{"id":847,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=847"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:47","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:47","slug":"28-indra-and-the-thought-forces-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\/28-indra-and-the-thought-forces-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-28_Indra and the Thought Forces.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nIII <\/font> 
\n\t\t<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nINDRA AND THE THOUGHT-FORCES <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nRig-veda 1.171<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

 
\n   <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    \n\tTo you I come with this obeisance, by the perfect word I
    \nseek right mentality from the swift in the passage. Take delight, O   Maruts, in the things of knowledge, lay aside your
    \nwrath, unyoke your steeds.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \n <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      \n\tLo, the hymn of your affirmation, O   Maruts; it is fraught
      \nwith my obeisance, it was framed by the heart, it was established by the mind, O   ye gods. Approach these my words
      \nand embrace them with the mind; for of submission\u00b9 are you
      \nthe increasers.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \n <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \n

        \n\tAffirmed let the Maruts be benign to us, affirmed the lord of
        \nplenitude has become wholly creative of felicity. Upward may our desirable
        \ndelights\u00b2 be uplifted, O   Maruts, upward
        \nall our days by the will towards victory.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \n\u00b9<\/font>Namasaḥ.<\/i> Sayana takes namas<\/i> throughout in his favourite sense, food; for "increasers
        \nof salutation" is obviously impossible. It is evident from this and other passages that behind
        \nthe physical sense of obeisance the word carries with it a psychological significance which here
        \ndisengages itself clearly from the concrete figure.<\/font><\/p>\n

        \n\u00b2<\/font>Vanani.<\/i> The word means both "forests" and "enjoyments" or as an adjective, "enjoy   
        \nable". It has commonly the double sense in the Veda, the "pleasant growths" of our physical
        \nexistence, romā pṛthivyāḥ <\/i><\/font>  
        \n <\/p>\n

        \nPage \u2013254<\/font><\/p>\n

        \n

        \n <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \n

          \n\tI, mastered by this mighty one, trembling with the fear of Indra, O   Maruts, put far away the offerings that for you had
          \nbeen made intense. Let your grace be upon us.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \n <\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \n

            \n\tThou by whom the movements of the mind grow conscient
            \nand brilliant\u00b9 in our mornings through the bright power<\/font>\u00b2<\/font> of
            \nthe continuous Dawns, O   Bull of the herd\u00b3 establish by the
            \nMaruts inspired knowledge in us \u2014 by them in their energy
            \nthou energetic, steadfast, a giver of might.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            \n <\/p>\n

              \n
            1. \n

              \n\tDo thou, O   Indra, protect the Powers<\/font>4<\/font><\/sup> in their increased
              \nmight; put away thy wrath against the Maruts, by them in
              \nthy forcefulness upheld, who have right perceptions. May
              \nwe find the strong impulsion that shall break swiftly through.<\/font> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              \n\u00b9<\/font>Usrāḥ.<\/i> In the feminine the word is used as a synonym for the Vedic go,<\/i> meaning at
              \nonce Cow and ray of light. Uṣāḥ,<\/i> the Dawn, also, is gomatī,<\/i> girt with rays or accompanied by
              \nthe herds of the Sun. There is in the text a significant assonance, usrā vi-uṣṭiṣu,<\/i> one of the common devices used by the Vedic Rishis to suggest a thought or a connection which they do not
              \nconsider it essential to bring out expressly. <\/font><\/p>\n

              \n\u00b2<\/font>Śavasā.<\/i> There are a host of words in the Veda for strength, force, power and each of
              \nthem carries with it its own peculiar shade of significance. Śavas<\/i> usually conveys the idea of
              \nlight as well as force. <\/font><\/p>\n

              \n\u00b3<\/font>Vṛṣabha.<\/i> Bull, Male, Lord or Puissant. Indra is constantly spoken of as vṛṣabha or
              \nvṛ̣̣ṣan.<\/i> The word is sometimes used by itself, as here, sometimes with another governed by it to
              \nbring out the idea of the herds, e.g. vṛṣabhaḥ matīnām.<\/i> Lord of the thoughts, where the image
              \nof the bull and the herd is plainly intended. <\/font><\/p>\n

