Volume 1

LIGHTS ON THE VEDA

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(Summarised version in English of the author’s Rig Bhashya Bhumika, Introduction to the Commentary on the Rig-Samhita; First published in 1947 and reprinted in 1961 and 1968.)

A sequel to 'Lights on the Veda', this series is based upon Siddhānjana, the author’s commentary on the Rig Veda.

First published in 1951 and reprinted in 1971.

GODHEAD AND THE GODS IN THE RIG VEDA

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THE GODS OF THE APRI HYMNS

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ANJAH-SAVA OR THE RAPID RITE OF A SEER-PRIEST

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First published: 1948; reprinted 1966.

SRI AUROBINDO AND THE VEDA

(1)⁹⁶

WHEN we write in a recognised and conventional imagery, Lakshmi and Sarasvati refuse to dwell under one roof”, the European reader may need a note or a translation of the phrase in its plain unfigured thought, “Wealth and learning seldom go together", before he can understand, but every Indian already possesses the sense of the phrase. But if another culture and religion had replaced the Puranic and the Brahmanical and the old books and the Sanskrit language and ceased to be read and understood, this now familiar phrase would have been as meaningless in India as in Europe. Some infallible commentator or ingenious scholar might have been proving to our entire satisfaction that Lakshmi was the Dawn and Sarasvati the Night or that they were two irreconcilable chemical substances — or one knows not what else!

It is something of this kind that has overtaken the ancient clarities of the Veda; the sense is dead and only the obscurity of a forgotten poetic form remains.

Wherever we can seize human society in what to us seem its primitive beginnings, no matter whether the race is cultured or savage or economically advanced or backward, — we do find a strongly symbolic mentality governing its thought, customs and institutions. We find that this social stage is always profoundly religious and imaginative in its religion; symbolism and a widespread imaginative or intuitive religious feeling go together; when man begins to be predominantly intellectual, sceptical, rationcinative, he is already preparing for an individualist society and the age of symbols and the age of conventions have passed. The symbol then is of something which man feels to be present behind himself and his life and his activities — the Divine, the Gods, the vast and deep unnameable, a hidden, living and mysterious nature of things. All this religious and social institutions, all the moments and phases of his life are to him symbols in which he seeks to express what he knows or guesses of the mystic influences which are behind them and shape and govern them.

If we look at the beginnings of Indian society, the far off Vedic age which we no longer understand, for we have lost that mentality, we see that everything is symbolic. The religious institution of Sacrifice governs the whole society and all its hours and moments, and the ritual of the sacrifice is at every turn and every detail, as even a cursory study of the Brahmanas and Upanishads ought to show us, mystically symbolic. The theory that there was nothing in the sacrifice except a propitiation of Nature-gods for the gaining of worldly prosperity and of Paradise, is a misunderstanding by a later humanity which had already become profoundly affected by an intellectual and practical bent of mind, practical even in its religion and even in its own mysticism and symbolism and therefore could no longer enter into the ancient spirit.

Veda, then, is the creation of an age anterior to our intellectual philosophies. In that original epoch thought proceeded by other methods than those of our logical reasoning, and speech accepted modes of expression which in our modern habits would be inadmissible. The wisest then depended on inner experience and the suggestions of the intuitive mind for all knowledge that ranged beyond ordinary perceptions and daily activities. Their aim was illumination, not logical conviction, their ideal, the inspired seer, not the accurate reasoner.

Indian tradition has faithfully preserved this account of the origin of the Vedas. The Rishi was not the individual composer of the hymn, but the seer, drastā, of an eternal truth and an impersonal knowledge. The language of the Veda itself is śruti, a rhythm not composed by the intellect but heard, a divine Word that came vibrating out of the Infinite to the inner audience of the man who had previously made himself fit for the impersonal knowledge. The words themselves, drşți and fruti, sight and hearing, are Vedic expressions; these and cognate words signify in the esoteric terminology of the hymns, revelatory knowledge and the contents of inspiration.

The hymns possess indeed a finished metrical form, a constant subtlety and skill in their technique, great variations of style and poetical personality; they are not the work of crude, barbarous and primitive craftsmen, but the living breath of a supreme and conscious art forming its creations in the puissant but well-governed movement of a self-observing inspiration.

Still all these high gifts have deliberately been exercised within one unvarying framework and always with the same materials. For the art of expression was to the Rishis only a means, not an aim; their principal preoccupation was strenuously practical, almost utilitarian in the highest sense of utility. The hymn was to the Rishi who composed it a means of spiritual progress for himself and for others. It rose out of his soul, it became a power of his mind, it was the vehicle of his self-expression in some important or even critical moment of his life’s inner history.

When we note the invariable fixity of Vedic thought in conjunction with its depth, richness and subtlety, we may reasonably argue that such a fixed form and substance would not easily be possible in the beginnings of thought and psychological experience or even during their early progress and unfolding. The actual Samhita of the Rig Veda, the true and only Veda in the estimation of European scholars, represents the close of a period, not its commencement, nor even some of its successive stages. The whole voluminous mass of its litanies may be only a selection by Veda Vyasa out of a more richly vocal Aryan past. Made, according to the common belief, by Krishna of the isle, Dvaipayana, the great traditional sage, the colossal compiler (Vyasa), with his face turned towards the commencement of the Iron Age, towards the centuries of increasing twilight and final darkness, it is perhaps only the final testament of the Ages of Intuition, the luminous Dawns of the Forefathers to their descendants, to a human race already turning in spirit towards the lower levels and the more easy and secure gains of the physical life and of the intellect and the logical reason.

It is certain that the old tradition of a progressive obscuration and loss of the Veda as the law of the human cycle has been fully justified by the event. The obscuration had already proceeded far before the opening of the next age of Indian spirituality, the Vedantic, which struggled to preserve or recover what it yet could of the ancient knowledge.

The Brahmanas and the Upanishads are the record of a powerful revival which took the sacred text and ritual as a starting point for a new statement of spiritual thought and experience. This movement had two complementary aspects, one, the conservation of the forms, another the revelation of the soul of the Veda, the first represented by the Brahmanas, the second by the Upanishads.

These hymns have been the reputed source not only of some of the world’s richest and profoundest religions, but of some of its subtlest metaphysical philosophies. In the fixed tradition of thousands of years they have been revered as the origin and standard of all that can be held as authoritative and true in Brahmana and Upanishad, in Tantra and Purana, in the doctrines of great philosophical schools and in the teachings of famous saints and sages.

But if we accept the current interpretations and study the hymns of the Rig Veda in the light of Acharya Sayana’s great commentary on which European scholarship mostly depends for its naturalistic theory of the Veda, what do we find ? It is the ritualistic conception that pervades; that is the persistent note in which the old spiritual, philosophic or psychological interpretations of the Shruti which were the true foundation of its sanctity lose themselves. It is the most egoistic and materialistic objects that are proposed as the aim of the sacrifice — possessions, power, children, servants, gold, horses, cows, victory, the slaughter and plunder of enemies, the destruction of rival and malevolent critic.

As one reads hymn after hymn interpreted in this sense, one begins to understand better the passage of the Gita (11.42) censuring the champions of an exclusive Vedism, yet regarding always the Veda as Divine knowledge (XV.15).

The hypothesis on which Sri Aurobindo conducts his enquiry is that the Veda has a double aspect and that the two, though closely related, must be kept apart. The Rishis arranged the substance of their thought in a system of parallelism by which the same deities were at once the internal and external Powers of universal Nature, they managed its expression through a system of double values by which the same language served for their worship in both aspects. But the psychological sense predominates and is more pervading, close-knit and coherent than the physical. The Veda is primarily intended to serve for spiritual enlightenment and self-culture. It is this sense that is restored to the hymns in the writings of Sri Aurobindo on Veda and Vedic symbolism.

The Vedic Deities are Names, Powers, Personalities of the universal Godhead and they represent each some essential puissance of the Divine Being. They manifest the Cosmos and are manifest in it. Children of the Light, Sons of the Infinite, they recognise in the soul of man their brother and ally and desire to help and increase him by themselves increasing in him so as to possess his world with their light, strength and beauty. The Gods call man to a divine companionship and alliance; they attract and uplift him to their fraternity, invite his aid and offer theirs against the Sons of Darkness and Division. Man in return calls the Gods to his sacrifice, offers to them his swiftnesses and his strengths, his clarities and his sweetnesses and receives them into his being and their gifts into his life.

Once we have the key, it is easy to understand the Vedic imagery; but it must not be mistaken for mere imagery. The Gods are not simply poetical personifications of abstract ideas or of psychological and physical functions of Nature. To the Vedic seers they are living realities; the vicissitudes of the human soul represent a cosmic struggle not merely of principles and tendencies but of the cosmic Powers which support and embody them. These are the Gods and the Demons. On the world-stage and in the individual soul the same real drama with the same personages is enacted.

II

We have presented a summary account of Sri Aurobindo’s views on Vedic thought, giving extracts from his writings on the subject, drawing pointed attention to the symbolic character of the Vedic sacrifice, to the double sense and use of the Vedic hymns and to the reality of the Gods addressed by the Vedic seers.

Here we shall give a hymn selected from the translation of Sri Aurobindo as an example out of the hundreds of these ancient litanies which to us are the remnant records of high spiritual discipline followed by the Rishis in the Vedic Yoga. But it is necessary to bear in mind some of the central ideas of Vedic thought for a correct approach to and proper appreciation of the spirit and sense of these Mantras.

The Vedic Gods are not the creations of poetic fancy, nor phantoms floating in the minds of the soma-intoxicated, nor are they abstract ideas of metaphysical seeking. They are names, powers and personalities of the universal Godhead; they manifest the cosmos and are manifest in it. They help the soul of man in his onward march from darkness to light, from disharmony to harmony, from imperfection to perfection, they increase him by themselves increasing in him. To the Vedic seers they are living realities.

