distended, abound, overflow ib. pinva, mfn. causing to swell or flow (see dānu-p-).

27 Savitri, p. 271

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Aa va/m! Aña?s> su/yujae? vhNtu y/tr?Zmy/ %p? yNTv! A/vaRk! , "&/tSy? in/i[Rg! Anu? vtRte va/m! %p/ isNx?v> à/idiv? ]riNt . 5-062-04

ā vām áśvāsaḥ suyújo vahantu yatáraśmaya úpa yantu arvāk ghrtásya nirṇíg ánu vartate vām úpa síndhavaḥ pradívi kṣaranti / 5.062.04 4. Let horses perfectly yoked with their well-governed reins of light bear you down to us; the form of the clarity follows in your coming and the Rivers flow in the front of heaven. Interpretation: The transcendental Purity and wideness with its Harmony and Bliss, well governed in power and knowledge, ašvāsaḥ suyujo vahantu yata-rašmayaḥ, are invited now to come down into the lower hemisphere of the material body, upa yantu arvāk. And with them coming the beatitude of the clarity follows, and the supreme rivers flow in front of the heaven, sindhavaḥ pradivi kṣaranti, the transcendental rivers enter the creation. There is a wonderful passage in Savitri about the heavenly rivers of bliss and luminous force pouring down and of the eagles of Omniscience descending down from the Beyond: Even on the struggling Nature left below Strong periods of illumination came: Lightnings of glory after glory burned, Experience was a tale of blaze and fire, Air rippled round the argosies of the Gods,

Strange riches sailed to him from the Unseen; Splendours of insight filled the blank of thought, Knowledge spoke to the inconscient stillnesses, Rivers poured down of bliss and luminous force, Visits of beauty, storm-sweeps of delight (cf. with Maruts) Rained from the all-powerful Mystery above.

Thence stooped the eagles of Omniscience. (see in Appendix) A dense veil was rent, a mighty whisper heard; Repeated in the privacy of his soul, A wisdom-cry from rapt transcendences Sang on the mountains of an unseen world; The voices that an inner listening hears

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Conveyed to him their prophet utterances, And flame-wrapped outbursts of the immortal Word And flashes of an occult revealing Light Approached him from the unreachable Secrecy.28 Vocabulary: arvāk, down; nirṇij, f. a shining dress or ornament, any bright garment &c. RV. pradiv,f. (fr.{div} , heaven; Nom. -dyaus) the third or highest heaven (in which the Pitris are said to dwell) AV.; the fifth of seven heavens SāṅkhBr.; mfn. (fr. div, day [cf. Lat. diu]) existing from olden times, ancient RV. (-divas) ind. from of old, long since, always, ever (ānuprad-, as of old, as formerly) ib. AV.; (-divi) ind. at all times, always, ever RV.

Anu? ïu/tam! A/mit</ vxR?d! %/vIRm! b/ihRr! #?v/ yju?;a/ r]?ma[a , nm?SvNta x&td/]aix/ gtR/ imÇasa?we vé/[e¦a?Sv! A/Nt> . 5-062-05

ánu śrutām amátiṃ várdhad urvīm barhír iva yájuṣā rákṣamāṇā námasvantā dhrtadakṣādhi gárte mítrāsāthe varuṇéḷāsu antáḥ / 5.062.05 5. Increasing the strength that comes to our ear of knowledge, guarding by the sacrificial word29 your wide realm 30 as if our seat of sacrifice, bringing obeisance, holding fast to judgment, you take your seat in your home, O Mitra, within the revealings of knowledge, O Varuna. Interpretation:

Sri Aurobindo translates adhi garte āsāthe, as ‘take your seat in your home’. There is an interesting suggestion in this play of words: to settle in one’s own home. It is as if Mitra and Varuna do not fully settled in their own home, indicating that there is a place in this creation which is not fully occupied by the Supreme. So they are invited to take their seat here in their own home. This home was prepared by them for themselves in the process of evolution, and now there is a time for them to settle here. Cf.: “All this is for habitation by the Lord.” The world is His habitat, which He is to inhabit. Such an intrusion of the 28 Ibid p. 37 29 Yajur. The Rik is the word which brings with it the illumination, the Yajur the word which guides the sacrificial action in accordance with the Rik. 30 Or, “increasing and guarding the wide strength”.

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Supreme brings with it a power of a complete surrender and obeisance to it,

namasvantā, and the power of upheld discrimination, dhṛta-dakṣa. It pertains and sustains from within all the revelations and expressions of knowledge, iḻāsu antaḥ. Anu šrutām amatiṃ vardhad urvīm, can be also translated as: ‘increasing the power here from the wide region of the beyond which always follows after the revelations of knowledge.’ The supreme guardians thus have settled within the revelations of knowledge as the expressions or currents of consciousness, iḻāsu antaḥ. So every movement the knowledge is expressed it becomes a movement of power, which is a characteristic of the Supramental manifestation. Vocabulary: šrut, 1 mfn. hearing , listening; that which is heard, sound , noise; amati, f. form , shape , splendour , luster; RV. VS.; f. want, indigence RV. VS. AV.; mfn. poor, indigent RV. dhṛtadakṣa, mfn. of collected mind , attentive or constant RV. garta, m. a high seat, throne (of Mitra and Varuṇa) RV.; ("a house" Naigh.) the seat of a war-chariot , vi , 20 , 9 a table for playing at dice Nir. iii , 5. īḻā, f. praise; cf. ilā, f. (closely connected with iḍā and irā,) flow of speech, the earth, &c.

A³?ivhSta su/k«te? pr/Spa y< Çasa?we vé/[e¦a?Sv! A/Nt> , raja?na ]/Çm! Aù?[Iymana s/hö?SwU[< ib-&w> s/h ÖaE . 5-062-06 ákravihastā sukŕte paraspā yáṃ trāsāthe varuṇéḷāsu antáḥ rājānā kṣatrám áhrṇīyamānā sahásrasthūṇam bibhrthaḥ sahá dvaú / 5.062.06 6. With hands that spare not, protectors of the beyond for the doer of perfect works whom you deliver and he dwells within the revealings of knowledge, kings free from passion, together you uphold a thousand-pillared strength. Interpretation: The protectors of the Beyond, they spare not the one, who is perfectly offering himself, whom they deliver in their revelations and expressions of knowledge, upholding the strength in him conquering darkness, together they stay full of peace, free from any agitation. Sri Aurobindo describes how transcendental reality influenced the life and

consciousness of Asvapati, a man, who is a sukṛt, the doer of perfect works, in the Vedic terms. A fit companion of the timeless Kings,

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31

Equalled with the godheads of the living Suns, He mixed in the radiant pastimes of the Unborn, Heard whispers of the Player never seen And listened to his voice that steals the heart And draws it to the breast of God's desire, And felt its honey of felicity Flow through his veins like the rivers of Paradise, Made body a nectar-cup of the Absolute. In sudden moments of revealing flame, In passionate responses half-unveiled He reached the rim of ecstasies unknown; A touch supreme surprised his hurrying heart, The clasp was remembered of the Wonderful, And hints leaped down of white beatitudes. Eternity drew close disguised as Love And laid its hand upon the body of Time. A little gift comes from the Immensitudes, But measureless to life its gain of joy; All the untold Beyond is mirrored there. A giant drop of the Bliss unknowable Overwhelmed his limbs and round his soul became A fiery ocean of felicity; He foundered drowned in sweet and burning vasts: The dire delight that could shatter mortal flesh, The rapture that the gods sustain he bore. Immortal pleasure cleansed him in its waves And turned his strength into undying power. Immortality captured Time and carried Life.31

Vocabulary: akravi-hasta, mfn. not having bloody hands ["not having niggardly hands, not close-fisted" Sāy.] RV. v , 62 , 6.; a-kravi-hasta, ‘the hands that spare not’ according to SA. kravis, n. raw flesh, carrion, RV i , 162 , 9 and 10, (?) blood, cf. in Slav. krov’; paraspā, m. a protector, protecting RV. TBr. trāsāthe, 1. A, trāyate (Impv. -yatām, 2. sg.-yasva and trāsva; pl.-yadhvam and trādhvam RV. ; ep. trāti, trātu, trāhi ; aor. Subj. trāsate, 2. du. trāsāthe RV.; inf. trātum, MBh. &c.; ind. p. trātvā BhP. ii, 7, 9) to protect, preserve, cherish, defend, rescue from (gen. or abl.) hṛṇīya, Nom. A. -yate (only in hṛṇīyathās RV. to be angry. sahasra-sthūṇa, mfn. supported by a thousand columns RV.

31 Savitri p. 236

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sthūṇā, f. the post or pillar or beam of a house, any post or stake or pillar or column RV. &c. &c.; the trunk or stump of a tree Kām.

ihr?{yini[R/g! Ayae? ASy/ SwU[a/ iv æa?jte id/Vy! Añaj?nIv , -/Ôe ]eÇe/ inim?ta/ itiLv?le va s/nem/ mXvae/ Aix?gTyRSy . 5-062-07 híraṇyanirṇig áyo asya sthūṇā ví bhrājate diví aśvājanīva bhadré kṣétre nímitā tílvile vā sanéma mádhvo ádhigartiyasya / 5.062.07 7. Its form is of golden light, iron is its pillar and shines in heaven as if the swift lightning; 32 in the happy field 33 it is shaped or in the field of the gleaming. 34 May we win possession of the sweet honey 35 which is in that home. Interpretation: The golden purity in the form of light of which the iron pillar is the support here shines in Heaven as a lightning-whip which compels the horses (=forces) to run. In the field of Bliss they are completely measured and in the field of the gleaming Truth. May we win possession of that Honey of our higher Home!

Vocabulary: ayas, iron, metal RV. &c.; an iron weapon (as an axe , &c.) RV. ašvājanī, f. a whip RV. v , 62 , 7; vi , 75 , 13. tilvila, mf(ā)n. fertile RV. v , 62 , 7; adhi-gartya, mfn. being on the driver's seat RV. v , 62 , 7. higher home;

ihr?{yêpm! %/;sae/ Vyuòa/v! Ay?SwU[/m! %id?ta/ sUyR?Sy , Aa rae?hwae vé[ imÇ/ gtR/m! At?z! c]awe/ Aid?it</ idit<? c . 5-062-08

híraṇyarūpam uṣáso víuṣṭāv áyasthūṇam úditā sūriyasya ā rohatho varuṇa mitra gártam átaś cakṣāthe áditiṃ dítiṃ ca / 5.062.08

32 Or, “the Mare”, the energy of the Horse of Life. 33 The Ananda, the Bliss-World. 34 The field of the gleaming of the Dawns, the world of the Light. 35 Madhu, the Soma.

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8. To that home whose form is of the gold, whose pillars are of the iron, in the breaking of the Dawn, in the uprising of the Sun you ascend, O Varuna, O Mitra, and thence you behold the Infinite and the Finite. 36 Interpretation:

The mystery of that home whose form is of the gold and pillars are of the iron is the secret of all creation. In this mysterious home where the Dawn is breaking from and the Sun is uprising to. Into this home Varuna and Mitra ascend, from

which they see the Infinite Mother, Aditi, the parā prakṛtī, and the finite, dividing Mother, Diti, of the aparā prakṛtī. Our consciousness is thus becoming aware of both manifestations. Originally the Adityas cannot see the both. They see only Aditi’s realms of the Transcendental, but through manifestation and the Sacrifice they can rise in man to the height of the Supreme Purusha, Purushottama of the Gita, where they can perceive both the realms simultaneously, and this for them is a rising in consciousness.

Vocabulary: víuṣṭāu, Loc of vi-uṣṭi, braking of the down. garta, m. a high seat, throne (of Mitra and Varuṇa) RV.; ("a house" Naigh.) the seat of a war-chariot , vi , 20 , 9 a table for playing at dice Nir. iii , 5.

yd! b~ih?ó</ nait/ivxe? sudanU/ AiCD?Ô</ zmR? -uvnSy gaepa , ten? nae imÇavé[av! Aivò</ is;a?sNtae ijgI/va~s>? Syam . 5-062-09

yád báṃhiṣṭhaṃ nātivídhe sudānū áchidraṃ śárma bhuvanasya gopā téna no mitrāvaruṇāv aviṣṭaṃ síṣāsanto jigīvāṃsaḥ siyāma / 5.062.09 9. That bliss of yours which is most large and full and without a gap, O strong guardians of the world, so that none can pierce through and beyond it, by that cherish us, Mitra and Varuna; may we be victorious, who would take possession of that peace.

Interpretation: That foundation, šarma, which is the greatest and not to be pierced, which has no gap, by that you, O Mitra and Varuna, support us in our growth, may we be desirous to gain it, may we have it conquered (occupied)!

36 Aditi and Diti.

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34

Vocabulary: baṃhiṣṭha, mfn. (superl. of bahula Pāṇ 2.6-4, 157) strongest, most abundant Vocabulary: baṃhiṣṭha, mfn. (superl. of bahula Pāṇ 2.6-4, 157) strongest, most abundant, most RV.; vidh, mfn. (ifc.) piercing, penetrating; na-ati-vidhe, not to pierce, Dat. = Inf.; sudānu, mfn. pouring out or bestowing abundantly, bounteous, munificent (said of various gods) RV. AV. aviṣṭaṃ, Imper from av, to protect, to nourish. san, 1. P., 8. P. A1. to gain, acquire, obtain as a gift, possess , enjoy RV. AV. Br.; to gain for another, procure, bestow, give, distribute RV.; (A1.) to be successful, be granted or fulfilled; siṣāsant, Desir. from san, to wish to acquire or obtain RV. TS. AV. jigīvas, Perf. from ji, to conquer.

Appendix

On the eagles of Omniscience and the rivers of the Beyond. Rivers poured down of bliss and luminous force, Visits of beauty, storm-sweeps of delight Rained from the all-powerful Mystery above. Thence stooped the eagles of Omniscience. It is interesting for us to compare here the concept of the Transcendental with its intruders from above into the lower hemisphere in two Vedic symbols of waters and eagles, or birds, which Sri Aurobindo is using in his Savitri: In the verses dedicated to the Vac in the RV. 1.164 the Dīrghatamāḥ Aucathyaḥ says: gaurī r mimāya salilāni tákṣatī ékapadī dvipádī sā cátuṣpadī aṣṭā padī návapadī babhūvúṣī sahásrākṣarā paramé víoman 1.164.41 “She has created the streams of luminous waters, the Word, the Strongest among Lights (gauri). She has fashioned all the creatures as one, two and four footed, who have become the eight and nine footed! The thousand aksharas [of the Word are] in the highest heaven!”37 tásyāḥ samudrā ádhi ví kṣaranti téna jīvanti pradíśaś cátasraḥ tátaḥ kṣarati akṣáraṃ tád víśvam úpa jīvati 1.164.42

37 ibid: “Forming the water−floods, the buffalo hath lowed, one−footed or two−footed or four− footed, she, Who hath become eight−footed or hath got nine feet, the thousand− syllabled in the sublimest heaven.”

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“It is from her, the All-creating Word, that the waters of the upper Ocean flow down in all directions. It is by that [movement] all live in every corner of the world. It is from that [movement of the Word] that Unchangeable is changing, (or Being is becoming). It is from that [movement] that all Universe lives.” catvāri vāk párimitā padāni tā ni vidur brāhmaṇā yé manīṣíṇaḥ gúhā trī ṇi níhitā néṅgayanti turī yaṃ vācó manuṣyā vadanti 1.164.45 “The Word has been measured in four quarters. Those quarters are known to the knowers of the Word, brāhmanaḥ, who possess also the power of the Mind, manīṣiṇaḥ.38 In the hidden place the three are established, which do not move. And the forth one men speak.” 39 krṣṇáṃ niyānaṃ hárayaḥ suparṇā apó vásānā dívam út patanti tá ā vavrtran sádanād rtásya ā d íd ghrténa prthivī ví udyate 1.164.47 “Dark the descent,[and] golden the birds; thus wearing the robes of the waters they are rising to heaven and again they return from that Seat of the Truth, and all the earth is moistened with their golden clarity.” 40 Who are these golden birds descending into the darkness and wearing the form of waters (apas)? Why do the fly up to the sky again and again return to the earth to moisten it with a clarified butter (ghṛta)? It is on the way up they wear the waters of our offering, and on the way back they carry the clarified butter to nourish the growth of Agni, the luminous dweller within the substance. They descend into the darkness as shining birds from heaven and they ascent carrying our unillumined substance of consciousness (apas) for transformation up to heaven.41 It is interesting to note in this regard another famous hymn where the symbol of the bird, pataṅga is mentioned again in the terms of speech and mind:

38 This will become a reference to the later concept of fourfold Word: vaikharī, madhyamā, pašyantī and parā vāk. 39 Griffith’s translation: “Speech hath been measured out in four divisions, the Brahmans who have understanding know them. Three kept in close concealment cause no motion; of speech, men speak only the fourth division”. 40 ibid. “Dark the descent: the birds are golden−coloured; up to the heaven they fly robed in the waters. Again descend they from the seat of Order, and all the earth is moistened with their fatness.” 41 Cf. the concept of apas and ambhas, as the lower and upper oceans, respectively in the AitUp 1.1.2,3

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RV 10.177 pataṃgám aktám ásurasya māyáyā hrdā paśyanti mánasā vipaścítaḥ samudré antáḥ kaváyo ví cakṣate márīcīnām padám ichanti vedhásaḥ 10.177.01 “This Bird the wise see (discover) in their heart by the Creative Force of Maya of the Asura, by the Thought. Inside the Ocean the seers distinguish it clearly; those who are brave are seeking the Seat of Light!” pataṃgó vācam mánasā bibharti tāṃ gandharvó avadad gárbhe antáḥ tā ṃ dyótamānāṃ svaríyam manīṣām rtásya padé kaváyo ní pānti 10.177.02 “This Bird, the Sun, carries the Word by the Thought. It is the Word that Gandharva spoke first seated within the Embryo. The shining heavenly Word, full of Thought, the seers always protect in the place of the Truth.” ápaśyaṃ gopām ánipadyamānam ā ca párā ca pathíbhiś cárantam sá sadhrīcīḥ sá víṣūcīr vásāna ā varīvarti bhúvaneṣu antáḥ 10.177.03 “I saw him, the Protector of Knowledge, uncreated, moving on his paths here and beyond. He moves in oneness, and in maniness; a luminous dweller within rotates within the worlds.”42

42 Commentary of Sayana on RV10.177 is quite interesting: “The Sun carries the Word of all living creatures by his own Thought, holds and supports them, when He takes a form of Antaryāmin, sends the Word forward – that is the meaning originated in heaven, and is full of Thought, which means that it is a Master of Thought, the Creator of Delight, as it were. Such a Word the seers, the knowers of Shastra always protect and cherish in the Place of Truth, in the place of the Supreme Spirit.” 42 Griffith’s translation. “And thus sent by the Sun the Word [goes] in the Embryo, inside the body, and the vital force, called Gandharva, spoke this luminous Word, shining and heavenly, for it is originated in heaven, and is full of Thought, which means that it is a Master of Thought, the Creatrix of Delight, as it were. Such a Word the seers, the knowers of Shastra always protect and cherish in the Place of Truth, in the place of the Supreme Spirit.”

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RV 5.63 ṛṣi: arcanānā ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chandaḥ: jagatī

\t?Sy gaepa/v! Aix? itówae/ rw¡/ sTy?xmaR[a pr/me Vyaemin , ym! AÇ? imÇavé/[av?wae yu/v< tSmE? v&/iòr! mxu?mt! ipNvte id/v> . 5-063-01 s/èaja?v! A/Sy -uv?nSy rajwae/ imÇa?vé[a iv/dwe? Sv/†Rza? , v&/iò< va</ raxae? Am&t/Tvm! $?mhe/ *ava?p&iw/vI iv c?riNt t/Nyv>? . 5-063-02 s/èaja? %/¢a v&?;/-a id/vs! ptI? p&iw/Vya im/Çavé?[a/ ivc?;R[I , ic/Çei-?r! A/æEr! %p? itówae/ rv</ *a< v?;Rywae/ Asu?rSy ma/yya? . 5-063-03 ma/ya va?< imÇavé[a id/iv iï/ta sUyaR/ Jyaeit?z! crit ic/Çm! Aayu?xm! , tm! A/æe[? v&/ò(a gU?hwae id/iv pjR?Ny Ô/Psa mxu?mNt $rte . 5-063-04 rw¡? yuÃte m/ét>? zu/-e su/o< zUrae/ n im?Çavé[a/ giv?iò;u , rja<?is ic/Ça iv c?riNt t/Nyvae? id/v> s?èaja/ py?sa n %]tm! . 5-063-05 vac</ su im?Çavé[a/v! #ra?vtIm! p/jRNy?z! ic/Ça< v?dit/ iTv;I?mtIm! , A/æa v?st m/ét>/ su ma/yya/ *a< v?;Rytm! Aé/[am! A?re/ps?m! . 5-063-06 xmR?[a imÇavé[a ivpiíta ì/ta r?]ewe/ Asu?rSy ma/yya? , \/ten/ ivñ/m! -uv?n</ iv ra?jw>/ sUyR/m! Aa x?Twae id/iv icÈy</ rw?m! . 5-063-07

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The Givers of the Rain Mitra and Varuna are by their united universality and harmony the guardians of the divine Truth and its divine Law eternally perfect in the ether of our supreme being; thence they rain down the abundance of the heavens and its bliss upon the favoured soul. Seers in man of that world of Truth, as they are by their guardianship of its law rulers of all this becoming, they give us its rain of spiritual wealth and immortality. The Life-powers range with the voice of the truth-seeking thought through earth and heaven and the two Kings come to their cry with the brilliant clouds full of the creative waters. It is by the Maya, the divine truth-knowledge of the Lord, that they thus rain down heaven; that divine knowledge is the Sun, the Light, the weapon of Mitra and Varuna ranging abroad to destroy the ignorance. At first the Sun, the body of the Truth, is concealed in the very storm of its outpourings and only the sweetness of their streaming into the life is felt; but the Maruts as Life-Powers and Thought-Powers range abroad seeking in all the worlds of our being for the brilliant rays of the concealed knowledge to be gathered as a shining wealth; the voice of the Rain is full of the flashings of the Light and the movement of the divine Waters; its clouds become robes for the Life-Powers. Through it all by the formative knowledge of the mighty Master of Truth and by the law of the Truth, the two kings maintain the divine workings in us, governing by the Truth all our being, and finally set in its sky the Sun, now revealed, as a chariot of the richly varied splendours of the knowledge, the chariot of the journey of the spirit to the highest heavens.

\t?Sy gaepa/v! Aix? itówae/ rw¡/ sTy?xmaR[a pr/me Vyaemin , ym! AÇ? imÇavé/[av?wae yu/v< tSmE? v&/iòr! mxu?mt! ipNvte id/v> . 5-063-01 ŕtasya gopāv ádhi tiṣṭhatho ráthaṃ sátyadharmāṇā paramé víomani yám átra mitrāvaruṇāvatho yuváṃ tásmai vrṣṭír mádhumat pinvate diváḥ 5.063.01 1. Guardians of the Truth, you ascend your car and the law of the Truth is yours in the supreme ether.43 He whom here you cherish, Masters of the wideness and the harmony, for him increases full of the honey the rain of heaven.

Interpretation:

43 The infinity of the superconscient being.

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Masters of the wideness and the harmony – Sri Aurobindo translates Varuna and Mitra. Man, whom you here avathe, increase, make grow, support in his evolutionary growth, the Rain of Heaven overflows with its fullness of bliss. For you are the Guardians of the Truth, ṛtasya gopau, who ascend their car in the highest heaven of the Supreme Being. It is from there you bring the fullness of the Supreme Ananda and pour onto the cherished soul of man.

Vocabulary: pinvate, to swell, be distended, abound, overflow ib; avathe, you two support, make grow, protect.

s/èaja?v! A/Sy -uv?nSy rajwae/ imÇa?vé[a iv/dwe? Sv/†Rza?, v&/iò< va</ raxae? Am&t/Tvm! $?mhe/ *ava?p&iw/vI iv c?riNt t/Nyv>? . 5-063-02

samrājāv asyá bhúvanasya rājatho mítrāvaruṇā vidáthe suvardŕśā vrṣṭíṃ vāṃ rādho amrtatvám īmahe dyāvāprthivī ví caranti tanyávaḥ 5.063.02 2. Emperors, 44 you rule over this world of our becoming, O Mitra and Varuna, in the getting of knowledge you are seers of the realm of Light; we desire from you the rain, the felicitous wealth, the immortality, and lo! the Thunderers45 range abroad through earth and heaven. Interpretation: You are the two Sovereigns of this Universe, you rule over it equally here and beyond. O Mitra and Varuna, it is you who discern the Supreme Heaven, Svar, in our searching for the Truth, in our battle here we seek your rain of Grace and shining wealth and Immortality [as] the Maruts, who are moving and building up in thought and feeling all that resembles the Truth, who are thundering the Word invoking the Truth, moving all over heaven and earth in search for the Truth!

Vocabulary: vidatha, n. knowledge, wisdom (esp.) "knowledge given to others", i.e. instruction, direction, order , arrangement, disposition, rule, command (also pl.) RV.; to impart knowledge, give instruction, rule, govern; a meeting, assembly (either for deliberating or

44 Samrāṭ, having perfect kingship over the subjective and objective existence. 45 The Maruts, Life-Powers and Thought-Powers who find out the light of truth for all our activities. The word may also mean formers or builders.