              \n4<\/sup>Nṛn.<\/i> The word nr<\/i> seems to have meant originally active, swift or strong. We have
              \nnṛmṇa,<\/i> strength, and nṛtamo nṛṇām,<\/i> most puissant of the Powers. It came afterwards to mean
              \nmale or man and in the Veda is oftenest applied to the gods as the male powers or Purushas
              \npresiding over the energies of Nature as opposed to the female powers, who are called
              \ngnāḥ
              \n<\/i>or gnāvaḥ.<\/i> <\/font> <\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013255<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

                                                                                                                        
              \nCOMMENTARY<\/b><\/font>
              \n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

              \nA Sequel to the colloquy of Indra and Agastya, this Sukta is
              \nAgastya’s hymn of propitiation to the Maruts whose sacrifice
              \nhe had interrupted at the bidding of the mightier deity. Less
              \ndirectly, it is connected in thought with the 165th hymn of the
              \n(First) Mandala, the colloquy of Indra and the Maruts, in which
              \nthe supremacy of the Lord of Heaven is declared and these
              \nlesser shining hosts are admitted as subordinate powers who
              \nimpart to men their impulsion towards the high truths which
              \nbelong to Indra. "Giving the energy of your breath to their
              \nthoughts of varied light, become in them impellers to the know   
              \nledge of my truths. Whensoever the doer becomes active for
              \nthe work and the intelligence of the thinker creates us in him, O   Maruts, move surely towards that illumined seer", \u2014 such is
              \nthe closing word of the colloquy, the final injunction of Indra
              \nto the inferior deities.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nThese verses fix clearly enough the psychological function of
              \nthe Maruts. They are not properly gods of thought, rather gods
              \nof energy; still, it is in the mind that their energies become effective. To the uninstructed Aryan worshipper, the Maruts were
              \npowers of wind, storm and rain; it is the images of the tempest
              \nthat are most commonly applied to them and they are spoken of
              \nas the Rudras, the fierce, impetuous ones, \u2014 a name that they
              \nshare with the god of Force, Agni. Although Indra is described
              \nsometimes as the eldest of the Maruts, \u2014 indrajyes<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>t<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>ho marudgan<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>ah<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>, \u2014<\/i> yet they would seem at first to belong rather to the
              \ndomain of Vayu, the Wind-God, who in the Vedic system is the
              \nMaster of Life, inspirer of that Breath or dynamic energy, called
              \nthe Prana, which is represented in man by the vital and nervous
              \nactivities. But this is only a part of their physiognomy. Brilliance, no less than impetuosity, is their characteristic. Everything
              \nabout them is lustrous, themselves, their shining weapons, their
              \ngolden ornaments, their resplendent cars. Not only do they send
              \ndown the rain, the waters, the abundance of heaven, and break
              \ndown the things best established to make way for new movements and new formations, \u2014 functions which, for the rest,<\/font>
              \n <\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013256<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nthey share with other gods, Indra, Mitra, Varuna, \u2014 but, like
              \nthem, they also are friends of Truth, creators of Light. It is so
              \nthat the Rishi, Gotama Rahugana, prays to them, <\/b> "O   ye who
              \nhave the flashing strength of the Truth, manifest that by your
              \nmight; pierce with your lightning the Rakshasa. Conceal the
              \nconcealing darkness, repel every devourer, create the Light for
              \nwhich we long" (I.86;9,10  ). And in another hymn, Agastya says
              \nto them, "They carry with them the sweetness (of the Ananda)
              \nas their eternal offspring and play out their play, brilliant in the
              \nactivities of knowledge" (1.166.2). The Maruts, therefore, are
              \nenergies of the mentality, energies which make for knowledge.
              \nTheirs is not the settled truth, the diffused light, but the movement, the search, the lightning-flash, and, when Truth is found,
              \nthe many-sided play of its separate illuminations.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nWe have seen that Agastya in his colloquy with Indra speaks
              \nmore than once of the Maruts. They are Indra’s brothers, and
              \ntherefore the god should not strike at Agastya in his struggle
              \ntowards perfection. They are his instruments for that perfection, and as such Indra should use them. And in the closing
              \nformula of submission and reconciliation, he prays to the god
              \nto parley again with the Maruts and to agree with them so that
              \nthe sacrifice may proceed in the order and movement of the
              \ndivine Truth towards which it is directed. The crisis, then, that
              \nleft so powerful an impression on the mind of the seer, was in the
              \nnature of a violent struggle in which the higher divine Power
              \nconfronted Agastya and the Maruts and opposed their impetuous advance. There has been wrath and strife between the divine
              \nIntelligence that governs the world and the vehement aspiring
              \npowers of Agastya’s mind. Both would have the human being
              \nreach his goal; but not as the inferior divine powers choose
              \nmust that march be directed, \u2014 rather as it has been firmly
              \nwilled and settled above by the secret Intelligence that always
              \npossesses for the manifested intelligence that still seeks. There   
              \nfore the mind of the human being has been turned into a battle   
              \nfield for greater Powers and is still quivering with the awe and
              \nalarm of that experience.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nThe submission to Indra has been made; Agastya now