Gotama Rahugana is the seer of the hymn of which the translation is given here and the God that is hymned is Agni. This Deva of the Vedic pantheon is the most universal of the Vedic Gods, being the Divine Will at Work in the universe. Though his own home is high above beyond the Mind-world in the Svar, he comes down to Earth (as Creation proceeds from above downwards) and functions as the fire that assimilates and the heat of energy that forms. Next, he is equally the heat of life and creates the sap, the rasa, in things, the essence of their substantial being. Then he is equally the Will in prāņa, the dynamic Life-energy. Ascending still higher as upward development proceeds, he transfigures his powers into the energies of Mind. Our passions and emotions are the smoke of Agni’s burning. All our nervous forces are assured of their action only by his support.

If he is Will in the nervous being and purifies it by action, he is also the Will in the mind and clarifies it by aspiration. When he enters the intellect, he is drawing near his own Home, his divine birth-place. It is thither that he is leading upward the aspiration in humanity, the Soul of the Aryan, the head of the Cosmic Sacrifice.

It is at the point where there is the possibility of transition from Mind to Supermind, at this supreme and crucial point in the Vedic Yoga that the Rishi Gotama seeks in himself for the inspired word.

Agni, the Illumined Will⁹⁷

1. How shall we give to Agni? For him what Word accepted by the Gods is spoken, for the lord of the brilliant flame? for him who in mortals, immortal, possessed of the Truth, priest of the oblation strongest for sacrifice, creates the Gods?

2. He who in the sacrifices is the priest of the offering, full of peace, full of the Truth, him verily form in you by your surrenderings; when Agni manifests for the mortals the gods, he also has perception of them and by the mind offers to them the sacrifice.

3. For he is the will, he is the strength, he is the effecter of perfection, even as Mitra, he becomes the charioteer of the Supreme. To him, the first, in the rich-offerings the people seeking the Godhead utter the word, the Aryan people to the fulfiller.

4. May this strongest of the Powers and devourer of the destroyers manifest by his presence the Words and their understanding, and may they who in their extension are lords of plenitude brightest in energy pour forth their plenty and give their impulsion to the thought.

5. Thus has Agni, possessed of the Truth, been affirmed by the masters of light, the knower of the worlds by clarified minds. He shall foster in them the force of illumination, he too the plenty; he shall attain to increase and to harmony by his perceptions.

SPHOTA AND THE SPOKEN WORD

When we look closely into the original character of human speech and make an attempt to appreciate the potency of linguistic expression, Sanskrit language and standard authors on Sanskrit Grammar lend us a powerful helping hand leading us to deliberate upon the psychological and spiritual element in the very act of human speech. We find that some of the precepts of Sanskrit Grammar are capable of universal application and are based on principles that govern the laws of the origin and development of word-sound. In these ancient and original authorities we are confronted with profound ideas that are thought-stimulants and urge the mind to sound deeper and discover the bases on which they are justifiably conceived. The philosophical implications are often far-reaching when we consider their views on the question of word in relation to its meaning, or on the psychological process involved in the expression of significant sounds, or on the spiritual character at the source as distinguished from the external, the physical and effectual aspect of human speech.

Here in a brief compass we shall consider the question of Sphota, one of those concepts of Sanskrit Grammar which has a deep philosophic background and spiritual significance, and goes a long way to enable us to grasp the characteristic features of the language of a remote past, of an original epoch — the language which has come down to us in the form of mantras, the Riks of the Rig Veda. It would be helpful to start with some of the rudiments of Sanskrit Grammar and note the manner of investigation undertaken by these ancient thinkers. To being with:

In the nineteenth century European scholars made the startling discovery that many thousands of words can be resolved into a smaller number of roots. The guiding light in the endeavour was their knowledge of Sanskrit. But in the very dawn of Aryan history the same result, and much more in the line, was achieved by Sanskrit grammarians of whom Panini is the last notable name — notable for the complete system of Grammar that he has bequeathed to us. For all the originality and skill in devising the technique for building the system on scientific basis, Panini would have remained a sealed casket, had not Patanjali given us the Mahabhashya, the great Commentary on the aphorisms of Ashtadhyayi. With Patanjali Grammar is a regular Science. His work is a monument of critical acumen. It is here that we learn that the rules of Sanskrit Grammar unfold the laws that regulate the growth and formation of word-sounds, of linguistic forms. Here, in these rules as explained by Patanjali with illustrations taken from life, we have concise formulae of the science of human speech itself. In fact, it is the discovery of the Mahabhashya in the last century that gave birth to the Science of language.⁹⁸

Now let us take up the question of prakrti the uninflected state of a word, noun or verb. Though the prakyti is said to be two fold, that of the noun being termed prátipadika and that of the verb, dhātu, strictly speaking, it is reducible to only one, dhătu, since all nouns are generally derived from dhatus. What exactly is the significance of dhātu? In the Mahabhashya (Pan. I.3.1) Patanjali discusses this question and states that dhātu is expressive of krijā, action and that it expresses bhāva. But by bhāva we understand existence, satta, not action. How can we reconcile the two—kriya and bhava? We have to bear in mind that in Grammar when we speak of bhāva we use it to denote the state or condition of a thing; the abstract form of ghața, pot, is ghațatva, potness — the state of being a ghața, which is at the same time the intrinsic quality, the special property by which ghața is distinguished from all that is not ghața; therefore this ghațatva is the jäti, the class element common to all ghațas. But all objects which are signified by words are understood by us to exist; and existence or sattā is jāti or class. Thus bhäva or sattă is expressed by dhatu. But the root is said to be expressive of kriya, action. How can bhāva or sattă be taken for kriya? The grammarians say that there is action involved in all existences. Everything is in a state of flux, na hi kaşcit svasmin åtmani muhūrtam avatişthate (there is nothing that subsists in its form for a moment). Every bhäva undergoes a sixfold change, şadbhavavikärāh, according to the ancient grammarians. It is not the classification of vikära, change, into six divisions that is important. It is the constant change to which bhāva (every thing existent in the world) is subject that is what is to be recognised. In fact the word jagat (world) itself connotes that incessant change is what characterises the world, gacchati iti jagat.

It must be noted that when Patanjali says that dhatu is expressive of bhāva, bhāva-vacano dhātuh, he means “ becoming"; bhāva is bhāvanā, utpadanā kriyā. It is derived from bhū of the tenth conjugation meaning "to produce”.⁹⁹

Now the question arises as to words having definite meanings. Why should Go, cow, signify the particular quadruped known to the speaker and the hearer? Is it not due to an established convention by which meanings of word-sounds are conveyed and understood? The answer lies in understanding the character of the necessity that was the parent of human speech. If speech were primarily an intellectual necessity, men could agree upon a conventional equivalence between sound and sense, and any sound could mean any sense by common consent. But that does not seem to be the case. Sanskrit grammarians hold that śabda, the word, has sakti, an intrinsic power to convey the sense which is inseparably related to it. There are indeed certain words which are sañjñā sabda, technical or proper names that are conventional by consent. Again, there is another class of words, such as Kāka, Kokila, which are vocal reproductions of sounds heard in Nature, śabdanukytiḥ. The mimetic urge in the human creature is a living voice that motivates the kind of nervous response to the stimulus of the environment – a response that translates itself into vocal expression. Intellectual development in the human race may impose itself upon, subordinate or subdue the innate imitative tendency in human nature, but its natural disposition to reproduce is a primal factor which is as much nervous and vital as psychological. Human language itself in the beginning was a natural expression in terms of vocal sound, reacting to the sensations and feelings evoked by the forces of the environment or impelled by subjective phenomena. Apart from the element of mimesis in the primitive vocal expression, the word-sound has a natural power to convey the sense. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, “It started from an indefinable quality or property in the sound to raise certain vibrations in the life-soul of the human creature, in his sensational, emotional, his crude mental being. Words had not only a real and vivid life of their own, but the speaker was more conscious of it than we can possibly be with our mechanised and sophisticated intellects."

The question of word, meaning and their relation is subjected to subtle scrutiny and discussed in great detail by all schools of Indian thought.¹⁰⁰

Let us at the outset state in clear terms what is meant by śabda. In Sanskrit, any sound, the sound of a drum or the sound of a syllable in articulate speech is denoted by śabda, dhvanyātmaka and varnātmaka; it is the latter that is the subject of our enquiry. We use it in the sense of a word, vocal sound, väk. In all things that are expressed by vāk, speech, there are two factors we have to distinguish clearly in order to avoid confusion and arrive at the real character of sabda. There is, first, the external aspect, the audibility, the mere sound; the other factor is the subtler which is the essential sound element, vibrant with the meaning natural to it, not audible to the physical hearing, but clothed in the audible sound through which it expresses itself. The physical and the instrumental aspect is the normal sound dhvani which is a quality of the essential inner sound, śabda, which is itself sensible, carries sense with it, and is manifested every time a word is heard or uttered. The essential factor in speech is the real sabda, called sphoța by the grammarians, and the outwardly audible sound is dhvani,—a quality of the former, sphotah sabdah dhvanih sabdagunah.¹⁰¹

Accordingly, grammarians divide sabda into two kinds, kārya and nitya; kārya is what is produced and nitya is what is not produced, but is permanent, continual, fixed or eternal. It is not unoften that confusion has clouded the import of the statement “ nityah sabdah”. Often nitya is translated "eternal" in the sense of "Indestructible", "immutable", avicali, kūtastha etc. context, Patanjali, in the first Ahnika of the Mahabhashya explains the various senses in which nitya is used and adds that words are not produced by men, just as a potter does a pot.¹⁰²

We have mentioned the two aspects of sabda, dhvani and sphota; but sphota itself has two aspects as stated, above; it is manifested by utterances, and makes known the sense that is inalienable from it. And this fact we have to bear in mind in view of its equation with the Eternal Word Nityā vāk, urged by reputed grammarians to which we would presently refer.

