Mother's Chronicles - Book Six

43

The Clue

It is Bharati who wrote: "All new knowledge is 'revealed,' " Suvrata¹ reported. She repeated what Bharati had said: "A few days back I asked Sri Aurobindo how he got his new and wonderful theory of the interpretation of the Vedas: 'It was shown to me'—he replied and I knew that he was saying that in an absolutely literal sense."

There is no doubt at all that Bharati was but stating a fact. Sri Aurobindo said as much in the undated letter to Motilal Roy from which we quoted some fragments in the last chapter. Here are some more parts from it.

"I am now getting a clearer idea of that work and I may as well impart something of that idea to you; since you look to me as the centre, you should know what is likely to radiate out of that centre.

"1. To re-explain the Sanatana'² Dharma [the Eternal Law] to the human intellect in all its parts, from a new standpoint.

¹Mme Yvonne Gaebele, in Revue Historique 1955, p. 152.

²Sanatana does not mean 'old'; it means that which is eternal, beyond the three times, indestructible, that which continues uninterrupted through all change.

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This work is already beginning, and three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so, but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta¹ can be formed and the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to re-explain the whole Vedanta and Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it and is one everywhere. In this way it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world and its destined saviour through the Sanatana Dharma.

"2. On the basis of Vedic knowledge, to establish a Yogic Sadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity and help in the restoration of the Satya Yuga [the Age of Truth]. That work has to begin now but it will not be complete till the end of the Kali [the Iron Age].

"3. India being the centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected as a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means and instruments, not otherwise.

"4. A perfect humanity being intended, society will have to be remodeled so as to be fit to contain that perfection."

We have picked out a few relevant notes as Sri Aurobindo jotted them down in July 1912, so that we all may know when it happened and how it happened.

¹ Nirukta, Vedic etymology, composed by Yaska. Let us note at once that Sri Aurobindo did not write a 'new Nirukta' but his Origins of Aryan Speech" shows to where he was leading.

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"July 13^th. Ananda Mimansa¹ begun last night; the first adhyaya² completed this morning.

"July 14^th. Yesterday by a sudden opening of faculty Sanscrit prose, even of the Kadambari³ type, which was until the last reading difficult to understand, troublesome & wearying to the brain, has become perfectly easy & intelligible at the first reading without labour. A similar result is coming in Sanscrit poetry but more slowly....

"The bhasasiddhi⁴ of Sanscrit prose, tested, proved to be well established.

"July 15^th. The movement of the intellect in difficult Sanscrit poetry is much easier and stronger & sometimes the vijna-namaya knowledge manifests (smarta sruti') with regard to the meaning of unknown words."

Sri Aurobindo's notations say that the revealed knowledge of old Sanscrit had come by 'a sudden opening.' However, I may be allowed to point out that the solid groundwork laid over the

¹Ānanda Mimānsā, a part of the Taittiriya Upanishad (ch. 8, part 2) inquiring into the nature of bliss and giving the following scale to measure it out: starting from the happiness of a healthy and prosperous young man, that of ancestors, gandharvas and devas is a hundredfold; the happiness of India again is a hundred times that of the devas, and so on. The final limit of happiness is that of the Brahman, which is the supreme Bliss.

²Adhyāya: chapter.

³Kādambari, a Sanskrit novel by Bānabhatta (c. seventh century AD), the royal poet in the court of emperor Harshavardhana.

⁴Bhāsāsiddhi: bhāsā = language; siddhi = perfection, accomplishment.

⁵Smarta Shruti; Smarta: derived from smriti = memory. Slmili: spiritual hearing. Among several main spiritual paths—Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc.— Smartism also is another traditional yogic path followed by many Hindus. A Smarta, a traditionalist, takes the line of Knowledge—jfiana yoga—to achieve liberation, moksha.

