{"id":1912,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:38:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:15","slug":"09-chapter-ix-saraswati-and-her-consorts-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\/09-chapter-ix-saraswati-and-her-consorts-vol-15-the-secret-of-veda","title":{"rendered":"-09_Chapter IX Saraswati and Her Consorts.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\tChapter IX <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati and Her Consorts <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tT<\/font>HE <\/font><\/b>symbolism of
\n\t\t\t\tthe Veda betrays itself with the greatest clearness in the
\n\t\t\t\tfigure of the goddess Saraswati. In many of the other gods the
\n\t\t\t\tbalance of the internal sense and the external figure is
\n\t\t\t\tcarefully preserved. The veil sometimes becomes transparent or
\n\t\t\t\tits corners are lifted even for the ordinary hearer of the Word;
\n\t\t\t\tbut it is never entirely removed. One may doubt whether Agni is
\n\t\t\t\tanything more than the personification of the sacrificial Fire
\n\t\t\t\tor of the physical principle of Light and Heat in things, or
\n\t\t\t\tIndra anything more than the god of the sky and the rain or of
\n\t\t\t\tphysical Light, or Vayu anything more than the divinity in the
\n\t\t\t\tWind and Air or at most of the physical Life- breath. In the
\n\t\t\t\tlesser gods the naturalistic interpretation has less ground for
\n\t\t\t\tconfidence; for it is obvious that Varuna is not merely a Vedic
\n\t\t\t\tUranus or Neptune, but a god with great and important moral
\n\t\t\t\tfunctions; Mitra and Bhaga have the same psychological aspect;
\n\t\t\t\tthe Ribhus who form things by the mind and build up immortality
\n\t\t\t\tby works can with difficulty be crushed into the Procrustean
\n\t\t\t\tmeasure of a naturalistic mythology. Still by imputing a chaotic
\n\t\t\t\tconfusion of ideas to the poets of the Vedic hymns the
\n\t\t\t\tdifficulty can be trampled upon, if not overcome. But Saraswati
\n\t\t\t\twill submit to no such treatment. She is, plainly and clearly,
\n\t\t\t\tthe goddess of the Word, the goddess of a divine Inspiration.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIf that were all, this would not carry us much farther than the
\n\t\t\t\tobvious fact that the Vedic Rishis were not mere naturalistic
\n\t\t\t\tbarbarians, but had their psychological ideas and were capable
\n\t\t\t\tof creating mythological symbols which represent not only those
\n\t\t\t\tobvious operations of physical Nature that interested their
\n\t\t\t\tagricultural, pastoral and open-air life, but also the inner
\n\t\t\t\toperations of the mind and soul. If we have to conceive the
\n\t\t\t\thistory of ancient religious thought as a progression from the
\n\t\t\t\tphysical to the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 91<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tspiritual, from a purely naturalistic to an increasingly ethical
\n\t\t\t\tand psychological view of Nature and the world and the gods, \u2014
\n\t\t\t\tand this, though by no means certain, is for the present the
\n\t\t\t\taccepted view\u00b9\u2014 we must suppose that the Vedic poets were at
\n\t\t\t\tleast already advancing from the physical and naturalistic
\n\t\t\t\tconception of the gods to the ethical and the spiritual. But
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati is not only the goddess of Inspiration, she is at one
\n\t\t\t\tand the same time one of the seven rivers of the early Aryan
\n\t\t\t\tworld. The question at once arises, whence came this
\n\t\t\t\textraordinary identification ? And how does the connection of
\n\t\t\t\tthe two ideas present itself in the Vedic hymns ? And there is
\n\t\t\t\tmore; for Saraswati is important not only in herself but by her
\n\t\t\t\tconnections. Before proceeding farther let us cast a rapid and
\n\t\t\t\tcursory glance at them to see what they can teach us. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tThe association of a river with the poetical inspiration occurs
\n\t\t\t\talso in the Greek mythology; but there the Muses are not
\n\t\t\t\tconceived of as rivers; they are only connected in a not very
\n\t\t\t\tintelligible fashion with a particular earthly stream. This
\n\t\t\t\tstream is the river Hippocrene, the fountain of the Horse, and
\n\t\t\t\tto account for its name we have a legend that it sprang from the
\n\t\t\t\thoof of the divine horse Pegasus; for he smote the rock with his
\n\t\t\t\thoof and the waters of inspiration gushed out where the mountain
\n\t\t\t\thad been thus smitten. Was this legend merely a Greek fairy-tale