Thus far the position of the grammarians is intelligible, when we look at speech in its psychological aspect. Those who oppose the Sphota theory take their stand on the word in its external aspect and rightly consider sabda in their sense of the word as anitya, as do the Naiyāyikas; or even when it is stated to be eternal"nitya as is done by the Mimamsakas, it is in the sense of eternality of every letter, the most outward form of śabda. They all refute the Sphotavada,¹⁰⁷

It is difficult to determine the philosophic basis of Sphota theory as conceived by Patanjali. Panini perhaps knew it; but there is no mention of it in his work. There is a sutra in the Ashtadhyayi where the word Sphotayana occurs;¹⁰⁸

It is in the Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari that we find the first section, called Brahmakāņda treating of the subject of Sphota as a grammatical concept with a philosophical background. As the title of the section implies, the world of sound, sabda, is described here as a manifestation of Brahman, sabdatmakam Brahma. Further, the author goes on to say that the world of objects, arthaprapañca itself is a manifestation of sabda, that the universe is born of chandas.¹⁰⁹

These verses look a paraphrase of Vedic passages, such as "The Word itself became all the worlds”, vägeva vișā bhuvanāni jajñe. Linking the Sphota of the grammarian with the soul, he says, “The inner cogniser who abides in the form of the subtle vāk, word, manifests himself as sabda, in order to express his nature (his own form).”¹¹⁰

Bhartrihari states that the whole world of objects is pervaded by Maha-satta which is the All-Existence as well as the Mahan Atma, the great Soul. In his view, the import of every sentence is a vivid or illumined conception of this maha satta (vākyartha eva pratibha). If this be the import of every sentence in human speech it is opposed to our experience, for we do not have or get the sense or feeling of the Mahan Atma on hearing a sentence. For example, devadattaḥ pacati, “Devadatta cooks.” Hari’s explanation is that the sense of every sentence culminates in sattā, that the inner cogniser, already mentioned, who abides in the form of the subtle vāk, manifests his own form svarūpa in the import of every sentence which is sattā, being or existence. It is indeed a hard nut to crack when the world of differentiated existence is reduced to Mahasatta, and the differences in arthas and sabdas are traced to Para Brahman and Sabda Brahman and ultimately negatived. But Hari comes with the illustration of objects seen differently from distances or in darkness, but presenting their real character ultimately when approached in light. This analogy is given to show that sentences are split into words and the latter into their bases and inflectional elements and the process is not real, though necessary to lead to the vākyartha.¹¹²

It is not our purpose to elucidate what all Bhartrihari has stated on Sphota and Vakyartha. It is to illustrate how he has presented the theory of Sphota the above examples were warranted and given. Nor is it necessary to discuss what later authors have added, much less to examine how far are reliable certain statements with reference to sphota, such as “Omkara (Pranava) is the same as Sphota”, “Sphota is audible to the yogin when he concentrates in the heart”, “The Madhyama nāda is the sphota and vaikhari¹¹³

In their zeal to establish the sphota-väda on what they thought to be stronger grounds, later authors have gone the length of identifying the inner sound (that one hears by closing the ears with fingers) with the Sphota, Madhyama Våk which again is the Pranava, the creative word, the śabda Brahman! It is not that we doubt that Náda is heard in Yoga. Let us leave aside the inward sound that is heard by closing the ears, or in ordinary Japa; for this is rather too gross and mechanical to merit notice. It is certainly a fact of yogic experience that näda is heard in certain lines of yogic practice, not one kind of nāda, but many kinds; and the näda that the yogin hears need not be of a short duration, it can continue for a long time, it can be constant also. But is that the Sphota? That is the question. Is that the Sphota of which Patanjali speaks when he distinguishes it from dhvani? Is that the sphota of which Bhartrihari speaks as the inner cogniser, antaro jnātā, who takes on the subtle word-form to manifest himself?

Now we shall turn to the ſabda-brahman with which sphota is equated, or even identified and see how far and in what sense this is reasonable. Brahman is the word for the Mantra in the Vedic language. The Veda is called Brahmakośa, since it is the repository of knowledge in the form of Sabda. The ultimate Truth which is the source and mainstay of world-existence, the supreme Being all-pervasive and beyond and without which there is nothing, is called Brahman in the later portions of the Vedas, the Upani sads. Though, as in the Gita, by śabda-brahman the Vedas are meant, the Agamas (Tantras) and the Puranas with the general support of the Vedic wisdom interpret Para Brahman as the supreme Artha and sabda-brahman as the sakti inherent in it. In other words, if the supreme meaning, paramärtha, of All-Existence is Isvara, Isvari is the sabda, the inseparable sakti, the Power of manifestation. In Creation, it is said, the Sabda-ssyți precedes arthasysți. It is the Creative Word, Vak, the primordial sound that manifests the world of objects, artha. Vak, sabda, is sakti, the dynamic principle of Creation, the Force of the substance which is the Artha. And without artha, Sabda has nothing to manifest and artha is unmanifest without sabda. And this certainly corresponds to the ancient truth that sakti is inseparable from śiva and has no existence without Him, while He has no manifestation without Her. That is why Sanskrit thinkers use the simile of Sun and sunlight, or Fire and heat to explain the character of siva-ſakti union, which, as we have seen, is also the relation of Vag-artha—a profound truth transparent in the poetic utterance of Kalidasa in the invocatory verse of his great Poem.

This view, then, makes it clear that what is called sabda-brahman in the sense of sakti or expressive Force is the efficient cause of world-existence, while the Substance, the material cause is Para Brahman. But when it is used in the sense of Vedas, it is the Primordial Eternal sensible Sound, which is the Immutable repository of Vibrant Intelligence whence spring the Vedas, all words of Wisdom and Works. It is signified by the mystic syllable OM, which is as much a symbol as ’a living word expressive of the “Immutable, supreme Ether or Akāśā” (Aksaram paramam vyoma). Here again, it is not the external aspect of the letter, but the inner sensible sound OM that raises the necessary set of vibrations to manifest the sense of the Supreme Being, Išvara, in the consciousness of the utterer and the hearer. Apart from its inherent potency as the Sound-substance of all sounds, Om is used in the Sanskrit language as a word of affirmation and sanction. The Chandog ya Upanişad calls it anujñakşara the word of sanction or approval. In classical Sanskrit and in conversation, it is a word of agreement or affirmation conveying the sense of “O yes”. How this syllable of sanction is also the name expressive of Isvara is an interesting question which need not be discussed here. It is called pranava, because it is highly praised, prakar şeņa nāyate stūyate iti pranavaḥ.¹¹⁴

Undoubtedly, it is this praṇava, Om that represents the Eternal Word, nitya vak of the Rig Veda. The rșis of that age knew the Word Eternal to which they resorted for the discovery of the Inspired speech to express their truth-visions. Because those words of Inspiration came forth from that Eternal Word, they were not treated as separate from, but adored as identical with that supreme source, the Word of all words. The rșis speak of the Riks as the Eternal Word. The power of the word was a self-evident truth with the rșis of the Rig Veda, a fact of their common experience. There are seers who sing the glory of the mantras carved by the heart, hrda tasțān manträn; Rsi parāśara describes the Power of Word: “Our fathers by their word, the Angiras seers, broke the strong and stubborn places, our fathers burst by their cry the rock of the mountain, made within us the path to the Great Heaven, discovered the Day and the sun-world and thought-vision and the herds of light.”¹¹⁵

Dirghatamas, the seer, known for his enigmatic hymns, is for once quite plain in speaking of the Riks as located in the Immutable, most High, akāśa. Here is the first half of the Rik:

“ṛco akṣare parame vyoman yasmin devā adhi viṣve nisedutḥ.” “The Riks abide in the Immutable, supreme Ether where are seated all the Gods.” (R.V.I. 164.39).

Thus will be seen the sacred character of the Hymns of The Rig Veda. It is because of the internal evidence which is the evidence of the Riks themselves referring to the source of their revelation, great authorities and thinkers of ancient times revered the Vedic texts as sacred. In our own times, to the discerning eye of Sri Aurobindo, it (the hymn) is “a means of spiritual progress for himself (the ?și) and for others. It arose out of his soul, it became a power of his mind, it was the vehicle of his self-expression in some important or even critical moment of his life’s inner history. It helped him express the God in him, to destroy the devourer.” These are not "pastoral songs " nor are they invocations to the mere “forces of Nature” as is supposed by modern scholarship supported to some extent by Sāyanācārya’s ritualistic and one-sided interpretation of the Vedas. The Vedic poets are seers with a spiritual vision and the mantras are inspired words of Truth-vision of these seers who belonged to a remote age, an age of Intuition and direct perception, of living and self-conscious speech when the age of Reason was still far off in the womb of the future.

The character of the age determined the character and function of the language. In that far off epoch,“ The word for the Vedic rșis is still a living thing, a thing of power, creative and formative. It is not yet a conventional symbol of an idea, but itself the parent and former of ideas. It carries within it the memory of its root, is still conscient of its history” (Arya, Vol. I. p. 346). From such illuminating passages we can see that the rșis were not system-builders we are familiar with, not thinkers to whom the realities of subtler existence, of mind and soul are abstractions. To the Vedic seer-poet drastā Kavih, “ All experience is real, vivid, sensible, even concrete.”

This is the story of the śabda-Śakti. Its origins are to be sought in the Vedas, the earliest available records of literary language in the history of mankind. As has been already stated, the felt potency inherent in the word was an experience common to the rșis and therefore a recognised fact. When in later ages the original character of speech changed and became more and more conventional, the speech, Vāk, became a servant of the mind, a conventional sign, vocal symbol of an idea. Thinkers, like the Vaiſeșikas, came with the theory that the convention that particular words shall have particular meanings is God’s Will, Iśvarecchā. In other words, the relation of word to its meaning is conventional, sāñketika. But it is the school of grammarians that did not accept the mechanical character of speech as the real sabda. It upheld the original nature and function of speech, expounded the fakti, the innate power of the word, and laid stress on the psychological and spiritual factor in all speech. And in interpreting this subtler aspect influenced by the Vedic tradition, it propounded what is called the “ Theory of Sphota ". In fact, Sphota is not a theory, though one may call it a justifiable assumption for purposes of dialectics.