              \nappeals to the Maruts to accept the terms of the reconciliation,<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013257<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nso that the full harmony of his inner being may be restored.
              \n<\/b>He
              \n<\/b>approaches them with the submission he has rendered to the
              \ngreater god and extends it to their brilliant legions. The perfection of the mental state and its powers which he desires, their
              \nclearness, rectitude, truth-observing energy, is not possible with   
              \nout the swift coursing of the Thought-Forces in their movement
              \ntowards the higher knowledge. But that movement, mistakenly
              \ndirected, not rightly illumined, has been checked by the formidable opposition of Indra and has departed for a time out of
              \nAgastya’s mentality. Thus repelled, the Maruts have left him for
              \nother sacrificers; elsewhere shine their resplendent chariots, in
              \nother fields thunder the hooves of their wind-footed steeds. The
              \nSeer prays to them to put aside their wrath, to take pleasure once
              \nmore in the pursuit of knowledge and in its activities; not passing
              \nhim by any more, let them unyoke their steeds, descend and take
              \ntheir place on the seat of the sacrifice, assume their share of the
              \nofferings.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nFor he would confirm again in himself these splendid energies, and it is a hymn of affirmation that he offers them, the
              \nstoma<\/i> of the Vedic sages. In the system of the Mystics, which
              \nhas partially survived in the schools of Indian Yoga, the Word
              \nis a power, the Word creates. For all creation is expression,
              \neverything exists already in the secret abode of the Infinite, guhā
              \nhitam,<\/i> and has only to be brought out here in apparent form
              \nby the active consciousness. Certain schools of Vedic thought
              \neven suppose the worlds to have been created by the goddess
              \nWord and sound as first etheric vibration to have preceded
              \nformation. In the Veda itself there are passages which treat the
              \npoetic measures of the sacred mantras, \u2014 anus<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>t<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>ubh, tris<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>t<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>ubh,
              \njagatī, gāyatrī, \u2014<\/i> as symbolic of the rhythms in which the universal movement of things is cast.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nBy expression then we create and men are even said to create
              \nthe gods in themselves by the mantra. Again, that which we have created in our
              \nconsciousness by the Word, we can fix there by the
              \nWord to become part of ourselves and effective not only in our
              \ninner life but upon the outer physical world. By expression we
              \nform, by affirmation we establish. As a power of expression the
              \nword is termed gīh<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font> or vacas;<\/i> as a power of affirmation, stoma.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013258<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nIn either aspect it is named manma<\/i> or mantra,<\/i> expression of
              \nthought in mind, and brahman,<\/i> expression of the heart or the
              \nsoul, \u2014 for this seems to have been the earlier sense of the word
              \nbrahman,<\/i><\/font>\u00b9<\/font> afterwards applied to the Supreme Soul or Universal
              \nBeing.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nThe process of formation of the mantra is described in the
              \nsecond verse along with the conditions of its effectivity. Agastya
              \npresents the stoma,<\/i> hymn at once of affirmation and of sub   
              \nmission, to the Maruts. Fashioned by the heart, it receives its
              \njust place in the mentality through confirmation by the mind.
              \nThe mantra, though it expresses thought in mind, is not in its
              \nessential part a creation of the intellect. To be the sacred and
              \neffective word, it must have come as an inspiration from the
              \nsupramental plane, termed in Veda, r<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>tam,<\/i> the Truth, and have
              \nbeen received into the superficial consciousness either through
              \nthe heart or by the luminous intelligence, manīs<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>ā.<\/i> The heart in
              \nVedic psychology is not restricted to the seat of the emotions; it
              \nincludes all that large tract of spontaneous mentality, nearest to
              \nthe subconscient in us, out of which rise the sensations, emotions,
              \ninstincts, impulses and all those intuitions and inspirations that
              \ntravel through these agencies before they arrive at form in the
              \nintelligence. This is the "heart" of Veda and Vedanta, hr<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>daya,
              \nhr<\/i><\/font>̣<\/i><\/font>d,<\/i> or brahman.<\/i> There in the present state of mankind the
              \nPurusha is supposed to be seated centrally. Nearer to the vast   
              \nness of the subconscient, it is there that, in ordinary mankind,
              \n\u2014 man not yet exalted to a higher plane where the contact with
              \nthe Infinite is luminous, intimate and direct, \u2014 the inspirations
              \nof the Universal Soul can most easily enter in and most swiftly
              \ntake possession of the individual soul. It is therefore by the
              \npower of the heart that the mantra takes form. But it has to be
              \nreceived and held in the thought of the intelligence as well as in
              \nthe perceptions of the heart; for not till the intelligence has accepted and even brooded upon it, can that truth of thought which
              \nthe truth of the Word expresses be firmly possessed or normally
              \neffective. Fashioned by the heart, it is confirmed by the mind.<\/font><\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