\n\t\t\t\tor had it any special meaning ? And it is evident that if it had
\n\t\t\t\tany meaning, it must, since it obviously refers to a
\n\t\t\t\tpsychological phenomenon, the birth of the waters of
\n\t\t\t\tinspiration, have had a psychological meaning; it must have been
\n\t\t\t\tan attempt to put into concrete figures certain psychological
\n\t\t\t\tfacts. We may note that the word Pegasus, if we transliterate it
\n\t\t\t\tinto the original Aryan phonetics, becomes Pajasa and is
\n\t\t\t\tobviously connected with the Sanskrit pājas,<\/i> which meant
\n\t\t\t\toriginally force, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\u00b9I do not think we have any real materials for
\n\t\t\t\tdetermining the first origin and primitive history of religious
\n\t\t\t\tideas. What the facts really point to is an early teaching at
\n\t\t\t\tonce psychological and naturalistic, that is to say with two
\n\t\t\t\tfaces, of which the first came to be more or less obscured, but
\n\t\t\t\tnever entirely effaced even in the barbarous races, even in
\n\t\t\t\traces like the tribes of North America. But this teaching,
\n\t\t\t\tthough prehistoric, was anything but primitive. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 92<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\tmovement, or sometimes footing. In Greek itself it is connected
\n\t\t\t\twith p\u00eag\u00ea,<\/i> a stream. There is, therefore, in the terms of
\n\t\t\t\tthis legend a constant association with the image of a forceful
\n\t\t\t\tmovement of inspiration. If we turn to Vedic symbols we see that
\n\t\t\t\tthe Ashwa or Horse is an image of the great dynamic force of
\n\t\t\t\tLife, of the vital and nervous energy, and is constantly coupled
\n\t\t\t\twith other images that symbolise the consciousness. Adri,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe hill or rock, is a symbol of formal existence and especially
\n\t\t\t\tof the physical nature and it is out of this hill or rock that
\n\t\t\t\tthe herds of the Sun are released and the waters flow. The
\n\t\t\t\tstreams of the madhu,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe honey, the Soma, are said also to be milked out of this Hill
\n\t\t\t\tor Rock. The stroke of the Horse’s hoof on the rock releasing
\n\t\t\t\tthe waters of inspiration would thus become a very obvious
\n\t\t\t\tpsychological image. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the
\n\t\t\t\told Greeks and Indians were incapable either of such
\n\t\t\t\tpsychological observation or of putting it into the poetical and
\n\t\t\t\tmystic imagery which was the very body of the ancient Mysteries.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tWe might indeed go farther and inquire whether there was not
\n\t\t\t\tsome original connection between the hero Bellerophon, slayer of
\n\t\t\t\tBellerus, who rides on the divine Horse, and Indra Valahan, the
\n\t\t\t\tVedic slayer of Vala, the enemy who keeps for him- self the
\n\t\t\t\tLight. But this would take us beyond the limits of our subject.
\n\t\t\t\tNor does this interpretation of the Pegasus legend carry us any
\n\t\t\t\tfarther than to indicate the natural turn of imagination of the
\n\t\t\t\tAncients and the way in which they came to figure the stream of
\n\t\t\t\tinspiration as an actual stream of flowing water. Saraswati
\n\t\t\t\tmeans, "she of the stream, the flowing movement", and is
\n\t\t\t\ttherefore a natural name both for a river and for the goddess of
\n\t\t\t\tinspiration. But by what process of thought or association does
\n\t\t\t\tthe general idea of the river of inspiration come to be
\n\t\t\t\tassociated with a particular earthly stream? And in the Veda it
\n\t\t\t\tis not a question of one river which by its surroundings,
\n\t\t\t\tnatural and legendary, might seem more fitly associated with the
\n\t\t\t\tidea of sacred inspiration than any other. For here it is a
\n\t\t\t\tquestion not of one, but of seven rivers always associated
\n\t\t\t\ttogether in the minds of the Rishis and all of them released
\n\t\t\t\ttogether by <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 93<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

the
\n\t\t\t\tstroke of the God Indra when he smote the Python who coiled
\n\t\t\t\tacross their fountains and sealed up their outflow. It seems
\n\t\t\t\timpossible to suppose that one river only in all this sevenfold
\n\t\t\t\toutflowing acquired a psychological significance while the rest
\n\t\t\t\twere associated only with the annual coming of the rains in the
\n\t\t\t\tPunjab. The psychological significance of Saraswati