Before concluding, let us sum up the position of the sphoțavādin and draw pointed attention to the salient features of the Sphoța that have bearing on language and literature. The Sphotavadin holds that a word, whether it is a single letter or a number of letters, can not by virtue of its being a sound-form convey the intended sense but for the fact that there is a permanent form of the word in the subjective being; that the subjective being, the inner cogniser, as related to the world-existence is a constant vibrant Intelligence that assumes the form of the permanent, impartible word, called Sphota; that the uttered word is formal and qualitative and points to the real and substantial word which is inseparable from its meaning; that the qualitative word of letters in which the order of letters is maintained is called dhvani, while the real word, ſabda, called Sphota to which the former is related is indivisible, has no parts and hence the question of the order of letters does not arise; that it is the dhvani that suggests or manifests the sensible word, sabda ; that what we call synonymous words are, strictly speaking, different words implying minute differences in the meanings conveyed and but for the subtle difference in the senses many words to denote the same idea or object would be without purpose. Broadly, this covers the main conclusions of the grammarians as regards Sphota in its relation to language in general.

But the consequence of the grammarians’ conception of Sphota on Literature and Poetics in particular has been far-reaching. Of all the śāstras the prestige of Vyakarana is great, being a limb of the Vedic studies, Vedāñga. Sanskrit rhetors of high repute have always held the views of Grammarians in reverential esteem. They took the cue from the Sphota behind the veil of dhvani and developed their theory of dhvani (suggestion) as being the soul of Poetry, kavyasya ātmā dhvaniḥ. Whoever may be the originator of the theory, it was Anandavardhana who elaborately dealt with the subject and was supported and followed by powerful critics, from Manmata to Jagannatha. It may not be out of place here to mention that some of their views on Poetry would appear quite modern and deserve to endure as long as Poetry lives and has value for us. These ancient writers on Poetics hold that Poetry need not be in verse and can be in prose as well, that even in verse rhyme is not compulsory. In Sanskrit Poetry where there is indulgence in word-jingling, citrakāvya, while the sonorous word is not commensurate with sense and suggestion, it is considered to be bases tuff (adhama-kāvya), clownish, vulgarising the high office of Poetry by jugglery in verbiage. Suggestive poetry (dhvani-kāvya) is the best form of Poetry. Suggestive of what? Suggestive of truth or idea or fact, of a figure or image, or of rasa, what is inadequately translated as flavour. Suggestive Poetry is excellent and ideal because there it is the suggestion, dhvani, that predominates, while the sound and sense subserve the soul of Poetry. The special function of Poetry is to appeal to the aesthetic soul, rasika, steal into the heart profound truths and ideas or awaken it through higher emotions to the Self-delight of the Spirit, the true Rasa of which the nine rasas are figures in terms of the emotional mind.

Religious scriptures teach us profound truths indeed; they instruct us as to what is and what is not to our good; but they do it as the master commands his servant. Other subordinate texts and sacred legends of ancient times, instruct and advise; but they do it as friend advises friend. But Poetry brings about the same result in her peculiar way; she does not command like a master, as do the Scriptures; she does not advice like a friend, as do the Purāṇas; she accomplishes her object by an intimate appeal, as the beloved wins the heart of her lover, by her charm of address and resonant sense, by a pleasing tact of expression laden with suggestions, finding her way straight to the soul of her lower, for his acceptance and delectation. Such is the value and high purpose of Poetry according to Sanskrit rhetoricians.

Thus it will be seen that the Sphota of the Grammarians has played not a small part in the development of the dhvani school of thought in poetics. If the Sphota has inspired the alñakārikas to discover and describe the character and function of Poetry in the manner stated above, it is itself based upon the great cosmological truth of the Vedic and Tantrik scriptures that it is the Word Eternal and indivisible that creates the world of objects, that all names are varied forms and suggestive signs of the One Name and all forms are different expressions, significant moulds and meanings, of the Sole Supreme Being beyond and behind all names and all forms, śabda and artha. If in regard to world-existence it is the view of the Sanskrit Grammarians that all creation is in a state of perpetual flux, becoming, as has been earlier shown in dealing with the question of dhātus (roots) as bhāva-vacana or kriyā-vacana, their view of the individual soul in its interchange with the world-surrounding is notable in that it is a cognitive being who reflects, represents, and assumes the subtle sensible form of the Creative Word for the purpose of unfolding himself, the powers of his own being in the manifested existence, as has been shown by an examination of the question of Sphota. In the light of this brief discussion on some of the concepts of Sanskrit grammarians, their spiritual value or philsophic appreciation can be safely left to the judgement of the thoughtful reader.

Sphota, then, is the vāk, the subtle voice which is the basis of all speech in mind-form, vāci pratisthitam manaḥ; it is not the vāk, speech, of which mind is the mainstay, manasi pratisthitā vāk. Sphoța is not a fanciful concept, but a fact of psychological experience, a truth of our spiritual being in evolution. It is the expressional aspect of the soul; it receives the vocal sound-vibrations, takes in their sound-essence and sense-values and assimilates them into the subtle sound-stuff of its indivisible being. In its responses, it breaks forth surcharged with intelligence, sphuțati, and raises subtle vibrations that are later vocalised. In short, it is the inner being, not the soul that is immersed in the unspeakable silence, but the soul that is emergent with a purpose — the purpose of discovering its own being in expression, vyaktaye sva-svarūpasya. Here, in the inner depths in the etheric regions of the Heart, it is the āntaro jnātā of Bhartrhari, the one indivisible permanent śabda of Patañjali; there, in the Immutable supreme ākāśa, it is the sabda brahman of the Scriptures, the nityā vāk of the Rig Veda.

APPENDIX

Grammar presupposes the existence of a language which has reached a stage of development quite enough to produce literary records representing a vast field of knowledge. In the case of Sanskrit the origins of Grammar are traced to the earlier. Vedic literature as well as to classical Sanskrit, to popular usage. Patanjali is quite clear about the material he works on — words that are Vedic and those that are found in popular usage, Veda and Loka; for it is these that afford the basis of grammatical speculations. Patanjali holds, as does Yaska, the author of Nirukta, before him, that many grammatical concepts are imbedded in the Mantras. For instance, the principle of sandhi or euphonic change is quite known from early times, as is clear from the fact that the Mantras are recited in samhitā form in all rituals and Vedic worship and prayer, while the padapāțha is taught later for the purpose of fixing the relation of words in the construction of the sentence. A scrutiny of the rules of sandhi in Sanskrit grammar will hardly fail to impress upon us the intimate relation of Phonology to Grammar.

Both Panini and Yaska quote the Rik “cātvāri vāk parimitā padāni” of Dirghatamas (Rig Veda I. 164–45), stating that the catvāri refers to the well-known four parts of speech, namely, Nāma, ākhyāta, Upasarga and Nipāta (noun, verb, preposition and particle). Patanjali quotes the Rik of Vamadeva:

चत्वारि शृङ्गा वयो अस्य पादा द्वे शीर्षे लप्र हस्तासो अस्य । विधाबद्धो वृषभो रोखीति महोदेवो मत्यां आविवेश ।। ऋग्वेद IV. 58.3

“The great God, the Bull (of Speech) has four horns, three feet, two heads, seven hands, fastened thrice (or in three places) roars aloud, possessing, entered into the mortals ”, explaining that the four horns and others are respectively the four parts of speech, the three divisions of time, the two kinds of word (the uncreate and the created), the seven cases, the three places (chest, throat and head) that take part in producing the spoken word. There are indeed, other interpretations of this Rik. Sayana in his commentary on this Rik says that five interpretations are possible as five deities, Yajna-Agni, Surya and others are possibly addressed and that he has taken it to mean as referring to Yajna-Agni. He says that sābdikas, grammarians, interpret it as referring to śabda brahman.

A study of the Mahabhashya will show that the Sanskrit grammarians solved some of the fundamental problems of Philology and discovered certain principles of spontaneous growth followed consciously or otherwise in the utterance of significant speech. Patanjali’s method follows a twofold principle. Discovering a rule by generalisation and finding out special cases and particularising them—this is a principle governing the method, sāmānyena utsargaḥ višeșeņa apavādaḥ; another principle that is complementary to it is that of Agreement and Difference, Anvaya and vyatireka. Let us take a group of similar words—ghataḥ, ghađena, ghațāt, pacati, pacataḥ, apākṣit. By agreement, anvaya, we can find the common element ghāța in the first group and pac in the second. This unaltered element is termed Prakrti. By difference, vyatireka, the uncommon elements ina āt ti taḥ are found; they are liable to variation and are termed Pratyaya. This is the process by which Sanskrit grammarians could successfully resolve the words and fix the recognised correct expressions in the language—Siddham tu anvaya-vyatirekābhyām. The four parts of speech recognised by the grammarians since the Vedic age have been already referred to. Prepositions are always joined to roots and they bring out their hidden meanings, according to some grammarians; there are others who do not concur in this view or among themselves. In the case of particles also divergent views are held. Without dilating on this question we shall pass on to consider the nature of ākhyātas, verbs from which all nouns are generally derived. There are certain names which are not derivable, avyutpădya, according to Panini whom Patanjali follows. All names are derivable, even proper names, according to Sakatayana to whom is ascribed the authorship of uņādi sūtras which somehow manage to derive words that are apparently underivable. Yaska seems to have a partiality for Sakatayana whom he quotes or follows in giving the derivation of words. That is how quite often he looks fantastic in his derivation of words, while his work as a whole is indispensable and of utmost importance for Vedic studies.

First Published in 1954 and Reprinted in 1975.