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40

for the observance of festive or religious rites i.e.) council, community, association; a host, army, body of warriors (esp. applied to the Maruts) RV.; war , fight ib. tanyu, tanayitnu, mfn. (= stan-) roaring, thundering; tan, cl. 1. 10., to believe in Dhātup. "to assist" or "to afflict with pain" ib.; 2 (=stan) cl. 4. tanyati, to resound, roar; aor. atAyi, to extend, spread, be diffused (as light) over, shine, extend towards, reach to RV.; to be protracted, continue, endure; to stretch (a cord), extend or bend (a bow), spread, spin out, weave RV. &c. marut, m. pl. (prob. the "flashing or shining ones"; cf. marIci) the storm-gods (Indra's companions and sometimes the gods or deities in general; said in the Veda to be the sons of Rudra and Prishni q.v. , or the children of heaven or of ocean; and described as armed with golden weapons i.e. lightnings and thunderbolts, as having iron teeth and roaring like lions, as residing in the north, as riding in golden cars drawn by ruddy horses; they are reckoned in Naigh. V, 5 among the gods of the middle sphere, and in RV. viii , 96 , 8 are held to be three times sixty in number; in the later literature they are the children of Diti, either seven or seven times seven in number, and are sometimes said to be led by Mātaršvan) RV. &c. &c.

s/èaja? %/¢a v&?;/-a id/vs! ptI? p&iw/Vya im/Çavé?[a/ ivc?;R[I , ic/Çei-?r! A/æEr! %p? itówae/ rv/< *a< v?;Rywae/ Asu?rSy ma/yya? . 5-063-03

samrājā ugrā vrṣabhā divás pátī prthivyā mitrāváruṇā vícarṣanī citrébhir abhraír úpa tiṣṭhatho rávaṃ dyāṃ varṣayatho ásurasya māyáyā 5.063.03 3. Emperors, strong Bulls of the abundance, Masters of earth and heaven, O Mitra and Varuna, universal in your workings, you approach their cry with your clouds of varied light and you rain down Heaven by the power of the knowledge46 of the Mighty One.47 Intepretation:

You two, O Mitra and Varuna, approach our Call with your Rainy Clouds full of Light, making Heaven pour onto us, by the Knowledge-Power of the Great and Mighty One. There is an interesting passage in Savitri, p. 627, using similar imagery of the Vedic Maruts, as storm gods, revealing a deeper knowledge of relation between Thought and Word, Light and Sound, Sight and Hearing :

46 Maya, the creative knowledge-will of the Deva. 47 Asura, a word used in the Veda as in the Avesta for the Deva (Ahuramazda), but also for the gods, His manifestations; it is only in a few hymns that it is used for the dark Titans, by another and fictitious derivation, a-sura, the not-luminous, the not-gods.

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On heights unreached by mind's most daring soar, Upon a dangerous edge of failing Time The soul draws back into its deathless Self; Man's knowledge becomes God's supernal Ray. There is the mystic realm whence leaps the power Whose fire burns in the eyes of seer and sage; A lightning flash of visionary sight, It plays upon an inward verge of mind: Thought silenced gazes into a brilliant Void. A voice comes down from mystic unseen peaks: A cry of splendour from a mouth of storm, It is the voice that speaks to night's profound, It is the thunder and the flaming call. … A spirit within looks into the Eternal's eyes. It hears the Word to which our hearts were deaf, It sees through the blaze in which our thoughts grew blind; It drinks from the naked breasts of glorious Truth, (ṛtam pibantau sukṛtasya loke) It learns the secrets of eternity. Thus all was plunged into the riddling Night, Thus all is raised to meet a dazzling Sun.

ma/ya va?< imÇavé[a id/iv iï/ta sUyaR/ Jyaeit?z! crit ic/Çm! Aayu?xm! , tm! A/æe[? v&/ò(a gU?hwae id/iv pjR?Ny Ô/Psa mxu?mNt $rte . 5-063-04

māyā vām mitrāvaruṇā diví śritā sūryo jyótiś carati citrám āyudham tám abhréṇa vrṣṭiyā gūhatho diví párjanya drapsā mádhumanta īrate 5.063.04 4. This is your knowledge, O Mitra and Varuna, that is lodged in heaven; it is the Sun, it is the Light; it ranges abroad as your rich and varied weapon. You hide it in heaven with the cloud and with the raining. O Rain, full of the honey start forth thy streamings. Interpretation: And this is your Maya, Knowledge-Power, which abides in Heaven: the Sun and the Light are Her Creations, moving as the weapon full of light of consciousness it comes down into this creation; and you two hide it by the fullness of your waters carried in the clouds. The steams of Bliss start to pour down, O Rain!

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The two Kings hide this weapon of light (lightning) within the clouds pouring down the blissful waters of delight. (See the appendix on Maya and Spy-Rays of the Sun)

rw¡? yuÃte m/ét>? zu/-e su/o< zUrae/ n im?Çavé[a/ giv?iò;u , rja<?is ic/Ça iv c?riNt t/Nyvae? id/v> s?èaja/ py?sa n %]tm! . 5-063-05 ráthaṃ yuñjate marútaḥ śubhé sukháṃ śūro ná mitrāvaruṇā gáviṣṭiṣu rájāṃsi citrā ví caranti tanyávo diváḥ samrājā páyasā na ukṣatam 5.063.05 5. The Life-Powers yoke their happy car for the bliss, even as might a hero for battle, O Mitra and Varuna, in their seekings for the herds of Light; thundering they range the varied worlds, and you pour out on us, rulers imperial, the water of Heaven. Interpretation: The Maruts yoke their perfect car, as the Warrior in his desire for the battle (or search of light) gavisṭiṣu. They move in all directions in search of Bliss in the varied inner spaces, while you, O Sovereigns, pour out on us the waters of Heaven as the sweet and nourishing milk!

Vocabulary: gaviṣṭi, f. desire, eagerness, ardour, fervour RV.; desire for fighting, ardour of battle, battle RV. payas, n. any fluid or juice, (esp.) milk, water, rain, semen, virile, (met.) vital spirit, power, strength RV.

vac</ su im?Çavé[a/v! #ra?vtIm! p/jRNy?z! ic/Ça< v?dit/ iTv;I?mtIm! , A/æa v?st m/ét>/ su ma/yya/ *a< v?;Rytm! Aé/[am! A?re/ps?m! . 5-063-06

vācaṃ sú mitrāvaruṇāv írāvatīm parjányaś citrāṃ vadati tvíṣīmatīm abhrā vasata marútaḥ sú māyáyā dyāṃ varṣayatam aruṇām arepásam 5.063.06 6. O Mitra and Varuna, the Rain speaks its language48 rich and varied and full of the light and the movement; the Life-Powers have put on your clouds for

48 Here we see the subjective sense of the thunder in the symbol of the storm; it is the outcrashing of the word of the Truth, the Shabda, as the lightning is the outflashing of its sense.

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raiment. Utterly by the knowledge you rain down Heaven ruddy-shining and sinless. Interpretation: Parjanya speaks well his Word of light and substance and power! The Maruts put on the clouds full of Heavenly waters! O Mitra and Varuna, by your Knowledge-Power of the Supreme pour out on us the Heaven, shining with the golden red and spotless! Vocabulary: irāvat, mfn. possessing food, full of food, granting drink or refreshment, satiating, giving enjoyment, endowed with provisions, comfortable RV.; tviṣīmat, mfn. vehemently excited, vehement, energetic RV.; shining, brilliant, beautiful; arepas, mfn. spotless RV. VS. AV. parjanya, rain personified or the god of rain (often identified with Indra) RV. &c. &c.

xmR?[a imÇavé[a ivpiíta ì/ta r?]ewe/ Asu?rSy ma/yya? , \/ten/ ivñ/m! -uv?n</ iv ra?jw>/ sUyR/m! Aa x?Twae id/iv icÈy</ rw?m! . 5-063-07 dhármaṇā mitrāvaruṇā vipaścitā vratā rakṣethe ásurasya māyáyā rténa víśvam bhúvanaṃ ví rājathaḥ sūryam ā dhattho diví cítriyaṃ rátham 5.063.07 7. O Mitra and Varuna illumined in consciousness, by the Law, by the knowledge of the Mighty One you guard the workings;49 by the Truth you govern widely all the world of our becoming; you set the Sun in heaven, a chariot of various splendour.

Appendix I On Maya “This power was known to the Vedic seers by the name of Maya. Maya meant for them the power of infinite consciousness to comprehend, contain in itself and

49 Vratāni, called the Aryan or divine workings, those of the divine law of the Truth to be revealed in man. The Dasyu or un-Aryan, whether human or superhuman, is he who is void of these diviner workings, opposes them in his darkened consciousness and tries to destroy them in the world. The Lords of Darkness are therefore called Dasyus, the Destroyers.

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measure out, that is to say, to form—for form is delimitation—Name and Shape out of the vast illimitable Truth of infinite existence. It is by Maya that static truth of essential being becomes ordered truth of active being,—or, to put it in more metaphysical language, out of the supreme being in which all is all without barrier of separative consciousness emerges the phenomenal being in which all is in each and each is in all for the play of existence with existence, consciousness with consciousness, force with force, delight with delight. This play of all in each and each in all is concealed at first from us by the mental play or the illusion of Maya which persuades each that he is in all but not all in him and that he is in all as a separated being not as a being always inseparably one with the rest of existence. Afterwards we have to emerge from this error into the supramental play or the truth of Maya where the “each” and the “all” coexist in the inseparable unity of the one truth and the multiple symbol. The lower, present and deluding mental Maya has first to be embraced, then to

be overcome; for it is God's play with division and darkness and limitation, desire and strife and suffering in which He subjects Himself to the Force that has come out of Himself and by her obscure suffers Himself to be obscured. That other Maya concealed by this mental has to be overpassed, then embraced; for it is God's play of the infinities of existence, the splendours of knowledge, the glories of force mastered and the ecstasies of love illimitable where He emerges out of the hold of Force, holds her instead and fulfils in her illumined that for which she went out from Him at the first.”50 We can clearly see here two movements of Maya, which have to be dealt with differently: 1) Maya as His play with division and limitation, where the Supreme subjects

himself finally to the Darkness of his own inconscient force, and becomes obscure. It refers to the involutionary stage of creation, the fall of the first Supreme Emanations and the plunge of the Supreme into the darkness of Inconscient, the Sacrifice of the Purusha, or the Holocaust of the Divine Mother, ātmanātmānam abhisamviveša (TaitAr.1.23) and His desire to become many: “bahu syām” TaittUp 2.; to become another “sa dvitīyam aichat”. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)

See also in Savitri p.140: When all was plunged in the negating Void, Non-Being's night could never have been saved If Being had not plunged into the dark…

50 LD, p.115

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Savitri p.454: Once in the immortal boundlessness of Self, In a vast of Truth and Consciousness and Light The soul looked out from its felicity… It saw the Eternal, lived in the Infinite. Then, curious of a shadow thrown by Truth, It strained towards some otherness of self, It was drawn to an unknown Face peering through night.

2) The second movement of Maya is evolutionary and in its origin belongs to the second involution of the Secondary Emanations, “where He emerges out of the hold of Force, holds her instead and fulfils in her illumined that for which she went out from Him at the first”. It is an emergence out of the darkness of material inconscient of the Psychic Being and the gradual transformation of it into its higher prototype the divine light, bliss, truth and life. It is the movement of Redemption for which the plunge, the sacrifice of the Conscious Soul was made in the first place.

“This descent, this sacrifice of the Purusha, the Divine Soul submitting itself to Force and Matter so that it may inform and illuminate them, is the seed of redemption of this world of Inconscience and Ignorance.” (Synthesis of Yoga, p.106)

The first two quotations from the Veda, which Sri Aurobindo put at the beginning of this chapter on the Divine Maya, reflect these two views on Maya: tad in nu asya vṛṣabhasya dhenor ā nāmabhir mamire sakmyaṃ goḥ anyad anyad asuryam vasānā ni māyino mamire rūpam asmin51 (RV III. 38. 7) “By the Names of the Lord and hers they shaped and measured the force of the Mother of Light; wearing might after might of that Force as a robe the lords of Maya shaped out Form in this Being.”

māyāvino mamire asya māyayā nṛcakṣasaḥ pitaro garbham ā dadhuḥ (RV IX. 83. 3).

“The Masters of Maya shaped all by His Maya; the Fathers who have divine vision set Him within as a child that is to be born.”

These two quotations reflect the double view on Maya on the involutionary and evolutionary scale, as it were. The first one speaks about a gradual formation of the Form of Being out of Supreme light of the Mother, layer after layer building

51 sakmya, n. that which belongs to anything , peculiar nature ib.

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up all the forms of Being upto the material inconscient, anyad anyad asūryam vasānā

ni māyino mamire rūpam asmin (RV III. 38. 7), and the second speaks about the emergence and growth of the Supreme as the divine child from within that form of the material inconscient, māyāvino mamire asya māyayā nṛcakṣasaḥ pitaro garbham ā

dadhuḥ (RV IX. 83. 3).

These two movements should have different metaphysical and psychological treatments, as it were, if one wants to overcome the influence of Maya:

1) the first from above the head is to embraced all with a perfect equality and thus overcome influence of Maya in the mind;

2) the second from within the heart, the Psychic Being, is to overcome all what is non-divine and then to embrace the Divine. (aspiration)

Sri Aurobindo is using word Maya in his Savitri six times. See for instance on page 600:

But Maya is a veil of the Absolute; A Truth occult has made this mighty world:

The Eternal's wisdom and self-knowledge act In ignorant Mind and in the body's steps. The Inconscient is the Superconscient's sleep. An unintelligible Intelligence Invents creation's paradox profound; Spiritual thought is crammed in Matter's forms, Unseen it throws out a dumb energy And works a miracle by a machine. All here is a mystery of contraries: Darkness a magic of self-hidden Light, Suffering some secret rapture's tragic mask And death an instrument of perpetual life.

II On the battle and the spies or rays of the Sun. In The Secret of the Veda, p. 236, Sri Aurobindo comments on the battle between Gods led by Indra and Dasyus: The battle takes place not on earth but on the other shore of the Antariksha, the Dasyus are driven out of heaven by the flames of the thunderbolt, they circle round the earth and are cast out of both heaven and earth; for they can find no place in either heaven or earth, all being now full of the greatness of Indra, nor can conceal themselves anywhere from his lightnings because the Sun with its

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rays gives him spies whom he sets all round and in the brightness of those rays the Panis are discovered. This can be no description of an earthly battle between Aryan and Dravidian tribes; neither can the lightning be the physical lightning since that has nothing to do with the destruction of the powers of Night and the milking of the cows of the Dawn out of the darkness. It is clear then that these non-sacrificers, these haters of the word who are incompetent even to think it are not any human enemies of the Aryan cult. They are the powers that strive for possession of heaven and earth in man himself; they are demons and not Dravidians. It is noteworthy that they strive, but fail to attain the “limit of earth and heaven”; we may suppose that these powers seek without the word or the sacrifice to attain to the higher world beyond earth and heaven which can be conquered only by the word and the sacrifice. They seek to possess the Truth under the law of the Ignorance; but they are unable to attain to the limit of earth or heaven; only Indra and the Gods can so exceed the formula of mind, life and body after filling all three with their greatness.

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RV 5-64 ṛṣi: arcanānā ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chandaḥ: anuṣṭup, 7 paṅkti

vé?[< vae ir/zad?sm! \/ca im/Ç< h?vamhe , pir? ì/jev? ba/þaer! j?g/Nva~sa/ Sv[Rrm! . 5-064-01 ta ba/hva? suce/tuna/ à y?Ntm! ASma/ AcR?te , zev</ ih ja/y¡ va</ ivña?su/ ]asu/ jaegu?ve . 5-064-02 yn! nU/nm! A/Zya< git?m! im/ÇSy? yaya< p/wa , ASy? ià/ySy/ zmR/{y! Aih<?sanSy siíre . 5-064-03 yu/va_ya?< imÇavé[aep/m< xe?yam! \/ca , yd! x/ ]ye? m/"aena<? Staet/[a< c? SpU/xRse? . 5-064-04 Aa nae? imÇ sudI/iti-/r! vé?[z! c s/xSw/ Aa , Sve ]ye? m/"aena</ soI?na< c v&/xse? . 5-064-05 yu/v< nae/ ye;u? vé[ ]/Ç< b&/hc! c? ib-&/w> , %/é [ae/ vaj?satye k«/t< ra/ye Sv/Stye? . 5-064-06 %/CDNTya?< me yj/ta de/v]?Çe/ éz?Ìiv , su/t< saem</ n h/iSti-/r! Aa p/d!i-r! xa?vt< nra/ ibæ?tav! AcR/nan?sm! . 5-064-07

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The Leaders to the Blissful Home. The Rishi invokes the Lords of the infinite wideness and harmony whose arms embrace the soul's highest plane of the Truth and Bliss, to extend to him those arms of awakened consciousness and knowledge, so that he may have their all-embracing delight. He aspires by the path of Mitra to the joy of his harmonies in which there is no wound nor hurt; conceiving and holding the highest by the power of the illumining word, he would aspire to an increase in that plane, the proper home of the gods. Let the two great gods create in his being that wide world of their divine strength and vastness; let them bring to him its plenitude and felicity in the dawning of the divine light and the divine force.

vé?[< vae ir/zad?sm! \/ca im/Ç< h?vamhe , pir? ì/jev? ba/þaer! j?g/Nva~sa/ Sv[Rrm! . 5-064-01 váruṇaṃ vo riśādasam rcā mitráṃ havāmahe pári vrajéva bāhuvór jaganvāṃsā súvarṇaram 5.064.01 1. Varuna, destroyer of the foe, and Mitra we call to you by the word of illumination; their arms encompass the world of the power of Light52 as if cast around the pens of the shining herds. Interpretation: We call your Varuna as the destroyer of enemies [and] Mitra by the luminous word! For they went around with their hands embracing the luminous world of power as if around the cow pens [where the light is hidden in the Darkness]! Vocabulary: rišādas mfn. (prob. fr. riša+adas, from [ad]) devouring or destroying enemies RV. vraja, m. (n. only RV.5.6.7 ; ifc. f. ā ; fr. vṛj) a fold, stall, cow-pen, cattle-shed, enclosure or station of herdsmen RV. &c. &c. svarṇara, m. lord of heaven (applied to Agni, the sun, Soma &c.) RV.; n. bright space, ether RV.

ta ba/hva? suce/tuna/ à y?Ntm! ASma/ AcR?te , 52 Swarnara. Swar is the solar world of the Truth and the herds are the rays of its solar illuminations, therefore it is compared to the pens of these shining Vedic cattle.

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zev</ ih ja/y¡ va</ ivña?su/ ]asu/ jaegu?ve . 5-064-02 tā bāhávā sucetúnā prá yantam asmā árcate śévaṃ hí jāríyaṃ vãṃ víśvāsu kṣāsu jóguve 5.064.02 2. Stretch out your arms of awakened knowledge53 to the human being when he chants to you the illumining word; your bliss adorable shall reach through all our earths.54 Interpretation: Those far reaching hands of yours perfectly conscious stretch forth for the one who flames in the prayer of aspiration. Your loving intimacy should constantly sound (echo and reecho/vibrate/be present as active awareness) on all the levels of our being.

Vocabulary: sucetunā, of perfect consciousness/awareness; ind. (instr. of -cetu) with benevolence or favour, graciously RV. bāhava, m. (Pāṇ2. 7-1, 39 Vārtt. 1 Pat.) = 1. {bāhu}, the arm (also n. ShBr.) pra-yam-tam, Impr, dual, 2 pers. ‘stretch forward’; jārya, n. (fr. jāra) intimacy RV. v , 64 , 2 [mfn. "to be praised", fr. 3. jṝ Sāy. to call] jogū, mfn. (gu) praising RV. x , 53. gu, cl. 1 A. gavate, to sound; Intens. A. (1. and 3. sg. joguve, p.joguvāna) "to cause to sound", proclaim RV.1,61 ,14 ševa, mfn. (prob. fr. švi, and connected with šavas and šiva) dear, precious RV. AV.

yn! nU/nm! A/Zya< git?m! im/ÇSy? yaya< p/wa , ASy? ià/ySy/ zmR/{y! Aih<?sanSy siíre . 5-064-03 yán nūnám aśiyāṃ gátim mitrásya yãyām pathā ásya priyásya śármaṇi áhiṃsānasya saścire 5.064.03 3. May I go by the path of the Friend55 that even now I may attain to the goal56

53 The epithet shows how entirely symbolic are the bodies and members of the Gods as well as their other physical belongings, weapons, chariots, horses. 54 All the planes of our being. 55 Mitra, who creates the perfect and unhurt harmonies of our higher, divine existence.

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of my journey; so men cling firmly to the bliss of that Beloved in whom there is no wounding. Interpretation: If I shall reach today the Goal then may I walk it by the Path of Mitra. In the safe place of this beloved, who does no harm, men seek their refuge and oneness. Vocabulary: sac/sašc, to be associated or united with, have to do with, be familiar with, associate one's self with (instr.) RV. AV.; be possessed of., enjoy (instr. or acc.) ib.; to take part or participate in, suffer, endure (instr.) RV.; to belong to, be attached or devoted to, serve, follow, seek, pursue, favour, assist (acc.) RV. AV. VS.; to he connected with; to be together RV. AV.; to go after, follow, accompany, adhere or be attached to (acc.) RV.

yu/va_ya?< imÇavé[aep/m< xe?yam! \/ca , yd! x/ ]ye? m/"aena<? Staet/[a< c? SpU/xRse? . 5-064-04 yuvābhyām mitrāvaruṇā upamáṃ dhẽyām rcā yád dha kṣáye maghónãṃ stotrṇãṃ ca spūrdháse 5.064.04 4. O Mitra and Varuna, may my thought hold by the illumining word that highest which is your possession, so that it shall aspire57 to the home of the masters of plenitude for them and for men who affirm you. Interpretation:

By you two, O Mitra and Varuna, [with your help and assistance] may I hold within my mind the Supreme by the luminous Word of the Hymn that it may strive and aspire for its Home of the Masters of Plenitudes and of those who affirm you! What is interesting here is that the thought is to ‘hold by the illumining word the highest’, which will make it thus aspire for it, or to strive towards it. In other words, we cannot concentrate on the highest, for we do not have here the highest, it is somewhere else. The only way how we can do it is by the Word, the illumining word, the hymn of the Rishi, who has realized the higher state of 56 Gati. The word is still used for the spiritual or supraterrestrial status gained by man's conduct or efforts upon earth. But it may also mean the movement to the goal or the way, “May I even now attain to the Way, go by the path of Mitra.” 57 That is, manifesting in men it shall strive to raise them up to its own proper station, the Truth-plane.

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consciousness and has made this hymn as a means or a vehicle for this purpose: to create an aspiration within the self of man to strive towards this higher home of the masters of plenitude and thus to do the Work of the Sacrifice for both: the Gods and men, who affirm them here on earth. It is by illumining Word that we make our Thought strive towards the Divine. By the word affirming the Divine in thought we can aspire in our thinking towards the higher realizations. Therefore Panis and Dasyus hate the word, for it is with the Word that we can change the level of consciousness. Vocabulary: dheyām, Ved. Pot. from dhā, “May I hold”; dheya, mfn. to be held or taken &c.; upama, mf(ā)n. uppermost, highest most excellent, eminent, best RV. AV.; nearest, next, first RV. kṣaya, mfn. dwelling, residing RV.; an abode, dwelling-place, seat, house; spūrdhase, Ved. Inf. to compete, to strive, to aspire by SA; spūrdh, to emulate, compete, rival, vie or cope with, contend or struggle for (loc.) RV.; vi-spardhas, mfn. (spardh; cf. vi-spardh) emulating, vying, envious RV. (Sāy. "free from emulation") VS.

Aa nae? imÇ sudI/iti-/r! vé?[z! c s/xSw/ Aa , Sve ]ye? m/"aena</ soI?na< c v&/xse? . 5-064-05 ā no mitra sudītíbhir váruṇaś ca sadhástha ā suvé kṣáye maghónãṃ sákhīnãṃ ca vrdháse 5.064.05 5. O Mitra, come to us with thy perfect givings and Varuna in the world of our session, for increase in their own home of the masters of plenitude58 and for increase of your companions. Interpretation:

Come to us, O Mitra, with your flaming brightness, and Varuna to the world of these sacrificial gatherings! In your own home of the Lords of the Plenitudes and Friends for a growth and increase. Vocabulary: sudīti, f. bright flame RV. mfn. flaming, shining, brilliant RV. TS. vṛdhase, Ved. Inf., to increase, augment, strengthen, cause to prosper or thrive RV. AV. sadhastha, (sadha-) mfn. "standing together", present RV. AV. n. "place where people stand together", place of meeting, any place, spot, abode, home, region, world ib. VS.

58 The gods. Swar is the “own house” of the Gods.

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yu/v< nae/ ye;u? vé[ ]/Ç< b&/hc! c? ib-&/w> , %/é [ae/ vaj?satye k«/t< ra/ye Sv/Stye? . 5-064-06 yuváṃ no yéṣu varuṇa kṣatrám brhác ca bibhrtháḥ urú ṇo vājasātaye krtáṃ rāyé suastáye 5.064.06 6. For in them you twain bring to us, O Varuna, the might59 and the vastness; form in us the wide world for the conquest of our plenitudes, for bliss, for our soul's happiness. Interpretation: In whose many beings you two carry our force and wideness, that wide world is made for us: to conquer the plenitudes, wealth and well-being.