\n\t\t\t\tcarries with it a psychological significance for the whole
\n\t\t\t\tsymbol of the Vedic waters.2<\/font><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati is not only connected with other rivers but with other
\n\t\t\t\tgoddesses who are plainly psychological symbols and especially
\n\t\t\t\twith Bharati and Ila. In the later Puranic forms of worship
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati is the goddess of speech, of learning and of poetry
\n\t\t\t\tand Bharati is one of her names, but in the Veda Bharati and
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati are different deities. Bharati is also called Mahi,
\n\t\t\t\tthe Large, Great or Vast. The three, Ila, Mahi or Bharati and
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati are associated together in a constant formula in those
\n\t\t\t\thymns of invocation in which the gods are called by Agni to the
\n\t\t\t\tsacrifice. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIḷ<\/span>ā sarasvatī mahī tisro devīr
\n\t\t\t\tmayobhuvaḥ<\/span>, <\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tbarhiḥ<\/span>. sīdantvasridhaḥ<\/span>.<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t"May Ila, Saraswati and Mahi, three goddesses who give birth to
\n\t\t\t\tthe bliss, take their place on the sacrificial seat, they who
\n\t\t\t\tstumble not," or "who come not to hurt" or "do not hurt." The
\n\t\t\t\tepithet means, I think, they in whom there is no false movement
\n\t\t\t\twith its evil consequences, duritam,<\/i> no stumbling into
\n\t\t\t\tpitfalls of sin and error. The formula is expanded in Hymn 110
\n\t\t\t\tof the tenth Mandala: <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Ā
\n\t\t\t\tno yaj\u00f1am bhāratī tūyam etu,<\/i> <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\til<\/span>̣<\/span>ā<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\tmanuṣ<\/span>vad iha cetayantī,
\n\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\ttisro<\/span> devīr barhir <\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tedam<\/i> syonam<\/i> <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tsarasvatī svapasaḥ<\/span> sadantu.<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t2<\/font> The rivers have a symbolic
\n\t\t\t\tsense in later Indian thought; as for instance Ganges, Yamuna
\n\t\t\t\tand Saraswati and their confluence are in the Tantric imagery
\n\t\t\t\tYogic symbols, and they are used, though in a different way, in
\n\t\t\t\tYogic symbolism generally. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 94<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t"May Bharati come speeding to our sacrifice and Ila hither
\n\t\t\t\tawakening our consciousness (or, knowledge or perceptions) in
\n\t\t\t\thuman wise, and Saraswati, \u2014 three goddesses sit on this
\n\t\t\t\tblissful seat, doing well the Work." <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIt is clear and will become yet clearer that these three <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tgoddesses have closely connected functions akin to the
\n\t\t\t\tinspirational power of Saraswati. Saraswati is the Word, the
\n\t\t\t\tinspiration, as I suggest, that comes from the ṛ<\/span>tam,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe Truth-Consciousness. Bharati and Ila must also be different
\n\t\t\t\tforms of the same Word or knowledge. In the eighth hymn of
\n\t\t\t\tMadhuchchhandas we have a Rik in which Bharati is mentioned
\n\t\t\t\tunder the name of Mahi. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tEvā hyasya sūnṛ<\/span>tā, virapśī gomatī
\n\t\t\t\tmahī, <\/i><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tpakvā śākhā na dāśuṣ<\/span>e.<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t"Thus Mahi for Indra full of the rays, overflowing in her abundance,
\n\t\t\t\tin her nature a happy truth, becomes as if a ripe branch for the
\n\t\t\t\tgiver of the sacrifice." <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tThe rays in the Veda are the rays of Surya, the Sun. Are we to
\n\t\t\t\tsuppose that the goddess is a deity of the physical Light or are
\n\t\t\t\twe to translate go<\/i> by cow and suppose that Mahi is full
\n\t\t\t\tof cows for the sacrificer ? The psychological character of
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati comes to our rescue against the last absurd
\n\t\t\t\tsupposition, but it negatives equally the naturalistic
\n\t\t\t\tinterpretation. This characterisation of Mahi, Saraswati’s
\n\t\t\t\tcompanion in the sacrifice, the sister of the goddess of
