{"id":840,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=840"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:45","slug":"15-dawn-and-the-truth-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10\/15-dawn-and-the-truth-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-15_Dawn and the Truth.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

C<\/font>HAPTER <\/font>
\nXIII <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\nDawn and the Truth <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nU<\/font>SHA <\/font><\/b>is described repeatedly as the Mother
\nof the Cows. If then the cow is a Vedic symbol for the physical
\nlight or for spiritual illumination the phrase must either bear this
\nsense that she is the mother or source of the physical rays of the
\ndaylight or else that she creates the radiances of the supreme
\nDay, the splendour and clarity of the inner illumination. But we
\nsee in the Veda that Aditi, the Mother of the gods, is described
\nboth as the Cow and as the general Mother; she is the Supreme
\nLight and all radiances proceed from her. Psychologically, Aditi
\nis the supreme or infinite Consciousness, mother of the gods, in
\nopposition to Danu or Diti,\u00b9 the divided consciousness, mother
\nof Vritra and the other Danavas \u2014 enemies of the gods and of
\nman in his progress. In a more general aspect she is the source of
\nall the cosmic forms of consciousness from the physical upwards,
\nthe seven cows, sapta gāvaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> are her forms and there are, we are
\ntold, seven names and seven seats of the Mother. Usha as the
\nmother of the cows can only be a form or power of this supreme
\nLight, of this supreme Consciousness, of Aditi. And in fact, we
\ndo find her so described in I.I 13.19, mātā devānām
\naditer anīkam,
\n<\/i>"Mother of the gods, form (or, power) of Aditi". <\/p>\n

But the illumining dawn of the higher or undivided Consciousness is always
\nthe dawn of the Truth; if Usha is that illumining dawn, then we are bound to find
\nher advent frequently associated in the verses of the Rig-veda with the idea of
\nthe Truth,
\nthe ṛ<\/span>tam.<\/i>
\nAnd such association we do repeatedly find. For,
\nfirst of all, Usha is described as "following effectively the path of
\nthe Truth", ṛ<\/span>tasya
\npanthām anveti sādhu<\/i> (1.124.3). Here neither
\nthe ritualistic nor the naturalistic sense suggested for ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i> can at
\nall apply; there would be no meaning in a constant affirmation <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Not that the word Aditi is etymologically the
\nprivative of Diti; the two words derive
\nfrom entirely different roots, ad<\/i> and <\/font> di.<\/font><\/i><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 126<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

that Dawn follows the path of the sacrifice or follows the path of
\nthe. water. We can only escape from the obvious significance if
\nwe choose to understand by panthā ṛ<\/span>tasya<\/i> the path, not of the
\nTruth, but of the Sun. But the Veda describes rather the Sun as
\nfollowing the path of Usha and this would be the natural image
\nsuggested to an observer of the physical Dawn. Moreover, even
\nif the phrase did not clearly in other passages mean the path of
\nthe Truth, the psychological significance would still intervene; for
\nthe sense would then be that the dawn of illumination follows
\nthe path of the True or the Lord of the Truth, Surya Savitri. <\/p>\n

We have precisely the same idea repeated but with still
\nclearer and fuller psychological indications in 1.124.3, ṛ<\/span>tasya
\npanthām anveti sādhu, prajānatīva na diśo mināti,<\/i>
\n"She moves
\naccording to the path of the Truth and, as one that knows, she
\nlimits not the regions". Diśaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> we may note, has a double
\nsense; but it is not necessary to insist upon it here. Dawn adheres to the
\npath of the Truth and because she has this knowledge or
\nperception she does not limit the infinity, the bṛ<\/span>hat,<\/i> of which she
\nis the illumination. That this is the true sense of the verse is
\nproved beyond dispute, expressly, unmistakably, by a Rik of the
\nfifth Mandala (V.80.1) which describes Usha dyutad-yāmānam
\nbṛ<\/span>hatīm ṛ<\/span>tena ṛ<\/span>tāvarīm svar āvahantīm,<\/i>
\n"of a luminous movement,
\nvast with the Truth, supreme in (or possessed of) the Truth,
\nbringing with her Swar". We have the idea of the Vast, the idea
\nof the Truth, the idea of the solar light of the world of Swar; and
\ncertainly all these notions are thus intimately and insistently
\nassociated with no mere physical Dawn! We may compare VII.
\n75.1, vyuṣā
\nā<\/span>vo divijā ṛ<\/span>tena, āviṣ<\/span>kṛ<\/span>ṇ<\/span>vānā mahimānam
\nāgāt,<\/i> "Dawn
\nborn in heaven opens out things by the Truth, she comes manifesting the
\ngreatness". Again we have Dawn revealing all things
\nby the power of the Truth and the result described as the manifestation of a
\ncertain Vastness. <\/p>\n