%/CDNTya?m! me yj/ta de/v]?Çe/ éz?Ìiv , su/t< saem</ n h/iSti-/r! Aa p/d!i-r! xa?vt< nra/ ibæ?tav! AcR/nan?sm! . 5-064-07 uchántiyām me yajatā devákṣatre rúśadgavi sutáṃ sómaṃ ná hastíbhir ā paḍbhír dhāvataṃ narā bíbhratāv arcanānasam 5.064.07 7. To me, O lords of sacrifice, in the breaking of the dawn, in the flashing of the ray, in the force of the gods, to my wine pressed out as if 60 by men with hands come racing with your trampling steeds, O gods who bring,—to the pilgrim of the Light.61 Interpretation: In the dawning, o lords of the sacrifice, in the flashing of knowledge and the luminous power, come to me, as if to the Soma pressed by those who have hands, rush onto me with your galloping feet of gods, O you two Powerful

59 The divine force of the Truth-conscious being, called in the next verse “the force of the

gods”; the Vast, bṛhat, is the constant description of that plane or “wide world”,—the Truth, the Right, the Vast. 60 “As if”,—showing, as often, that the wine and its pressing are figures and symbols. 61 Arcanānas, he who travels to the illumination created by the word, the significant name of the Rishi of this hymn, one of the line of Atri.

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Heros, who are carrying me through, a pilgrim in the car of the flaming word of aspiration! Vocabulary: rušadgu, mfn. having white or bright cattle ib. devakṣatra, n. domain of the gods; bibhrat, mfn. (pr.p. of bhṛ) bearing, carrying RV. &c. &c. arcanānas, m. “whose luminous Word carry him forward as in a car”; "who has a rattling carriage"; N. of a Rishi RV. v , 64 , 7 and AV. xviii , 3 , 15. anas, n. ( -an Un2.), a cart RV. &c.; arcana, mf(ī)n. ifc. honouring, praising Nir.

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RV 5-65 ṛṣi: rātahavya ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chandaḥ: anuṣṭup, 6 paṅkti

yz! ic/ket/ s su/³tu?r! dev/Ça s ä?vItu n> , vé?[ae/ ySy? dzR/tae im/Çae va/ vn?te/ igr>? . 5-065-01 ta ih ïeó?vcRsa/ raja?na dI"R/ïuÄ?ma , ta sTp?tI \ta/v&x? \/tava?na/ jne?-jne . 5-065-02 ta va?m! #ya/nae =?vse/ pUvaR/ %p? äuve/ sca? , Svña?s>/ su ce/tuna/ vaja?~ A/i- à da/vne? . 5-065-03 im/Çae A</haez! ic/d! Aad! %/é ]ya?y ga/tu< v?nte , im/ÇSy/ ih à/tUvR?t> sum/itr! AiSt? ivx/t> . 5-065-04 v/y< im/ÇSyav?is/ Syam? s/àw?Stme , A/ne/hs/s! Tvaet?y> s/Ça vé?[ze;s> . 5-065-05 yu/v< im?Çe/m< jn</ yt?w>/ s< c? nyw> , ma m/"aen>/ pir? Oyt/< mae A/Smak/m! \;I?[a< gaepI/we n? %é:ytm! . 5-065-06

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The Lords of the Journey The Rishi invokes the two great increasers of the truth in our being to lead us in our journey to the plenitudes, to the vastness of our true existence which they conquer for us out of the narrow limits of our present ignorant and imperfect mentality.

yz! ic/ket/ s su/³tu?r! dev/Ça s ä?vItu n> , vé?[ae/ ySy? dzR/tae im/Çae va/ vn?te/ igr>? . 5-065-01 yáś cikéta sá sukrátur devatrā sá bravītu naḥ váruṇo yásya darśató mitró vā vánate gíraḥ 5.065.01 1. He who has awakened to the knowledge, becomes perfect in will; let him speak for us among the gods: Varuna of the vision and Mitra take delight in his words. Interpretation: “The one who is conscious he is of the perfect power of action, he should express [representing] us among the gods by his Voice. Of whom Varuna is the Seer and Mitra rejoices of his Voice!” The first phrase introduces the Vedic concept of Knowledge and Power. The one who has the Knowledge has also the Power. It is he who should sound among the Gods on our behalf! It is of him Varuna is the Seer, and Mitra is an Enjoyer of his Voice. Here again Varuna represents the Power of the Self, therefore he is the seer, yasya daršataḥ, whereas Mitra is enjoying his self-expression in Knowledge, vanate giraḥ. Varuna represents power of the Self, the body, the substance of Infinity, Being, Sat, and Mitra the self-expression of that substance in the Word, Knowledge, Consciousness, Cit. Vocabulary: van, 1. P. A. to like, love, wish, desire RV. AV.; to gain, acquire, procure (for one's self or others) RV. AV.; to conquer, win, become master of, possess RV. AV.; to prepare, make ready for, aim at, attack RV.

ta ih ïeó?vcRsa/ raja?na dI"R/ïuÄ?ma , ta sTp?tI \ta/v&x? \/tava?na/ jne?-jne . 5-065-02

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tā hí śráyiṣṭhavarcasā rājānā dīrghaśrúttamā tā sátpatī rtāvŕdha rtāvānā jáne-jane 5.065.02 2. They are the Kings most glorious in light and most far in their hearing;62 they are the masters of being in creature and creature and the increasers of the Truth in us, for the Truth is theirs. Interpretation:

These two luminous Kings, most glorious in the light of their Seeing and the farthest in the depth of their Hearing, are the Lords of the Divine Existence, Sat, who increase the Truth in every creature born in the physical body, for they are the Masters of the Supramental (dynamic) Truth, ṛtāvānā. Vocabulary: šreṣṭhavarcas, mfn. having most excellent vigour or energy or glory RV. dīrghašrut, mfn. hearing from afar RV.; heard or renowned far and wide (superl. -tama) RV. TS.; ṛtāvṛdh, mfn. increasing or fostering truth or piety (said of gods) RV. VS.

ta va?m! #ya/nae =?vse/ pUvaR/ %p? äuve/ sca? , Svña?s>/ su ce/tuna/ vaja?~ A/i- à da/vne? . 5-065-03 tā vām iyānó ávase pūrvā úpa bruve sácā suáśvāsaḥ sú cetúnā vājām abhí prá dāváne 5.065.03 3. Travelling on the path I call to them, the twain together, the ancient and first; with perfect steeds 63 as we travel we call to them, the perfect in knowledge, for the giving of the plenitudes. Interpretation: “These two Lords, first and ancient, who are intertwined together, I invoke you, while moving on the Path, for my growth! We, who are su-ašvāsaḥ, who perfected our life forces in our will and works and aspiration towards the Truth, call upon you, who have this Perfect Knowledge we acquire here to establish in us your Plenitudes!”

62 They have the divine sight and the divine hearing, the Light and the Word. 63 As usual, the symbol of the dynamic energies, life-powers, etc., by which our will and works and aspiration proceed.

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Vājān dāvane, ‘to get your plenitudes’, - the phrase suggests that the ‘plenitude’, vāja, is used in the sense of having both knowledge and power, making

substance full of delight; what the concept of wealth and plenitude actually represents in the Vedic symbolism is the substance the power of which is enlighten by knowledge. So, the Rishi says: ”We, who have perfected our will power, are calling upon you two, who are perfect in knowledge in order to get the plenitude, as final realization in the body, the illumination of its powers.” In the later tradition (KathUp 1.3.3-4) the horses are associated with indriyas, mind with strings controlling them, buddhi with the charioteer, the body with chariot, and the self, Atman, with the passenger. So su-ašvāsaḥ in the light of the later tradition may mean ‘the one who controls well his indriyas’, directing them as necessary, not allowing them to run after the objects of their enjoyment, yati, yogin, etc. So it can be translated differently: “We, who have restrained our senses, (who are in control of their movement, who have achieved the level of Pratyāhāra, in the terms of Yogasutras,) call upon You, who are perfect in Knowledge, to share with us your Plenitudes.” Vocabulary: dāvan, n. [only dat.-vane (mostly as inf.)] in order to give or to receive RV. mfn. (ifc.) giving, granting RV. AV. &c.

im/Çae A</haez! ic/d! Aad! %/é ]ya?y ga/tu< v?nte , im/ÇSy/ ih à/tUvR?t> sum/itr! AiSt? ivx/t> . 5-065-04 mitró aṃhóś cid ād urú kṣáyāya gātúṃ vanate mitrásya hí pratūrvataḥ sumatír ásti vidhatáḥ 5.065.04 4. Even out of our narrow existence Mitra conquers for us the vastness, he conquers the path to our home; for the perfect mind64 is of Mitra when he harmonises all and hastens forward through to the goal. Interpretation: “Mitra is delivering us from the narrow state of our mentality and conquers for us the movement towards our vast habitation! It is by the Perfect Thought of Mitra in us, which does all the work, that we can move on, for it is by this

64 Aṃhoḥ, the narrowness full of suffering and evil, is the unenlightened state of our limited mentality; the perfect mentality, sumati, given by the grace of Mitra admits us to the wideness.

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Thought that He overpowers all the obstacles in us when He rushes to the goal, it is with the help of this Thought that He can become gracious and friendly to us harmonizing all in our being!” “The well-accorded happiness of the Truth is Mitra's law of working; for it is upon Truth and divine Knowledge that this harmony and perfect temperament are founded; they are formed, secured and guarded by the Maya of Mitra and Varuna. That well-known word comes from the same root as Mitra. Maya is the comprehending, measuring, forming Knowledge which whether divine or undivine, secure in the undivided being of Aditi or labouring in the divided being of Diti, builds up the whole scene, environment, confines, and defines the whole condition, law and working of our existence. Maya is the active, originative, determinative view which creates for each being according to his own consciousness his own world. But Mitra is a Lord of the Light, a Son of Infinity and a Guardian of the Truth and his Maya part of an infinite, supreme and faultless creative wisdom. He builds, he joins together in an illuminated harmony all the numerous planes, all the successive steps, all the graded seats of our being. Whatsoever Aryaman aspires to on his path, has to be effected by the `holdings' or laws of Mitra or by his foundations, statuses, placings, mitrasya dharmabhiḥ, mitrasya dhāmabhiḥ. For dharma, the law is that which holds things together and to which we hold; dhāma, the status is the placing of the law in a founded harmony which creates for us our plane of living and the character of our consciousness, action and thought.” 65 Vocabulary: aṃhu, mfn. (only in compar. {aṃhīyas}) narrow AitBr.; n. (only in Abl. aṃhos) anxiety, distress RV.; aṃh, to press together, to strangle; cf. with ahi, m.( from aṅh), a snake RV. &c.; the serpent of the sky, the demon Vṛtra RV.; (in arithm.) the number eight; pra-tvar/ pra-tūr; A,{-tvarate} , to hasten forwards, speed; tur, (cf. tṝ, tvar) cl. 6. to hurry, press forwards; to overpower RV.; to hurt ib.: to run, press forwards RV. SV., to strive to press forwards;

v/y< im/ÇSyav?is/ Syam? s/àw?Stme , A/ne/hs/s! Tvaet?y> s/Ça vé?[ze;s> . 5-065-05

vayám mitrásya ávasi siyāma sapráthastame anehásas tuvótayaḥ satrā váruṇaśeṣasaḥ 5.065.05

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5. May we abide in the increasing of Mitra which gives us our perfect breadth; then are we free from hurt and sin, fostered by thee, children of the Lord of Wideness. Interpretation: “May we be in the increase of Mitra, which is the most suitable for our growth, we being unobstructed, supported by you, staying together, the offspring of Varuna.” To paraphrase it: ‘Being all the offspring of Varuna may we grow by the increase of Mitra!’, which sheds some light on the qualities of Mitra and Varuna, even

linguistically (cf. the roots: vṛ, to cover, protect, sustain; and mā, to measure, create, realize). Sri Aurobindo says: “That happy freedom of all-possession comes to us out of this godhead's universality and his reconciling luminous embrace of things: Mitra's is the principle of harmony by which the manifold workings of the Truth agree

together in a perfectly wedded union. The root of the name means both to embrace and to contain and hold and, again, to build or form in the sense of linking together the parts or materials of a whole. Adorable Mitra is born in us as a blissful ordainer of things and a king full of might. Mitra holds up heaven and earth and looks sleeplessly upon the worlds and the peoples, and his vigilant and perfect ordinances create in us a happy rightness of mind and feeling—sumati, a state of grace, we might almost say,—which becomes for us an unhurt abiding-place. “Free from all undelightfulness,” says the Vedic verse, “rejoicing with rapture in the goddess of the Word, bowing the knee in the wideness of earth, may we attain to our abiding-place in the law of working of Mitra, son of Infinity, and dwell in his grace.” It is when Agni becomes Mitra, when the divine Will realises the divine Love that, in the Vedic image, the Lord and his Spouse agree in their mansion.”66 Vocabulary: saprathas, (sa-, or sa-prathas) mfn. extensive, wide RV. VS.; effective or sounding or shining far and wide ib.; -tama mfn. (superl.) very extensive or large ib. prathas, n. width, extension RV. anehas, mfn. (īh), without a rival, incomparable, unattainable, unmenaced , unobstructed RV. tvoti, tvā-uti, mfn. Bah. ‘in whom there is our growth’, id. , RV 5.65.5; ix , 66 and 76. satrā, ind. (sa+trā) together, together with (instr.), altogether, throughout always, by all means RV. AV. Br.

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sattra (incorr. satra) , n. "session", a great Soma sacrifice (lasting accord. to some, from 13 to 100 days and performed by many officiating Brahmanas ; also applied to any oblation or meritorious work equivalent to the performance of a Sattra ; RV. &c. &c. varuṇašeṣas, mfn. having descendants capable of protecting, RV. v, 65, 5 (Sāy.; others "being Varuṇa's posterity i.e. sinless").

yu/v< im?Çe/m< jn</ yt?w>/ s< c? nyw> , ma m/"aen>/ pir? Oyt/< mae A/Smak/m! \;I?[a< gaepI/we n? %é:ytm! . 5-065-06 yuvám mitrā imáṃ jánaṃ yátathaḥ sáṃ ca nayathaḥ mā maghónaḥ pári khyatam mó asmākam ŕṣīṇãṃ gopīthé na uruṣyatam 5.065.06 6. You twain, O Mitra, set this human creature travelling on your path and wholly you lead him. Set not your hedge around our lords of plenitude and our seers of the truth. Guard us in our drinking of the light.67 Interpretation: “You two, O Mitra, connect this human being born in the body to your goal and lead him there fully! Do not separate us from the Lords of plenitude and our Rishis! Increase us in the drinking of the light of knowledge.” Sri Aurobindo writes in the Secret of the Veda: “He is the great and blissful one who sets and leads creatures born into the world upon their path. The distinction is drawn in one verse that Varuna is the masterful traveller to the soul's supreme seat, Mitra makes men advance in that march. “Even now” says the Rishi “may I attain the movement to the goal and journey on Mitra's path.” Since Mitra cannot fulfil his harmony except in the wideness and purity of Varuna, he is constantly invoked in company with that great godhead. Theirs are the supreme statuses or planes of the soul; it is the bliss of Mitra and Varuna that has to increase in us. By their law that vast plane of our consciousness shines out upon us and heaven and earth are the two paths of their journey. For Aditi of the Truth, their mother, has borne them omniscient and great for almightiness; and it is luminous Aditi, the undivided being, whom they, wakeful from day to day, cleave to, she who holds for us our habitations in that world of light and they attain to its luminous forcefulness. They are the two Sons perfect in their birth from of old who support the law of our action; children are they of a

67 Go, the Light or the Cow, meaning here the “milk” or yield of the Mother of Light.

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vast luminous power, offspring of the divine discerning thought and perfect in will. They are the guardians of Truth, possessed of its law in the supreme ether. Swar is their golden home and birth-place.” Vocabulary: yat, 1. A (prob. connected with yam, and orig. meaning, “to stretch"), (P.) to place in order, marshal, join, connect RV. khyā, 2. P. khyāti (in the non-conjugational tenses also A, perf. cakhyau, cakhye; impf. akhyat, akhyata (Pāṇ 2. 3-1 , 52); to relate, tell, say, declare, betray, denounce. gopītha, m. (1. pā) a draught of milk RV.; m. (3. pā) protection RV. v , 65 , 6 uruṣya Nom. (fr. uru.; perhaps an irr. fut. or Desid. of 1.vṛ) P. uruṣyati; to protect, secure, defend from (abl.) RV. AV. Appendix

The Symbol of Dawn. Above mind's twil ight and l i fe's star- led night There gleamed the dawn of a spiritual day.68 uṣo bhadrebhir ā gahi divaš cid rocanād adhi 69 “O Dawn, come with your blessings, from beyond of the shining Heaven!” idaṃ šreṣṭhaṃ jyotiṣāṃ jyotir āgāc ci traḥ praketo ajaniṣṭa vibhvā 70 “The best l ight of al l l ights has come. Bright Vision is born widely spreading.” It is the Dawn, who creates l ight,71 clears up the original darkness, abhva, and heals al l things distorted by it, restoring the Presence of the Divinity in the lower hemisphere. upa mā pepišat tamaḥ / kṛṣṇaṃ vyaktam asthita / uṣa ṛṇeva yātaya “The darkness (tamas) painting thick approached me, dark and palpable, O Dawn, clear i t away, l ike debts!”72 pratyarcī rušad asyā adarši vi tiṣṭhate bādhate kṛṣṇam abhvam/ 73 “Her shining f lame appeared removing and destroying black non-being!”

68 Savitri, p.26

69 RV 1.49.1

70 RV 1.113.1

71 RV 1.48.8

72 RV 10.126.7 73 RV 1.92.5

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Into being's gap scooped out as empty Space In which she had f i l led the place of absent God, There poured a wide intimate and blissful Dawn; Healed were all things that Time's torn heart had made And sorrow could l ive no more in Nature's breast: Division ceased to be, for God was there. The soul lit the conscious body with its ray, Matter and spirit mingled and were one.74 The major faculty of Dawn is to bring the Light from the Beyond and to overf low the division between God and World. It is with her overf lowing l ight from the beyond that the soul becomes able to i l lumine and make conscious the body in which it dwells; thus matter and spiri t wil l be able to mingle and become one. “Usha as the mother of the cows can only be a form or power of this supreme Light, of this supreme Consciousness, of Adi t i . And in fact, we do f ind her so described in I.113.19, mātā devānām aditer anīkam “Mother of the gods, form (or, power) of Aditi.”- says Sri Aurobindo in The Secret of the Veda.75 In Savi tri Sri Aurobindo is often using this rich imagery of the Dawn, defining her as the Divine Mother. In the Canto dedicated to the Adoration of the Divine Mother he speaks of Her and the change she brings in this way: I l lumined by her al l-seeing identity Knowledge and Ignorance could strive no more; No longer could the t i tan Opposites, Antagonist poles of the world's art i f ice, Impose the i l lusion of their twofold screen Throwing their f igures between us and her. It is by removing this twofold screen of māyāvins, the creators working and manifesting the Divine by the force of Māyā in the lower hemisphere, who thus have twisted the projection of the Supreme, creating a dichotomy of Knowledge and Ignorance, creating Time and Space phenomena, throwing al l the figures of the manifesting Divine “between us and her”, creating an i l lusion of our separate bi rth and l i fe and death. But when She comes i l lumining al l with “her al l-seeing identity”, then Knowledge and Ignorance loose their identity, and the antagonist poles

74 Savitri, p. 232 75 The Secret of the Veda, p.131; see also the Mother’s explanation of the Symbol Dawn.

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of the world’s art i f ice cannot “impose the i l lusion of their twofold screen, throwing their f igures between us and her.” The Wisdom was near, disguised by its own works, Of which the darkened universe is the robe. No more existence seemed an aimless fal l , Extinction was no more the sole release. The Wisdom, the Consciousness of Adit i , superior to Knowledge and Ignorance, working by both, embodying both (cf. the concept of Vidyā and Avidyā in the ĪšaUp 9-11) approaches us, hidden by its own works of a seeming Ignorance now, of which al l this Universe is nothing but a robe, a garment for the Divine to wear (see īšā vāsyam idaṃ sarvam of the ĪšaUp 1.) and the existence looses its seeming aimlessness, and the fal l of l i fe becomes ful ly justi f ied; the l iberation from the World or extinction, as Sri Aurobindo cal ls the desi re of dissolut ion in pure Transcendental Spirit, Mukti , completely looses its meaning. The world and the spiri t become again one without a second. The hidden Word was found, the long-sought clue, Revealed was the meaning of our spiri t 's birth, Condemned to an imperfect body and mind, In the inconscience of material things And the indignity of mortal l i fe. It is with her coming that “the hidden Word” is found, the clue to things divine here in the lower hemisphere: the Fire, the Divine Wil l ful l of Knowledge, the Immortal among mortals, the emerging Word, who carried “the meaning of our spiri t ’s birth”, was f inal ly released from Darkness, mahān devas tamaso niramoci (RV 5.1.2). When the Dawn arrives the Fi re hidden in the darkness comes out and moves towards her l ike a cal f towards a Cow, who is approaching to feed him, práti dhenúm ivāyatī m uṣā sam (RV 5.1.1). It is on Her that he feeds and grows beyond Heaven and Earth, shining with Her l ight, uttānā m ūrdhvó adhayaj juhūbhiḥ, (RV 5.1.3). Now was revealed the secret meaning of our spiri tual bi rth here, and the plunge into the Night which looked f irst l ike an condemnation to “an imperfect body and mind, and “the indigni ty of mortal l i fe” was f inal ly justi f ied, for the hidden Word was found in the depth of Inconscient, “the long-sought c lue”, which final ly explained to us what this Sacrif ice was made for. This i l lumination can be compared to the transformation of the Lord of Darkness, in Mother’s terminology, where the l ight from above and from below is reestabl ished. We can compare it to the first two boons which Savitri receives from Yama: the sight for Dyumatsena as an awakening of the Dawn from above, and the regaining of his kingdom on earth as the

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discovery of the meaning of our spiri t ’s birth, of the hidden Word, as the answer to our quest. The recovery of the Luminous Consciousness in this world, separated in two on the Transcendental and the Mani festation, is to be done on both sides. It has to come from above and to rise from below. These are two beloved, as the Veda says, the Dawn as the Divine Mother and Agni as her husband and her son, who are one in their inner nature, but different in their mani festations; they are twins: “This whole wide world is only he and she. This is the knot that t ies together the stars: The Two who are one are the secret of al l power, The Two who are one are the might and right in things.”76 On this ground they have to recover their oneness here in the world of matter. And the f irst step of this recovery is on the level of Consciousness. The oneness is to be achieved between the unborn Self and the evolving Soul, Psychic Being. Here in this chamber of flame and light they met; They looked upon each other, knew themselves, The secret dei ty and its human part, The calm immortal and the struggl ing soul. Then with a magic transformation's speed They rushed into each other and grew one.77 When Agni shines with the l ight of Usha, the oneness of knowledge is achieved and the perception of the world changes, it becomes single instead of dual, ajāmi , though it operates by two jāmis. “It is when Agni becomes Mitra, when the divine Will real ises the divine Love that, in the Vedic image, the Lord and his Spouse agree in their mansion.”78 It is because of this unity of the transcendental and involved divini ty that the oneness between the two poles of existence can be establ ished. Therefore Mother was seen by Sri Aurobindo as “a golden bridge” between the two. A Heart was felt in the spaces wide and bare, A burning Love from white spiri tual founts Annul led the sorrow of the ignorant depths; Suffering was lost in her immortal smi le.