              \n\u00b9<\/font>Also
              \nfound in the form bṛh ̣<\/i>(Brihaspati, Brahmanaspati); and there seem to have been
              \nolder forms, bṛhan<\/i> and brahan.<\/i> It is from brahan<\/i> (gen. brahnas)<\/i> that, in all probability, we
              \nhave the Greek phren, phrenos,<\/i> signifying mind.<\/font>
              \n <\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013259<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nBut another approval is also needed. The individual mind
              \nhas accepted; the effective powers of the Cosmos must also
              \naccept. The words of the hymn retained by the mind form a
              \nbasis for the new mental posture from which the future thought   
              \nenergies have to proceed. The Maruts must approach them and
              \ntake their stand upon them, the mind of these universal Powers
              \napprove and unite itself with the formations in the mind of the
              \nindividual. So only can our inner or our outer action have its
              \nsupreme effectivity.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nNor have the Maruts any reason to refuse their assent or to
              \npersist in the prolongation of discord. Divine powers who them   
              \nselves obey a higher law than the personal impulse, it should be
              \ntheir function, as it is their essential nature, to assist the mortal
              \nin his surrender to the Immortal and increase obedience to the
              \nTruth, the Vast towards which his human faculties aspire.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nIndra, affirmed and accepted, is no longer in his contact with
              \nthe mortal a cause of suffering; the divine touch is now utterly
              \ncreative of peace and felicity. The Maruts too, affirmed and
              \naccepted, must put aside their violence. Assuming their gentler
              \nforms, benignant in their action, not leading the soul through
              \nstrife and disturbance, they too must become purely beneficent
              \nas well as puissant agencies.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nThis complete harmony established, Agastya’s Yoga will
              \nproceed triumphantly on the new and straight path prescribed to
              \nit. It is always the elevation to a higher plane that is the end, \u2014
              \nhigher than the ordinary life of divided and egoistic sensation,
              \nemotion, thought and action. And it is to be pursued always
              \nwith the same puissant will towards victory over all that resists
              \nand hampers. But it must be an integral exaltation. All the joys
              \nthat the human being seeks with his desire, all the active energies
              \nof his waking consciousness, \u2014 his days, as it is expressed in the
              \nbrief symbolic language of the Veda, \u2014 must be uplifted to that
              \nhigher plane. By vanāni<\/i> are meant the receptive sensations seeking in all objectivities the Ananda whose quest is their reason for
              \nexistence. These, too, are not excluded. Nothing has to be rejected, all has to be raised to the pure levels of the divine consciousness.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nFormerly Agastya had prepared the sacrifice for the Maruts<\/font>
              \n <\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013260<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nunder other conditions. He had put their full potentiality
              \nof force
              \ninto all in him that he sought to place in the hands of the
              \nThought-Powers; but because of the defect in his sacrifice he
              \nhad been met midway by the Mighty One as by an enemy and
              \nonly after fear and strong suffering had his eyes been opened and
              \nhis soul surrendered. Still vibrating with the emotions of that
              \nexperience, he has been compelled to renounce the activities
              \nwhich he had so puissantly prepared. Now he offers the sacrifice again to the Maruts, but couples with that brilliant Name
              \nthe more puissant godhead of Indra. Let the Maruts then bear
              \nno wrath for the interrupted sacrifice but accept this new and
              \nmore justly guided action.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nAgastya turns, in the two closing verses, from the Maruts
              \nto Indra. The Maruts represent the progressive illumination
              \nof human mentality, until from the first obscure movements of
              \nmind which only just emerge out of the darkness of the sub   
              \nconscient, they are transformed into an image of the luminous
              \nconsciousness of which Indra is the Purusha, the representative
              \nBeing. Obscure, they become conscient; twilit, half-lit or turned
              \ninto misleading reflections, they surmount these deficiencies and
              \nput on the divine brilliance. This great evolution is effected in
              \nTime gradually, in the mornings of the human spirit, by the un   
              \nbroken succession of the Dawns. For Dawn in the Veda is the
              \ngoddess symbolic of new openings of divine illumination on
              \nman’s physical consciousness. She alternates with her sister
              \nNight; but that darkness itself is a mother of light and always
              \nDawn comes to reveal what the black-browed Mother has prepared. Here, however, the seer seems to speak of continuous
              \ndawns, not broken by these intervals of apparent rest and obscurity. By the brilliant force of that continuity of successive illuminations the mentality of man ascends swiftly into fullest light.
              \nBut always the force which has governed and made possible the
              \ntransformation, is the puissance of Indra. It is that supreme
              \nIntelligence which through the Dawns, through the Maruts,
              \nhas been pouring itself into the human being. Indra is the Bull
              \nof the radiant herd, the Master of the thought-energies, the Lord
              \nof the luminous dawns.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nNow also let Indra use the Maruts as his instruments for<\/font>
              \n <\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013261<\/font><\/p>\n

