{"id":1862,"date":"2013-07-13T01:37:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:37:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:37:57","slug":"34-xi-the-ribhus-artisans-of-immortality-vol-15-the-secret-of-veda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/15-the-secret-of-veda\/34-xi-the-ribhus-artisans-of-immortality-vol-15-the-secret-of-veda","title":{"rendered":"-34_XI The Ribhus, Artisans of Immortality.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\n XI <\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n The Ribhus, Artisans of Immortality
\n<\/font><\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n Rig Veda I.20 <\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n 1. Lo, the affirmation made for the divine Birth with the breath
\nof the mouth by illumined minds, that gives perfectly the bliss;
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n 2. Even they who fashioned by the mind for Indra his two bright steeds that are yoked by Speech, and they enjoy the
\nsacrifice by their accomplishings of the work.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n 3. They fashioned for the twin lords of the voyage their happy
\ncar of the all-pervading movement, they fashioned the fostering cow that yields the sweet milk.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n 4. O Ribhus, in your pervasion you made young again the Parents, you who seek the straight path and have the Truth
\nin your mentalisings.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 336<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n5. The raptures of the wine come to you entirely, to you with Indra companioned by the Maruts and with the Kings, the
\nsons of Aditi.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n6. And this bowl of Twashtri new and perfected you made
\nagain into four.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n7. So establish for us the thrice seven ecstasies, each separately
\nby perfect expressings of them.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n8. They sustained and held in them, they divided by perfection
\nin their works the sacrificial share of the enjoyment among the Gods.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n COMMENTARY<\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n The Ribhus, it has been suggested, are rays of the Sun. And it
\nis true that like Varuna, Mitra, Bhaga and Aryaman they are powers of the solar Light, the Truth. But their special character
\nin the Veda is that they are artisans of Immortality. They are represented as human beings who have attained to the condition of
\ngodhead by power of knowledge and perfection in their works. Their function is to aid Indra in raising man towards the same
\nstate of divine light and bliss which they themselves have earned   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 337<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

as their own divine privilege. The hymns addressed to them in the Veda are few and to the first glance exceedingly enigmatical; for
\nthey are full of certain figures and symbols always repeated. But once the principal clues of the Veda are known, they become on
\nthe contrary exceedingly clear and simple and present a coherent and interesting idea which sheds a clear light on the Vedic gospel
\nof immortality.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

The Ribhus are powers of the Light who have descended
\ninto Matter and are there born as human faculties aspiring to become divine and immortal. In this character they are called
\nchildren of Sudhanwan,1<\/font><\/sup> a patronymic which is merely a parable of their birth from the full capacities of Matter touched by the
\nluminous energy. But in their real nature they are descended from this luminous Energy and are sometimes so addressed,
\n“Offspring of Indra, grandsons of luminous Force.” For Indra, the divine mind in man, is born out of luminous Force as is Agni
\nout of pure Force, and from Indra the divine Mind spring the human aspirations after Immortality.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

The names of the three Ribhus are, in the order of their birth, Ribhu or Ribhukshan, the skilful Knower or the Shaper in
\nknowledge, Vibhwa or Vibhu, the Pervading, the self-diffusing, and Vaja, the Plenitude. Their names indicate their special nature
\nand function, but they are really a trinity, and therefore, although usually termed the Ribhus, they are also called the Vibhus and
\nthe Vajas. Ribhu, the eldest is the first in man who begins to shape by his thoughts and works the forms of immortality;
\nVibhwa gives pervasiveness to this working; Vaja, the youngest, supplies the plenitude of the divine light and substance by which
\nthe complete work can be done. These works and formations of immortality they effect, it is continually repeated, by the force
\nof Thought, with the mind for field and material; they are done with power; they are attended by a perfection in the creative and
\n\t\t\t  effective act, svapasyaya sukrtyayā<\/i>, which is the condition of the
\nworking out of Immortality. These formations of the artisans of
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