76 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 63 77 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 527 78 Vo lume: 15 [CWSA] (The Secret of the Veda), Page: 511

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Once the Supreme Wisdom from above and from below is reestabl ished the suffering and sorrow are becoming annul led by the awakening of the spiri tual Transcendental Heart within the manifestation, “in spaces wide and bare”. It is a Cosmic Consciousness, seeing al l as the manifestation of the Supreme. It can be compared to the transformation of the second Asura of Suffering, in the Mother’s terms, or with the boon Savitri receives for her father Aswapati , who, as the story of Mahabharata says, suffered a lot, santāpam upajagmivān. It is only now when Ashvamedha is offered and the being has overcome the l imitations of mental and physical consciousness that the conversion of Falsehood, Inf inite Darkness, abhva, by the Supramental Descent can be at al l perceived so that the Transcendental Sat-Cit-Ananda can act upon it, transforming it into its own nature. A Life from beyond grew conqueror here of death; To err no more was natural to mind; Wrong could not come where al l was l ight and love. The Formless and the Formed were joined in her: Immensity was exceeded by a look, A Face revealed the crowded Inf inite. 79 Where al l is l ight and love, that is to say when the f irst two Asuras of Darkness and Suffering are being converted, or when the boons for Dyumatsena and Aswapati are already granted, then wrong can not come here anymore and “to err no more” is “natural to mind” and even “a Li fe from beyond” grows “conqueror here of death”, which in the story of Savitri correspond to the last two boons and in the Mother’s terms it is the conversion of the Lord of Falsehood and Death. Dawn brings the Light, which reconci les the antagonist-poles of higher and lower hemisphere: “the Formless and the Formed were joined in her”, and creating oneness of al l , She is reveal ing herself as a “Face” of “the crowded Inf ini te”, mātā devānām aditer anīkam, (RV 3.61.1-2), the Supramental Manifestation. Now we are deal ing with the realms of Consciousness beyond our l imited mental and physical realms. To conquer Falsehood and Death we have to go beyond our individual state of consciousness and being into the realms of abhva, Universal Inconscient, the Self of Death. From now on there must be another strategy adopted: a strategy of a direct inf luence from the Supramental Force, the direct pressure of the Truth Consciousness on the abysses of Inf inite Darkness. The individual element steps back or rather widens and becomes Universal, as i t were,

79 Savitri, p. 313

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giving place to greater forces to clash in his/her own body. The individual becomes a Universal battlef ield. It is only now that the Divine Mother can convert Falsehood into Truth and eventual ly Death into Immortal i ty. Here She reveals her Face of “the crowded Inf inite”, symbolized by her boon of 100 sons with Satyavan.80 It is through this Life, as a gap between heaven and earth that the forces of Light and Darkness from the beyond can enter and clash. Man is designed to be a knot for these inf initudes, a sacrif icial ground and an altar, a transformation station and a battlef ield, a Hiranya Garbha, where the Lord grows in his Manifestation. It is his destiny and his purpose to do this work of the Divine. It is the recovery of the single Luminous Consciousness and the offering of Life-Force Ashvamedha, moving beyond our l imited mental i ty and physical i ty that the Veda has mainly dealt with. The change of Abhva, the Falsehood, and Death, in the most concrete and fundamental way was not their direct preoccupation. Therefore Sri Aurobindo says: “The fundamental difference is in the teaching that there is a dynamic divine Truth (the supermind) and that into the present world of Ignorance that Truth can descend, create a new Truth-Consciousness and divinise Life. The old yogas go straight from mind to the absolute Divine, regard al l dynamic existence as Ignorance, Il lusion or Li la; when you enter the static and immutable Divine Truth, they say, you pass out of cosmic existence. The Vedic Rishis never attained to the supermind for the earth or perhaps did not even make the attempt. They tried to rise individually to the supramental plane, but they did not bring it down and make it a permanent part of the earth-consciousness. Even there are verses of the Upanishad in which i t is hinted that i t is impossible to pass through the gates of the Sun (the symbol of the supermind) and yet retain an earthly body. It was because of this fai lure that the spiritual effort of India culminated in Mayavada. Our yoga is a double movement of ascent and descent; one rises to higher and higher levels of consciousness, but at the same time one brings down their power not only into mind and l i fe, but in the end even into the body. And the highest of these levels, the one at which i t aims is the supermind. Only when that can be brought down is a divine transformation possible in the earth-consciousness.” 81

80 Hundred is a symbol ic number of inf ini te completeness, which Sri Aurobindo

expla ins in the Secret of the Veda as 7 t imes 7 is 49, a complete manifestat ion of al l the planes of consciousness and force here in the lower hemisphere and 1, symbol iz ing the oneness of al l of them below which makes i t 50, and the same in the higher hemisphere wi th the supreme one above them. 81 Letters on Yoga, p.102

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RV 5-66 ṛṣi: rātahavya ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chanda: anuṣṭup

Aa ic?iktan su/³tU? de/vaE m?tR ir/zad?sa , vé?[ay \/tpe?zse dxI/t ày?se m/he . 5-066-01 ta ih ]/Çm! Aiv?ÿ‚t< s/Myg! A?su/yRm! Aaza?te , Ax? ì/tev/ manu?;</ Svr! [ xa?iy dzR/tm! . 5-066-02 ta va/m! @;e/ rwa?nam! %/vI<Rm! gVyU?itm! @;am! , ra/th?VySy suòu/it< d/x&k! StaemE?r! mnamhe . 5-066-03 Axa/ ih kaVya? yu/v< d]?Sy pU/i-Rr! A?Ñ‚ta , in ke/tuna/ jna?na< ic/kewe? pUtd]sa . 5-066-04 td! \/t< p&?iwiv b&/hCD+?v @/; \;I?[am! , ¿/y/sa/nav! Ar?< p&/Wv! Ait? ]riNt/ yam?i-> . 5-066-05 Aa yd! va?m! $yc]sa/ imÇ? v/y< c? sU/ry>? , Vyic?óe b÷/paYye/ yte?mih Sv/raJye? . 5-066-06

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The Givers of Self-Rule The Rishi invokes Varuna, the vast form of the Truth, and Mitra the beloved, godhead of its harmonies and large bliss, who conquer for us the perfect force of our true and infinite being, to change our imperfect human nature into the image of their divine workings. Then the solar Heaven of the Truth is manifested within us, its wide pasture of herding illuminations becomes the field of journeying of our chariots, the high thoughts of the seers, their purified discernment, their rapid inspirations become ours, our very earth becomes the world of that vast Truth. For then there is the perfect movement, the transcendence of this darkness of sin and suffering. We arrive at self-empire, a rich, full and vast possession of our infinite being. Interpretation:

Varuna and Mitra are the powers of the dynamic truth, whose habitation and the birth place is Svar, the region between our human intelligence and the Supermind. They represent the luminous worlds of Svar, the world of the Rays of the Sun, but not the Sun itself, which is Supermind proper. The dynamism of these planes can change our human dynamic nature into the divine nature. It is because of this attempt to pass beyond these higher dynamic regions and to go straight to the Absolute that the transformation of human nature started to be seen as impossible. And this was the meaning of the famous dialog between Indra and Agastya, who tried to overpass the regions of Svar and to go straight to the Absolute, where Indra explained to him that he was actually his friend and should not be neglected.82

82 The Secret of the Veda, p. 254: “The governing idea of the hymn belongs to a stage of spiritual progress when the human soul wishes by the sheer force of Thought to hasten forward beyond in order to reach prematurely the source of all things without full development of the being in all its progressive stages of conscious activity. The effort is opposed by the Gods who preside over the universe of man and of the world and a violent struggle takes place in the human consciousness between the individual soul in its egoistic eagerness and the universal Powers which seek to fulfil the divine purpose of the Cosmos. The seer Agastya at such a moment confronts in his inner experience Indra, Lord of Swar, the realm of pure intelligence, through which the ascending soul passes into the divine Truth.

Indra speaks first of that unknowable Source of things towards which Agastya is too impatiently striving. That is not to be found in Time. It does not exist in the actualities of the present, nor in the eventuality of the future. It neither is now nor becomes hereafter. Its being is beyond Space and Time and therefore in Itself cannot be known by that which is in Space and Time. It manifests Itself by Its forms and activities in the consciousness of that which is not Itself and through those activities it is meant that It should be realised. But if one tries to approach It and study It in Itself, It disappears from the thought that would seize It and is as if It were not.

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The whole region of the Rays of the Sun and of the Sun itself were thus overlooked by the later systems of yoga, pointing to the Absolute alone, excluding the dynamic aspect of the Truth which alone could transform our lower nature. It is only the Vedic Rishis who tried to do it but it was very difficult to achieve. The failure to bring it down resulted in the change of the spiritual seeking, which now became oriented towards the Absolute alone bypassing the

dynamic regions; thus ṛtam was forgotten and only satyam remained. This is why Sri Aurobindo’s discovery of the Supramental Consciousness with all the levels following it: Overmind, Intuitive Mind, Illumined Mind, Higher Mind is a new and at the same time an old revelation. Sri Aurobindo found in the Veda the attempt to realize the dynamic truth of our being here in the body in confirmation with his own experience. It is most probably because of this that the Secret of the Veda was lost, for the dynamic regions of the Supermind were overlooked and the Veda became simply a monument, a remnant of a glorious past. Sri Aurobindo writes in the letter to his disciple: “The fundamental difference is in the teaching that there is a dynamic divine Truth (the supermind) and that into the present world of Ignorance that Truth can descend, create a new Truth-Consciousness and divinise Life. The old yogas go straight from mind to the absolute Divine, regard all dynamic existence as Ignorance, Illusion or Lila; when you enter the static and immutable Divine Truth, they say, you pass out of cosmic existence.” “The Vedic Rishis never attained to the supermind for the earth or perhaps did not even make the attempt. They tried to rise individually to the supramental plane, but they did not bring it down and make it a permanent part of the earth-consciousness. Even there are verses of the Upanishad in which it is hinted that it is impossible to pass through the gates of the Sun (the symbol of the supermind) and yet retain an earthly body. It was because of this failure that the spiritual effort of India culminated in Mayavada. Our yoga is a double movement of ascent and descent; one rises to higher and higher levels of consciousness, but at the same time one brings down their power not only into mind and life, but in the end even into the body. And the highest of these levels, the one at which it aims is the supermind. Only when that can be brought down is a divine transformation possible in the earth-consciousness.” 83

Aa ic?iktan su/³tU? de/vaE m?tR ir/zad?sa , vé?[ay \/tpe?zse dxI/t ày?se m/he . 5-066-01 83 Letters on Yoga, p.102

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ā cikitāna sukrátū devaú marta riśādasā váruṇāya rtápeśase dadhītá práyase mahé 5.066.01 1. O mortal who awakenest to knowledge, call to thee the two godheads who are perfect in will and destroyers of thy enemy. Direct your thoughts to Varuna of whom Truth is the form and to the great Delight.84 Interpretation: Again, Sri Aurobindo translates dadhīta, Pot. 2 pers. plur., from dhā, to put, fix, establish, as “direct your thoughts”, meaning ‘fix your consciousness upon’, which is very significant in relation to the mind as a faculty of consciousness. Mind is placing, fixing, holding an image of things in front of our consciousness. It is this Mind starting from the lower human intelligence through all the higher levels up to the Supermind which has the capacity of holding and fixing the consciousness in a particular state. So the role of the Mind would be a channel of the higher spiritual powers of consciousness. Somewhere Sri Aurobindo says that we cannot fully understand how mind functions until we discover the Supermind. It is this approach to the mind that makes Veda unique in the history of spirituality, for it includes the higher regions and is extended up to the Supermind. If it is so, then the invocation by the Word, formed from the higher realms of the consciousness, can establish here in the lower mind the higher levels of consciousness. In other words we can extend our mind consciousness into the higher regions and we can ascend to the higher realms of our own mind at will, for it is one and the same mind within us. In this sense Mitra and Varuna are the faculties and capacities of our higher mental consciousness, which we thus can extend our perception to or activate them within our mind here. They introduce our soul to its higher realms as the Rishi says. These are our realms which we can visit and experience within our consciousness and being. Dyumatsena lit. means “the Army of the Rays of the Sun”, it represents this region of consciousness (from human intelligence to the Overmental plane) which has to be fully activated here in our body recovering our evolving soul, psychic being, hidden in the cave of the heart, which thus uniting with its higher regions of consciousness will expand itself to the Cosmic dimensions in the individual frame, uniting Heaven and Earth in one perception of Truth. “O mortal, who has become conscious, cling to the two Gods, perfect in Power, destroyers of enemies! Towards Varuna, of who is decorated by the Dynamic

84 The satisfaction given by Mitra, founding the large bliss of the Truth-plane. Varuna of the infinities gives the wide form, Mitra of the harmonies the perfect joy of the energies of the Truth, its complete mightiness.

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Truth, towards (Mitra, who is dressed in) great delight, direct your mind fixed by uninterrupted concentration.” Vocabulary: pešas, n. shape, form, colour RV. ; an artificial figure, ornament, embroidery, an embroidered garment ib. VS. AitBr. dadhīta, 2 pers. Pot. From dhā, only here in RV 5-66-1;

ta ih ]/Çm! Aiv?ÿ‚t< s/Myg! A?su/yRm! Aaza?te , Ax? ì/tev/ manu?;</ Svr! [ xa?iy dzR/tm! . 5-066-02 tā hí kṣatrám ávihrutaṃ samyág asuryàm āśate ádha vratéva mānuṣaṃ súvar ṇá dhāyi darśatám 5.066.02 2. For it is they who attain to the undistorted force and the entire mightiness. Then shall thy humanity become as if the workings of these gods; it is as if the visible heaven of light 85 were founded in thee. Interpretation: “For these two are representatives of the Dynamic Truth, who have access to the perfect power of the Self which is undistorted Force. It is by that force that our humanity can become the fields of their workings; it is as if Svar itself becomes founded here in us fully visible.” Definitely it is one of the most obvious and direct indication of transformation of our nature into its higher prototype. The Force is needed for such a realization and the Force is theirs, undistorted, the entire mightiness. Vocabulary: vihruta, (vi-) mfn. crooked, dislocated, hurt, injured RV. AV. aš, Ved. Aor. āṣṭe āšāte, āšate, to get, to attain, to realize, to enjoy; daršata, mfn. visible, striking the eye, conspicuous, beautiful RV. AV.

ta va/m! @;e/ rwa?nam! %/vI<Rm! gVyU?itm! @;am! , ra/th?VySy suòu/it< d/x&k! StaemE?r! mnamhe . 5-066-03 tā vām éṣe ráthānãm urvīṃ gávyūtim eṣãm rātáhavyasya suṣṭutíṃ dadhŕk stómair manāmahe 5.066.03 85 Or Swar of the vision, the world of light where is the full vision of the Truth.

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3. Therefore you, O gods, I desire,—for the rushing of these chariots your wide pasture of the herds. Forcefully by our hymns our minds seize on his perfect affirmation when the god receives our bounteous offerings. Interpretation:

“Such great are you, whom I desire and aspire towards, - for these many chariots of ours are seeking to get to the vast pasture of your herds of light. Strongly we fix our minds by affirmations upon the perfect Hymn-Affirmation of the one whose offering has already been accepted: Ratahavya.” Ratahavya is the name of the Rishi of this hymn. Sri Aurobindo translates it differently with a deeper connotation: “our minds seize on his perfect affirmation, when the god receives our bounteous offerings.” He transmits the quality of the Rishi’s name onto the action of those whose minds are seeking after these higher planes of consciousness, which is quite interesting, for it creates one space within the mind. Vocabulary: dadhṛṣ, (nom. -dhṛk) ind. (Pān 2. 3-2 , 59) strongly, boldly RV. v , 66 , 3; eṣ, (probably connected with iṣ) 1. P. A. eṣati (Impv. eṣatu; inf. eṣe), to go, move; to creep, glide RV.; to glide or hasten towards, attain, obtain RV. v , 41 , 5 eṣ, P. A. (ā-īṣati, -te), to hasten near or towards, fly at to endeavour to reach or obtain to desire, request RV. rātahavya, one to whom the offering is presented, one who receives the oblation ib.; m. (with Atreya) N. of the author of RV. v, 65 gavyūti, f. (Pān2. 6-1 , 79 Vārtt.2 f.) a pasture, piece of pasture land, district, place of residence RV. AV. TS.

Axa/ ih kaVya? yu/v< d]?Sy pU/i-Rr! A?Ñ‚ta , in ke/tuna/ jna?na< ic/kewe? pUtd]sa . 5-066-04 ádhā hí kāviyā yuváṃ dákṣasya pūrbhír adbhutā ní ketúnā jánānãṃ cikéthe pūtadakṣasā 5.066.04 4. Then indeed, O transcendent godheads, you conquer the seer-wisdoms by the full floodings of the illumined discernment; you perceive knowledge for these human creatures by a perception in which the judgment is purified. Interpretation:

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It is only then after our rigorous and powerful affirmation that “you finally conquer our wisdom by the floodings of your intuition, and thus you perceive in the human creatures all by your complete and perfect perception, you who have pure Discernment!” The higher consciousness of the transcendent godheads, adbhutā, finally overflows the poetic and prophetic wisdom of the human seers, it answers to the call, as it were, and takes full charge over the perception of human beings. Vocabulary: pur f. (from pṝ) only instr. pl. pūrbhis, in abundance, abundantly RV. v , 66 , 4. adbhuta, mfn., supernatural, wonderful, marvelous; m. the marvellous (in style) , surprise RV. kāvya, mfn., endowed with the qualities of a sage or poet, descended or coming from a sage, prophetic, inspired, poetical RV.

td! \/t< p&?iwiv b&/hCD+?v @/; \;I?[am! , ¿/y/sa/nav! Ar?< p&/Wv! Ait? ]riNt/ yam?i-> . 5-066-05 tád rtám prthivi brhác chrava-eṣá ŕṣīṇãm jrayasānāv áram prthú áti kṣaranti yāmabhiḥ 5.066.05 5. O wide Earth, that Vast, that Truth for the movement of inspired knowledge of the sages! Widely the Twain speed with full capacity, our chariots pass streaming beyond 86 in their travellings. Interpretation:

It is interesting that the Rishi invokes here the Earth, Prithivī, which lit. means expanded, or wide. “That Rhythm, ṛtam, O Earth, wide supporter of our existence here, is vast, in search of Knowledge of the Rishis! Widely you two speed up all over, and they flow beyond heaven and earth with their chariots.” Vocabulary: jrayasāna, mfn. spreading, expanding, occupying space, v , 66 pṛthu, mf(vī or u) n. broad, wide, expansive, extensive, spacious, large great, important copious, numerous, manifold RV. &c. &c. (-u ind.) yāma, m. motion, course, going, progress RV. AV. Br.; a road, way, path ib.; a carriage, chariot RV. šravaeṣa m. desire of praising RV.

86 Beyond the darkness and the enemies, the suffering and evil of the lower existence.

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Aa yd! va?m! $yc]sa/ imÇ? v/y< c? sU/ry>? , Vyic?óe b÷/paYye/ yte?mih Sv/raJye? . 5-066-06 ā yád vām īyacakṣasā mítra vayáṃ ca sūráyaḥ vyáciṣṭhe bahupāyiye yátemahi svarājiye 5.066.06 6. When, O Mitra, you have your far-voyaging vision and we are the illumined seers, may we arrive in the effort of our journey to a self-empire 87 spread out widely open and governing its multitudes. Interpretation: When you have established your far reaching vision and we become illumined seers by it, may we come to the self-realisation of a self-empire perfect within and without, protected by many, manifesting in multitudes. The Formless and the Formed were joined in her: Immensity was exceeded by a look, A Face revealed the crowded Infinite.88

Vocabulary: īyacakṣas, mfn. (īya fr. i) of pervading or far-reaching sight RV. v , 66 , 6. vyaciṣṭha, mfn. (superl.) most spacious or expansive RV. dahupāyya, mfn. protecting many; n. a large hall RV.

Appendix 1

Let us see how Sri Aurobindo describes the Mind and it ability to reach beyond in The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Mind89: There ceased the limits of the labouring Power. But being and creation cease not there. For Thought transcends the circles of mortal mind, It is greater than its earthly instrument:

87 Swarajya. Swarajya and Samrajya, perfect empire within and without, rule of our inner being and mastery of our environment and circumstances, was the ideal of the Vedic sages, attainable only by ascending beyond our mortal mentality to the luminous Truth of our being, the supramental infinities on the spiritual plane of our existence. 88 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 314 89 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 260

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The godhead crammed into mind's narrow space Escapes on every side into some vast That is a passage to infinity.

It moves eternal in the spirit's field, A runner towards the far spiritual light, A child and servant of the spirit's force. But mind too falls back from a nameless peak. His being stretched beyond the sight of Thought. For the spirit is eternal and unmade And not by thinking was its greatness born, And not by thinking can its knowledge come. It knows itself and in itself it lives, It moves where no thought is nor any form. Its feet are steadied upon finite things, Its wings can dare to cross the Infinite. Arriving into his ken a wonder space Of great and marvellous meetings called his steps, Where Thought leaned on a Vision beyond thought And shaped a world from the Unthinkable.

On peaks imagination cannot tread, In the horizons of a tireless sight, Under a blue veil of eternity The splendours of ideal Mind were seen Outstretched across the boundaries of things known. Origin of the little that we are, Instinct with the endless more that we must be, A prop of all that human strength enacts, Creator of hopes by earth unrealised, It spreads beyond the expanding universe; It wings beyond the boundaries of Dream, It overtops the ceiling of life's soar. Awake in a luminous sphere unbound by Thought, Exposed to omniscient immensities, It casts on our world its great crowned influences, Its speed that outstrips the ambling of the hours, Its force that strides invincibly through Time, Its mights that bridge the gulf twixt man and God, Its lights that combat Ignorance and Death. In its vast ambit of ideal Space Where beauty and mightiness walk hand in hand, The Spirit's truths take form as living Gods

And each can build a world in its own right.

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Appendix 2

The Myth of the Dawn and the forgotten Path. The Path of the Vedic Dawn was seen as based on the union of the human and the divine mind. It comes from beyond, from the regions of the Sun, impelled by the God Savitar. The Dawn comes down creating the world of Svar on her way, as it were, filling it with the Rays of the Sun. It is the world between the Supramental and our ordinary human intelligence – says Sri Aurobindo. This world of the Rays of the Sun is depicted as a triple heaven of the God Savitar. In Sri Aurobindo’s terminology these regions are called the Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind and the Intuitive Mind which thus lead us to the Overmind the first outflow or an outburst of the Supermind. Sri Aurobindo himself thought that the Overmind was that Supramental Consciousness for quit some time, until he realized after descending into the abysses of Inconscient that there was another realm behind it, which was a true Supermind, for it had a power to change the Inconscient. The Overmental consciousness is thus the closest to the Supermental, defusing its light into the lower creation. It is the realm of the Dynamic Truth, called in the Veda Ritam, (truth covered by the truth)90, which alone has access to and therefore can transform our lower dynamic nature into its divine prototype. All these realms of the Mind are closely associated with the human mind, in fact they are an extension of it, we may say, into the higher realms of consciousness. Or we can rather say that our mind is an extension of the Supermind. Sri Aurobindo confirms it by saying that we cannot really know our mind and how it actually operates until we reach to the Supermind. It is in the Supremind that the secret of our mentality lies, it is there that it will be discovered as a dynamic link to the beyond which was well known to the Vedic Rishis and as such was always referred to and consciously invoked for by them to change our consciousness here in the body. The arrival of the Dawn brings with it the Divine Light from the beyond into our lower darkened mentality thus effectuating its transformation. Dawn is depicted in the Veda as a Face of the Divine Mother, Aditi, aditeranīkam. All great

universal godheads are her sons, called Adityas, the inhabitants of the

90In the hymn to Mitra and Varuna RV 5.062.01 the Rishi invokes them in this way: rténa rtám ápihitaṃ dhruváṃ vāṃ sūryasya yátra vimucánti áśvān dáśa śatā sahá tasthus tád ékaṃ devānāṃ śréṣṭhaṃ vápuṣām apaśyam / By the Truth is veiled that ever-standing Truth of yours where they unyoke the horses of the Sun; there the ten hundreds stand still together; That One,—I have beheld the greatest of the embodied gods.

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Overmental realms. It is through them and with their help that She does her Sacrificial work here: pouring her supreme light into us. These godheads are her faculties and powers, her children: Mitra and Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga, Indra, Vishnu, etc. All of them are solar deities diffusing her light into lower creation. With a failure of the ancient Yoga of the Veda to transform our nature (and the reasons were few)91 the path of the transformation was gradually forgotten, and the dynamic link was finally lost. This became a ground for a paradigm shift in the spiritual life of mankind. The focus was thus shifted to the achievement of the Absolute, introducing the concepts of Mukti and Mayavada, in terms of escape from the bodily life. Thus the real meaning of the transformation symbolized by the Vedic Sacrifice, which was practiced as a surrender of our human nature to the rays of the Dawn, the dynamic truth of the godheads of Svar, who were leading man beyond his limited mentality to the Supramental consciousness and to conquest of Immortality was forgotten and fell into oblivion; it became an ancient Myth, leaving behind only an extensive system rituals as the remnants of its glorious past. No wonder how these great godheads became forgotten, for they were not acquired anymore, unwanted they withdrew their influence from the action over our mentality. Another path was established to bypass them and all their

Dynamic realms of Truth, ṛtam, and to go straight to the Absolute, leaving the sacrificial ground here to the rituals, forgetting the promise we have made to transform this darkened Nature, running away from the toil and the tardy steps of evolution, destroying all what was done before by the ages of the Sacrifice, in order to become empty and to drop the body with its imperfect life and puppet mind, returning back home to the glorious beginning empty handed. And we must say that there was no other possibility to justify the existence of the Spirit, since the dynamic realms were no more a target and priority; there was no other task, no even question about transformation of life here, for it was already known as an impossible path. The word ‘immortality’ has lost its significance and its original meaning of transforming life here in the body and started to mean the state beyond body, life and mind. The only thing, which remained for the spiritual seekers, was to drop their half conscious nature as soon as possible and to return home where there was no suffering anymore. It is interesting to note here that Sri Aurobindo himself could not find a language suitable for the description of his own spiritual experiences, because they had this particular Vedic character of dynamic realms of the Truth, though he knew well the Gita and the Upanishads. But neither the Upanishads nor the Gita really could give him a language suitable for the description of his own states of

91 One of the reasons was that the development of the Psychic being was yet to take place. It is only when it

became developed enough that it could be discovered and uplifted by the godheads to these higher realms

of consciousness, where they all abide, for they are the powers of the soul on the Universal level of

Consciousness.

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consciousness, for they did not deal with or describe those experiences directly. It is only in the Veda that he found a confirmation to his own spiritual experience as the Ancient Path of the Rishis, which he himself discovered: the Path of a dynamic Truth, Ritam. Now he had to bring this lost and forgotten path back to humanity and to reactivate the link with the triple Svar (Higher, Illumined and Intuitive Mind), bringing it to the Overmind and the Supermind as the realms of the dynamic Truth, which alone can transform our earthly nature. A new and ancient Path was rediscovered again: a possibility of a true transformation and the divine life.

Appendix 3 On Ritam RV 4.23 ṛṣi: vāmadeva gautama; devatā: indra, 8-10 indra or ṛta; chanda: triṣṭup

\/tSy/ ih zu/éx>/ siNt? pU/vIr! \/tSy? xI/itr! v&?ij/nain? hiNt , \/tSy/ ðaekae? bix/ra t?tdR/ k[aR? buxa/n> zu/cma?n Aa/yae> . 4 023 08 rtásya hí śurúdhaḥ sánti pūrvīr rtásya dhītír vrjināni hanti rtásya ślóko badhirā tatarda kárṇā budhānáḥ śucámāna āyóḥ 4.023.08

Interpretation:

The Dynamic truth Ritam has the nourishing streams of consciousness. Many sided Thought of Ritam destroys the crookednesses of our being (or the pens where the cows are locked). The Word from the realms of Ritam breaks the ears of a deaf, making him wake up, making his life energy shine again.