\n\t\t\t\tinspiration, entirely identified with her in the later
\n\t\t\t\tmythology, is one proof among a hundred others that light in the
\n\t\t\t\tVeda is a symbol of knowledge, of spiritual illumination. Surya
\n\t\t\t\tis the Lord of the supreme Sight, the vast Light, bṛ<\/span>hat
\n\t\t\t\tjyotiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> or, as it is sometimes
\n\t\t\t\tcalled, the true Light, ṛ<\/span>tam
\n\t\t\t\tjyotiḥ<\/span>.<\/i> And the connection
\n\t\t\t\tbetween the words ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i> and
\n\t\t\t\tbṛ<\/span>hat <\/i>is constant in the
\n\t\t\t\tVeda. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIt seems to me impossible to see in these expressions any- thing
\n\t\t\t\telse than the indication of a state of illumined conscious- ness
\n\t\t\t\tthe nature of which is that it is wide or large, bṛ<\/span>hat,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tfull of the truth of being, satyam,<\/i> and of the truth of
\n\t\t\t\tknowledge and action, ṛ<\/span>tam.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tThe gods have this consciousness. Agni, for instance, is termed
\n\t\t\t\tṛ<\/span>tacit,<\/i> he who has the
\n\t\t\t\tTruth-Consciousness. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 95<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Mahi is full of the rays of this Surya; she
\n\t\t\t\tcarries in her this illumination. Moreover she is sunṛ<\/span>tā,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tshe is the word of a blissful Truth, even as it has been said of
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati that she is the impeller  of
\n\t\t\t\thappy truths, codayitrī sūnṛ<\/span>tānām.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tFinally, she is virapśī,<\/i> large or breaking out into
\n\t\t\t\tabundance, a word which recalls to us that the Truth is also a
\n\t\t\t\tLargeness, ṛ<\/span>tam bṛ<\/span>hat.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tAnd, in another hymn, (1.22.10), she is described as varūtrī
\n\t\t\t\tdhiṣ<\/span>aṇā<\/span>,
\n\t\t\t\t<\/i>a widely covering or embracing Thought-power. Mahi, then, is
\n\t\t\t\tthe luminous vastness of the Truth, she represents the Large-
\n\t\t\t\tness, bṛ<\/span>hat,<\/i> of the
\n\t\t\t\tsuperconscient in us containing in itself the Truth, ṛ<\/span>tam.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tShe is, therefore, for the sacrificer, like a branch covered
\n\t\t\t\twith ripe fruit. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIla is also the word of the truth; her name has become identical
\n\t\t\t\tin a later confusion with the idea of speech. As Saraswati is an
\n\t\t\t\tawakener of the consciousness to right thinkings or right states
\n\t\t\t\tof mind, cetantī sumatīnām,<\/i> so also Ila comes to the
\n\t\t\t\tsacrifice awakening the consciousness to knowledge,
\n\t\t\t\tcetayantī.<\/i> She is full of energy, suvīrā,<\/i> and brings
\n\t\t\t\tknowledge. She also is connected with Surya, the Sun, as when
\n\t\t\t\tAgni, the Will, is invoked (V.4.4) to labour by the rays of the
\n\t\t\t\tSun, Lord of the true Light, being of one mind with Ila, iḷ<\/span>ayā
\n\t\t\t\tsajoṣā<\/span> yatamāno raśmibhiḥ<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>sūryasya.<\/i> She is the mother of the Rays, the herds of
\n\t\t\t\tthe Sun. Her name means she who seeks and attains and it
\n\t\t\t\tcontains the same association of ideas as the words ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tand Rishi. Ila may therefore well be the vision of the seer
\n\t\t\t\twhich attains the truth. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tAs Saraswati represents the truth-audition, śruti,<\/i> which
\n\t\t\t\tgives the inspired word, so Ila represents dṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>i,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe truth-vision. If so, since dṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>i<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tand śruti<\/i> are the two powers of the Rishi, the Kavi, the
\n\t\t\t\tSeer of the Truth, we can understand the close connection of Ila
\n\t\t\t\tand Saraswati. Bharati or Mahi is the largeness of the
\n\t\t\t\tTruth-Consciousness which, dawning on man’s limited mind, brings
\n\t\t\t\twith it the two sister Puissances. We can also understand how
\n\t\t\t\tthese fine and living distinctions came afterwards to be
\n\t\t\t\tneglected as the Vedic knowledge declined and Bharati,