1
\n“Dhanwan” in this name does not mean “bow” but the solid or desert field of Matter otherwise typified as the hill or rock out of which the waters and the rays are delivered.
\n<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 338<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Immortality are, as they are briefly summarised in the hymn
\nbefore us, the horses of Indra, the car of the Ashwins, the Cow that gives the sweet milk, the youth of the universal Parents, the
\nmultiplication into four of the one drinking-bowl of the gods originally fashioned by Twashtri, the Framer of things.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

The hymn opens with an indication of its objective. It is an affirmation of the power of the Ribhus made for the divine
\nBirth, made by men whose minds have attained to illumination and possess that energy of the Light from which the Ribhus were
\nborn. It is made by the breath of the mouth, the life-power in the world. Its object is to confirm in the human soul the entire
\ndelight of the Beatitude, the thrice seven ecstasies of the divine Life.2<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

This divine Birth is represented by the Ribhus who, once human, have become immortal. By their accomplishings of the
\nwork, —the great work of upward human evolution which is the summit of the world-sacrifice,
\n\t\t\t—they have gained in that
\nsacrifice their divine share and privilege along with the divine powers. They are the sublimated human energies of formation
\nand upward progress who assist the gods in the divinising of man. And of all their accomplishings that which is central is the
\nformation of the two brilliant horses of Indra, the horses yoked by speech to their movements, yoked by the Word and fashioned
\nby the mind. For the free movement of the luminous mind, the divine mind in man, is the condition of all other immortalising
\nworks.3<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

The second work of the Ribhus is to fashion the chariot of
\nthe Ashwins, lords of the human journey, —the happy movement of the Ananda in man which pervades with its action all
\nhis worlds or planes of being, bringing health, youth, strength, wholeness to the physical man, capacity of enjoyment and
\naction to the vital, glad energy of the light to the mental being, —in a word, the force of the pure delight of being in all his
\nmembers.4<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

2 Ayam devā<\/font>ya janmane, stomo viprebhir
\nāsayā; akāri ratnadhātamah.<\/i>
\n <\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

3 Ya indrāya vacoyujā, tataksur manasā<\/font> harī<\/font>;
\nśamibhīr yaj\u00f1am āśata <\/i>
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

4 <\/i>
\n <\/font>
\n Taksan nāsatyābhyām, parijmānam sukham ratham  
\n<\/font> \t\t\t<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 339<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The third work of the Ribhus is to fashion the cow who gives the sweet milk. It is said elsewhere that this cow has
\nbeen delivered out of its covering skin, —the veil of Nature’s outward movement and action,
\n\t\t\t—by the Ribhus. The fostering
\ncow herself is she of the universal forms and universal impetus
\n \t\t\t  \t\t\t<\/i> of movement, viśvajuvam viśvarūpām<\/i>, in other words she is
\nthe first Radiance, Aditi, the infinite Consciousness of the infinite conscious Being which is the mother of the worlds. That
\nconsciousness is brought out by the Ribhus from the veiling movement of Nature and a figure of her is fashioned here in us
\nby them. She is, by the action of the powers of the duality, separated from her offspring, the soul in the lower world; the Ribhus
\nrestore it to constant companionship with its infinite mother.5<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

Another great work of the Ribhus is in the strength of
\ntheir previous deeds, of the light of Indra, the movement of the Ashwins, the full yield of the fostering Cow to restore
\nyouth to the aged Parents of the world, Heaven and Earth. Heaven is the mental consciousness, Earth the physical. These
\nin their union are represented as lying long old and prostrate like fallen sacrificial posts, worn-out and suffering. The Ribhus,
\nit is said, ascend to the house of the Sun where he lives in the unconcealed splendour of his Truth and there slumbering for
\ntwelve days afterwards traverse the heaven and the earth, filling them with abundant rain of the streams of Truth, nourishing
\nthem, restoring them to youth and vigour.6<\/font><\/sup> They pervade heaven with their workings, they bring divine increase to the mentality;7<\/font><\/sup>
\nthey give to it and the physical being a fresh and young and immortal movement.8<\/font><\/sup> For from the home of the Truth they
\nbring with them the perfection of that which is the condition of their work, the movement in the straight path of the Truth and
\nthe Truth itself with its absolute effectivity in all the thoughts and words of the mentality. Carrying this power with them in
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