\/tSy? †/¦!ha x/é[a?in siNt pu/êi[? c/NÔa vpu?;e/ vpU<?i; , \/ten? dI/"Rm! #?;[Nt/ p&]? \/ten/ gav? \/tm! Aa iv?vezu> . 4 23 9 rtásya drḷhā dharúṇāni santi purūṇi candrā vápuṣe vápūṃṣi rténa dīrghám iṣaṇanta pŕkṣa rténa gāva rtám ā viveśuḥ 4.023.09

Interpretation: The foundations of Rita are firm, having many gleaming lights and beautiful forms for the beautiful!

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It is by the power of Rita that the forces of life (horses) move afar. It is by the power of Rita that the rays of knowledge (cows) come back to Rita again. Vocabulary: dharuṇa, 1 mf(ī)n. bearing, holding, supporter RV. VS. AV. n. basis, foundation, firm ground (also pl.) prop, stay, receptacle RV. AV.

\/t< ye?ma/n \/tm! #d! v?naeTy! \/tSy/ zu:m?s! tur/ya %? g/Vyu> , \/tay? p&/WvI b?÷/le g?-I/re \/tay? xe/nU p?r/me Ê?hate . 4 023 10 rtáṃ yemāná rtám íd vanoti rtásya śúṣmas turayā u gavyúḥ rtāya prthvī bahulé gabhīré rtāya dhenū paramé duhāte 4.023.10

Interpretation: The one, who has expanded to Rita, indeed is enjoying Rita. For the Power of Rita is seeking the Rays of Light with energy! It is for the purpose of Rita that Heaven and Earth are growing great and deep. It is for Rita that they become the supreme nourishers yielding the milk for us. Here is an explanation for growing in depth of the physical and mental consciousness of man. It is for Ritam that they grow deep and great. It is with Ritam they have this connection and possibility of growth.

Vocabulary: šurudh, f. pl. (prob. connected with šṛdh) invigorating draughts, healing herbs , any refreshment or comfort RV. dhīti, f. thought, idea, reflection, intention, devotion , prayer (pl. also personified ; cf. 2. dhī) RV. TBr. &c.; pl. wisdom, understanding (Naigh. ii , 5 and Sāy. `" the fingers "') RV. badhira mfn. (sometimes written vadhira) deaf RV. &c. &c. tṛd, cl. 7. (impf. atṛṇat pf. tatarda, p. A. tatṛdāna ; aor. atardīt; fut. tardiṣyati) to cleave, pierce RV.; to split open, let out, set free RV. budhāna, mfn. awaking , rousing RV. iv , 51 , 8 , vii , 68 , 9 vapus, mfn. having form or a beautiful form , embodied , handsome , wonderful RV. n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful appearance , beauty (vapuṣe ind. for beauty ) RV. &c. &c. pṛkṣa, mfn. (either connected with pṛšni, pṛṣat, or fr. 1. pṛc) spotted, dappled (others `" fleet , swift "' ; others , having or bringing food "') m. a spotted (or a swift &c.) horse (others `" beast of burden "' ; others `" food , nourishment , abundance "') RV. pṛkṣ f. (nom. wanting ; prob. fr. 1. pṛc) refreshment , satiation , nourishment , food RV. dīrgha, mfn. long (in space and time), lofty , high , tall deep RV. AV. Br. iṣaṇaya, Nom. A1. (3. pl. iṣaṇayanta RV. x , 67 , 8) to move , excite. iṣan, n. (loc. {iṣaṇi} RV. ii , 2 , 9) streaming out , pouring out , giving (wealth). šuṣma, m. hissing , roaring , rushing (of water , fire , the wind &c.) RV. AV. exhalation strength , vigour , vital or sexual energy , impulse , courage , valour ib. AV. TBr. Turayā mfn. going quickly RV. iv , 23 , 10. gavyu, mfn. desirous of or delighting in cows RV. desirous of milk or of battle RV.

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RV 5-67 ṛṣi: yajata ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chanda: anuṣṭup

b¦! #/Twa de?v in:k«/tm! Aaid?Tya yj/t< b&/ht! , vé?[/ imÇayR?m/n! vi;R?ó< ]/Çm! Aa?zawe . 5-067-01 Aa yd! yaein<? ihr/{yy</ vé?[/ imÇ/ sd?w> , x/taRra? c;R[I/na< y/Nt< su/ç< ir?zadsa . 5-067-02 ivñe/ ih iv/ñve?dsae/ vé?[ae im/Çae A?yR/ma , ì/ta p/dev? siíre/ paiNt/ mTy¡? ir/;> . 5-067-03 te ih s/Tya \?t/Sp&z? \/tava?nae/ jne?-jne , su/nI/was>? su/dan?vae =/~haez! ic?d! %é/c³?y> . 5-067-04 kae nu va?m! im/ÇaStu?tae/ vé?[ae va t/nUna?m! , tt! su va/m! @;?te m/itr! AiÇ?_y/ @;?te m/it> . 5-067-05

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The Twin Upholders and Protectors Mitra and Varuna perfect the vastness of the superconscient being which is the object of sacrifice; they possess the full abundance of its force. When they reach that luminous origin and home, they give men, labourers in the sacrificial work, its peace and bliss; on the way to it they protect the mortal from his spiritual enemies who would stand in the way of his immortality; for they keep firm to their higher workings and to the seats of the higher consciousness to which those workings belong and to which man rises in his ascent; universal and all-knowing they destroy these enemies who are the forces of egoism and limiting ignorance. True in their being, they are the powers that possess and touch the Truth in each individual being; leaders of the journey and the battle they create the wideness of that higher consciousness even out of our narrow and distressed mortality. It is that highest which the thought in the Atris desires and reaches to by affirming Mitra, Varuna and Aryaman, the godheads, in the “bodies” inhabited by the human soul.

b¦! #/Twa de?v in:k«/tm! Aaid?Tya yj/t< b&/ht! , vé?[/ imÇayR?m/n! vi;R?ó< ]/Çm! Aa?zawe . 5-067-01 báḷ itthā deva niṣkrtám ādityā yajatám brhát váruṇa mítra áryaman várṣiṣṭhaṃ kṣatrám āśathe° 5.067.01 1. In truth, O godheads, ye two sons of the infinite Mother, rightly perfected by you is the Vastness for which we sacrifice. O Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, you possess its most abundant force. Interpretation: There is a grammatical difficulty here, āšāthe , ‘you two gain’, is in dual. as well as deva-ādityā, whereas in the second line the three gods: Varuna, Mitra and Aryaman are invoked.

Vocabulary: baṭ, ind. in truth , certainly (Sāy.= satyam) RV. itthā, (often used in the Rig-veda , and sometimes only to lay stress on a following word ; therefore by native etymologists [Nir.] considered as a particle of affirmation.) ; itthā is often connected with words expressing devotion to the gods &c. in the sense of thus , truly , really

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Aa yd! yaein<? ihr/{yy</ vé?[/ imÇ/ sd?w> , x/taRra? c;R[I/na< y/Nt< su/ç< ir?zadsa . 5-067-02 ā yád yóniṃ hiraṇyáyaṃ váruṇa mítra sádathaḥ dhartārā carṣaṇīnãṃ yantáṃ sumnáṃ riśādasā 5.067.02 2. When you enter into your original home of golden light, O Varuna, O Mitra, upholders of men in their labour, destroyers of the enemy, reach for them the bliss. Interpretation:

When you settle in you Origin full of golden light [inside us], O Varuna and Mitra, [then you are] upholding [us] who are doing here the sacrificial work. O Distroyers of enemies, stretch out your perfect Thought of Grace for us!

Vocabulary: hiraṇyaya, mf(ī)n. golden, abounding in gold; yoni, m. only in RV; sumna, mfn. benevolent, kind, gracious, favourable RV. x , 5 , 3 ; n. benevolence, favour, grace RV. TS.; devotion, prayer, hymn RV. ; satisfaction, peace, joy, happiness ib. yantam, Imp. 2 pers., dual., from root yam Ved., “stretch you two”.

ivñe/ ih iv/ñve?dsae/ vé?[ae im/Çae A?yR/ma , ì/ta p/dev? siíre/ paiNt/ mTy¡? ir/;> . 5-067-03 víśve hí viśvávedaso váruṇo mitró aryamā vratā padéva saścire pãnti mártiyaṃ riṣáḥ 5.067.03 3. Universal and all-knowing are Varuna and Mitra and Aryaman; they keep firm to the law of their workings, even as to the seats to which they arrive, and guard mortal man from his foes. Interpretation: It is a description from the point of view of the evolving consciousness of the individual. First of all how could Varuna and Mitra arrive at their seats and follow the laws of their workings, protecting mortals from their enemies, if they

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are already those godheads on those plains of consciousness? Why they should protect the mortal from his foes? It is because they are seen from within man’s unillumined consciousness that they finally can arrive at or climb to their own Throne, or level of consciousness in man, protecting him from his foes. Since Varuna and Mitra are on all the levels of consciousness they also journey with the soul of man, introducing it to the higher realms of its own. Vocabulary: sac/sašc, (connected with 2. sajj, sañj, sakh; cf. sap) 1 A. to be associated or united with , have to do with , be familiar with , associate one's self with (instr.) RV. AV. be possessed of, enjoy (instr. or acc.) ib.; to take part or participate in, suffer, endure (instr.) RV. to he connected with; to fall to the lot of (acc. S3Br. ; to be together RV. AV.; to go after, follow, accompany, adhere or be attached to (acc.) RV.

te ih s/Tya \?t/Sp&z? \/tava?nae/ jne?-jne , su/nI/was>? su/dan?vae =/~haez! ic?d! %é/c³?y> . 5-067-04 té hí satyā rtaspŕśa rtāvāno jáne-jane sunīthāsaḥ sudānavo aṃhóś cid urucákrayaḥ 5.067.04 4. For because they are true in their being, they touch the Truth and hold the Truth in creature and creature; perfect leaders in the journey, perfect in force for the battle, they create the wideness even out of this narrow being. Interpretation: That is why the Rishi says about Mitra and Varuna: ‘For they are in touch with the Truth, masters of the Truth in every human being born in the earthly body. They are the leaders in their inner journey, and generous givers of the divine wealth, sudānavaḥ, and they are creating the wideness of the greater mind in the narrow space of human mentality. Vocabulary: sudānu, mfn. pouring out or bestowing abundantly , bounteous , munificent (said of various gods) RV. AV. urucakri, mfn. (fr. kṛ) , doing or effecting large work or great wealth, granting ample assistance RV. ii , 26 , 4; v , 67 , 4

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kae nu va?m! im/ÇaStu?tae/ vé?[ae va t/nUna?m! , tt! su va/m! @;?te m/itr! AiÇ?_y/ @;?te m/it> . 5-067-05 kó nú vām mitra ástuto váruṇo vā tanūnãm tát sú vām éṣate matír átribhya éṣate matíḥ 5.067.05 5. Which of you, O Mitra, is unaffirmed, thou or Varuna, in our bodies?92 Wholly our thought seeks That from you, That for the Enjoyers93 our Thought desires. Interpretation: Here the symbolism of these godheads being affirmed in the consciousness of human beings becomes completely revealed. “Who of you is not yet fully established in the consciousness of these bodies (levels of consciousness)? Our thought is seeking well that establishment of yours! For the Travelers on the Path it seeks it.”

Appendix On Aryaman94 “Aryaman, third of the four great solar godheads, is the least prominent of them all in the invocations of the seers. No separate hymn is addressed to him and, if his name occurs not unfrequently, it is in scattered verses; there is no strong body of Riks from which we can construct firmly our idea of his functions or recompose his physiognomy. Most often he is simply invoked by his bare name along with Mitra and Varuna or in the larger group of the sons of Aditi, almost always in adjunction to other kindred deities. Still there are half a dozen or more half-riks from which his one chief and characteristic action emerges accompanied by the usual epithets of the Lords of the Truth, epithets expressive of Knowledge, Joy, Infinity and Power. In the later tradition the name of Aryaman is placed at the head of the Fathers to whom as their appropriate offering is given the symbolic food, the piṇḍa of the

92 Not the physical body only; the soul dwells here in five sheaths or embodyings. 93 The Atris,—literally, eaters; the word may also mean Travellers. 94

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Puranic funeral and memorial rites. In the Puranic traditions the Fathers are of two classes, divine and human, the latter being the ancestors, the Manes. But it is in connection with the Fathers as the souls who have attained to heaven, to immortality that we must think of Aryaman. Krishna in the Gita, enumerating the chief powers or manifestations of the eternal Godhead in things and beings, speaks of himself as Ushanas among the seers, Bhrigu among the Rishis, Vyasa among the sages, Vishnu among the children of Aditi, Aryaman among the Fathers. Now in the Veda the Fathers are the ancient illumined ones who discovered the Knowledge, created and followed the Path, reached the Truth, conquered Immortality; and in the few Riks in which Aryaman's separate personality emerges, it is as the God of the Path that he is hymned. His name Aryaman, kin etymologically to the words arya, ārya, ari, by which are distinguished the men or peoples who follow the Vedic culture and the Gods who assist them in their battles and their aspirations, is similarly indicative. The Aryan is the traveller on the Path, the aspirant to immortality by divine sacrifice, one of the shining children of Light, a worshipper of the Masters of the Truth, a fighter in the battle against the powers of darkness who obstruct the human journey. Aryaman is the godhead in whose divine power this Aryahood is rooted; he is this Force of sacrifice, aspiration, battle, journey towards perfection and light and celestial bliss by which the path is created, travelled, pursued beyond all resistance and obscuration to its luminous and happy goal. In consequence, the action of Aryaman takes up the attributes of Mitra and Varuna as leaders of the Path. This Force fulfils the happy impulsions of that Light and Harmony and the movement of infinite knowledge and power of that pure Vastness. Like Mitra and Varuna he makes men travel on the path; he is full of the perfect happiness of Mitra; he is complete in the will and the works of sacrifice; he and Varuna distinguish the path for mortals. He is like Varuna a godhead manifold in his births; like him he oppresses the wrath of the hurter of men. It is by the great path of Aryaman that we shall cross beyond the souls of a false or evil thought who obstruct our path. Aditi, mother of the Kings, and Aryaman carry us by paths of a happy travelling beyond all inimical powers. The man who seeks the straightness of Mitra's and Varuna's workings and by the force of the word and the affirmation embraces their law with all his being, is guarded in his progress by Aryaman. But the Rik most distinctive of the function of Aryaman is that which describes him as “Aryaman of the unbroken path, of the many chariots, who dwells as the sevenfold offerer of sacrifice in births of diverse forms.” He is the deity of the human journey who carries it forward in its irresistible progress which the attacks of the enemy cannot overcome or successfully interrupt so long as this divine Force is our leader. The journey is effected through a manifold movement of our evolution, the many chariots of Aryaman. It is the journey of the human sacrifice which has a sevenfold energy of its action because there is a sevenfold

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principle in our being which has to be fulfilled in its integral perfection; Aryaman is the master of the sacrificial action who offers this sevenfold

working to the godheads of the Divine Birth. Aryaman within us develops our various forms of birth in the ascending planes of our existence by which the Fathers climbed, travellers on his path, and by which it must be the aspiration of the Aryan soul to climb, to the highest summit of Immortality. Thus Aryaman sums up in himself the whole aspiration and movement of man in a continual self-enlargement and self-transcendence to his divine perfection. By his continuous movement on the unbroken path Mitra and Varuna and the sons of Aditi fulfil themselves in the human birth.” If Varuna can be seen as a Universal traveler on the Path, and Mitra as the very Path and the force by which we travel then Aryaman can be seen as a power supporting a human traveler, working out the details of his births in the journey to the Divine Birth. We have to undergo many changes, many different births within ourselves, so he “is the master of the sacrificial action who offers this sevenfold working to the godheads of the Divine Birth”. He develops within us “our various forms of birth in the ascending planes of our existence by which the Fathers climbed, travellers on his path, and by which it must be the aspiration of the Aryan soul to climb, to the highest summit of Immortality.” Aryaman “fulfils the happy impulsions of that Light and Harmony” of Mitra and “the movement of infinite knowledge and power of that pure Vastness” of Varuna, he makes man travel on the path: ascend to the higher realms. He makes man change and be born on every level of this ascent. It is a power of Arya of always ascending and growing consciousness.

On Bhaga “The goal of the path is the divine beatitude, the illimitable joy of the Truth, of the infinity of our being. Bhaga is the godhead who brings this joy and supreme felicity into the human consciousness; he is the divine enjoyer in man. All being has this divine enjoyment of existence for its aim and end, whether it seeks for it with knowledge or with ignorance, with the divine strength or the weakness of our yet undeveloped powers. “On Bhaga the strong calls for his increasing, on Bhaga he who has not the strength; then he moves towards the Delight.” “Let us call in the Dawn on Bhaga strong and victorious, the son of Aditi who is the wide-upholder, on whom the afflicted and the fighter and the king meditate and they say to the Enjoyer, Give us thy enjoyment.” “Let it be the divine Enjoyer who possesses the enjoyment and by him let us be its possessors; to thee every man calls, O Bhaga; do thou become, O Enjoyer, the leader of our journey.” An increasing and victorious felicity of the soul

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rejoicing in the growth of its divine possessions which gives us strength to journey on and overcome till we reach the goal of our perfection in an infinite beatitude, this is the sign of the birth of Bhaga in man and this his divine function. All enjoyment comes indeed from Bhaga Savitri, the mortal as well as the divine; “creating a wide and vast force he brings forth for men their mortal enjoyment.” But the Vedic ideal is the inclusion of all life and all joy, divine and human, the wideness and plenty of earth and the vastness and abundance of heaven, the treasures of the mental, vital, physical existence uplifted, purified, perfected in the form of the infinite and divine Truth. It is this all-including felicity which is the gift of Bhaga. The Enjoyer is to be called on by men because he has many riches and ordains perfectly all delights,—the thrice seven delights upheld by him in the being of his mother Aditi. It is by creating in us “the wide and vast force”, it is when the Divine as Bhaga, Pushan, Aditi, the infinite, the undivided puts on the radiances of the infinite consciousness like a robe and distributes without division all desirable boons that divine felicity comes to us in its fullness. Then he gives to the human being full enjoyment of that greatest delight. Therefore Vasishtha cries to him, “O Bhaga, our leader, Bhaga who hast the wealth of the Truth, giving unto us, raise up and increase, O Bhaga, this thought in us,”—the Truth-thought by which the felicity is attained. Bhaga is Savitri the Creator, he who brings forth from the unmanifest Divine the truth of a divine universe, dispelling from us the evil dream of this lower consciousness in which we falter amidst a confused tangle of truth and falsehood, strength and weakness, joy and suffering. An infinite being delivered out of imprisoning limits, an infinite knowledge and strength receiving in thought and working out in will a divine Truth, an infinite beatitude possessing and enjoying all without division, fault or sin, this is the creation of Bhaga Savitri, this that greatest Delight.“ 95

On Four Kings “This creation of the divine Creator goddess Aditi speaketh forth to us, this the all-kings Varuna and Mitra and Aryaman with one mind and heart.” The four Kings find themselves fulfilled with their infinite Mother by the delightful perfection in man of Bhaga the Enjoyer, the youngest and greatest of them all. Thus is the divine creation of the fourfold Savitri founded on Varuna, combined and guided by Mitra, achieved by Aryaman, enjoyed in Bhaga: Aditi the infinite Mother realises herself in the human being by the birth and works of her glorious children.”96

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RV 5-68 ṛṣ.i: yajata ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chanda: gāyatrī

à vae? im/Çay? gayt/ vé?[ay iv/pa ig/ra , mih?]Çav! \/tm! b&/ht! . 5-068-01 s/èaja/ ya "&/tyae?nI im/Çz! cae/-a vé?[z! c , de/va de/ve;u? àz/Sta . 5-068-02 ta n>? z/Kt< paiwR?vSy m/hae ra/yae id/VySy? , mih? va< ]/Ç< de/ve;u? . 5-068-03 \/tm! \/ten/ sp?Ntei;/r< d]?m! Aazate , A/Ô‚ha? de/vaE v?xRte . 5-068-04 v&/iò*a?va rI/Tyape/;s! ptI/ danu?mTya> , b&/hNt</ gtR?m! Aazate . 5-068-05

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The Lords of the Great Force Because they hold the great battle-force of the Truth, Mitra and Varuna lead us to the vastness of that Truth. By that force they rule all imperially, contain the Truth's clarities and their powers are manifested in all the godheads. Therefore should they put forth their power in these godheads for the human possession of the great felicity and wealth of the Truth in earth and heaven. They reach the Truth by the Truth; for they have its discernment full of the impulsion that goes straight to the knowledge; therefore they increase divinely without falling into the harms of the Ignorance. As lords of that powerful impulsion they bring down the heavens in a luminous rain upon the mortal and take possession of the vast as a home. Interpretation:

They reach the Truth by the Truth, because their perception itself has the impulsion which goes straight to knowledge, the very power of their perception is driving them towards the Truth; and thus they can increase the divine presence here without falling into the harms of the Ignorance. This characteristic of perception which has an impulsion towards knowledge is very significant. It means that any perception they may have is looking for knowledge naturally and spontaneously, it does not have to remember it or consciously consecrate it to knowledge. It comes from within the perception itself. It is as if this perception is built by the higher consciousness, which has a tendency to see the truth in all things.

à vae? im/Çay? gayt/ vé?[ay iv/pa ig/ra , mih?]Çav! \/tm! b&/ht! . 5-068-01 prá vo mitrāya gāyata váruṇāya vipā girā máhikṣatrāv rtám brhát 5.068.01 1. Sing ye to Mitra and Varuna with the word that enlightens; because they have that great force, theirs is the Truth, the Vast. Interpretation:

‘Sing your song towards your Mitra and Varuna with the inspired voice of your soul! to them who have the great force, which is true and vast. ‘ Here we have the statement of ṛtaṃ bṛhad as a part of Sri Aurobindo’s vision of satyam ṛtaṃ bṛhad. Vocabulary: vip, mfn. inwardly stirred or excited, inspired RV. f. ‘easily moved or bent, flexible (?)’, a switch, rod &c., the shaft (of an arrow), the rods (which form the bottom of the Soma filter, and support the straining cloth) RV.

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s/èaja/ ya "&/tyae?nI im/Çz! cae/-a vé?[z! c , de/va de/ve;u? àz/Sta . 5-068-02 samrājā yā ghrtáyonī mitráś cobhā váruṇaś ca devā devéṣu praśastā 5.068.02 2. All-rulers are they, yes, both of them, Mitra and Varuna, homes of the clarity, gods, manifested by the word in the gods. Interpretation and notes: The word ghṛta-yoni, Bah. compound, Sri Aurobindo translates as Bahuvrihi itself: ‘homes of the clarity’, which lit. means ‘whose home is clarity’. The words deveṣu prašastā (ppp of pra-šas) he translates as ‘manifested by the word in the gods’, which otherwise can be simply translated as ‘praised among the gods’. Vocabulary: ghṛtayoni, mfn. abiding or living in ghee (Agni , the sacrifice) RV. iii , 4 , 2 ; producing fertilizing rain or welfare (Mitra and Varuṇa , Vishṇu) RV. v , 68 , 2 VS. v , 38.

ta n>? zKt</ paiwR?vSy m/hae ra/yae id/VySy? , mih? va< ]/Ç< de/ve;u? . 5-068-03 tā naḥ śaktam pārthivasya mahó rāyó diviyásya máhi vāṃ kṣatráṃ devéṣu 5.068.03 3. Therefore put forth strength for our great felicity 97 heavenly and earthly; for great is your force in the gods. Vocabulary: šak, 5. P., to be strong or powerful, be able to or capable of or competent for (with acc. dat. or loc. , rarely acc. of a verbal noun , or with an inf. in {am} or{tum}; or with pr. p.) ; to be strong or exert one's self for another (dat.); aid , help , assist RV. vii , 67 , 5

\/tm! \/ten/ sp?Ntei;/r< d]?m! Aazate , A/Ô‚ha? de/vaE v?xRte . 5-068-04 97 The felicity or happy wealth of the wide Truth-consciousness manifested not only in the higher mental planes of our consciousness, but in our physical being.

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rtám rténa sápantā iṣiráṃ dákṣam āśāte adrúhā devaú vardhete 5.068.04 4. By the Truth you attain knowledge of the Truth, you possess a judgment of impelling force; 98 O gods, you grow and come not to hurt. Interpretation and notes: Sri Aurobindo translates išira- as an adjective ‘of impelling force’ for dakṣam as

‘judgment’ and adruhā, as they who ‘come not to hurt’. Dakṣa is the fifth of the original Adityas following after Bhaga. He represents the Power of Supramental Discrimination. It is he who will bring into manifestation all other powers of the Divine Mother. “We have therefore three possible senses for dakṣa in the Veda, strength generally, mental power or especially the power of judgment, discernment.

Dakṣa is continually associated with kratu; the Rishis aspire to them together, dakṣāya kratve, which may mean simply, “capacity and effective power” or “will and discernment”. Continually we find the word occurring in passages where the whole context relates to mental activities. Finally, we have the goddess Dakshina who may well be a female form of Daksha, himself a god and afterwards in the Purana one of the Prajapatis, the original progenitors,—we have Dakshina associated with the manifestation of knowledge and sometimes almost identified with Usha, the divine Dawn, who is the bringer of illumination. I shall suggest that Dakshina like the more famous Ila, Saraswati and Sarama, is one of four goddesses representing the four faculties of the Ritam or Truth-consciousness,—Ila representing truth-vision or revelation, Saraswati truth-audition, inspiration, the divine word, Sarama intuition, Dakshina the separative intuitional discrimination. Daksha then will mean this discrimination whether as mental judgment on the mind-plane or as intuitional discernment on the plane of the Ritam.”99

98 The straight impulsion which the gods possess; man, moving from the ignorance to the Truth by the ignorance, follows a crooked and wavering movement, has a judgment distressed by the falsehood and in his growth stumbles constantly into sin and suffering. By the growth of the gods in him, he is able to move without stumbling and suffering from Truth to greater Truth, straight, felicitously. 99 Volume: 15 [CWSA] (The Secret of the Veda), Page: 73 It is interesting to note here that these four faculties of the Supermind are: seeing, hearing and intuition (to follow what is invisible as Sarama does) and discrimination (to discern the visual content of form), which ideally corresponds to the two perceptive faculties of sight and hearing with their two active counterparts of action.