Finally we have the same idea described, but with the use
\nof another word for Truth, satyā<\/i> which does not, like ṛ<\/span>tam, <\/i>lend itself to any ambiguity, satyā satyebhir mahatī mahadbhir
\ndevī devebhiḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(VII.75.7), "Dawn true in her being with the gods
\nwho are true, vast with the Gods who are vast". This "truth" of
\nthe Dawn is much insisted upon by Vamadeva in one of his <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 127<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

hymns, IV.51; for there not only does he speak of the Dawns
\n"encompassing the worlds immediately with horses yoked by the
\nTruth", ṛ<\/span>tayugbhir
\naśvaiḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(cf. VI.65.2) but he speaks of them as
\nbhadrā ṛ<\/span>tajātasatyāḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "happy, and true
\nbecause born from the
\nTruth", and in another verse he describes them as "the goddesses
\nwho awake from the seat of the Truth" (IV.51.8). <\/p>\n

This close connection of bhadra<\/i> and ṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> reminds us of the
\nsame connection of ideas in Madhuchchhandas Hymn to Agni.
\nIn our psychological interpretation of the Veda we are met at
\nevery turn by the ancient conception of the Truth as the path to
\nthe Bliss. Usha, the dawn of the illumination of the Truth, must
\nnecessarily bring also the joy and the beatitude. This idea of the
\nDawn as the bringer of delight we find constantly in the Veda
\nand Vasishtha gives a very positive expression to it in VII.81.3,
\nyā vahasipuru spārham ratnam na dāsuṣ<\/span>e mayaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "thou who bearest to the
\ngiver the beatitude as a manifold and desirable ecstasy". <\/p>\n

A common Vedic word is the word sūnṛ<\/span>tā<\/i> which Sayana
\ninterprets as "pleasant and true speech"; but it seems to have
\noften the more general sense of "happy truths". Dawn is some-
\ntimes described as ṛ<\/span>tāvarī,<\/i>
\nfull of the Truth, sometimes as
\nsūnṛ<\/span>tāvarī.<\/i>
\nShe comes uttering her true and happy words, sūnṛ<\/span>tā
\nīrayantī.<\/i> As she has been described as the leader of the radiant
\nherds and the leader of the days, so she is described as the luminous leader of
\nhappy truths, bhāsvatī netrī sūnṛ<\/span>tānām<\/i> (1.92.7).
\nAnd this close connection in the mind of the Vedic Rishis between
\nthe idea of light, of the rays or cows, and the idea of the truth is
\neven more unmistakable in another Rik, 1.92.14, gomati aśvāvati
\nvibhāvari\u2026 sūnṛ<\/span>tāvati,<\/i>
\n"Dawn with the shining herds, with thy
\nsteeds, widely luminous, full of happy truths". A similar but yet
\nmore open phrase in 1.48.2 points the significance of this collocation of
\nepithets, gomatīr aśvāvatīr viśvasuvidaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "Dawns with their
\nradiances (herds), their swiftnesses (horses), rightly knowing all
\nthings". <\/p>\n