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati, Ila melted into one. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tWe may note also that these three goddesses are said to <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 96<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\tbring to birth for man the Bliss, mayas.<\/i> I have already insisted
\n\t\t\t\ton the constant relation, as conceived by the Vedic seers,
\n\t\t\t\tbetween the Truth and the Bliss or Ananda. It is by the dawning
\n\t\t\t\tof the true or infinite consciousness in man that he arrives out
\n\t\t\t\tof this evil dream of pain and suffering, this divided creation
\n\t\t\t\tinto the
\n\t\t\t\tBliss, the happy state variously described in Veda by the words
\n\t\t\t\tbhadram, mayas<\/i> (love and bliss), svasti<\/i> (the good
\n\t\t\t\tstate of existence, right being) and by others less technically
\n\t\t\t\tused such as vāryam, rayiḥ<\/span>,
\n\t\t\t\trāyaḥ<\/span>.<\/i> For the Vedic Rishi
\n\t\t\t\tTruth is the passage and the antechamber, the Bliss of the
\n\t\t\t\tdivine existence is the goal, or else Truth is the foundation,
\n\t\t\t\tBliss the supreme result. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tSuch, then, is the -character of Saraswati as a psychological
\n\t\t\t\tprinciple, her peculiar function and her relation to her most
\n\t\t\t\timmediate connections among the gods. How far do these shed any
\n\t\t\t\tlight on her relations as the Vedic river to her six sister
\n\t\t\t\tstreams? The number seven plays an exceedingly important part in
\n\t\t\t\tthe Vedic system, as in most very ancient schools of thought. We
\n\t\t\t\tfind it recurring constantly, \u2014 the seven delights, sapta
\n\t\t\t\tratnāni;<\/i> the seven flames, tongues or rays of Agni, sapta
\n\t\t\t\tarciṣ<\/span>aḥ<\/span>,
\n\t\t\t\tsapta jvālāḥ<\/span>;<\/i> the seven forms
\n\t\t\t\tof the Thought-principle, sapta dhītayḥ<\/span>;<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe seven Rays or Cows, forms of the Cow unslayable, Aditi,
\n\t\t\t\tmother of the gods, sapta gāvaḥ<\/span>;<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tthe seven rivers, the seven mothers or fostering cows, sapta
\n\t\t\t\tmātarah, sapta dhenavaḥ̣<\/span>,<\/i> a
\n\t\t\t\tterm applied indifferently to the Rays and to the Rivers. All
\n\t\t\t\tthese sets of seven depend, it seems to me, upon the Vedic
\n\t\t\t\tclassification of the fundamental principles, the tattvas,<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tof existence. The enquiry into the number of these tattvas<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tgreatly interested the speculative mind of the ancients and in
\n\t\t\t\tIndian philosophy we find various answers ranging from the One
\n\t\t\t\tupward and running into the twenties. In Vedic thought the basis
\n\t\t\t\tchosen was the number of the psychological principles, because
\n\t\t\t\tall existence was conceived by the Rishis as a movement of
\n\t\t\t\tconscious being. However merely curious or barren these
\n\t\t\t\tspeculations and classifications may seem to the modern mind,
\n\t\t\t\tthey were no mere dry metaphysical distinctions, but closely
\n\t\t\t\tconnected with a living psychological practice of which they
\n\t\t\t\twere to a great extent the thought-basis, and in any case we
\n\t\t\t\tmust understand them clearly <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\tif we wish to form with any accuracy an idea of this ancient and
\n\t\t\t\tfar-off system. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tIn the Veda, then, we find the number of the principles
\n\t\t\t\tvariously stated. The One was recognised as the basis and
\n\t\t\t\tcontinent; in this One there were the two principles divine and
\n\t\t\t\thuman, mortal and immortal. The dual number is also otherwise\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tapplied in the two principles. Heaven and Earth, Mind and Body,
\n\t\t\t\tSoul and Nature, who are regarded as the father and mother of
\n\t\t\t\tall beings. It is significant, however, that Heaven and Earth,
\n\t\t\t\twhen they symbolise two forms of natural energy, the mental and
\n\t\t\t\tthe physical consciousness, are no longer the father and mother,
\n\t\t\t\tbut the two mothers. The triple principle was doubly recognised,
\n\t\t\t\tfirst in the1 threefold divine principle answering to the later
\n\t\t\t\tSachchidananda, the divine existence, consciousness and bliss,
\n\t\t\t\tand secondly in the threefold mundane principle, Mind, Life,
\n\t\t\t\tBody, upon which is built the triple world of the Veda and
\n\t\t\t\tPuranas. But the full number ordinarily recognised is seven.