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“Aditi is originally the pure consciousness of infinite existence one and self-luminous; she is the Light that is Mother of all things. As the infinite she gives birth to Daksha, the discriminating and distributing Thought of the divine Mind, and is herself born to Daksha as the cosmic infinite, the mystic Cow whose udders feed all the worlds. It is this divine daughter of Daksha who is the mother of the gods. In the cosmos Aditi is the undivided infinite unity of things, free from the duality, advaya, and has Diti the separative dualising consciousness for the obverse side of her cosmic creation,—her sister and a rival wife in the later myth.”100 Vocabulary: iṣira, mfn. refreshing, fresh flourishing vigorous, active, quick RV. AV. VS.; (-am) ind. quickly RV. x , 157 , 5 sap, (cf. sac); 1. P. sapati, A, to follow or seek after, be devoted to, honour, serve , love, caress (also sexually) RV. TS. VS.; adruh, (nom. a-dhruk) mfn. free from malice or treachery RV.

v&/iò*a?va rI/Tyape/;s! ptI/ danu?mTya> , b&/hNt</ gtR?m! Aazate . 5-068-05 vrṣṭídyāvā rītíāpā iṣás pátī dānumatyāḥ brhántaṃ gártam āśāte 5.068.05 5. Turning heaven to rain, winners of the streaming movement, masters of that forceful impulsion, you take possession of your vast home. Interpretation and notes:

Vṛṣṭi-dyāvā, Bah., lit. ‘whose heaven is rain’; Rīty-ap, Bah, ‘whose waters are in motion’; ‘The two lords of the generous forceful impulsion’ dānumatyāḥ iṣas patī. Vocabulary: rītyap, mfn. streaming with water RV. iṣ, [-ṭ] f. anything drunk, a draught, refreshment, enjoyment libation the refreshing waters of the sky, sap, strength, freshness, comfort, increase good condition, affluence RV. AV. VS. AitBr. dānumat, mfn. trickling, fluid ib.

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dānu, mfn. valiant, victor, conqueror W.; m. a class of demons (cf. dānava) RV. (f. , i , 54 , 7); n. a fluid, drop, dew (-naspatī m. du. of Mitra-Varuna or of the Ašvins RV. viii , 256 ; 8 , 16 ;) Appendix

The Dawn and the powers of Aditi. The Dawn brings the light from the Transcendental into the lower hemisphere of our darkened existence of mind, life and body. She is first who introduces light into the Darkness after which the Creator, God Savitar comes and then Surya is finally revealing his body of light. Sri Aurobindo explains their relations in the Secret of the Veda in this way: “He (Surya) is the light of the Truth rising on the human consciousness in the wake of the divine Dawn whom he pursues as a lover follows after his beloved and he treads the paths she has traced for him. For Dawn the daughter of Heaven, the face or power of Aditi , is the constant opening out of the divine light upon the human being; she is the coming of the spiritual riches, a light, a power, a new birth, the pouring out of the golden treasure of heaven into his earthly existence.” So Dawn is the power of Aditi and all her powers are the solar deities, called in the Veda Adityas, they are Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Daksha, Ansha and Surya or Savitar. These seven children of Aditi are the guardians of that supreme Light. It is with the help of these godheads and their action that the Divine Mother manifests the Supreme in t ime and space. There was though the eighth son known as Vivasvat or Martanda, who descended into the mortal regions of Darkness. Sri Aurobindo speaks about this Myth in the chapter “The Guardians of Light”: “We are told that there are eight sons of the cosmic Aditi who are born from her body; by seven she moves to the gods, but the eighth son is Martanda, of the mortal creation, whom she casts away from her; with the seven she moves to the supreme life, the original age of the gods, but Martanda is brought back out of the Inconscient into which he had been cast to preside over mortal birth and death. This Martanda or eighth Surya is the black or dark, the lost , the hidden sun. The Titans have taken and concealed him in their cavern of darkness and thence he must be released into splendour

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and freedom by the gods and seers through the power of the sacrifice.”

On the Adityas and other Gods.

“Aditi is the infinite Light of which the divine world is a formation and the gods, children of the infinite Light, born of her in the Ritam, manifested in that active truth of her movement guard it against Chaos and Ignorance .”101 These are the Guardians of Light, the godheads who bring the higher light and infuse it into the darkness of the lower creation. “It is they who maintain the invincible workings of the Truth in the universe, they who build its worlds into an image of the Truth. They, bounteous givers, loose out upon man its floods variously imaged by the mystic poets as the sevenfold solar waters, the rain of heaven, the streams of the Truth, the seven mighty Ones of heaven, the waters that have knowledge, the floods that breaking through the control of Vritra the Coverer ascend and overflow the mind. They, seers and revealers, make the light of the Truth to arise on the darkened sky of his mentality, fil l with its luminous and honey-sweet satisfactions the atmosphere of his vital existence, transform into its vastness and plenitude by the power of the Sun the earth of his physical being, create everywhere the divine Dawn.”102

“This creation of the divine Creator goddess Aditi speaketh forth to us, this the all-kings Varuna and Mitra and Aryaman with one mind and heart.” The four Kings find themselves fulfilled with their infinite Mother by the delightful perfection in man of Bhaga the Enjoyer, the youngest and greatest of them all. Thus is the divine creation of the fourfold Savitri founded on Varuna, combined and guided by Mitra, achieved by Aryaman, enjoyed in Bhaga: Aditi the infinite Mother realises herself in the human being by the birth and works of her glorious children.”103 There is a passage which can shed some light on the nature of the four Kings in The Secret of the Veda : “Still the union comes about by a combination of their powers and therefore each has in it his own proper nature and function. That of

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the Four is to build up the whole divine state into its perfection by the natural interaction of its four essential elements. 1) The Divine is existence all-embracing, infinite and pure; Varuna

brings to us the infinite oceanic space of the divine soul and its ethereal, elemental purity.

2) The Divine is boundless consciousness, perfect in knowledge, pure and therefore luminously right in its discernment of things, perfectly harmonious and happy in its concordance of their law and nature; Mitra brings us this light and harmony, this right distinction and relation and friendly concord, the happy laws of the liberated soul concordant with itself and the Truth in all its rich thought, shining actions and thousandfold enjoyment.

3) The Divine is in its own being pure and perfect power and in us the eternal upward tendency in things to their source and truth; Aryaman brings to us this mighty strength and perfectly-guided happy inner upsurging.

4) The Divine is the pure, the faultless, the all-embracing, the untroubled ecstasy that enjoys its own infinite being and enjoys equally all that it creates within itself; Bhaga gives us sovereignly that ecstasy of the liberated soul, its free and unfallen possession of itself and the world.

This quaternary is practically the later essential trinity of Sachchidananda,—Existence, Consciousness, Bliss with self-awareness and self-force, Chit and Tapas, for double terms of Consciousness; but it is here translated into its cosmic terms and equivalents. 1) Varuna the King has his foundation in the all-pervading purity of Sat;

2) Mitra the Happy and the Mighty, most beloved of the Gods, in the all-uniting light of Chit;

3) many-charioted Aryaman in the movement and all-discerning force of Tapas;

4) Bhaga in the all-embracing joy of Ananda.

Yet as all these things form one in the realised godhead, as each element of the trinity contains the others in itself and none of them can exist separately from the rest, therefore each of the Four also possesses by force of his own essential quality every general attribute of his brothers. For this reason if we do not read the Veda

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as carefully as it was written, we shall miss its distinctions and see only the indistinguishable common functions of these luminous Kings, —as indeed throughout the hymns the unity in difference of all the gods makes it difficult for the mind not accustomed to the subtleties of psychological truth to find in the Vedic divinities anything but a confused mass of common or interchangeable attributes. But the distinctions are there and have as great a force and importance as in the Greek and Egyptian symbolism. Each god contains in himself all the others, but remains still himself in his peculiar function.”104

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RV 5-69 ṛṣi: urucakri ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chanda: triṣṭup

ÇI rae?c/na v?é[/ ÇI ~ %/t *Un! ÇIi[? imÇ xarywae/ rja<?is , va/v&/xa/nav! A/mit<? ]/iÇy/Syanu? ì/t< r]?ma[av! Aju/yRm! . 5-069-01 #ra?vtIr! vé[ xe/nvae? va/m! mxu?md! va</ isNx?vae imÇ Êÿe , Çy?s! tSwur! v&;/-as?s! its&/[a< ix/;[a?na< retae/xa iv *u/mNt>? . 5-069-02 àa/tr! de/vIm! Aid?it< jaehvIim m/Xy~id?n/ %id?ta/ sUyR?Sy , ra/ye im?Çavé[a s/vRta/te¦e? tae/kay/ tn?yay/ z< yae> . 5-069-03 ya x/taRra/ rj?sae raec/nSyae/taid/Tya id/Vya paiwR?vSy , n va<? de/va A/m&ta/ Aa im?niNt ì/tain? imÇavé[a Øu/vai[? . 5-069-04

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The Holders of the Luminous Worlds The Rishi invokes Mitra and Varuna as the upholders of the worlds or planes of being, especially the three luminous worlds in which the triple mental, the triple vital, the triple physical find the light of their truth and the divine law of their powers. The strength of the Aryan warrior is increased by them and guarded in that imperishable law. From the luminous worlds the rivers of the truth descend with their yield of bliss. In each of them a luminous Purusha fertilises a form of the triple thought-consciousness of the Truth; these, which make the luminous day of the soul, found in man the divine and infinite consciousness and in that the divine peace and the activity by which in the extended universality of our being there is the rich felicity and the creation of the godhead. The divine workings are impaired and restricted by the gods in the ordinary life of the vital and the physical being, but when Mitra and Varuna uphold in us the luminous worlds in which each of these finds its truth and power, they become complete and firm for ever.

ÇI rae?c/na v?é[/ ÇI ~ %/t *Un! ÇIi[? imÇ xarywae/ rja<?is , va/v&/xa/nav! A/mit<? ]/iÇy/Syanu? ì/t< r]?ma[av! Aju/yRm! . 5-069-01 trī rocanā varuṇa trīmr utá dyūn trīṇi mitra dhārayatho rájāṃsi vāvrdhānāv amátiṃ kṣatríyasya ánu vratáṃ rákṣamāṇāv ajuryám 5.069.01 1. Three worlds of the Light you two uphold, O Varuna, three heavens, three mid-worlds, O Mitra, and you increase the might of the Warrior and guard him in the imperishable law of your working. Interpretation:

The three luminous worlds or three shining ones: trī rocanā, from root ruc, to shine are the three levels of the Svar. Sri Aurobindo translated this word elsewhere as the “three powers of Light uphold three luminous worlds divine”, trí aryamā mánuṣo devátātā trī rocanā divyā dhārayanta, RV 5.29.1., where the three powers of Light are the triple status of the Supermind upholding the three luminous worlds of the Svar, trī rocanā. Here also they are mentioned with the three heavens trīṃ uta dyūn, which Varuna and Mitra support, dhārayathaḥ, as well as the three spaces of the mid-worlds, trīṇi rajāṃsi. So the three worlds of the Supermind are projected into the three heavens of our mentality and the three spaces of our vitality; and all of them are supported by

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Mitra and Varuna. It is as if they penetrate it through from the beyond influencing them with their presence, consciousness and power. Let us compare with the passage from RV 2. 27 8-9 of the hymn dedicated to Adityas:

tisró bhūmīr dhārayan trīmr utá dyūn trīṇi vratā vidáthe antár eṣām rténādityā máhi vo mahitváṃ tád aryaman varuṇa mitra cāru 2.027.08 “They (Adityas) support the three earths, and the three heavens. Three are the laws within the sacrificial gathering (inside the Antariksha). By the Truth the sons of Infinity have their greatness great, and that is Beautiful, O Aryaman, Varuna and Mitra.” There are three earths, three levels in the vital, and the three levels in the mind. Mental mind, SVAR Supermind Vital mind, MIND Physical mind UNITY Mental vital, Vital vital, VITAL MANY IN ONE and ONE IN MANY Physical vital Mental physical, MANY Vital physical, PHYSICAL Physical physical tisro bhūmīḥ trīṇi rajāṃsi tisro dyāvaḥ trī rocanā The next passage of RV 2.27 mentions also the three luminous realms rocanā: trī rocanā divyā dhārayanta hiraṇyáyāḥ śúcayo dhārapūtāḥ ásvapnajo animiṣā ádabdhā uruśáṃsā rjáve mártiyāya 2.027.09 “They support also the three luminous heavenly worlds, being golden and bright having pure streams (of immortalising Soma). They do not sleep, do not close their eyelids, unhurt, pointing to the vastness by the word for the sincere mortal.” Now in addition to the three spaces of mental, vital and physical nature, the three luminous worlds are mentioned where Adityas are pure shining with golden light, possessing the streams of the immortalising Ananda.

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These three luminous realms are then recreated in the three heavens of the mind, three spaces of the vital, and the tree levels of the physical.

trī rocanā diviyā dhārayanta three luminous realms of the Svar trīmr utá dyūn three luminous realms of the Mind trīṇi vratā vidáthe antár eṣām three sacrificial actions in the Vital tisró bhūmīr dhārayan three earths of the Physical they hold. In our hymn these levels are stated without mentioning about tisro bhūmīḥ, three earths of the physical:

trī rocanā varuṇa three luminous realms of the Svar trīmr utá dyūn three luminous realms of the Mind trīṇi mitra dhārayatho rájāṃsi three luminous spaces of the Vital There are three heavens, tisro dyāvaḥ, of Savitar mentioned in the RV 1.35.6, two are his own realms and one is in the realm of Yama:

tisro dyāvaḥ savitur dvā upastāṃ ekā yamasya bhuvane virāṣāṭ. “If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth,”— says Sri Aurobindo in The Life Divine, “an image which in this experience becomes a reality, —we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; for though we have applied that word for want of a better to any supra-intellectual direct way of knowing, yet what we actually know as intuition is only one special movement of self-existent knowledge. This new range is its origin; it imparts to our intuitions something of its own distinct character and is very clearly an intermediary of a greater Truth-Light with which our mind cannot directly communicate. At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies,—not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality. This then is the occult link we were looking for;

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this is the Power that at once connects and divides the supreme Knowledge and the cosmic Ignorance.”105 Following this vision the three luminous realms, trī rocanā, can be seen as those coming from the Supermind to Overmind and Intuitive Mind, as three distinctly higher realms of true light, whereas the three heavens, dyāvas, which follow them as Illumined Mind, Higher Mind and Mind, which represent the three higher realms of the lower hemisphere.

#ra?vtIr! vé[ xe/nvae? va/m! mxu?md! va</ isNx?vae imÇ Êÿe , Çy?s! tSwur! v&;/-as?s! its&/[a< ix/;[a?na< retae/xa iv *u/mNt>? . 5-069-02 írāvatīr varuṇa dhenávo vām mádhumad vāṃ síndhavo mitra duhre tráyas tasthur vrṣabhāsas tisrṇāṃ dhiṣáṇānāṃ retodhā ví dyumántaḥ 5.069.02 2. Your fostering cows 106 have their streams, O Varuna, O Mitra, the rivers milk out their honeyed yield. There stand wide three luminous Bulls 107 and cast their seed into the three Thoughts. Interpretation: “The fostering streams of you two, Varuna and Mitra, are of the honeyed milk streaming in rivers. The three Bulls stood shining, casting their seed into the three Thoughts of the Cow.” And from this conception the streams of honey fostered the creation. What is interesting in this passage is that there are again the three Bulls casting their seed into the three Cows, who produce the world. These can be the symbols of a proper Supramental plane, where there is a supreme conception of the World in a triple status. To understand better these three Bulls conceiving three Cows, and then the trī rocanā, one has to read the chapter from The Life Divine called The Triple Status of the Supermind. Sri Aurobindo writes about these three levels:

105 Volume: 18-19 [SABCL] (The Life Divine), Page: 277 106 Dhenavaḥ, the rivers of the Truth, as gāvaḥ, the luminous cows, are the rays of its light. 107 The Bull is the Purusha, soul or conscious being; the Cow is the Prakriti, the power of consciousness. The creation of the godhead, the Son, comes by the fertilising of the triple luminous consciousness by the triple luminous soul of the Truth-being so that that higher consciousness becomes active, creative and fruitful in man.

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“The first founds the inalienable unity of things, the second modifies that unity so as to support the manifestation of the Many in One and One in Many; the third further modifies it so as to support the evolution of a diversified individuality which, by the action of Ignorance, becomes in us at a lower level the illusion of the separate ego.” Vocabulary: dhiṣaṇa, f. a sort of Soma-vessel , a cup, goblet , bowl fig. the Soma juice itself and its effects RV. (du. the two bowls or worlds i.e. heaven and earth ; pl. heaven , earth and the intermediate atmosphere ib.) knowledge, intelligence; N. of a deity presiding over wealth and gain (also in pl.) RV. MBh.; accord. to SA ‘Thought’.

àa/tr! de/vIm! Aid?it< jaehvIim m/Xy~id?n/ %id?ta/ sUyR?Sy , ra/ye im?Çavé[a s/vRta/te¦e? tae/kay/ tn?yay/ z< yae> . 5-069-03 prātár devīm áditiṃ johavīmi madhyáṃdina úditā sūriyasya rāyé mitrāvaruṇā sarvátātā īḷe tokāya tánayāya śáṃ yóḥ 5.069.03 3. In the dawn I call to the divine Mother infinite, in the mid-day and at the rising of the sun. I desire of Mitra and Varuna the peace and the movement in the forming of the all 108 for felicity and for the creation and the begetting. 109 Interpretation:

“In the Dawn I call constantly to the Divine Mother Aditi, and in the midday and in the Sun. For the shining wealth for All I seek her with adoration, O Mitra and Varuna, for peace and for creation and the birth of her Son.” It is a culmination and the meaning of this creation, the birth of the Son of Aditi, the Supreme in the material body of man. Vocabulary: toka, n. (fr. tuc) offspring , children , race , child (often joined with tanaya ; rarely pl. AV.) RV. AV.; a new-born child. šam, ind. auspiciously , fortunately , happily , well (frequently used in the Veda , rarely in later language ; often to be translated by a subst. , esp. in the frequent phrase šaṃyoḥ or šaṃyošca, `" happiness and welfare "' , sometimes joined with the verbs bhū, as , kṛ, yā, sometimes occurring without any verb ; with dat. or gen. [cf. Pa1n2. 2-

108 The action of the sacrifice consists in the formation or “extension” of the universal being, sarvatāti, and of the divine being, devatāti. 109 Of the Son, the godhead created within the humanity.

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3 , 73 ] ; in some cases corresponding to an adj. e.g. šam tad asmai, that is pleasant to him) RV. &c. &c. sarvatāti, f. totality RV.; completeness, perfect happiness or prosperity, soundness ib. AV.; (-ā loc.) ind. all together , entirely RV. (accord. to Sāy. "everywhere" or "at the sacrifice.")

ya x/taRra/ rj?sae raec/nSyae/taid/Tya id/Vya paiwR?vSy , n va<? de/va A/m&ta/ Aa im?niNt ì/tain? imÇavé[a Øu/vai[? . 5-069-04 yā dhartārā rájaso rocanásya utādityā diviyā pārthivasya ná vāṃ devā amŕtā ā minanti vratāni mitrāvaruṇā dhruvāṇi 5.069.04 4. Because you are the upholders of the luminous sphere of the mid-world and the luminous sphere of the earth, O divine Sons of Infinity, O Mitra and Varuna, the immortal gods impair not your workings which are firm for ever. 110 Interpretation:

“These are the upholders of the vital space and the luminous world of the mind and of heaven of the earthly (space), the Adityas! It is because of you two, O Mitra and Varuna, the immortal gods do not diminish your steady workings.” Appendix 1

The triple status of the Supermind.111 Three powers of Light uphold three luminous worlds divine.112

Therefore there must be a principle superior to the Mind which satisfies the conditions in which Mind fails. No doubt, it is Sachchidananda itself that is this

110 That is, in the ordinary workings of the life-plane and the material plane, because they are unilluminated, full of ignorance and defect, the law of our divine and infinite being is impaired or spoiled, works under restrictions and with perversions; it manifests fully, steadfastly and faultlessly only when the ideal, supramental truth-plane is upheld in us by the pure wideness and harmony of Varuna and Mitra and takes up the vital and the physical consciousness into its power and light. 111 Volume: 18-19 [SABCL] (The Life Divine), Page: 144 112 trí aryamā mánuṣo devátātā trī rocanā diviyā dhārayanta ( RV 5.029.01) Lit. it can be

rendered as: “Aryaman upholds the three places of the Father of man in the totality of all divine beings. And they uphold the three luminous realms, trī rocanā.” Vocabulary: sarvatāti, f. totality RV. completeness , perfect happiness or prosperity , soundness ib. AV. ; (-ā loc.) ind. all together, entirely RV.; devatāti, divinity, the gods collectively RV.

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principle, but Sachchidananda not resting in its pure infinite invariable consciousness, but proceeding out of this primal poise, or rather upon it as a base and in it as a continent, into a movement which is its form of Energy and instrument of cosmic creation. Consciousness and Force are the twin essential aspects of the pure Power of existence; Knowledge and Will must therefore be the form which that Power takes in creating a world of relations in the extension of Time and Space. This Knowledge and this Will must be one, infinite, all-embracing, all-possessing, all-forming, holding eternally in itself that which it casts into movement and form. The Supermind then is Being moving out into a determinative self-knowledge which perceives certain truths of itself and wills to realise them in a temporal and spatial extension of its own timeless and

spaceless existence. Whatever is in its own being, takes form as self-knowledge, as Truth-Consciousness, as Real-Idea, and, that self-knowledge being also self-force, fulfils or realises itself inevitably in Time and Space. This, then, is the nature of the Divine Consciousness which creates in itself all things by a movement of its conscious-force and governs their development through a self-evolution by inherent knowledge-will of the truth of existence or real-idea which has formed them. The Being that is thus conscient is what we call God; and He must obviously be omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. Omnipresent, for all forms are forms of His conscious being created by its force of movement in its own extension as Space and Time; omniscient, for all things exist in His conscious-being, are formed by it and possessed by it; omnipotent, for this all-possessing consciousness is also an all-possessing Force and all-informing Will. And this Will and Knowledge are not at war with each other as our will and knowledge are capable of being at war with each other, because they are not different but are one movement of the same being. Nor can they be contradicted by any other will, force or consciousness from outside or within; for there is no consciousness or force external to the One, and all energies and formations of knowledge within are not other than it, but are merely play of the one all-determining Will and the one all-harmonising Knowledge. What we see as a clash of wills and forces, because we dwell in the particular and divided and cannot see the whole, the Supermind envisages as the conspiring elements of a predetermined harmony which is always present to it because the totality of things is eternally subject to its gaze. Whatever be the poise or form its action takes, this will always be the nature of the divine Consciousness. But, its existence being absolute in itself, its power of existence is also absolute in its extension, and it is not therefore limited to one poise or one form of action. We, human beings, are phenomenally a particular form of consciousness, subject to Time and Space, and can only be, in our surface consciousness which is all we know of ourselves, one thing at a time, one formation, one poise of being, one aggregate of experience; and that one thing is for us the truth of ourselves which we acknowledge; all the rest is either not true

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or no longer true, because it has disappeared into the past out of our ken, or not yet true, because it is waiting in the future and not yet in our ken. But the Divine Consciousness is not so particularised, nor so limited; it can be many things at a time and take more than one enduring poise even for all time. We find that in the principle of Supermind itself it has three such general poises or sessions of its world-founding consciousness. The first founds the inalienable unity of things, the second modifies that unity so as to support the manifestation of the Many in One and One in Many; the third further modifies it so as to support the evolution of a diversified individuality which, by the action of Ignorance, becomes in us at a lower level the illusion of the separate ego. We have seen what is the nature of this first and primary poise of the Supermind which founds the inalienable unity of things. It is not the pure unitarian consciousness; for that is a timeless and spaceless concentration of Sachchidananda in itself, in which Conscious Force does not cast itself out into any kind of extension and, if it contains the universe at all, contains it in eternal potentiality and not in temporal actuality. This, on the contrary, is an equal self-extension of Sachchidananda all-comprehending, all-possessing, all-constituting. But this all is one, not many; there is no individualisation. It is when the reflection of this Supermind falls upon our stilled and purified self that we lose all sense of individuality; for there is no concentration of consciousness there to support an individual development. All is developed in unity and as one; all is held by this Divine Consciousness as forms of its existence, not as in any degree separate existences. Somewhat as the thoughts and images that occur in our mind are not separate existences to us, but forms taken by our consciousness, so are all names and forms to this primary Supermind. It is the pure divine ideation and formation in the Infinite,—only an ideation and formation that is organised not as an unreal play of mental thought, but as a real play of conscious being. The divine soul in this poise would make no difference between Conscious-Soul and Force-Soul, for all force would be action of consciousness, nor between Matter and Spirit since all mould would be simply form of Spirit. In the second poise of the Supermind the Divine Consciousness stands back in the idea from the movement which it contains,113 realising it by a sort of apprehending consciousness, following it, occupying and inhabiting its

works, seeming to distribute itself in its forms.114 In each name and form it would realize itself as the stable Conscious-Self, the same in all; but also it would realise itself as a concentration of Conscious-Self following and supporting the individual play of movement and upholding its differentiation from other play of movement,—the same everywhere in soul-essence, but varying in soul-form.