5
\n Taksan dhenum sabardughām. <\/i>For the other details see R.V. IV.33.4 and 8, 36.4
\n etc.
\n<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

6 R.V. IV.33.2, 3, 7; 36.1, 3; I.161.7.
\n<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

7 R.V. IV.33.1, 2.
\n<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

8 R.V. V.36.3.
\n   <\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 340<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\ntheir pervading entry into the lower world, they pour into it the immortal essence.9<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n It is the wine of that immortal essence with its ecstasies which they win by their works and bring with them to man in his
\nsacrifice. And with them come and sit Indra and the Maruts, the divine Mind and its Thought-forces, and the four great Kings,
\nsons of Aditi, children of the Infinite, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, the purity and vastness of the Truth-consciousness, its
\nlaw of love and light and harmony, its power and aspiration, its pure and happy enjoyment of things.10<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n And there at the sacrifice the gods drink in the fourfold bowl,
\ncamasam caturvayam<\/i>, the pourings of the nectar. For Twashtri, the Framer of things, has given man originally only a single
\nbowl, the physical consciousness, the physical body in which to offer the delight of existence to the gods. The Ribhus, powers
\nof luminous knowledge, take it as renewed and perfected by Twashtri’s later workings and build up in him from the material
\nof the four planes three other bodies, vital, mental and the causal or ideal body.11<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n \tBecause they have made this fourfold cup of bliss and enabled him thereby to live on the plane of the Truth-consciousness
\nthey are able to establish in the perfected human being the thrice seven ecstasies of the supreme existence poured into the
\nmind, vitality and body. Each of these they can give perfectly by the full expression of its separate absolute ecstasy even in the
\ncombination of the whole.12<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n \tThe Ribhus have power to support and contain all these
\nfloods of the delight of being in the human consciousness; and they are able to divide it in the perfection of their works among
\nthe manifested gods, to each god his sacrificial share. For such perfect division is the whole condition of the effective sacrifice,
\nthe perfect work.13<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n
\n 9 <\/font>Yuvānā pitarā punah, satyamantr<\/font><\/i>ā<\/font><\/i><\/font>
\n\trjūyavah; rbhavo vistyakrata
\n\t<\/font><\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n 10
\n Sam vo madāsa agmata, indrena ca marutvatā; ādityebhiś ca rājabhih <\/i>
\n\t<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n 11 Uta tyam camasam navam, tvastur devasya
\n\tniskrtam; akarta caturah punah <\/i>
\n\t<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n 12
\nTe no ratnā<\/font>ni dhattana, trir
\n\tā<\/font> sā<\/font>ptā<\/font>ni sunvate; ekam ekam
\n\tsuśastibhih <\/i> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n13  Adhārayanta vahnayo, abhajanta sukrtyayā; bhāgam
\ndevesu yaj\u00f1iyam
\n   <\/i> <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 341<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Such are the Ribhus and they are called to the human sacrifice to fashion for man the things of immortality even as they
\nfashioned them for themselves. “He becomes full of plenitude and strength for the labour, he becomes a Rishi by power of
\nself-expression, he becomes a hero and a smiter hard to pierce in the battles, he holds in himself increase of bliss and entire
\nenergy whom Vaja and Vibhwa, the Ribhus foster. . . . For you are seers and thinkers clear-discerning; as such with this thought
\nof our soul we declare to you our knowledge. Do you in your knowledge moving about our thoughts fashion for us all human enjoyings, —luminous plenitude and fertilising force and supreme felicity. Here issue, here felicity, here a great energy of
\ninspiration fashion for us in your delight. Give to us, O Ribhus, that richly-varied plenitude by which we shall awaken in our
\nconsciousness to things beyond ordinary men.”14<\/font><\/sup>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

14 R.V. IV.36.6-9.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 342<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

XI   The Ribhus, Artisans of Immortality   Rig Veda I.20     1. Lo, the affirmation made for the divine Birth with the breath…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-the-secret-of-veda","wpcat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}