THE INITIATE AND THE MYSTIC FIRE

"Is it your view that the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo is the same as that of the Rishis of the Rig Veda? Is it your object to establish that the Integral Yoga is based upon the essential truths embedded in the Mantras of the Rik Samhita ?” Thus queried an Indologist, a well-known Vedic scholar and linguist. I sent a suitable brief reply orally through a friend, adding at the same time that he would find the position of the Vedic sages made clear in the Commentary, Siddhanjana, that was under preparation and that Sri Aurobindo’s writings on his Yoga are well-known and nothing is left in doubt. The matter ended there for the time being, so far as the well-meaning questioner was concerned; but it awakened in me a profound feeling for the search of the actual method adopted by the Vedic Rishis that could be gathered from the hymns themselves. It is not that I was unaware of what all the Master has said about the Vedic Mystics and their Doctrine through his translations and commentaries and other essays on the Vedic lore and wisdom. That is indeed a vast subject. The question that occupied me fully in this regard was apparently narrow, precise and limited but consequential and cardinal in importance. The question is simply this: what exactly is the path or key for the Initiation of the mystics? We have, as a matter of course, enough materials in the hymnal texts that give us an idea of the achievements of the seers who were Initiates. But how did they start? What was the key that the novitiate was provided with to open the Gates of the Mystic Chamber? Once the Initiate passes the threshold and enters into the secret Realm, he communes with the Powers that transcend the physical senses or through them advances towards the Godhead. But all this and much more are the wonders that we can glimpse from these utterances of the seers; but how did they gain admission into the Secrecy, what was the process or the mystic formula, if any? That is the question. We can indeed find an authentic answer not from one source, but from many passages scattered over the voluminous writings of Sri Aurobindo. But we have to sift and choose from a number of references to the subject from his works and commentaries, if we wish to have a precise answer to the precise question raised above.

Again, we have to be cautious in our attempt to probe into the secret of the mystic method of initiating and getting initiated into the profundities of the hidden truths of the Godhead, or of the occult presence of the Conscious Powers and their active participation in the functioning of the Cosmic Spirit in the Universe. Removed as we are from the Age of the Mystics for a space of scores of centuries, we must not overstep reasonable limits in our enthusiasm to incarnate into the terms of modern mentality the words of Wisdom that gleam through the figures, images and symbols employed in the verses of these litanies of a hoary past. However conscientious we may be, it is not an easy task to understand and appreciate the full significance of the utterances of the ancient seers without being influenced by the ideas of spirituality we have imbibed from the spirit of our age through the sacred writings of the saints and sages of subsequent times as well as through the post-Vedic scriptures beginning with the Upanishads and the Gita down to the authentic teachings of God-men of our own age in living memory. It is common knowledge that this tendency to read modern ideas into ancient texts, not always consciously, is more pronounced in the spirit of research scholarship to some extent and also in the reverential sentiment actuating pious minds to plumb into the depths of ancient wisdom. At the same time, it must be admitted that the various lines of Godward approach with which we are familiar could all be traced to their source in the Hymns of the Rig Veda.

But how does it help an answer to the question we have posed for ourselves ? Indeed, when we come across Riks which extol truth, truth in speech, and action and truthful move in every way of life, we can affirm without stretching the meaning of the words beyond legitimate bounds that regard for truth and adherence to truth as the governing principle of all action, all life, was among the cardinal teachings of the Vedic seers; but we cannot say with definiteness that that is the same as the Yoga of Works, the disinterested action of the Bhagavad Gita, though perhaps its prototype is there. Similarly when we find verses sung in adoration of the Almighty, of the indescribable One, the Supreme Godhead behind and in all and each of the Gods, we can assuredly say, here is the prototype of what we call the line of Knowledge i.e., Jnana as explicitly affirmed in the Upanishads and the Gita, but we cannot call it the Jnana Yoga popularised in all its details and form, in theory and practice as advocated in our age through the recognised scriptures and canonised utterances of saints and sages of later generations. As for the line of Devotion, Bhakti, a larger proportion of the hymns of the Rik Samhita stands witness to the wisdom of the Rishi in his intimate appeal to the Godhead, to the God of his adoration. And of all the Gods of the Vedic pantheon with their Cosmic functions and distinct aspects of the Supreme One, tad ekam, it is Agni who occupies a prominent position nearest to man, first to be awakened in the mortal, whose intimacy with the Rishi is so pronounced and repeatedly brought to light in the hymns addressed to him. The mystic communion with the Godhead as represented by Agni, the Mystic Fire, is so much in evidence in the Mantras of Agni, that if we study and ponder over them we cannot fail to recognise the fact that the Rishi was not only face to face with him, but was at least in touch with the secret treasures of the mystic realm revealed to him by the Agni himself. If we go one step further it is not difficult to discover the means by which he became first acquainted with this Immortal born in the mortal. For when the Rishi sings: “I have uttered the Word, may he manifest himself”, or lines conveying sense to this effect, it is clear that the word he employed to wake up Agni was the key to unlock the gates of the Divine treasure; for that is the secret truth, the unfailing Guide, the Seer-Will lodged in the heart of men and things, stimulated to activity by a burning passion, by a rising flame of aspiration from the human heart. But, what is this Word? How is it endowed with such a potency to bring about the manifestation of the Immortal in man? Certainly we may say that the word means a fervent prayer to invoke the presence; and there is strong reason to support this view; for prayer can be denoted by the term word and prayer as the chief means of approach to the Godhead is powerful and moving as it contains the element of aspiration of the human heart and a fixed will to achieve the end. If this were all that is meant then we can plainly and straightly conclude that the Vedic seers used prayer as the main means in their adventure into the occult and spiritual realms. That prayer has been resorted to in all climes and ages to win the Grace of the Deity is unexceptionable; and that the term word can refer to prayer also is reasonable. But it is doubtful if that sums up all that is meant by the word whenever it occurs in the hymns and without doubt the word means much more than a mere word or even a prayer in many places such as,
ādid vasūni pra vāvä сāsmai,
to such a one he (Agni) gives word of the riches," or, vilu cid d’lhā pitaro na ukthairadrim rujannangiraso, raveņa,

Our fathers by their words broke the strong and stubborn places, the Angiras seers shattered the mountain rock with their cry....”

Instances are numerous in the hymns where the word signifies a secret utterance, a sacred formula, akin to what we call in modern language a code word by which the God who is adored, the Agni who is awakened and wakeful recognises the adorer and looks into his needs. Such a potent word — say a mantra — is originally generated by the concentrated power of consciousness of the mystic who initiates the would-be-initiate with the sacred formula into the secrecy of the Powers of the Godhead. The word is effective for initiation because it is laden with the condensed energy of Conscious force emanating from the Initiator in the transmission of the influence to the Initiate. We may go further and affirm that the word was quite often instantly effective and so felt by the Initiate that it entered into the conscious stuff of his being and not as it would be generally in our age a sheer sound of mechanical speech with all its regular articulation. To explain it in modern language, we may say further that there was a realisation of the power of sound over matter as well as mind. It must be borne in mind that this sound is not a sheer mechanical effect of friction of the vocal cords in the attempt of thought to find its expression in the word. It is, indeed, sound, but sound that carries conscious vibrations of the thought to complete its movement in the evolution of the word. For although a master initiate could give the initiation with thought alone, generally and especially in the Vedic tradition the culmination of a thought-movement in the word-expression was considered important and indispensable. For without the word thought-movement is incomplete, since it is nothing but word in a subtle, not full-blown, condition. And word without thought, it goes without saying, is meaningless, for it means word mechanically uttered separated from the thought which it is intended to express. The essential factor in the effective use of the word is that it is inextricably united with the thought-vibrations that are the main product of the Tapas-force of the Rishi, the Mystic. The word was thus a conscious power; if on the one hand it brought the Initiate the initial awakening into the presence of Agni, it did on the other hand, prove a live force to call on Agni to come to the forefront and take charge of the Initiate’s life-work and guide him to the destination. It was a force that was used to evoke the powers of intuition and inspiration, to develop the faculties of truth-audition and truth-perception, and thereby to formulate effective forms of prayer, the mantra, to achieve definite ends in the inner as well as the outer life of the Initiate. Such is the character and purpose of the potent Word that fell from the Mystic for the initiation of the Initiate.

Since the Word of initiation is a potent sound churned out by the Tapas – self-gathered conscious power of the Rishi, it continues to live and have a distinct life of its own in the Initiate who always relies on and refers to it for any of the purposes as already mentioned, when the need arises.

What was the actual word of initiation used by the mystic cannot be affirmed with certitude as the choice always depends upon the need and temperament of the Initiate. It may have been any form of the Eternal Word, nitya vak, as mentioned by the Seer Virupa, by which term the Vedic Word, the Word issued from tapas-ſakti is meant. But we may assume on the strength of other Vedic texts and the Upanishads as well as on the hoary tradition that AUM represented the name of the Sole and Supreme Truth and was superbly fitted for the mystic initiation. Here also, it is the actual initiation and the capacity to transmit that is the essence of the matter. But we may note in passing that tradition has preserved the manner of initiation; in spite of the encrustation of heavy forms or rites it points to the secret of initiation. For the Acharya who accepts the disciple takes him alone and they keep themselves aloof from the view of others by closing themselves under a cloth spread over them and he utters the Mantra which the novitiate repeats following the teacher, and later utters the Mantra along with the teacher keeping his voice and tone in close union with the teacher’s. Here lies the essential of the dikṣā, initiation; for later on, when the disciple takes to the name, the Mantra, it is the voice of initiation that dominates the being of the disciple in the act of his use of the Mantra for meditation, prayer or adoration of the Ideal for which he has consecrated his life.

The initiation into the mystic truths was always understood to be a guarded secret and when the initiation takes effect in the Initiate even the Gods come down to greet the new child born in him. We have it explicitly stated in a hymn in the Atharva text (11.5.3) that the Acharya initiating the disciple takes him into his womb and bears him for three nights in his belly and when he is new-born the gods come down together to behold him. This shows beyond a shadow of doubt that the mystic initiation is a self-effectuating process introduced into the system of the disciple who keeps himself under the care of the adept until the new birth, the spiritual birth of the Initiate becomes a settled fact. This spiritual birth is not the end but the beginning; it is the epiphany of the Immortal in the mortal, the Seer-Will coming to the front from beind the veil of darkness, the Flaming Force that burns to ashes all that obscures and obstructs, and brightens the passage of the Gods for the human march.