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years had made possible this 'sudden opening.' Remember how already at Baroda R.C. Dutt had admired Arabindo Babu's English rendering of some segments of the Mahabharata? It was also at Baroda that Arabindo Babu had taken up translations of some Upanishads.

Let us continue with Sri Aurobindo's notations of 1912, and find out how not only Sanskrit but his general literary works were progressing.

"July 18^th. Sahitya¹ was resumed today, the Life Divine commenced; also the systematic study of Magha,² an orderly arrangement of material (chh dhatus³) for the Structure of Sanscrit Speech and a review of past Prerana⁴ records begun.

"July 19^th. The Life Divine continued, Rigveda resumed, nirukta & prerana slightly, kavya"¹ touched, Bhasa proceeded with. The difficulty of understanding Magha now only persists, ordinarily, where the meaning of important words is unknown.

"July 20^th. Bhasa & the Life Divine have already been resumed.

"During the day the karma¹' was strengthened—Rodogune⁷ revised, prerana liberated from its shackles, nirukta strongly brought forward (chh roots), the RV [Rigveda] proceeded with and, at night, the collection of materials for the RV. Bhasa and

' Sahitya = literature.

'-' Māgha (c. eighth century AD) , a Sanskrit poet, born in Gujarat, lived after Harshavardhana. His only surviving work is Shishupalavadha (Th e killing of
Shishupala).

' Dliālu = verb, metal, substance. Chh = a group of Sanskrit roots.

⁴Prerana = inspiration.

⁵Kāvya = poetry. '' Karma = work.

⁷ A play by Sri Aurobindo.

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Sahitya were continued.

"July 21^st. The doing of work in larger masses has begun this morning with the Rigveda. More of this collection of material will be done today, without interfering with other work.

"The last suggestion was fulfilled. All the usual work has been done, but the collection of material replaced the usual comment on RV.

"July 24^th. Epic poetry resumed.

"July 25^th. Bhasa in Rigveda strengthened, vijnana¹ working normally."

As regards the literary work the next entries are in November. In the meantime Sri Aurobindo wrote several times to Motilal Roy that he was in need of R. C. Dutt's Bengali translation of the Vedas, "or any translation for that matter which gives the European version." Evidently Sri Aurobindo was collecting materials for the commentary on the Rig-veda.

"November 12. The literary work is now being done, faultlessly in manner, faultlessly in substance, almost without fault in style.

"November 14. The Sahitya [literature] proceeds perfectly, although not always compassing an entirely flawless expression at the first thought. Redound, in its final form, is completed & only needs a slight revision correcting an inconsiderable number of expressions. Today the Isha Upanishad² will be resumed &

¹Vijnana = supra-intellectual knowledge.

²Isha Upanishad. First translation was published in the first issue of Karma-yogin, in June 1909, although Sri Aurobindo had already translated it in Baroda. The new translation with a new commentary was begun in the first issue of the Arya in August 1914 and continued till May 1915.

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steadily pursued till it is completed in a perfect form. Farther rewriting will be unnecessary.

"November 17. Only the Sahitya proceeds smoothly & seems to develop in security.

"November 19. The Sahitya still improves in sustained quality under the stress of rapidity, but the physical brain cannot yet respond to an unlimited call upon its vital energy.

"November 28. The Secret of Veda is now fixed & exact confirmations occur frequently.

"December 13. Today's experience has thrown a clear light on many expressions in the Veda especially in relation to Indra and the Rudras."

Sri Aurobindo did not note in his Yoga diary all the various literary work he was simultaneously doing. Bhagavat Purana, for instance, which he was translating into English.

But those were early days yet. With the passage of time, as his Yogic experiences evolved, so did his literary output.

But to come back to the Vedas.

We know that languages evolve, words change their meanings. For instance, when we were young the word 'gay' stood for lively, cheerful; but look what it has come to mean in a few decades.

