{"id":880,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=880"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:59","slug":"22-the-hound-of-heaven-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\/22-the-hound-of-heaven-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-22_The Hound of Heaven.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nC<\/font>HAPTER <\/font>
\nXX <\/font> <\/b> <\/p>\n


\nThe Hound of Heaven <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nT<\/font>HERE
\n<\/font> <\/b>yet remain two constant
\nfeatures of
\nthe Angirasa legend with regard to which we have to acquire a
\nlittle farther light in order to master entirely this Vedic conception
\nof the Truth and the discovery of the illuminations of the Dawn
\nby the primeval Fathers; we have to fix the identity of Sarama
\nand the exact function of the Panis, two problems of Vedic interpretation which
\nare very closely related to each other. That
\nSarama is some power of the Light and probably of the Dawn is
\nvery clear; for once we know that the struggle between Indra
\nand the original Aryan seers on the one hand and the sons of the
\nCave on the other is no strange deformation of primitive Indian
\nhistory but a symbolic struggle between the powers of Light and
\nDarkness, Sarama who leads in the search for the radiant herds
\nand discovers both the path and the secret hold in the mountain
\nmust be a forerunner of the dawn of Truth in the human mind.
\nAnd if we ask ourselves what power among the truth-finding
\nfaculties it is that thus discovers out of the darkness of the un-
\nknown in our being the truth that is hidden in it, we at once
\nthink of the intuition. For Sarama is not Saraswati, she is not
\nthe inspiration, even though the names are similar. Saraswati
\ngives the full flood of the knowledge; she is or awakens the great
\nstream, maho arṇ<\/span>aḥ<\/span>,<\/i> and illumines with
\nplenitude all the thoughts,
\nviśvā dhiyo vi rājati.<\/i> Saraswati possesses and is the
\nflood of the
\nTruth; Sarama is the traveller and seeker on its path who does
\nnot herself possess but rather finds that which is lost. Neither is
\nshe the plenary word of the revelation, the Teacher of man like
\nthe goddess Ila; for even when what she seeks is found, she does
\nnot take possession but only gives the message to the seers and
\ntheir divine helpers who have still to fight for the possession of
\nthe light that has been discovered. <\/p>\n

Let us see, however, what the Veda itself says of Sarama. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 203<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

There is a verse (5) in 1.104, which does not mention her name,
\nnor is the hymn itself about the Angirasas or Panis, yet the line
\ndescribes accurately enough the part attributed to her in the
\nVeda: \u2014"When this guide became visible, she went, knowing,
\ntowards the seat that is as if the home of the Dasyu", prati yat
\nsyā
\nnīthā adarśi dasyor oko na acchā sadanam jānāti gāt.<\/i>
\nThese are
\nthe two essential characteristics of Sarama; the knowledge comes
\nto her beforehand, before vision, springs up instinctively at the
\nleast indication and with that knowledge she guides the rest of
\nthe faculties and divine powers that seek. And she leads to that
\nseat, sadanam,<\/i> the home of the Destroyers, which is at the other
\npole of existence to the seat of the Truth, sadanam ṛ<\/span>tasya,<\/i> in the
\ncave or secret place of darkness, guhāyām,<\/i> just as the home of
\nthe gods is in the cave or secrecy of light. In other words, she is
\na power descended from the superconscient Truth which leads
\nus to the light that is hidden in ourselves, in the subconscient.
\nAll these characteristics apply exactly to the intuition. <\/p>\n

Sarama is mentioned by name only in a few hymns of the
\nVeda, and invariably in connection with the achievement of the
\nAngirasas or the winning of the highest planes of existence. The
\nmost important of these hymns is the Sukta of the Atris we have
\nalready had to take note of in our scrutiny of the Navagwa and
\nDashagwa Angirasas, V.45, The first three verses summarise
\nthe great achievement. "Severing the hill of heaven by the words
\nhe found them, yea, the radiant ones of the arriving Dawn went
\nabroad; he uncovered those that were in the pen, Swar rose
\nup; a god opened the human doors. The Sun attained widely
\nto strength and glory; the Mother of the Cows (the Dawn),
\nknowing, came from the wideness; the rivers became rushing
\nfloods, floods that cleft (their channel), heaven was made
\nfirm like a well-shaped pillar. To this word the contents of
\nthe pregnant hill (came forth) for the supreme birth of the
\nGreat Ones (the rivers or, less probably, the dawns); the hill parted asunder,
\nheaven was perfected (or, accomplished itself); they lodged (upon earth) and distributed the largeness."
\nIt is of Indra and the Angirasas that the Rishi is speaking,
\nas the rest of the hymn shows and as is indeed evident
\nfrom the expressions used; for these are the usual formulas of <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 204<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