These are by no means all the indications of the psycho-
\nlogical character of the Vedic Dawn that we find in the Rig-veda.
\nDawn is constantly represented as awakening to vision, perception, right
\nmovement. "The goddess", says Gotama Rahugana,
\n"fronts and looks upon all the worlds, the eye of vision shines <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 128<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

with an utter wideness; awakening all life for movement she discovers speech
\nfor all that thinks", viśvasya vācam avidat manāyoḥ<\/span><\/i> (1.92.9). We have here a
\nDawn that releases life and mind
\ninto their fullest wideness and we ignore the whole force of the
\nwords and phrases chosen by the Rishi if we limit the suggestion
\nto a mere picture of the reawakening of earthly life in the physical
\ndawning. And even if here the word used for the vision brought
\nby the Dawn, cakṣ<\/span>uḥ<\/span>, is<\/i> capable of
\nindicating only physical sight,
\nyet in other passages it is ketuḥ<\/span><\/i> which means perception, a perceptive vision in the mental
\nconsciousness, a faculty of knowledge.
\nUsha is pracetāh<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>,<\/i> she who has this
\nperceptive knowledge. Mother
\nof the radiances, she has created this perceptive vision of the
\nmind; gavām janitrī akṛ<\/span>ta pra ketum<\/i> (1.124.5). She is herself
\nthat vision, \u2014 "Now perceptive vision has broken out into its
\nwide dawn where nought was before", vi nūnam ucchād asati pra
\nketuḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(1.124.11). She is by her perceptive power possessed of
\nthe happy truths, cikitvit sūnṛ<\/span>tāvari<\/i> (IV. 52.4). <\/p>\n

This perception, this vision is, we are told, that of the
\nImmortality, amṛ<\/span>tasya
\nketuḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(III.61.3); it is the light, in other
\nwords, of the Truth and the Bliss which constitute the higher
\nor immortal consciousness. Night in the Veda is the symbol of
\nour obscure consciousness full of ignorance in knowledge and of
\nstumblings in will and act, therefore of all evil, sin and suffering; light is the coming of the illuminated higher consciousness which
\nleads to truth and happiness. We find constantly the opposition
\nof the two words duritam<\/i> and suvitam. Duritam<\/i> means literally
\nstumbling or wrong going, figuratively all that is wrong and evil,
\nall sin, error, calamity; suvitam<\/i> means literally right or good
\ngoing and expresses all that is good and happy, it means especially the
\nfelicity that comes by following the right path. Thus
\nVasishtha says of the goddess (VII.78.2), "Dawn comes divine
\nrepelling by the Light all darknesses and evils", viśvā tamāmsi
\nduritā,<\/i> and in a number of verses the goddess is described as
\nawakening, impelling or leading men to right going, to the
\nhappiness, suvitāya.<\/i> <\/p>\n

Therefore she is the leader not only of happy truths, but of
\nour spiritual wealth and joy, bringer of the felicity which is
\nreached by man or brought to him by the Truth, eṣ<\/span>ā netrī rādhasaḥ<\/span> <\/i> <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 129<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\nsūnṛ<\/span>tānām<\/i>
\n(VII.76.7). This wealth for which the Rishis
\npray is described under the figure of material riches; it is gomad
\naśvāvad vīravad<\/i> or it is gomad aśvāvad
\nrathavacca rādhaḥ<\/span>.
\nGo, <\/i>the cow, aśva,<\/i> the horse, prajā <\/i>or apatya,<\/i>
\nthe offspring, nṛ<\/span><\/i>
\nor
\nvīra,<\/i> the man or hero, hiraṇ<\/span>y<\/span>a,<\/i> gold, ratha,<\/i> the chariot,
\nśravas,
\n\u2014<\/i> food or fame, according to the ritualist interpretation, \u2014
\nthese are the constituents of the wealth desired by the Vedic sages.
\nNothing, it would seem, could be more matter-of-fact, earthy,
\nmaterial; these are indeed the blessings for which a race of lusty
\nbarbarians full of vigorous appetite, avid of earth’s goods would
\npray to their primitive gods. But we have seen that hiraṇ<\/span>ya<\/i> is
\nused in another sense than that of earthly gold. We have seen
\nthat the "cows" return constantly in connection with the Dawn
\nas a figure for the Light and we have seen that this light is connected with
\nmental vision and with the truth that brings the bliss.
\nAnd aśva,<\/i> the horse, is always in these concrete images of psychological
\nsuggestions coupled with the symbolic figure of the cows: <\/p>\n