The language of the Vedas was so old, so old, a type of Sanskrit from times lost in the mist of oblivion. Sri Krishna told Arjuna, "This is the imperishable Yoga I declared unto Viva-swan, Vivasvan revealed it to Manu and Manu to Ikshvaku told it. Thus was it known to the royal sages by hereditary transmission, till by the great lapse of time this Yoga was lost This is the same ancient Yoga that I have told unto thee today, because

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thou art my lover and my friend; for this is the highest of all the inner truths."

If Yogas could be lost, why not languages? That is what really happened. Too great was the lapse of time. For not only Yaska but a long line of etymologists and glossarists before him had made attempts at preserving the original sense of the Vedic words. In India the real meaning of the original passages was forgotten: "Even in the earlier days of classical erudition ... the original sense of the words, the lines, the allusions, the clue to the structure of the thought had been long lost or obscured; nor was there in the erudite that intuition or that spiritual experience which might have partly recovered the lost secret," wrote Sri Aurobindo in the Secret of the Veda. A tongue unintelligible to us may be correctly understood once a clue has been found, he pointed out. Really, how, without the key to the symbolism of the Riks, could one understand them or translate them?

Something even more dangerous was happening. In the nineteenth century Europe the young science of philology set about interpreting those immemorial texts. It was more a conjectural science than a real science. Its laborious construction was built not on facts but on conjectures. "We feel after all," wrote Sri Aurobindo, "that an accumulation of conjectures does not constitute proof and that a single clear & direct substantial statement in one sense or the other would outweigh all these ingenious inferences, these brilliant imaginings. To begin with a hypothesis is always permissible,—it is the usual mode of scientific discovery; but a hypothesis must be supported by facts. To support it by a mass of other hypotheses is to abuse &

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exceed the permissibility of conjecture in scientific research."

European scholarship had turned the light of its comparative philology on the Veda. It was floating some wild theories, among them the obnoxious 'Aryan invasion' theory. The result? We all know. A widely popularized error. Sri Aurobindo, however, predicted that it will "prove to be a modern legend and not ancient history."

Let us recall that most European scholars were either Christian missionaries or funded by churches. Wherever they have gone it has been their policy to uproot the locals from their own native culture. Any foul means was good enough for these messengers of 'good news.' It should not then cause us any surprise to learn of their endeavour to complete their degradation of the Veda—"the babblings of children"—and their denigration of the Vedic Rishis—"half-savage," "barbarous Aryan invaders." They were also backed by their government. In this case by Her Majesty's government.

The task set out before Sri Aurobindo was to prove that the Veda, "not only by historical continuity, but in real truth & substance is the parent & bedrock of all later Hinduism ... & the later unorthodox religions. From this quarry all have hewn their materials or from this far-off source drawn unknowingly their waters; from some hidden seed in the Veda they have burgeoned into their wealth of branchings & foliage."

Sri Aurobindo had found the clue to the secret of the Veda. He could now unlock the secret of the past, the messages and meaning of the Riks. "The substance of the Vedic hymns" he wrote way back in 1911, "is the record of certain psychological experiences which are the natural results, still attainable &

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repeatable in our own experience, of an ancient type of Yoga practised certainly in India, practised probably in ancient Greece, Asia Minor & Egypt in prehistoric times."

For those who cared to follow "the clue I have myself received, the path and its principal turnings," the signposts were clearly indicated.

It was 12 December 1938. Sri Aurobindo was lying in his bed after the knee accident. He was explaining about different types of poetry. He quoted the following lines from the Rig-Veda.

"The seers climb Indra like a ladder, Along with the ascent all that remains to be done becomes clear." (Rig-Veda 1.10.1-2)

"It is an extraordinary passage expressing perfectly a spiritual experience. Indra is the Divine Mind and as one ascends higher and higher in it or on it, all that has to be done becomes clearly visible. One who has that experience can at once see how perfectly true it is and that it must have been written from experience and not from imagination."

Again from the Rig-Veda (V.19.1):

"Condition after condition is born Covering after covering becomes conscious In the lap of the Mother he sees."

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