the Angirasa mythus and repeat the exact expressions that are
\nconstantly used in the hymns of the delivery of the Dawn, the
\nCows and the Sun. We know already what they mean. The hill
\nof our already formed triple existence which rises into heaven at
\nits summit is rent asunder by Indra and the hidden illuminations
\ngo abroad; Swar, the higher heaven of the superconscient, is
\nmanifested by the upward streaming of the brilliant herds. The
\nsun of Truth diffuses all the strength and glory of its light, the
\ninner Dawn comes from the luminous wideness instinct with
\nknowledge, \u2014jānatī gāt,<\/i> the same phrase that is used of
\nher who
\nleads to the house of the Dasyu in 1.104.5; and of Sarama in
\nIII. 31.6, \u2014the rivers of the Truth, representing the outflow of
\nits being and its movement (ṛ<\/span>tasya preṣā<\/span>),<\/i>
\ndescend in their rushing
\nstreams and make a channel here for their waters; heaven, the
\nmental being, is perfected and made firm like a well-shaped pillar
\nto support the vast Truth of the higher or immortal life that is
\nnow made manifest and the largeness of that Truth is lodged here
\nin all the physical being. The delivery of the pregnant contents
\nof the hill, parvatasya garbhaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> the illuminations constituting
\nthe seven-headed thought, ṛ<\/span>tasya dhītiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> which come forth in
\nanswer to the inspired word, leads to the supreme birth of the
\nseven great rivers who constitute the substance of the Truth put
\ninto active movement, ṛ<\/span>tasya
\npreṣā<\/span>.<\/i> <\/p>\n

Then after the invocation of Indra and Agni by the "words
\nof perfect speech that are loved of the gods", \u2014 for by those
\nwords the Maruts\u00b9 perform the sacrifices as seers who by their
\nseer-knowledge do well the sacrificial work, ukthebhir hi ṣ<\/span>mā
\nkavayaḥ<\/span> suyaj\u00f1āḥ<\/span>…maruto yajanti,<\/i> (Rik
\n4) \u2014 the Rishi next puts
\ninto the mouth of men an exhortation and mutual encouragement to do even as the
\nFathers and attain the same divine results.
\n"Come now, today let us become perfected in thought, let us
\ndestroy suffering and unease, let us embrace the higher good",
\neto nu adya sudhyo bhavāma, pra ducchunā minavāmā varīyaḥ<\/span>;<\/i> "far from us let us put always all hostile things (all the things
\nthat attack and divide, dveṣā<\/span>msi);<\/i> let us go forward towards the
\nMaster of the sacrifice. Come, let us create the Thought, O
\nfriends, (obviously, the seven-headed Angirasa-thought), which <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/span><\/font>The
\nthought-attaining powers of the Life as will appear hereafter.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 205<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

is the Mother (Aditi or the Dawn) and removes the screening pen
\nof the Cow" (Riks 5,6). The significance is clear enough; it is in
\nsuch passages as these that the inner sense of the Veda half disengages itself
\nfrom the veil of the symbol. <\/p>\n

Then the Rishi speaks of the great and ancient example
\nwhich men are called upon to repeat, the example of the Angirasas, the
\nachievement of Sarama. "Here the stone was set in
\nmotion whereby the Navagwas chanted the hymn for the ten
\nmonths, Sarama going to the Truth found the cows, the Angirasa
\nmade all things true. When in the dawning of this vast One
\n(Usha representing the infinite Aditi, mātā devānām
\naditer
\nanīkam)<\/i> all the Angirasas came together with the cows (or
\nrather, perhaps by the illuminations represented in the symbol
\nof the cows or Rays); there was the fountain of these (illuminations) in the
\nsupreme world; by the path of the Truth Sarama
\nfound the cows" (Riks 7,8). Here we see that it is through the
\nmovement of Sarama going straight to the Truth by the path
\nof the Truth, that the seven seers, representing the seven-headed
\nor seven-rayed thought of Ayasya and Brihaspati, find all the
\nconcealed illuminations and by force of these illuminations they
\nall come together, as we have been already told by Vasishtha,
\nin the level wideness, samāne ūrve,<\/i> from which the Dawn has
\ndescended with the knowledge, ūrvād jānatī gāt<\/i>
\n(Rik 2) or, as it
\nis here expressed, in the dawning of this vast One, that is to say,
\nin the infinite consciousness. There, as Vasishtha has said, they,
\nunited, agree in knowledge and do not strive together, sangatāsaḥ<\/span> <\/span>sam jānate na yatante mithas te<\/i> (VII.76.5), that is to say, the
\nseven become as one, as is indicated in another hymn; they
\nbecome the one seven-mouthed Angirasa, an image corresponding to that of the
\nseven-headed thought, and it is this single
\nunified Angirasa who makes all things true as the result of
\nSarama’s discovery (verse 7). The harmonised, united, perfected
\nSeer-Will corrects all falsehood and crookedness and turns all
\nthought, life, action into terms of the Truth. In this hymn
\nalso the action of Sarama is precisely that of the Intuition which
\ngoes straight to the Truth by the straight path of the Truth and
\nnot through the crooked paths of doubt and error and which delivers the Truth
\nout of the veil of darkness and false appearances; <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 206<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