113 Cf to Saṃjñāna, Vijnāna, Ājñāna, Prajñāna. 114 Cf. to Aṃša Āditya

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This concentration supporting the soul-form would be the individual Divine or Jivatman as distinguished from the universal Divine or one all-constituting self. There would be no essential difference, but only a practical differentiation for the play which would not abrogate the real unity. The universal Divine would know all soul-forms as itself and yet establish a different relation with each separately and in each with all the others. The individual Divine would envisage its existence as a soul-form and soul-movement of the One and, while by the comprehending action of consciousness it would enjoy its unity with the One and with all soul-forms, it would also by a forward or frontal apprehending action support and enjoy its individual movement and its relations of a free difference in unity both with the One and with all its forms. If our purified mind were to reflect this secondary poise of Supermind, our soul could support and occupy its individual existence and yet even there realise itself as the One that has become all, inhabits all, contains all, enjoying even in its particular modification its unity with God and its fellows. In no other circumstance of the supramental existence would there be any characteristic change; the only change would be this play of the One that has manifested its multiplicity and of the Many that are still one, with all that is necessary to maintain and conduct the play. A third poise of the Supermind would be attained if the supporting concentration were no longer to stand at the back, as it were, of the movement, inhabiting it with a certain superiority to it and so following and enjoying, but were to project itself into the movement and to be in a way involved in it. Here, the character of the play would be altered, but only in so far as the individual Divine would so predominantly make the play of relations with the universal and with its other forms the practical field of its conscious experience that the realisation of utter unity with them would be only a supreme accompaniment and constant culmination of all experience; but in the higher poise unity would be the dominant and fundamental experience and variation would be only a play of the unity. This tertiary poise would be therefore that of a sort of fundamental blissful dualism in unity—no longer unity qualified by a subordinate dualism— between the individual Divine and its universal source, with all the consequences that would accrue from the maintenance and operation of such a dualism. It may be said that the first consequence would be a lapse into the ignorance of Avidya which takes the Many for the real fact of existence and views the One only as a cosmic sum of the Many. But there would not necessarily be any such lapse. For the individual Divine would still be conscious of itself as the result of the One and of its power of conscious self-creation, that is to say, of its multiple self-centration conceived so as to govern and enjoy manifoldly its manifold existence in the extension of Time and Space; this true spiritual individual would

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not arrogate to itself an independent or separate existence. It would only affirm the truth of the differentiating movement along with the truth of the stable unity, regarding them as the upper and lower poles of the same truth, the foundation and culmination of the same divine play; and it would insist on the joy of the differentiation as necessary to the fullness of the joy of the unity. Obviously, these three poises would be only different ways of dealing with the same Truth; the Truth of existence enjoyed would be the same, the way of enjoying it or rather the poise of the soul in enjoying it would be different. The delight, the Ananda would vary, but would abide always within the status of the Truth-Consciousness and involve no lapse into the Falsehood and the Ignorance. For the secondary and tertiary Supermind would only develop and apply in the terms of the divine multiplicity what the primary Supermind had held in the terms of the divine unity. We cannot stamp any of these three poises with the stigma of falsehood and illusion. The language of the Upanishads, the supreme ancient authority for these truths of a higher experience, when they speak of the Divine existence which is manifesting itself, implies the validity of all these experiences. We can only assert the priority of the oneness to the multiplicity, a priority not in time but in relation of consciousness, and no statement of supreme spiritual experience, no Vedantic philosophy denies this priority or the eternal dependence of the Many on the One. It is because in Time the Many seem not to be eternal but to manifest out of the One and return into it as their essence that their reality is denied; but it might equally be reasoned that the eternal persistence or, if you will, the eternal recurrence of the manifestation in Time is a proof that the divine multiplicity is an eternal fact of the Supreme beyond Time no less than the divine unity; otherwise it could not have this characteristic of inevitable eternal recurrence in Time. It is indeed only when our human mentality lays an exclusive emphasis on one side of spiritual experience, affirms that to be the sole eternal truth and states it in the terms of our all-dividing mental logic that the necessity for mutually destructive schools of philosophy arises. Thus, emphasising the sole truth of the unitarian consciousness, we observe the play of the divine unity, erroneously rendered by our mentality into the terms of real difference, but, not satisfied with correcting this error of the mind by the truth of a higher principle, we assert that the play itself is an illusion. Or, emphasising the play of the One in the Many, we declare a qualified unity and regard the individual soul as a soul-form of the Supreme, but would assert the eternity of this qualified existence and deny altogether the experience of a pure consciousness in an unqualified oneness. Or, again, emphasising the play of difference, we assert that the Supreme and the human soul are eternally different and reject the validity of an experience which exceeds and seems to abolish that difference. But the position that we have now firmly taken absolves us from the necessity of these negations and exclusions: we see that there is a truth behind all these

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affirmations, but at the same time an excess which leads to an ill-founded negation. Affirming, as we have done, the absolute absoluteness of That, not limited by our ideas of unity, not limited by our ideas of multiplicity, affirming the unity as a basis for the manifestation of the multiplicity and the multiplicity as the basis for the return to oneness and the enjoyment of unity in the divine manifestation, we need not burden our present statement with these discussions or undertake the vain labour of enslaving to our mental distinctions and definitions the absolute freedom of the Divine Infinite.

Appendix 2

In the Self of Mind115 At last there came a bare indifferent sky Where Silence listened to the cosmic Voice, But answered nothing to a million calls; The soul's endless question met with no response. An abrupt conclusion ended eager hopes, A deep cessation in a mighty calm, A finis-line on the last page of thought And a margin and a blank of wordless peace. There paused the climbing hierarchy of worlds. He stood on a wide arc of summit Space Alone with an enormous Self of Mind Which held all life in a corner of its vasts. Omnipotent, immobile and aloof, In the world which sprang from it, it took no part: It gave no heed to the paeans of victory, It was indifferent to its own defeats, It heard the cry of grief and made no sign; Impartial fell its gaze on evil and good, It saw destruction come and did not move. An equal Cause of things, a lonely Seer And Master of its multitude of forms, It acted not but bore all thoughts and deeds, The witness Lord of Nature's myriad acts Consenting to the movements of her Force. His mind reflected this vast quietism. This witness hush is the Thinker's secret base: Hidden in silent depths the word is formed,

115 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 283

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From hidden silences the act is born Into the voiceful mind, the labouring world; In secrecy wraps the seed the Eternal sows Silence, the mystic birthplace of the soul. In God's supreme withdrawn and timeless hush A seeing Self and potent Energy met; The Silence knew itself and thought took form: Self-made from the dual power creation rose. In the still self he lived and it in him; Its mute immemorable listening depths, Its vastness and its stillness were his own; One being with it he grew wide, powerful, free. Apart, unbound, he looked on all things done. As one who builds his own imagined scenes And loses not himself in what he sees, Spectator of a drama self-conceived, He looked on the world and watched its motive thoughts With the burden of luminous prophecy in their eyes, Its forces with their feet of wind and fire Arisen from the dumbness in his soul. All now he seemed to understand and know; Desire came not nor any gust of will, The great perturbed inquirer lost his task; Nothing was asked nor wanted any more. There he could stay, the Self, the Silence won: His soul had peace, it knew the cosmic Whole. Then suddenly a luminous finger fell On all things seen or touched or heard or felt And showed his mind that nothing could be known; That must be reached from which all knowledge comes. The sceptic Ray disrupted all that seems And smote at the very roots of thought and sense. In a universe of Nescience they have grown, Aspiring towards a superconscient Sun, Playing in shine and rain from heavenlier skies They never can win however high their reach Or overpass however keen their probe. A doubt corroded even the means to think, Distrust was thrown upon Mind's instruments; All that it takes for reality's shining coin, Proved fact, fixed inference, deduction clear,

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Firm theory, assured significance, Appeared as frauds upon Time's credit bank Or assets valueless in Truth's treasury. An Ignorance on an uneasy throne Travestied with a fortuitous sovereignty A figure of knowledge garbed in dubious words And tinsel thought-forms brightly inadequate. A labourer in the dark dazzled by half-light, What it knew was an image in a broken glass, What it saw was real but its sight untrue. All the ideas in its vast repertory Were like the mutterings of a transient cloud That spent itself in sound and left no trace. A frail house hanging in uncertain air, The thin ingenious web round which it moves, Put out awhile on the tree of the universe, And gathered up into itself again, Was only a trap to catch life's insect food, Winged thoughts that flutter fragile in brief light But dead, once captured in fixed forms of mind, Aims puny but looming large in man's small scale, Flickers of imagination's brilliant gauze And cobweb-wrapped beliefs alive no more. The magic hut of built-up certitudes Made out of glittering dust and bright moonshine In which it shrines its image of the Real, Collapsed into the Nescience whence it rose. Only a gleam was there of symbol facts That shroud the mystery lurking in their glow, And falsehoods based on hidden realities By which they live until they fall from Time. Our mind is a house haunted by the slain past, Ideas soon mummified, ghosts of old truths, God's spontaneities tied with formal strings And packed into drawers of reason's trim bureau, A grave of great lost opportunities, Or an office for misuse of soul and life And all the waste man makes of heaven's gifts And all his squanderings of Nature's store, A stage for the comedy of Ignorance. Appendix 3

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On Supermind.116

A few have dared the last supreme ascent And break through borders of blinding light above, And feel a breath around of mightier air, Receive a vaster being's messages And bathe in its immense intuitive Ray. On summit Mind are radiant altitudes Exposed to the lustre of Infinity, Outskirts and dependencies of the house of Truth, Upraised estates of Mind and measureless. There man can visit but there he cannot live. A cosmic Thought spreads out its vastitudes; (Higher Mind) Its smallest parts are here philosophies Challenging with their detailed immensity, Each figuring an omniscient scheme of things. But higher still can climb the ascending light; There are vasts of vision and eternal suns, (The Illumined Mind) Oceans of an immortal luminousness, Flame-hills assaulting heaven with their peaks, There dwelling all becomes a blaze of sight; A burning head of vision leads the mind, Thought trails behind it its long comet tail; The heart glows, an illuminate and seer, And sense is kindled into identity. A highest flight climbs to a deepest view: In a wide opening of its native sky Intuition's lightnings range in a bright pack (INTUITIVE MIND) Hunting all hidden truths out of their lairs, Its fiery edge of seeing absolute Cleaves into locked unknown retreats of self, Rummages the sky-recesses of the brain, Lights up the occult chambers of the heart; Its spear-point ictus of discovery Pressed on the cover of name, the screen of form, Strips bare the secret soul of all that is. Thought there has revelation's sun-bright eyes;

116 Volume: 33-34 [CWSA] (Savitri -- A Legend and a Symbol), Page: 659

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The Word, a mighty and inspiring Voice, Enters Truth's inmost cabin of privacy And tears away the veil from God and life. Then stretches the boundless finite's last expanse, (OVERMIND) The cosmic empire of the Overmind, Time's buffer state bordering Eternity, Too vast for the experience of man's soul: All here gathers beneath one golden sky: The Powers that build the cosmos station take In its house of infinite possibility; Each god from there builds his own nature's world; Ideas are phalanxed like a group of suns, Each marshalling his company of rays. Thought crowds in masses seized by one regard; All Time is one body, Space a single look: There is the Godhead's universal gaze And there the boundaries of immortal Mind: The line that parts and joins the hemispheres Closes in on the labour of the Gods Fencing eternity from the toil of Time. In her glorious kingdom of eternal light (SUPERMIND) All-ruler, ruled by none, the Truth supreme, Omnipotent, omniscient and alone, In a golden country keeps her measureless house; In its corridor she hears the tread that comes Out of the Unmanifest never to return Till the Unknown is known and seen by men. Above the stretch and blaze of cosmic Sight, Above the silence of the wordless Thought, Formless creator of immortal forms, Nameless, investitured with the name divine, Transcending Time's hours, transcending Timelessness, The Mighty Mother sits in lucent calm And holds the eternal Child upon her knees Attending the day when he shall speak to Fate. (see RV 5.69.3) There is the image of our future's hope; There is the sun for which all darkness waits, There is the imperishable harmony; The world's contradictions climb to her and are one: There is the Truth of which the world's truths are shreds, The Light of which the world's ignorance is the shade

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Till Truth draws back the shade that it has cast, The Love our hearts call down to heal all strife, The Bliss for which the world's derelict sorrows yearn: Thence comes the glory sometimes seen on earth, The visits of Godhead to the human soul, The Beauty and the dream on Nature's face. There the perfection born from eternity Calls to it the perfection born in Time, The truth of God surprising human life, The image of God overtaking finite shapes. There in a world of everlasting Light, In the realms of the immortal Supermind Truth who hides here her head in mystery, Her riddle deemed by reason impossible In the stark structure of material form, Unenigmaed lives, unmasked her face and there Is Nature and the common law of things. There in a body made of spirit stuff, The hearth-stone of the everliving Fire, Action translates the movements of the soul, Thought steps infallible and absolute And life is a continual worship's rite, A sacrifice of rapture to the One. A cosmic vision, a spiritual sense Feels all the Infinite lodged in finite form And seen through a quivering ecstasy of light Discovers the bright face of the Bodiless, In the truth of a moment, in the moment's soul Can sip the honey-wine of Eternity. A Spirit who is no one and innumerable, The one mystic infinite Person of his world Multiplies his myriad personality, On all his bodies seals his divinity's stamp And sits in each immortal and unique. (see RV 7.52.1)

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RV 5. 70 ṛṣi: urucakri ātreya; devatā: mitrāvaruṇā; chandaḥ: gāyatrī

pu/ê/é[a? ic/d! Xy! ASTy! Avae? nU/n< va<? vé[ , imÇ/ v~is? va< sum/itm! . 5-070-01 ta va<? s/Myg! A?Ô‚þa/[e;?m! AZyam/ xay?se , v/y< te é?Ôa Syam . 5-070-02 pa/t< nae? éÔa pa/yui-?r! %/t Ça?yewa< suÇa/Ça , tu/yaRm/ dSyU?n! t/nUi->? . 5-070-03 ma kSya?Ñ‚t³tU y/]m! -u?jema t/nUi->? , ma ze;?sa/ ma tn?sa . 5-070-04 purūrúṇā cid dhí ásti ávo nūnáṃ vāṃ varuṇa mítra váṃsi vāṃ sumatím 5.070.01 tā vāṃ samyág adruhvāṇā íṣam aśyāma dhāyase vayáṃ té rudrā siyāma 5.070.02 pātáṃ no rudrā pāyúbhir utá trāyethāṃ sutrātrā turyāma dásyūn tanūbhiḥ 5.070.03 mā kásya adbhutakratū yakṣám bhujemā tanūbhiḥ mā śéṣasā mā tánasā 5.070.04

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The Increasers of Being and Deliverers The Rishi desires the wide and multiple fostering of our being and its powers which Varuna and Mitra give and their complete impulsion of our strength towards the perfect foundation of the divine status. He prays to them to protect and deliver him from the Destroyers and prevent their adverse control from impairing the growth of the godhead in our various sheaths or bodies.

pu/ê/é[a? ic/d! Xy! ASTy! Avae? nU/n< va<? vé[ , imÇ/ v~is? va< sum/itm! . 5-070-01 purūrúṇā cid dhí ásti ávo nūnáṃ vāṃ varuṇa mítra váṃsi vāṃ sumatím 5.070.01 1. Multiple indeed by the wideness117 is now your fostering of our being, O Varuna. O Mitra, I would enjoy your perfect-mindedness. Interpretation: Let’s look into what language and how the Rishi speaks affirming Mitra and Varuna in his consciousness: “Multiple and vast is your growth in us now! O Varuna, O Mitra, I aspire to possess and to enjoy, vaṃsi, your supreme-mindedness, sumatim.“ The growth towards the Supreme implies the multiple and manifold realization in our individual consciousness. It is only when we are becoming universalized in our individual frame that many chariots of the Divine being, consciousness, power and bliss will move within our individual consciousness, and will open us to the wonders of the Lord’s supreme perception. Actually all the poverty of our life is due to this narrowness in our consciousness aṃhas, or aṃhati, often mentioned in the hymns dedicated to Adityas and especially to Varuna and Mitra as our major imperfection. This narrowness is compelling us to look for the delight in things of this multiple existence of the Divine in a narrow, selective and selfish way. All here is formed around this smallness of our being: the perceptions of our mind, our feelings and emotions of our life and even the selfish attitude to our body. But if the perfect-mindedness of Mitra and Varuna could enter into our being we would have a chance to overgrow our limited perceptions and to move towards the multiple vastness of our being.

117 The wideness of the infinite Truth-plane with the manifold wealth of its spiritual contents. Its condition is the perfection of the thought-mind and psychic mentality proper to a divine nature, which comes to man as the grace of the gods, sumati.

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Vocabulary: purūruṇā, ind. far and wide RV. (most probably it is a combination of puru-uru in Instr.) van cl. 8. P. A., to like , love , wish , desire RV. AV.; to gain , acquire , procure (for one's self or others) RV. AV.; to conquer , win , become master of , possess RV. AV.

ta va<? s/Myg! A?Ô‚þa/[e;?m! AZyam/ xay?se , v/y< te é?Ôa Syam . 5-070-02 tā vāṃ samyág adruhvāṇā íṣam aśyāma dhāyase vayáṃ té rudrā siyāma 5.070.02 2. You are they who betray not to harm;118 may we enjoy your complete force of impulsion for our founding; may we be they, O you violent godheads. Interpretation: “You are they who do not betray us on the path to the Divine! We want to possess and to enjoy your perfect power of will! May we be these [Rudras], O Rudras!” In the first verse the Rishi asks for the possession and enjoyment of the perfect mindedness, sumati, and in this Rik he aspires for the perfect force of impulsion towards the Divine realization, samyak iṣam. That is probably why Varuna and Mitra are mentioned here as Rudras. It is also implied that we also want to be like Rudras by possessing their perfect force of impulsion. The Russian scholar Elizarenkova in her notes to this hymn cannot understand why and how Varuna and Mitra are called Rudras, suggesting that we have to translate it as an adjective: ‘crying’. Vocabulary: adruhvan, mfn. free from malice or treachery RV.

pa/t< nae? éÔa pa/yui-?r! %/t Ça?yewa< suÇa/Ça , tu/yaRm/ dSyU?n! t/nUi->? . 5-070-03

pātáṃ no rudrā pāyúbhir utá trāyethāṃ sutrātrā turyāma dásyūn tanūbhiḥ 5.070.03 118 The harms of the Dasyus, destroyers of our being and enemies of its divine progress, the sons of Limitation and Ignorance.

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3. Protect us, O violent ones,119 with your protectings and deliver us with a perfect deliverance. May we in our embodyings break through the Destroyers. Interpretation:

“Protect us, O two Rudras, with your protecting powers, and carry us over [the danger] the best way possible to carry us over! May we break through the Dividers on every level of our being to another shore of ourselves.” The third thing asked by the Rishi in this hymn is the safety in the battle-journey towards the Divine existence. By the virtue of perfect knowledge, sumati and by

the perfect force impulsion, samyak iṣam, we should be able to break through the dividers and destroyers to the goal of the divine fulfillment. Vocabulary: trai, 1. A. trāyate, to protect , preserve , cherish , defend , rescue from (gen. or abl.) trātṛ, m. a protector , defender , one who saves from (abl. or gen.) RV. (with deva applied to Bhaga or Savitṛ) VS. AV. TS. (Indra) MBh. &c. pāyu, m. ( pā) a guard, protector RV. (esp. instr. pl. "with protecting powers or actions, helpfully") AV. turyāma, Pot. from tṝ, to pass over.

ma kSya?Ñ‚t³tU y/]m! -u?jema t/nUi->? , ma ze;?sa/ ma tn?sa . 5-070-04 mā kásya adbhutakratū yakṣám bhujemā tanūbhiḥ mā śéṣasā mā tánasā 5.070.04 4. O transcendent in will-power, let us not in our embodyings suffer the control of any,120 nor in our begetting, nor our creation. Interpretation:

“O you two, whose will power is of transcendental nature, we aspire to enjoy only your presence! May we not enjoy sharing with any other [inferiour] spirits! Neither in what we create nor in what we become!”

119 Rudras. Rudra is the Divine as the master of our evolution by violence and battle, smiting and destroying the Sons of Darkness and the evil they create in man. Varuna and Mitra as helpers in the upward struggle against the Dasyus assume this Rudrahood. 120 That is, any of the Destroyers.

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It is interesting that the enjoyment is seen as the key to the life one wants to live. One can enjoy even being with Dasyus and living their kind of life, or one can enjoy being with other creatures and perceiving the world through their eyes. The Rishi affirms, invoking Mitra and Varuna, whose Power of Will is of Transcendental Consciousness-Being, that we (people) are seeking the enjoyment of their Supreme Being and Consciousness in all what we do and beget, and on all the levels of our embodied consciousness, tanūbhiḥ. Vocabulary: šeṣas, n. offspring RV. tanas, n. offspring RV. v , 70 , 4. yakṣa, n. a living supernatural being , spiritual apparition , ghost , spirit RV. AV. VS. Br. Appendix The hymn dedicated to Adityas by Vasishtha, on which Sri Aurobindo commented in the Secret of the Veda, opens up the symbolism of Adityas and their relation with man.

RV 7.52 ṛṣi: vasiṣṭha maitrāvaruṇi; devatā: ādityagaṇa; chandaḥ: triṣṭup

Aa/id/Tyasae/ Aid?ty> Syam/ pUr! de?v/Ça v?svae mTyR/Ça , sne?m imÇavé[a/ sn?Ntae/ -ve?m *avap&iwvI/ -v?Nt> . 7-052-01 im/Çs! tn! nae/ vé?[ae mamhNt/ zmR? tae/kay/ tn?yay gae/pa> , ma vae? -ujema/Nyja?t/m! @nae/ ma tt! k?mR vsvae/ yc! cy?Xve . 7-052-02 tu/r/{yvae =?i¼rsae n]Nt/ rÆ<? de/vSy? siv/tur! #?ya/na> , ip/ta c/ tn! nae? m/han! yj?Çae/ ivñe? de/va> sm?nsae ju;Nt . 7-052-03 Interpretation of RV 7.52

Aa/id/Tyasae/ Aid?ty> Syam/ pUr! de?v/Ça v?svae mTyR/Ça , sne?m imÇavé[a/ sn?Ntae/ -ve?m *avap&iwvI/ -v?Nt> . 7-052-01

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ādityāso áditayaḥ siyāma pūr devatrā vasavo martiyatrā sánema mitrāvaruṇā sánanto bhávema dyāvāprthivī bhávantaḥ 7.052.01 Interpretation: Griffith cannot imagine here that men want or can become Adityas and Aditis, he translates word Adityas in the Vocative case, though it is in Nominative. The meaning of this verse is profound: “May we become Adityas in their infinite qualities, which they all share in the Supreme Aditi, and become also a Fortress among Gods and among Mortals, O Luminous Dwellers in the substance! Realising, may we truly realize you, O Varuna and Mitra! Becoming, may we truly become you, O Heaven and Earth!” Vasishtha prays that we may become fully realized and harmonized within the Divine Mother with all her supreme manifestations, embodying and sharing all her qualities and faculties, and at the same time maintaining our own identity in this manifestation, which cannot be altered neither by the gods nor by the mortals. ‘Possessing your presence and power here, may we truly possess you,’ - says the Rishi, where the root san has many meanings: to gain, acquire, obtain, gift, possess, enjoy, which implies many possible translations, such as: ‘When we gain, may we truly gain you; or when we enjoy your presence, may we truly enjoy it, etc. We find the similar structure in the next phrase also where the root bhu, can be translated as to be, to become, arise, come into being, exist, live, stay, abide, etc. But there is more to this verse. Its poetic rhythm suggests the meaning we cannot see in the grammatical structure of a sentence. Trishtubh has a caesura after four or five sillables and the cadence before the last three. sánema mitrā | varuṇā sánanto bhávema dyāvā | prthivī bhávantaḥ Even though the dvandva of Vocative mitrāvaruṇā or dyāvāpṛthivī is undividable, they are in the middle of the pada separated by caesura. So the natural breath of the poetic rhythm creates a subtle suggestion which is not in the syntactic structure of the sentence: May we win, Mitra | Varuna, winning! May we become, Heaven | Earth becoming! It suggests subtly this meaning: “We want to win Mitra, Varuna-winning. We want be Heaven, Earth-becoming.” This can be an example how the poetic

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rhythm introduces the suggestion of new shades of meaning, widening our understanding of what the Rishi wanted to say.

im/Çs! tn! nae/ vé?[ae mamhNt/ zmR? tae/kay/ tn?yay gae/pa> , ma vae? -ujema/Nyja?t/m! @nae/ ma tt! k?mR vsvae/ yc! cy?Xve . 7-052-02 mitrás tán no váruṇo māmahanta śárma tokāya tánayāya gopāḥ mā vo bhujema anyájātam éno mā tát karma vasavo yác cáyadhve 7.052.02 Interpretation: “May Mitra and Varuna make this great in us; the Guardians of Light make this embodiment of peace and protection for the generations to come. May we never partake of evil, which comes from another. May we never do what will turn you away from us, O Luminous Dwellers in the substance!” Mitra and Varuna, should make this grow in us, that is, us becoming harmonized with Adityas within the Divine Mother and building up at the same time the Fortress of our being which cannot be conquered neither by the gods nor my the mortals. This self-realisation in Mitra and Varuna, should support and increase even future generations. ‘Grant to us that we may never partake of any sin, for it is not coming from you but from another source; may we never do that which may turn you away from us.’ This part of the verse is very similar in meaning to the RV 5.70.4, see: mā kasyādbhutakratū yakṣam bhujemā tanūbhiḥ mā šeṣasā mā tanasā/ “May we, O Mitra and Varuna, transcendental in will power, never enjoy in our bodies other spirit [than yours]; neither in our begettings nor in our expansion.” Vocabulary: maṃh, (cf. mah) 1. A. maṃhate, to give, grant, bestow RV. ŠBr.; to increase ci, 1. cayate (p. cayamāna) to detest, hate (Nir. iv , 25) RV. i , 167 , 8 and 190 , 5 vii , 52 , 2, to revenge, punish, take vengeance on (acc.) , ii , 27 , 4

tu/r/{yvae =?i¼rsae n]Nt/ rÆ<? de/vSy? siv/tur! #?ya/na> , ip/ta c/ tn! nae? m/han! yj?Çae/ ivñe? de/va> sm?nsae ju;Nt . 7-052-03

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turaṇyávo áṅgiraso nakṣanta rátnaṃ devásya savitúr iyānāḥ pitā ca tán no mahān yájatro víśve devāḥ sámanaso juṣanta 7.052.03 Interpretation: “Aspiring for the highest realization, Angirasas, seeking the luminous riches of the God Savitar, obtained them! May our great Father, who is of the Sacrifice, and all the gods being of one mind accept and take delight in this our [realization]! Vocabulary: turaṇyu mfn. swift , zealous. nakṣ, 1. P.A to come near, approach, arrive at, get, attain RV. AV. VS.