              \n

              \nthe illumination. By them let him establish the supramental
              \nknowledge of the seer. By their energy his energy will be sup   
              \nported in the human nature and he will give that nature his divine
              \nfirmness, his divine force, so that it may not stumble under the
              \nshock or fail to contain the vaster play of puissant activities too
              \ngreat for our ordinary capacity.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nThe Maruts, thus reinforced in strength, will always need
              \nthe guidance and protection of the superior Power. They are
              \nthe Purushas of the separate thought-energies, Indra the one
              \nPurusha of all thought-energy. In him they find their fullness
              \nand their harmony. Let there then be no longer strife and disagreement between this whole and these parts. The Maruts,
              \naccepting Indra, will receive from him the right perception of the
              \nthings that have to be known. They will not be misled by the
              \nbrilliance of a partial light or carried too far by the absorption
              \nof a limited energy. They will be able to sustain the action of
              \nIndra as he puts forth his force against all that may yet stand
              \nbetween the soul and its consummation.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nSo in the harmony of these divine Powers and their aspirations may humanity find that impulsion which shall be strong
              \nenough to break through the myriad oppositions of this world
              \nand, in the individual with his composite personality or in the
              \nrace, pass rapidly on towards the goal so constantly glimpsed but
              \nso distant even to him who seems to himself almost to have
              \nattained.<\/font><\/p>\n

              \nPage \u2013262<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              III   INDRA AND THE THOUGHT-FORCES   Rig-veda 1.171       To you I come with this obeisance, by the perfect word I seek…<\/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-847","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\/847","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=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}