Once Agni is kindled, born and tended to grow into a firm and fixed, divine and articulate organ occupying the central part of the Initiate, he is always recognised as the new-born and distinct child of the Grace Divine and whatever activity such a mortal is called upon to undertake, he could and has to unburden himself to the Divine Guest to whom he can deliver himself with all his possessions. Thus Agni is not an imaginary figure, or metaphysical concept, but a living presence, the Divine Guide quite recognisable as distinct from all that is human in the Rishi. He is face to face with him, quite intimate, beloved like a father, a son, a friend and nearest of relatives to whom he can always look up for advice and guidance. When we read hymn after hymn addressed to Agni we can always find an unusual striking intimacy of the Rishi with this mystic Fire. We cannot afford to dispose of such hymns as fanciful prayers and pious hopes of credulous men of those ages in the beginnings of time, unless we choose to be perverse or un-reasonable. When the Rishi says, “ Agni, I deem my father, Agni my kinsman, him I deem my brother and friend for ever,” he is not eulogising Agni as conceived in his mind, nor the elemental fire, nor the sanctified fire for sacrificial purposes, but speaks with fervour the Truth of his life that Agni, the purifying flame of the Divine Seer-Will has entered into his life and occupies a central position in his being and that he is so much loved and adored that the Rishi cannot think of any one else nearer to him than Agni. Thus sings Trita Aptya in the tenth Book of the Rik Samhita. Numerous are the Riks that throw light on the Rishi’s intimacy with Agni, an intimacy which emboldens him to address the God in terms of endearment and love, of reverence and adoration, cherishing him in all possible relationship as occasion de nds. The Rishis are of one voice in extolling the birth of Agni, they adopt the same formula in celebrating it with a happy confidence in the marvels that he reveals beginning with and subsequent to his birth. Let us choose from the Hymns to the Mystic Fire a specimen Rik or two at random that reveal the wondrous birth and still more wondrous effect of his advent on the forces that block the way and are opposed to godly life and light of truth. Jamadagni Bhargava sings: “As soon as he was born Fire measured out the shape of the sacrifice and became the leader who goes in front of the Gods. In the speech of this priest of the call which points out by its direction the Truth, may the Gods partake of the oblation made swāhā.” (X.110.11) Note that the sacrifice mentioned here is the inner one which is a live force that proceeds upwards to the regions of the Light and Truth and that it is Agni who determines its course in accordance with the need of the Rishi. And when the passage is made clear the Gods come to accept the offering in response to the Call of which Agni himself is the priest.

In another verse of the same hymn we find that by the good offices of Agni the Divine Doors open and are easy of approach to the Gods. “Widely expanding may they spring apart making themselves beautiful for us as wives for their lords; O divine doors, vast and all-pervading, be easy of approach to the Gods.” (X.110.5)

In another place, Agni is plainly addressed as the builder of the levels (i.e. planes). “All the manifold magic of the lords of magic they have combined in Thee, O all-ruler, O builder of the levels.”

The potency of the Word, the secret Name, or the sacrificial Name, yajniyam nāma, is mentioned a number of times in the hymns. We have already stated that the Rishis valued the Word as a treasure and used it always with effect because of the conscious life that made for its potency. In Rishi Purucchepa’s chant (1.127.7), we find a similar reference to the Word’s marvel. When the Bhrigus “have made obeisance and spoken to him (Agni) the Word, when they have churned him out by their worship, the Fire becomes Master of the riches.”

The Rishi’s trust in the efficacy of the Word, the happy confidence that is manifest in his Call on Agni are often simple, straight, sincere and strike a note of reverential intimacy which leaves its impress on the ardent lover and devotee of the mystic lore. When Gritsamada sings, “O Messenger, O youngest Power, come at our word for him who aspires to thee and craves for thy safeguard; arrive, O Priest of the Call, strong for sacrifice" (II.6.6.), is it possible not to be moved by the faith-laden words of inspiration that steal into us with a stir in the core of our being ? And yet this Agni who is so close to us and accessible to devout hearts is not different from the Sun of Truth. For in the last resort, the Rishi realises him as the force of the Sun of Truth. “I serve thy Vast Fire, his bright and worshipped force of the Sun in heaven." (X.7.3.)

Here we stop for the present and close this short Paper on the character and process of initiation and the advent of the Mystic Fire. And this is the substance of what we have stated so far that the initiation starts with the Word churned out of the tapas-force generally transmitted by an adept to the Initiate or possibly by the Initiate himself discovering the Word of Truth by his tapasya, or by the favour and help of the Divine Powers in response to his intense call and fervent prayer. It is the Word that brings the initial awakening of the soul to the awareness of a higher Power, a deeper presence within him. And when by the Word, by the Name, the Fire within is kindled and the birth of the Divine, the Immortal element becomes settled, the Initiate gradually hands over the charge of his self-discipline to the Mystic Fire who determines the road and steps to be traversed and carries him safe through openings to the radiant realms of Truth-Force, Truth-Consciousness and Truth-Light. He builds the planes of his being, opens the closed centres that are linked to the Cosmic planes, confers on him Truth-vision and Truth-audition, and whatever means is necessary He grants him Knowledge, power or concentration and through all this He reaches him to the immortal Life, the undying Light, to the Sun-World which is the plenary Home of Truth.

CATVĀRI VĀK

A NOTE

Rig Veda I. 164.45
Catvāri vāk parimitā padūni tani vidurbrāhmanā ye manişinaḥ Guha triņi nihitā nengayanti turiyam vāco manus yā vadanti.

Sayana’s commentary:
Vāk (1st case for the 6th case) vācaḥ kṣtsnāyāḥ of the entire speech padāni steps catwāri four parimitā parimitāni are measured out. (Tr. Speech in its entirety is measured out in four steps.) Loke in the world yā vāk asti whatever speech is there sã that caturvidhā into four kinds vibhaktā divided iti arthaḥ this is the meaning (Tr. Whatever speech there is in the world is divided into four kinds or classes.) Tāni padāni these steps brāhmanāḥ vedavidaḥ Brahmanas who know the Veda ye manișiņaḥ manas iṣiṇaḥ who are movers of the mind medhāvinaḥ men of understanding viduḥ jānanti know. (Tr. These steps Brahmans who know the Veda and have understanding know.)

Teṣām madhye of them (the aforesaid division of steps), triņi three guhā (seventh case term is dropped) guhāyām in the secrecy nihitā sthāpitāni established na ingayanti na cestante do not move na prakāśante do not come to light iti arthaḥ this is the meaning. (Tr. Three of the four divisions of steps, established in the secrecy, are not manifested.) Vacaḥ of the speech turiyam the fourth padam step manusyah men, ajñāh those who do not know tad-jñāḥ ca and those who know that vadanti speak vyaktam uccarayanti distinctly pronounce, vyava-haranti use in their dealings). (Tr. The unlearned as well as the wise speak the fourth step of the speech in their dealings).

Kāni tāni catwari ityatra bahavaḥ svasvamatānurodhena bahudhā varnayanti n regard to the question what are these four, many schools) describe in many ways each according to the view of its school. Sarvavaidikavāgjālasya of the collection of all the Vedic words sangra-hrūpā comprehensive or inclusive or summary forms bhūrādayaḥ Bhuh etc. tisro vyāhratayaḥ the 3 Vyahritis (sacred utterances) pranavaḥ ekaḥ one Om iti thus vedatrayasāratvāt tāsām those Vyahritis being the essence of the 3 Vedas vyāhrtināmeva sārasamgrahbhūtatvāt (Pranava being) the summary substance of those Vyahritis, containing the letter A etc. (AUM) — (for this reason) sapraņavāsu vyāhrtișu in the Vyahritis along with Pranava sarvā vāk all speech parimitā is measured out iti thus kecana vedavādino some Vedists vadanti say. (Tr. Some Vedists say that all speech is measured out in the Vyahritis with Pranava which is constituted of the letter A etc. and which itself is the summary substance of the 3 Vyahritis which again are the Bhuh etc. the comprehensive and all inclusive forms of all the collection of the Vedic words. Thus the three Vyahritis and one Pranava make up the four in which all speech is measured out.)

Apare vyākaraṇamatānusāriņo namākhyātopasarganipātabhedena Others, followers of the school of grammarians say (that the four consists of) the division of nāma, ākhyāta, upasarga and nipāta.

Kriyapradhānamākhyātam That is verb ākhyāta in which action is prevalent.

Dravyapradhanam näma Nama (noun) is that in which substance is predominant.

Prāgupasrjyata ākhyātapadasyetyupasargaḥ prādih

The Upasarga pra etc. is so called because it is placed before a verbal word.

Uccāvaceșvartheșu nipatanānnipātaḥ api tu ca ityādiḥ Nipata, a particle api tu ca etc. is so called because it falls down upon (words of) uneven meanings.

Eteşveva sarvā vākparimitā iti (vadanti) In these four alone all speech is measured out — so they say;

akhandāyāḥ kṣtsnāyā vācaḥ caturdha vyākrtattvāt

because the all speech which is indivisible is separated or analysed into four divisions.

Vägvaiparācyavyākītāvadat tāmindromadhyatovakramya vyākarot tasmādiyam vyākṣtā vāgudyata iti śruteh

(This is part of a passage from Taittiriya Samhita quoted by Sayana to support the statement of fourfold differentiation of the Speech which was beyond and undifferentiated.)

Speech verily was beyond and undifferentiated. Indra stepped down into her and spoke, therefore she became differentiated, and this speech is spoken. (This is the quoted part of the Shruti.)

Anye tu yajñikāḥ mantraḥ kalpo brāhmanam caturthi laukikiti Others, votaries of Sacrifice (say) Mantra, Kalpa, Brahman and the fourth ordinary speech in the world.