Sri Aurobindo explains this hymn in the Secret of the Veda: “But the fifty-second hymn is still more significant and suggestive. The first Rik runs, “O Sons of the infinite Mother (ādityāso), may we become infinite beings (aditayaḥ syāma), may the Vasus protect in the godhead and the mortality (devatrā martyatrā); possessing may we possess you, O Mitra and Varuna, becoming may we become you, O Heaven and Earth,” sanema mitrāvaruṇā sananto, bhavema dyāvāpṛthivī bhavantaḥ. This is evidently the sense that we are to possess and become the infinities or children of Aditi, the godheads, aditayaḥ, ādityāso. Mitra and Varuna, we must remember, are powers of Surya Savitri, the Lord of the Light and the Truth. And the third verse runs, “May the Angirases who hasten through to the goal move in their travelling to the bliss of the divine Savitri; and that (bliss) may our great Father, he of the sacrifice, and all the gods becoming of one mind accept in heart.” Turaṇyavo nakṣanta ratnaṃ devasya savitur iyānāḥ. It is quite clear therefore that the Angirases are travellers to the light and truth of the solar deity from which are born the luminous cows they wrest from the Panis and to the bliss which, as we always see, is founded on that light and truth. It is clear also that this journey is a growing into the godhead, into the infinite being (aditayaḥ syāma), said in this hymn (verse 2) to come by the growth of the peace and bliss through the action in us of Mitra, Varuna and the Vasus who protect us in the godhead and the mortality.”121

121 Volume: 15 [CWSA] (The Secret of the Veda), Page: 189

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RV 5.85 ṛṣi: atri bhauma; devatā: varuṇa; chanda: triṣṭup

à s/èaje? b&/hd! A?caR g-I/r< äü? ià/y< vé?[ay ïu/tay? , iv yae j/"an? zim/tev/ cmaR?p/iStre? p&iw/vI ~sUyaR?y . 5-085-01 vne?;u/ Vy! ANtir?]< ttan/ vaj/m! AvR?Tsu/ py? %/iöya?su , ù/Tsu ³tu</ vé?[ae A/PSv! Ai¶< id/iv sUyR?m! Adxa/t! saem/m! AÔaE? . 5-085-02 nI/cIn?bar</ vé?[>/ kv?Nx/m! à s?sjR/ raed?sI A/Ntir?]m! , ten/ ivñ?Sy/ -uv?nSy/ raja/ yv</ n v&/iòr! Vy! %niÄ/ -Um? . 5-085-03 %/niÄ/ -Uim?m! p&iw/vIm! %/t *a< y/da Ê/Gx< vé?[ae/ vò(! Aad! #t! , sm! A/æe[? vst/ pvR?tass! tiv;I/yNt>? ïwyNt vI/ra> . 5-085-04 #/mam! / :v! Aasu/rSy? ïu/tSy? m/hIm! ma/ya< vé?[Sy/ à vae?cm! , mane?nev tiSw/va A/Ntir?]e/ iv yae m/me p&?iw/vI sUyR?[ . 5-085-05 #/mam! / nu k/ivt?mSy ma/yam! m/hI de/vSy/ nik/r! Aa d?x;R , @k</ yd! %/Ða n p&/[NTy! @nI?r! Aais/ÂNtI?r! A/vn?y> smu/Ôm! . 5-085-06 A/yR/My< vé[ im/Èy< va/ soa?y< va/ sd/m! #d! æat?r< va , ve/z< va/ inTy<? vé/[ar?[< va/ yt! sI/m! Aag?z! ck«/ma iz/ïw/s! tt! . 5-085-07 ik/t/vasae/ yd! ir?ir/pur! n dI/iv yd! va? "a s/Tym! %/t yn! n iv/Ò , svaR/ ta iv :y? iziw/rev? de/vaxa? te Syam vé[ ià/yas>? . 5-085-08

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To the Omniscient Creator122 In this hymn there is throughout a sustained double sense. In the exoteric Varuna is hymned as the Asura, omniscient and omnipotent lord and creator, the Godhead in his creative wisdom and might forming the world and maintaining the law of things in the earth and mid-air and heavens. In the esoteric, in which the physical phenomena of the exoteric become symbols, the infinite Godhead is hymned in his all-pervading wisdom and purity opening the three worlds of our being to the Sun of knowledge, pouring down the streams of the Truth, purifying the soul from the falsehood of the lower being and its sin. The hymn is rendered here successively in its exoteric and its esoteric significance.

The Mighty Master of Infinite Wisdom123 The Rishi hymns Varuna as the Lord of infinite purity and wisdom who opens our earthly being to the unclouded light of the sun of knowledge, pours out the waters of the Truth upon all our triple existence mental, vital and physical and by its power removes all sin and evil and falsehood from our lives. He creates the free wideness of our vital being above our broken search for the delightful objects of our desire, sets the plenitude in our battling life-forces, the yield of heaven in the shining herds of thought; he has put will in our hearts, Agni the divine force in the waters of existence, the Sun of divine knowledge in the highest heaven of mind and the plant that yields the wine of delight on the many-plateaued mountain of our being. All these are the means by which we attain to immortality. He plans out all our physical existence by his wisdom according to the truth light of the sun of knowledge and creates in us the unity of his own infinite existence and consciousness with all the seven rivers of the Truth-plane pouring their streams of knowledge into it without filling its infinity.

à s/èaje? b&/hd! A?caR g-I/r< äü? ià/y< vé?[ay ïu/tay? , iv yae j/"an? zim/tev/ cmaR?p/iStre? p&iw/vI ~sUyaR?y . 5-085-01 prá samrāje brhád arcā gabhīrám bráhma priyáṃ váruṇāya śrutāya ví yó jaghāna śamitéva cárma upastíre prthivīṃ sūriyāya 5.085.01

122 Volume: 15 [CWSA] (The Secret of the Veda), Page: 544

123 Sri Aurobindo wrote two different commentaries on this hymn, as if for two different reasons, they are

both given here; the second one is more esoteric.

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l. Sing thou the word vast and profound and dear to renowned Varuna, the All-ruler, to him who clove away, even as the cleaver of beasts a skin, that he might spread out the earth under the sun. 1. To Varuna of the far-heard inspirations, the all-ruling, 124 sing bright the inspired word of the soul in its vastness and depth and delight; for he has cloven wide away the darkness, as one that cleaves away a skin, that he may spread out our earth under his illumining sun. 125 Interpretation: It is interesting how Sri Aurobindo translates here arcāḥ, Subj. from arc, to sing and to shine: “sing bright” (ṛk is derived from this root, of the ṛg-veda); and the word brahma he translates as “the inspired word of the soul”; and the words bṛhad, gabhīram, priyam “in its vastness and depth and delight”. For he has removed the cover on the surface of our consciousness, the skin which kept us closed to the influence of his light, or we can even say, he has stripped us off the narrow surface of our being which we were always preoccupied with and opened us to the influence of the eternal Sun of our deeper and true being. Vocabulary: arc, 1. P, (Subj. arcāt) to shine , brilliant RV.; to praise , sing (also used of the roaring of the Maruts , and of a bull [RV. iv , 16 , 3]) RV. AV. S3Br. , to praise anything to another (dat.) , recommend RV. šamitṛ, m. a killer, slaughterer, cutter up (of a slaughtered victim), preparer, dresser RV. Br. MBh. upastir, f. anything spread over , a cover RV. ix , 62 , 28 (dat. upa-stire used as inf. see last col.)

vne?;u/ Vy! ANtir?]< ttan/ vaj/m! AvR?Tsu/ py? %/iöya?su , ù/Tsu ³tu</ vé?[ae A/PSv! Ai¶< id/iv sUyR?m! Adxa/t! saem/m! AÔaE? . 5-085-02 váneṣu ví antárikṣaṃ tatāna vājam árvatsu páya usríyāsu hrtsú krátuṃ váruṇo apsú agníṃ diví sūryam adadhāt sómam ádrau 5.085.02

124 The two epithets are intended to give the two sides of the divine being, all-knowledge and all-power; māyām asurasya šrutasya. Man divinizing himself has to become in the image of the godhead seer and king. 125 The limitations of the physical mentality are rolled away and it is spread out in a great wideness to receive the revelations and inspirations of the light of the gnosis.

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2. He spread out the mid-air on the tree-tops, he put strength in the battle-steeds and milk in the cows; in hearts he put will, the fire in the waters,126 the sun in heaven and the Soma-plant on the mountain. 2. He has spread wide the mid-world above the forests of earth-delight; 127 he has put his plenitude in our battle-steeds of life 128 and their heavenly milk in our shining herds of knowledge. 129 Varuna has put the will 130 in our hearts, the divine fire 131 in the waters,132 the Sun of Light in our heavens, the plant of Delight on the mountain of our being.133

Interpretation: This verse introduces Varuna as the Creator. He introduced the vital force into the matter, into the plants, it is because of this vital force within the plants (matter) that the letter can grow and be used as food (for growth) and enjoyment

here in physical world. He has put his substantial power, vāja, or the plenitude, into our movement of our vital force, making it universal and unlimited in power. He has put also the milk of Knowledge in our consciousness, the herds of light, and made it free from our narrow and surface mentality. He also put a power of aspiration in our hearts, the divine Will to lead us on the path of the Sacrifice. He introduced Agni into the waters of our Cosmic Being, Sun into the Heaven of our Mind, the Soma onto the plateaus of our manifold Self.

nI/cIn?bar</ vé?[>/ kv?Nx/m! à s?sjR/ raed?sI A/Ntir?]m! , 126 Sayana explains, either the electric fire in the water of the clouds or the submarine fire in the

ocean. 127 The forests or delightful growths of earth (vana means also pleasure) are the basis of the mid-world, the vital world in us which is the realm of Vayu, the Life-God. That is the world of the satisfaction of desires. This also is spread out in its full wideness, free from limitation, to receive the Ananda or divine delight by means of the knowledge and law of the Truth. 128 Arvatsu, meaning both “battlers, strivers” and “horses”. 129 Usriyāsu, meaning both “bright ones” and “cows”. 130 Kratu, the will to the divine work, the sacrificial will. 131 Agni, the fire of the divine Will which receives the sacrifice and becomes its priest. 132 The ocean of being or else the waters of Truth which descend from above. 133 Our existence is compared always to a mountain with many plateaus, each a level or plane of being.

127

127

ten/ ivñ?Sy/ -uv?nSy/ raja/ yv</ n v&/iòr! Vy! %niÄ/ -Um? . 5-085-03 nīcīnabāraṃ váruṇaḥ kávandham prá sasarja ródasī antárikṣam téna víśvasya bhúvanasya rājā yávaṃ ná vrṣṭír ví unatti bhūma 5.085.03

3. Varuna poured forth over earth and heaven and the mid-air the holder of the waters whose windows open downward; by him the King of all the world floods the earth as the rain floods a field of barley. 3. Varuna has poured forth over our earth and heaven and mid-world the holder of wisdom with his doors opening downward; 134 with him the king of all our being floods our earth like rain flooding the barley. Interpretation:

“Varuna poured out his heavenly waters onto our mental and physical being and the space of the vital being, which connects them. By that the King of the whole Creation washed away [the dust] of our world of becoming, like the flood is washing away the barley.”

Vocabulary: nīcīnabāra mfn. having its opening below RV. bāra, m. or n. (?) an opening, aperture (see jihma- and nīcīna-b-). kabandha, m. n. (sometimes written kavandha) a big barrel or cask , a largebellied vessel (metaphorically applied to a cloud) RV. AV. ix , 4 , 3 ud/und, 7. P. unatti (RV. v , 85 , 4); 6. P. undati; to flow or issue out , spring (as water) to wet , bathe RV. AV. Etc. bhūman, n. the earth, world RV. AV.; m. abundance, plenty, wealth, opulence , multitude , majority RV. &c. &c.

%/niÄ/ -Uim?m! p&iw/vIm! %/t *a< y/da Ê/Gx< vé?[ae/ vò(! Aad! #t! , sm! A/æe[? vst/ pvR?tass! tiv;I/yNt>? ïwyNt vI/ra> . 5-085-04 unátti bhūmim prthivīm utá dyāṃ yadā dugdháṃ váruṇo váṣṭi ād ít sám abhréṇa vasata párvatāsas taviṣīyántaḥ śrathayanta vīrāḥ 5.085.04

134 The gnosis opens upward to receive the Infinite in its will and knowledge; here its doors open

downwards to flood the lower being.

128

128

4. Varuna floods the wide earth and heaven, yea, when he desires the milk of heaven, he pours it forth; the mountains are clothed utterly with cloud, the heroes of storm 135 put forth their strength and all is cast down before them. 4. He floods our earth in its wideness and our heaven, yea, Varuna when he desires that milk, 136 pours it forth; the mountains are covered with the cloud, his heroes137 put forth their strength and cast it away. Interpretation:

“When Varuna desires the Milk from the Transcendental realms here, he pours it out on the wide earth and heaven, covering the peaks of our being with his clouds of luminous Waters, and the Maruts, the strong heroes here, cast forth their strength.” This imagery is also used in the RV 5.63:

samrājāv asyá bhúvanasya rājatho mítrāvaruṇā vidáthe suvardŕśā vrṣṭíṃ vāṃ rādho amrtatvám īmahe dyāvāprthivī ví caranti tanyávaḥ 5.063.02 2. Emperors, 138 you rule over this world of our becoming, O Mitra and Varuna, in the getting of knowledge you are seers of the realm of Light; we desire from you the rain, the felicitous wealth, the immortality, and lo! the Thunderers139 range abroad through earth and heaven.

samrājā ugrā vrṣabhā divás pátī prthivyā mitrāváruṇā vícarṣanī citrébhir abhraír úpa tiṣṭhatho rávaṃ dyāṃ varṣayatho ásurasya māyáyā 5.063.03 3. Emperors, strong Bulls of the abundance, Masters of earth and heaven, O Mitra and Varuna, universal in your workings, you approach their cry with your clouds of varied light and you rain down Heaven by the power of the knowledge140 of the Mighty One.141

135 Vīrāḥ, the Heroes, here the Maruts as storm-gods.

136 The milk of the Cow Aditi, the infinite consciousness. 137 The Maruts as life-powers attaining to full thought-knowledge; they help Indra to break the cloud or coverer, Vritra, and pour out the waters of Truth and also to bring the light hidden by Vala, that of the hidden sun. Here the two ideas are combined in another image. 138 Samrāṭ, having perfect kingship over the subjective and objective existence. 139 The Maruts, Life-Powers and Thought-Powers who find out the light of truth for all our activities. The word may also mean formers or builders. 140 Maya, the creative knowledge-will of the Deva. 141 Asura, a word used in the Veda as in the Avesta for the Deva (Ahuramazda), but also for the gods, His manifestations; it is only in a few hymns that it is used for the dark Titans, by another and fictitious derivation, a-sura, the not-luminous, the not-gods.

129

129

māyā vām mitrāvaruṇā diví śritā sūryo jyótiś carati citrám āyudham tám abhréṇa vrṣṭiyā gūhatho diví párjanya drapsā mádhumanta īrate 5.063.04 4. This is your knowledge, O Mitra and Varuna, that is lodged in heaven; it is the Sun, it is the Light; it ranges abroad as your rich and varied weapon. You hide it in heaven with the cloud and with the raining. O Rain, full of the honey start forth thy streamings.

ráthaṃ yuñjate marútaḥ śubhé sukháṃ śūro ná mitrāvaruṇā gáviṣṭiṣu rájāṃsi citrā ví caranti tanyávo diváḥ samrājā páyasā na ukṣatam 5.063.05 5. The Life-Powers yoke their happy car for the bliss, even as might a hero for battle, O Mitra and Varuna, in their seekings for the herds of Light; thundering they range the varied worlds, and you pour out on us, rulers imperial, the water of Heaven.

vācaṃ sú mitrāvaruṇāv írāvatīm parjányaś citrāṃ vadati tvíṣīmatīm abhrā vasata marútaḥ sú māyáyā dyāṃ varṣayatam aruṇām arepásam 5.063.06 6. O Mitra and Varuna, the Rain speaks its language142 rich and varied and full of the light and the movement; the Life-Powers have put on your clouds for raiment. Utterly by the knowledge you rain down Heaven ruddy-shining and sinless. Vocabulary: taviṣīya, Nom. P. A., to be strong or violent or courageous , ii , 30 , 8; v , 85 , 4 vasata, Inj., 3d pers., pl., they put on, from vas, 2.Ā., to put on, to cloth. šrath, 9. P., to be loosened or untied or unbent , become loose or slack , yield , give way RV. (cf. Pāṇ 2. 3-1 , 89 Sch.); Caus., to loosen , untie , unbend , slacken , relax (A1. `" to become loose , yield "') RV. AitBr.

#/mam! / :v! Aasu/rSy? ïu/tSy? m/hIm! ma/ya< vé?[Sy/ à vae?cm! , mane?nev tiSw/va A/Ntir?]e/ iv yae m/me p&?iw/vI sUyR?[ . 5-085-05 imām ū ṣú āsurásya śrutásya mahīm māyāṃ váruṇasya prá vocam māneneva tasthivām antárikṣe ví yó mamé prthivīṃ sūriyeṇa 5.085.05 142 Here we see the subjective sense of the thunder in the symbol of the storm; it is the outcrashing of the word of the Truth, the Shabda, as the lightning is the outflashing of its sense.

130

130

5. I have declared this vast creative wisdom143 of the famous and mighty One, even Varuna, he who stood in mid-air as with a measuring-rod and wide he measured out the earth with the sun. 5. Vast is this wisdom which I declare of Varuna the far-heard, the mighty Lord, for he stands in our mid-world as with a measuring-rod and wide he measures out our earth with his illumining Sun. 144 Interpretation:

“I declared this great Power of Knowledge of the Lord Varuna, who extends his consciousness far, thus He has arisen in the space between Heaven and Earth, measuring our Earth with a light of the Sun as with the measuring rope.” Our Earth, the manifestation in matter of the Spirit, is to be measured out, shaped, built by the light of the Sun and the Lord Varuna does it. Vocabulary: āsura, 1 mf(ī)n. (fr. asura), spiritual , divine RV. VS. AV. belonging or devoted to evil spirits belonging or relating to the Asuras RV. AV. VS. māna, m., a building , house , dwelling RV.; measure, measuring-cord, standard RV. &c. &c.; form , appearance RV.

#/mam! / nu k/ivt?mSy ma/yam! m/hI de/vSy/ nik/r! Aa d?x;R , @k</ yd! %/Ða n p&/[NTy! @nI?r! Aais/ÂNtI?r! A/vn?y> smu/Ôm! . 5-085-06 imām ū nú kavítamasya māyām mahīṃ devásya nákir ā dadharṣa ékaṃ yád udnā ná prṇánti énīr āsiñcántīr avánayaḥ samudrám 5.085.06

6. Vast is this wisdom of the divine and the greatest of seers and there is none who can do violence against it; therefore the Ocean is one, yet all these rushing rivers pour themselves into it and cannot fill it. 6. Vast is this wisdom of the godhead greatest in seer-knowledge and none can do violence to it; for into him, the one, the ocean, the bright fostering rivers145

143 Maya, with a strong sense of its root-significance, to measure, form, build or plan out. 144 Man lives in the physical being; Varuna brings the light of the gnosis into it and measures it

out, that is, shapes and plans out our earth-existence in the measures of the Truth by means of the mind enlightened by the sun of gnosis: he takes his stand as the Asura in our vital plane, the link between mental and physical, there to receive the light and pass it on to the earth as a creative and determining force. 145 The seven rivers that descend from the Truth-plane, here called avanayaḥ, which has the same

root-sense as dhenavaḥ, the fostering cows.

131

131

pour their waters, yet they cannot fill him. Interpretation: The image of the Ocean is an image of Infinity, which is one, therefore none here can do any harm to it, for it is one and all. It cannot be filled by all the streams of its manifestation, which come from it and return back to it after a while. Vocabulary: ādhṛṣ, 1 P. to assail , attack , injure , overcome RV. AV. avani, f. course, bed of a river RV.; stream, river RV. enī, 2, mf(ā and enī Pa1n2. 4-1 , 39)n., "rushing", "darting"

A/yR/My< vé[ im/Èy< va/ soa?y< va/ sd/m! #d! æat?r< va , ve/z< va/ inTy<? vé/[ar?[< va/ yt! sI/m! Aag?z! ck«/ma iz/ïw/s! tt! . 5-085-07 aryamíyaṃ varuṇa mitríyaṃ vā sákhāyaṃ vā sádam íd bhrātaraṃ vā veśáṃ vā nítyaṃ varuṇāraṇaṃ vā yát sīm āgaś cakrmā śiśráthas tát 5.085.07

7. Whatsoever sin we have done against the law of Aryaman or the law of Mitra, against brother or friend, against constant neighbour or enemy, 146 cast it away from us, O Varuna. 7. All the sin that we have done against thee in thy power of Aryaman or thy power of Mitra or as brother or friend or the eternal indweller or the warrior, 147 that cast away from us. Interpretation: “Whether it was against your greatness in Power as Aryaman or in Consciousness as Mitra, O Varuna, or against you as the Eternal Friend or a Brother, a constant dweller within us or the transcendent Godhead, who cannot be fought, araṇa, if we have sinned or committed a mistake, cast it away from us, O Varuna.” Vocabulary: araṇa, mf(ī)n. (ṛ), foreign, distant RV. AV. Sadam, ind. (prob. fr. sadā) always , ever , for ever , at any time RV. AV.

ik/t/vasae/ yd! ir?ir/pur! n dI/iv yd! va? "a s/Tym! %/t yn! n iv/Ò ,

146 Or, stranger. 147 Against the Dasyus.

132

132

svaR/ ta iv :y? iziw/rev? de/vaxa? te Syam vé[ ià/yas>? . 5-085-08 kitavāso yád riripúr ná dīví yád vā ghā satyám utá yán ná vidmá sárvā tā ví ṣya śithiréva deva ádhā te syāma varuṇa priyāsaḥ 5.085.08 8. The sin we have done like cunning gamesters who break the law of the play, or have done against the truth or what we have sinned in ignorance, all these cleave far from us, O god, like loose-hanging fruits: then shall we be beloved of thee, O Varuna. 8. The sin we have done as cunning gamesters offend in their play, our sin against the truth and our sin by ignorance, all these cleave away like loosened things; then may we be dear to thee, O Varuna. Interpretation:

“Cast away from us like things, which do not constitute the part of our being, or loose in our being, namely ‘the cunning cheater as in the game of dice’, ‘the offender of the Truth’, and ‘the ignorant one’. May we be always dear to you, O Varuna!” It is interesting here to see these three personas within ourselves:

1) who has fun by playing with falsehood; kitava, a joking one; half-conscious lier;

2) who offends the truth directly, a conscious lier; 3) who does not know the truth, an ignorant one, an unconscious lier.

All these three personas Varuna should cleave away from us, asks the Rishi, that we may be dear to him. There is a similar passage in the Gita in this regard, where Arjuna asks forgiveness from Krishna for all his false actions that might have occurred in their relations, when Krishna revealed him his Višvarūpa: sakheti matvā prasabhaṃ yad uktam he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti/ ajānatā mahimānam tavedam mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi // 11. 41 yac cāvahāsārtham asatkṛto ’si vihāra-šayyāsana-bhojaneṣu/ eko’thavāpy acyuta tat samakṣam tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam// 11.42 1) ajānatā mayā mahimānam tavedam pramādāt praṇayena vāpi, not knowing your

greatness because of my stupidity or because of my affection. 2) Or if you were disrespected jokingly: avahāsārtham asatkṛto ‘si.

Vocabulary: kitava, m. , a gamester , gambler RV. VS. AV. &c. rip, (cf. lip ; only pf. riripuḥ) , to smear , adhere to (loc.) RV.; to deceive , cheat ib. dīv, f. (only dat. dīve, loc. dīvi) RV. ; gambling , playing with dice. šithira, mf(ā)n. (zrath) loose , lax , slack , flexible pliant , soft RV. AV. Br.