Dawn is gomatī aśvāvatī.<\/i> Vasishtha has a verse
\n(VII.77.3) in
\nwhich the symbolic sense of the Vedic Horse comes out with
\ngreat power and clearness,\u2014 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDevānām cakṣ<\/span>ụ<\/span>h
\nsubhagā vahantī,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\tśvetam nayantī sudṛś<\/span>ikam aśvam;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

uṣā<\/span> adarśi raśmibhir vyaktā<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\tcitrāmaghā viśvam anu
\nprabhūtā.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"Happy, bringing the gods’ eye of vision, leading the white
\nHorse that has perfect sight. Dawn is seen expressed entirely by
\nthe rays, full of her varied riches, manifesting her birth in all
\nthings." It is clear enough that the white horse (a phrase applied
\nto the god Agni who is the Seer-Will, kavikratu,<\/i> the perfectly-
\nseeing force of divine will in its works (V.I 1.4) is entirely symbolical\u00b9 and that the "varied riches" she brings with her are also
\na figure and certainly do not mean physical wealth. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>The symbolism of the horse is
\nquite evident in the hymns of Dirghatamas to the Horse
\nof the Sacrifice, the hymns of various Rishis to the Horse Dadhikravan and
\nagain in the
\nopening of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in which "Dawn is the head of the
\nHorse" is the
\nfirst phrase of a very elaborate figure. <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 130<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Dawn is described as gomatī aśvāvati vīravatī;<\/i>
\nand since the
\nepithets gomatī<\/i> and aśvāvatī<\/i> applied to her
\nare symbolical and
\nmean not "cowful and horsed", but radiant with illuminations
\nof knowledge and accompanied by the swiftnesses of force, so
\nvīravatī<\/i> cannot mean "man-accompanied" or
\naccompanied by
\nheroes or servants or sons, but rather signifies that she is attended
\nby conquering energies or at any rate is used in some kindred
\nand symbolic sense. This becomes quite evident in 1.113.18,
\nyā gomatīr uṣ<\/span>asaḥ<\/span>, sarvavīrāḥ<\/span>…tā aśvadā aśnavat
\nsomasutvā.<\/i> It
\ndoes not mean "the Dawns that have cows and all men or all
\nservants, those a man, having offered the Soma, enjoys as horse-
\ngivers." The Dawn is the inner dawn which brings to man all
\nthe varied fullnesses of his widest being, force, consciousness,
\njoy; it is radiant with its illuminations, it is accompanied by all
\npossible powers and energies, it gives man the full force of vitality
\nso that he can enjoy the infinite delight of that vaster existence. <\/p>\n

We can no longer take gomad aśvāvad vīravad rādhaḥ<\/span><\/i> in a
\nphysical sense; the very language of the Veda points us to quite
\nanother truth. Therefore the other circumstances of this god-
\ngiven wealth must be taken equally in a spiritual significance; the offspring, gold, chariots are symbolical; śravas<\/i> is not fame
\nor
\nfood, but bears its psychological sense and means the higher
\nknowledge which comes not to the senses or the intellect, but to
\nthe divine hearing and the divine vision of the Truth; rādhaḥ<\/span> <\/span>dīrghaśruttamam<\/i> (VII.81.5), rayim śravasyum<\/i>
\n(VII.75.2) is that
\nrich state of being, that spiritually opulent felicity which turns
\ntowards the knowledge (śravasyu)<\/i> and has a far-extended hearing
\nfor the vibrations of the Word that comes to us from the regions
\n(diśaḥ<\/span>)<\/i>
\nof the Infinite. Thus the luminous figure of the Dawn
\nliberates us from the material, ritual, ignorant misunderstanding
\nof the Veda which would lead us stumbling from pitfall to pitfall
\nin a very night of chaos and obscurity; it opens to us the closed
\ndoor and admits to the heart of the Vedic knowledge. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nPage \u2013 131<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER XIII Dawn and the Truth   USHA is described repeatedly as the Mother of the Cows. If then the cow is a Vedic symbol…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","wpcat-17-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840","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=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}