Yājnikaiḥ samāmnātonuştheyārthaprakāśako vedabhāgo mantrāḥ The Mantras are that division of the Veda that is recited which illumines the meaning of what is performed or observed.

Mantravidhānapratipādako vedabhāga iti mantrāḥ kalpotaḥ ürdhvamityā-dinoktaḥ kalpaḥ (this is a quotation of Sayana from the Kalpa literature) The division of the Veda which teaches the use of mantras, the Kalpa, etc. has been declared in the Sastra).

Mantratātparyārthaprakāśako vedabhāgo brāhmaṇam The Brahmana is the portion of the Veda which throws light on the meaning of the purport of the mantras.

Bhogaviṣayā gāmānayetyadirūpā vyāvahāriki The speech of which worldly enjoyment such as " bring the cow” etc., is the object is vyāvahāriki the speech of common dealings in the world.

Eşveva sarvā vāk niyamiteti yājnikah The votaries of Sacrifice hold that in these (four) all speech is (contained), “ measured out”.

Rgyajuḥsāmānicaturthi vyāvhārikiti nairuktāḥ Those of the Nirukta school say that the rik, yajus, saman and the fourth is the common speech for dealings in the world.

Sarpāņām vāgvayasām kșudrasarīsſpasya ca caturthi vyāvahārikityāitihāsikāḥ The followers of legendary tradition hold the speech of serpents, of birds, of vile reptiles, and the fourth is the speech in dealings in the world.

Pasușu tūņaveșu mrgeșu ātmani ca iti ātmavādinah

The Atmavadins (votaries of Atman) say: in the animals, in musical instruments such as flute in the beasts and in the soul, the fourfold speech is contained.

Apare māntykāḥ prakārāntareņa pratipadāyanti parā paśyanti madhyamā vaikhariti catvāriti Others of the school of Mantra (Tantra) teach in a different way: the four are the Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama, Vaikhari according to them.

Ekaiva nādātmikā vāk mülādhārāduditā sati para ityucyate The speech, only one in the form of Sound, rising from the centre of the Solar plexus is called Para.

Nādasya ca sūkṣmatvena durnirūpatvāt saiva șradyagāmini paśyanti ityucyate yogibhirdrașțum sakyatvāt Being subtle and not demonstrable, the same sound entering the heart is called Pashyanti because of Yogins being able to perceive it.

Saiva buddhim gatā vivakşām prāptā madhyamā ityucyate The entering the buddhi, understanding, and desiring to express (to speak) is called Madhyama.

Madhye hradayākhya udiyamanatvāt madhyamāyāḥ

Same in the centre or middle called Hridaya the Madhyama rises. Atha yadā saiva vaktre stithā tālvoșthādivyāpāreņa bahirnirgacchati tadā vaikhari ityucyate Then when the same Nada comes out for expression through the exertion of the lips, teeth etc. it is called Vaikhari. Evam catvāri vācah padāni parimitāni Thus are the four steps of the Speech measured out.

Maniṣiṇaḥ manasaḥ svaminaḥ svādhinamanaskā brāhmanā vācyasya śabdabrañaņo’dhigantāro yoginaḥ parādicatvāri padāni viduh jānanti Wise men, masters of mind, with mind under their own control, Brahmans, knowers of Shabdabrahman to be expressed, yogins know the steps to be four, Para etc.

Teșu madhye triņi parādini guha nihitāni hrdayāntarvartittvāt Of these, three steps Para etc. are placed in the secrecy because of their being inside of the heart.

Turiyam tu padam vaikharisanjñakam manusyāh sarve vadanti But the fourth step, Vaikhari by name, all men speak.

Vyakaranaprasiddhānāmākhyātādipakse manișino brāhmanāḥ prakrtipra-tyayādivibhāgajñā vāg yogavidastāni padāni jānanti. On the side of Nama, Akhyata etc. celebrated in Grammar, the wise Brahmans, knowers of the divisions of base, suffix etc., knowers of word-arrangement (speech set-up) know those steps.

Avāg yogavidaḥ pāmarā vāco vāngmayasya turiyam caturtham bhāgam vadanti, vyavaharanti Those who do not know the arrangement of speech i.e. the unlearned, speak the fourth part of speech in their dealings.

Arthaprakāśnāya prayunjate They apply it (knowledge) for making the meaning clear.

Ayam mantro nirukte vyākhyātaḥ This mantra is explained in Nirukta. So’trāpyanusandheyaḥ Here also that must be calmly considered.

(Here follows the quotation from Nirukta 13.9)
Athāpi brāhmaṇam bhavati Then there is the Brahmana text in this context),
sā vai vāk systā caturdha vyabhavat that very speech released became manifested into four,
eșveva lokeșu triņi pašușu turiyam in these (three) worlds there are three steps of speech and the fourth is in the creatures.
Yà prthivyām sāgnau să rathantare That which is in earth that is in Agni, that is in Rathantara (name of a Saman).
Yāntarikșe să väyäu sa vamadevye That which is in the mid-air region, that is in the Vayu, that is in Vamadevya. (Saman)
Yā divi sāditye sā brhati sa stanayitnau What is in the Heaven, that is in the Aditya, that is in Brihat (Saman), that is in the lightning.
Atha pasușu Then in the creatures,
tato yā vāgatiricyata tām brāhmaneșvadadhuḥ then whatever speech remains transcended that was placed in the Brahmanas.
Tasmādbrāhmanā ubhayim vācam vadanti ya ca devānām yā ca manusya—nāmiti Therefore the Brahmans speak the twofold speech — that which is the speech of the Devas and that which is the speech of the men.

LIGHTS ON THE UPANISHADS

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(First Published in 1947 and Reprinted in 1959, 1971)

First published in 1954 and reprinted in 1975.

FROM SRI AUROBINDO AND THE KENA UPANISHAD

THE Ishopanishad with Translation and Commentary appeared serially in the Arya and was later revised and enlarged for publication years ago. It has now run to several editions, while the Kenopanishad which also with Translation and Commentary followed the Ishopanishad serially (June-1915-July-1916) in the same Philosophical Review is now for the first time published after the passing away of the Master. This Upanishad second in order, not chronological, but in the traditional list of the Major Upanishads, belongs to the Talavakara Brahmana (talavakāra means musician), otherwise known as Jaiminiya Brahmana of the Sama Vedins and is the ninth chapter of that Book as stated by Shankara in the introduction to his Commentary on this Upanishad. When we find the first word of this Upanishad to be its title, we are reminded of the Vedic tradition (current even today) of referring to a Rig Vedic Sukta by mentioning the opening word of the text, such as “agnim iļe” hymn. This way of mentioning a hymn or a text is Veda-old, avoids an otherwise ponderous and descriptive title, briefly and unmistakably facilitates reference, and thus serves the purpose. And this method Sri Aurobindo adopted in the olden days in naming some of his letters, such as the “Piercing of the veil”.

It is necessary, at the outset, to state in brief the salient features of the Master’s characteristic approach to the study of the Upanishads. It is a general notion in the West that has gained currency in India among the educated moderns, that the Upanishads are the metaphysical speculations of certain bold thinkers who turned away from the Vedic creed of rituals and Nature-worship and arrived at philosophical conclusions about the Whence of Creation and the goal of life through arduous thinkings in their solitary forest abodes. This modern view is a gratuitous conjecture of an alien temperament and is, indeed, foreign to the spirit and tenor of these sacred texts and opposed to the ages-old tradition and internal evidence of these Books of Wisdom. It is an erroneous notion that these Scriptures are the results of revolt, rebel children of the parent religion of a semi-civilised past. They are not the flowers of Reason, or products of speculative labour which, denuded of the euphemistic robe, are in a straight-forward plain language the bold conjectures of the fantastic or the fabrications of the introvert-ideas that have no relation whatever to facts that can be observed, of truths that can be verified.

The sages of the Upanishads have certainly drawn their inspiration and succour from the fountain springs of the Vedas while engaged in developing their self-culture for the realisation of the ultimate Truth, for conforming their lives to the laws of the Spirit, for the attainment of Brahmanhood here while living on Earth. The findings of their explorations in the realm of the Spirit and in the fields of the inner life—the occult and the spiritual gains—are often implicitly, yet in authentic tones expressed in a language that is more intelligible to the mentality of our age and fairly far removed from that of the hymns of the Rig Veda. But they are, in the words of the Master, “the creation of a revelatory and intuitive mind and its illumined experience”. “Nor are they a revolutionary departure from the Vedic mind and its temperament and fundamental ideas, but a continuation and development and to a certain extent an enlarging transformation in the sense of bringing out into open expression all that was held covered in the symbolic Vedic speech as a mystery and a secret."

This background settled, the Upanishads reveal themselves as vehicles of illumination to the seeker who had, broadly speaking, a processed understanding of the general spirit of the Vedic and Vedantic sages and even some personal experience of the truths which are the bases of their structure. Hence they are appropriately styled “Manuals of Sadhana" in which the ideas are implicit, rarely explicit. The reasoning that supports the conclusive statements is suggested by the expressions employed and not expressly communicated to the reasoning mind. The seeker, the hearer, was expected to proceed from Knowledge to Knowledge, verifying by experience and confirming his intuitions or thought-visions of the truths and not treating his ideas to the light of the logical reason and submitting to intellectual judgment.