\n\t\t\t\tThis figure was arrived at by adding the three divine principles
\n\t\t\t\tto the three mundane and interpolating a seventh or
\n\t\t\t\tlink-principle which is precisely that of the
\n\t\t\t\tTruth-Consciousness, ṛ<\/span>tam bṛ<\/span>hat,
\n\t\t\t\t<\/i>afterwards known as Vijnana or Mahas. The latter term means
\n\t\t\t\tthe Large and is therefore an equivalent of bṛ<\/span>hat.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tThere are other classifications of five, eight, nine and ten and
\n\t\t\t\teven, as it would seem, twelve; but these do not immediately
\n\t\t\t\tconcern us. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tAll these principles, be it noted, are supposed to be really
\n\t\t\t\tinseparable and omnipresent and therefore apply themselves to
\n\t\t\t\teach separate formation of Nature. The seven Thoughts, for
\n\t\t\t\tinstance, are Mind applying itself to each of the seven planes
\n\t\t\t\tas we would now call them and formulating Matter-mind, if we may
\n\t\t\t\tso call it, nervous mind, pure mind, truth-mind and so on to the
\n\t\t\t\thighest summit, paramā parāvat.<\/i> The seven rays or cows
\n\t\t\t\tare Aditi the infinite Mother, the Cow unslayable, supreme
\n\t\t\t\tNature or infinite Consciousness, pristine source of the later
\n\t\t\t\tidea of Prakriti or Shakti, \u2014 the Purusha is in this early
\n\t\t\t\tpastoral imagery the Bull, Vrishabha, \u2014 the Mother of things
\n\t\t\t\ttaking form on the seven planes of her world-action as energy of
\n\t\t\t\tconscious being. So also, the seven rivers are conscious
\n\t\t\t\tcurrents corresponding to <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPage \u2013 98<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\tthe sevenfold substance of the ocean of being which appears to
\n\t\t\t\tus formulated in the seven worlds enumerated by the Puranas. It
\n\t\t\t\tis their full flow in the human consciousness which constitutes
\n\t\t\t\tthe entire activity of the being, his full treasure of
\n\t\t\t\tsubstance, his full play of energy. In the Vedic image, his cows
\n\t\t\t\tdrink of the water of the seven rivers. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tShould this imagery be admitted, and it is evident that if once
\n\t\t\t\tsuch conceptions are supposed to exist, this would be the
\n\t\t\t\tnatural imagery for a people living the life and placed in the
\n\t\t\t\tsurroundings of the ancient Aryans, \u2014 quite as natural for them
\n\t\t\t\tand inevitable as for us the image of the "planes" with which
\n\t\t\t\ttheosophical thought has familiarised us, \u2014 the place of
\n\t\t\t\tSaraswati as one of the seven rivers becomes clear. She is the
\n\t\t\t\tcurrent which comes from the Truth-principle, from the ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tor Mahas, and we actually find this principle spoken of in the
\n\t\t\t\tVeda, \u2014 in the closing passage of our third hymn for instance, \u2014
\n\t\t\t\tas the Great Water, maho arṇ<\/span>aḥ<\/span>,
\n\t\t\t\t\u2014<\/i> an expression which gives us at once the origin of the
\n\t\t\t\tlater term, Mahas \u2014 or sometimes mahān arṇ<\/span>avaḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\tWe see in the third hymn the close connection between Saraswati
\n\t\t\t\tand this great water. Let us examine a little more closely this
\n\t\t\t\tconnection before we proceed to the consideration of the Vedic
\n\t\t\t\tcows and their relation to the god Indra and Saraswati’s close
\n\t\t\t\tcousin the goddess Sarama. For it is necessary to define these
\n\t\t\t\trelations before we can progress with the scrutiny of
\n\t\t\t\tMadhuchchhandas’ other hymns addressed without exception to the
\n\t\t\t\tgreat Vedic deity. King of Heaven, who, according to our
\n\t\t\t\thypothesis, symbolises the Power of Mind and especially the
\n\t\t\t\tdivine or self-luminous Mind in the human being. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Chapter IX   Saraswati and Her Consorts   THE symbolism of the Veda betrays itself with the greatest clearness in the figure of the goddess…<\/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-1912","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\/1912","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=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}