This Commentary on the Kena Upanishad, then, takes up the ideas, elucidates them in their completeness, draws attention to the suggestions and thus brings to light the reasoning that is always implicit. The subject matter of the Upanishad, as indeed of the Upanishads in general, is Brahma Vidya, the knowledge of Brahman. But they vary in their standpoints, start from different positions, proceed along the lines chosen to lead to the object of their seeking: the winning of the Immortal state, the arrival at the undying Light the attainment of the supreme purpose of Life, the Eternal. But this text, unlike the Isha Upanishad which concerns itself with the whole problem of world and life and knowledge and works and all the fundamental problems of Existence, confines itself to a restricted question, a limited and narrow but precise enquiry, not straying outside the limits of the problem it has set before itself. The problem of the world-existence is not taken into consideration at all; the material world and the physical life are taken for granted; and it straightly puts the questions: What is the mental life that uses the senses? what are these mental instruments? are they the supreme and final power, the last witnesses or is there anything superior to them and more real and abiding that directs the activities of the eye and ear and speech and life—breath and mind itself? The Upanishad gives the answer in the affrmative. We must note here that this Upanishad like other earlier texts keeps close to the Vedic roots, reflects the ancient psychological system of the Vedic sages and “preserves what may be called their spiritual pragmatism”. This is quite apparent in the very opening sentence: “kena îșitam, by who missioned ?" "kena yuktah, by whom yoked ?" The Upanishad proceeds to expound the relation of the mind-consciousness to the Brahman Consciousness by which, it says, the mind thinks, the eye sees, the ear hears, the voice speaks, the life-breath breathes, but which none of these can reach or touch. Thus it indicates and describes what cannot be expressed or actually described by the mind. It affirms and indicates that Brahman is the absolute of all our relatives from which all relatives derive their values and thus in a way it is knowable, and yet not utterly knowable, for it is at the same time the Absolute Beyond which is utterly unknowable.

The Upanishad resolves the seeming contradictions in the two statements that it is knowable and unknowable by the affirmation that it is a vaster and profounder existence behind our surface selves, and is the puissant Consciousness of which mind, life, sense and speech are only inferior modes, imperfect figures and external instruments. The Commentary draws attention to the significance of the words employed in the text, bring to the forefront the subtle suggestions, elaborates the reasonings implied in the successive phrases and arrives at the established conclusions of the profound yogic psychology -call it para-psychology-of this Upanishad. And what we normally think as ourselves, mind, life, sense, speech, in short, the psychology of a mind that is involved in the brain is shown to be the outer fringe of man’s existence which consists in the eidolon of matter along with the nervous energy and its image reproduced in the mindstuff. In the manner that is distinctively his, Sri Aurobindo places before the reader here the fact of spiritual experience that we can always enter into relation with Brahman through these faculties—mind, sense, speech, etc. by tracing them to their source, as these are the outer instruments of the respective aspects of the profound Reality, Brahman, that is behind and directs the mind, sense, speech, etc. as their original truth, source and support. An instance can be given here to exemplify this fact, and the rest left to the reader to find by delving into the pages of the book. In giving a rational explanation of the phrases about Brahman as the "Word behind the speech" and as “That which remains unexpressed by the word, that by which the word is expressed”, the Master looks at the question from two poles, discusses it threadbare and concludes: “ Thus we see the theory of Creation by the Word which is the absolute expression of the Truth, and the theory of the material creation by sound-vibration in the ether correspond and are two logical poles of the same idea" (P. 39).

It is to be noted that the Upanishad starts with a negative statement, “ Not this which men follow after here,” in order to direct the seeker to aim at the discovery of the vaster Truth of which the ordinary human existence is a trifle, a frail figure, not unreal but incomplete.

Thus in the first two of the four sections of the Upanishad, we find that its instruction rests basically on the affirmation of three states of Existence, the first being the human, our mortal; the second, the Brahman-Consciousness which is the absolute of our relatives, yet knowable in a way as related to all this duality as its Lord and the third, the utter Unknowable Beyond. And because of this relation to what we are, it is possible to realise something of Him, of the supreme Truth of our existence and the scripture closes the second section with the emphatic statement, “ If here one comes to that Knowledge, then one truely is; if here one comes not to the knowledge, then great is the perdition. The Wise distinguish that in all kinds of becomings and they pass forward from this world and become Immortal ” (II. 5). The same idea of the necessity of qualifying for Immortality and possessing the Brahmic Knowledge in life here is to be found in some of the other authentic Upanishads e.g. Brihadaranyaka (IV. 4.14), Katha (VI. 4).

In the third section the Upanishad proceeds to point out the means of piercing the veil to enable the subject-consciousness of man to enter into the Master-consciousness of the Lord. This it does by a striking apologue. It is the famous parable of the Gods—Agni, Vayu and Indra—who approach the Yaksha, the Daemon, but fail to impress their prowess on him and return bewildered. While Indra, the highest of the Gods, the Lord of the luminous mind and Light approaches, the Yaksha disappears and there in the empyrean heights of the void ether, ākāśa, appears Uma, Daughter of the Snowy Summits who reveals to him the truth of the Yaksha that it is Brahman. To appreciate the significance of this story it is necessary to have an adequate idea of the Gods of the Upanishads who are the same as those of the Rig Veda except in one important respect. The Vedic Gods are the Cosmic Powers of the One and are conscious of their original source and true identity and the all-powerful One, the Supreme Lord, Brahman. Also in their lesser and lower movements they manifest themselves in man in the form of human faculties and assume the mould of cosmic operations in Nature. The Gods of the Upanishads are not conscious of their source, their identity with Brahman, but they retain the lesser aspect and are indeed psychological powers including the human faculty of speech, sense, mind and the rest. They are as in the Rig Veda, the Powers that "affirm the Good, the Light, the Joy and Beauty, the Strength and Mastery". And when they win the eternal battle with the adverse forces, the Asuras that deny, they think that theirs is the victory won and do not realise that it is the Brahman that stands behind them and conquers for them. Hence the challenge of the Daemon, the Yaksha, hurled at the three main Powers, the Gods of the triple world. Agni is the heat and flame of the conscious force in Matter that builds the universe and makes life and mind possible on the plane of the material world in which he is the greatest Deity, "the impeller of speech of which Vayu is the medium and Indra the Lord”. He accepts the challenge, but is baulked in his attempt to aim his power at the Daemon as the latter is no Birth of the material cosmos. Then Vayu, the Lord of the mid-air, the life-principle who infinitely expands in the mother-element Akasha, returns baffled meeting with the same fate, since the Daemon is no form or force of Cosmic Life of which he is the greatest ruler and God. Then Indra, the Power of the mind, arises and when he approaches It vanishes because It cannot be seized by mind and the sense. But Indra does not turn back from the quest like Agni and Vayu, but moves onward to the sublime ether of the pure mentality and there Uma, the Para Shakti appears; from her he learns that the Yaksha, the Daemon, is Brahman by whom alone the Gods of mind, life and body-Indra, Vayu and Agni—conquer and affirm themselves and who at once is the source and true centre and focus of their greatness.

Uma, the Daughter of Snowy Summits is the Para Prakriti, the Supreme Nature, the highest Power of the Ultimate Truth, the Supreme Consciousness of Brahman. It is from her the whole cosmic action takes its birth, from her the Gods must learn their own truth, for she has the necessary knowledge and consciousness of the One above the lower nature of mind, life and body; and, Creatrix of the Gods, she mediates between the One above and beyond, and Gods and men here in the lower creation. The import, the lesson, then, of the story of the Gods is that all the life-activities and senses and mind, the functionings of the Cosmic Powers in man must learn to surrender consciously to their One true master-consciousness leaving behind the wrong and false notion of independence and self-will and self-ordering which is an egoism of life and mind and body.

We may note that the name Uma for the Supreme Nature, Mahashakti, is used for the first time in this Upanishad; it is a solitary instance of an early Vedantic scripture mentioning Shakti in the ethereal summits above the Gods and we do not find it in any other major Upanishad. The Puranas and Tantras have familiarised us with the truth about Uma, as the Shakti, the inalienable Power of Shiva.

In the closing passages of the Upanishad, the means of attaining the knowledge of Brahman here on earth, and the winning of the immortal status after departure is indicated. But the lines are really obscure; this is partly due to extreme brevity, and also due to the intention in these texts that the seeker has to learn the secret orally from the teacher or learn it from him in silence. The lines in IV. 4-5 are supposed to lead the seeker to meditate by reflection on the Nature of Brahman and achieve the end by repeated practice. Sri Aurobindo explains the passage, "As is this flash of lightning upon us, or as is this falling of the eye-lid, so in that which is of the Gods" and the one that follows in the characteristic way that we associate with him, “ In the Gods the transfiguration is effected by the Superconscient itself visiting their substance and opening their vision with its flashes until it has transformed them; but the mind is capable of another action.... The mind continually remembers that into which it has entered. On this the Self through the mind seizes and repeatedly dwells and so doing it is finally caught up into it and at last able to dwell securely in that transcendence.” Is Transcendence and salvation of the individual, the ultimate goal the Upanishad sets for the seeker? Sri Aurobindo recognises the emphasis in the Upanishads steadily increasing on the individual’s rejection of the lower cosmic life. This note increases in them as time But it does not exist in the earlier Vedic revelation where individual salvation is regarded as a means towards a great Cosmic victory. Fortunately the Kena Upanishad suggests the door of escape from over-emphasis in its own statement. “ The name of That is " That Delight’, and as That Delight one should follow after it. He who knows That, towards him verily all existences yearn (IV. 6). On this verse, the Master’s remarks are noteworthy: “ Here is the clue that we need. The connection with the universe is preserved for the one reason which supremely justifies that connection; it must subsist not from the desire of personal goes earthly joy as with those who are still bound but for help to all creatures. Two then are the objects of the high-reaching soul, to attain the Supreme and to be for ever for the good of all the world even as Brahman Himself; whether here or elsewhere, does not essentially matter, still where the struggle is thickest....”

Before closing, attention may be drawn to an obvious irregularity in the text itself in IV. 2. It is curious how it has escaped, or was overlooked and explained away by the ancient commentators for centuries before Sri Aurobindo. On this the discerning mind of the classical savant remarks in a footnote: “By some mistake of early memorisers or later copyists the rest of the verse has become hopelssly corrupted. It runs, “they he first came to know that it was the Brahman’, which is neither fact nor sense nor grammar. The close of the third verse has crept into and replaced the original close of the second.”

SIDELIGHTS ON THE TANTRA

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GOSPEL OF THE GITA

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(First Published in 1934 (?) and subsequently reprinted several times)