it is through the illuminations discovered by her that the
\nSeer-mind can attain to the complete revelation of the Truth.
\nThe rest of the hymn speaks of the rising of the seven-horsed
\nSun towards his "field which spreads wide for him at the end
\nof the long journey", the attainment of the swift Bird to the
\nSoma and of the young Seer to that field of the luminous cows,
\nthe Sun’s ascent to the "luminous Ocean", its crossing over it
\n"like a ship guided by the thinkers" and the descent upon man of
\nthe water of that ocean in response to their call. In those waters
\nthe sevenfold thought of the Angirasa is established by the
\nhuman seer. If we remember that the Sun represents the light
\nof the superconscient or truth-conscious knowledge and the
\nluminous ocean the realms of the superconscient with their thrice
\nseven seats of the Mother Aditi, the sense of these symbolic expressions\u00b9 will not be difficult to understand. It is the highest
\nattainment of the supreme goal which follows upon the complete
\nachievement of the Angirasas, their united ascent to the plane
\nof the Truth, just as that achievement follows upon the discovery
\nof the herds by Sarama. <\/p>\n

Another hymn of great importance in this connection is
\nthe thirty-first of the third Mandala, by Vishwamitra. "Agni
\nthe (Divine Force) is born quivering with his flame of the offering
\nfor sacrifice to the great Sons of the Shining One (the Deva,
\nRudra); great is the child of them, a vast birth; there is a great
\nmovement of the Driver of the shining steeds (Indra, the Divine
\nMind) by the sacrifices. The conquering (dawns) cleave to him
\nin his struggle, they deliver by knowledge a great light out of the
\ndarkness; knowing the Dawns rise up to him, Indra has become
\nthe one lord of the luminous cows. The cows who were in the
\nstrong place (of the Panis) the thinkers clove out; by the mind
\nthe seven seers set them moving forward (or upwards towards
\nthe supreme), they found the entire path (goal or field of travel)
\nof the Truth; knowing those (supreme seats of the Truth) Indra
\nby the obeisance entered into them", vīḷ<\/span>au satīr abhi dhīrā
\natṛ<\/span>ndan, prācā
\nahinvan manasā sapta viprāḥ<\/span>; viśvām avindan pathyām<\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>It is in this sense that
\nwe can easily understand many now obscure expressions of the
\nVeda, e.g. VIII.68.9, "May we conquer by thy aid in our battles the great
\nwealth in the waters
\nand the Sun", apsu sūrye mahad dhanam.<\/i><\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 207<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

ṛ<\/span>tasya,
\nprajānan it tā namasā viveśa<\/i> (Riks 3-5). This is, as
\nusual, the great birth, the great light, the great divine movement
\nof the Truth-knowledge with the finding of the goal and the
\nentry of the gods and the seers into the supreme planes above.
\nNext we have the part of Sarama in this work. "When Sarama
\nfound the broken place of the hill, he (or perhaps she, Sarama)
\nmade continuous the great and supreme goal. She, the fair-footed, led him to the front of the imperishable ones (the un-
\nslayable cows of the Dawn); first she went, knowing, towards
\ntheir cry" (Rik 6). It is again the Intuition that leads; knowing,
\nshe speeds at once and in front of all towards the voice of the
\nconcealed illuminations, towards the place where the hill so firmly formed and
\nimpervious in appearance (vīḷ<\/span>u, dṛ<\/span>l<\/span>̣<\/span>hā)<\/i> is broken
\nand can admit the seekers. <\/p>\n

The rest of the hymn continues to describe the achievement
\nof the Angirasas and Indra. "He went, the greatest seer of them
\nall, doing them friendship; the pregnant hill sent forth its contents for the doer of perfect works; in the strength of manhood
\nhe with the young (Angirasas) seeking plenitude of riches
\nattained possession, then singing the hymn of light he became
\nat once the Angirasa. Becoming in our front the form and
\nmeasure of each existing thing, he knows all the births, he slays
\nShushna"; that is to say, the Divine Mind assumes a form
\nanswering to each existing thing in the world and reveals its true
\ndivine image and meaning and slays the false force that distorts
\nknowledge and action. "Seeker of the cows, traveller to the seat
\nof heaven, singing the hymns, he, the Friend, delivers his friends
\nout of all defect (of right self-expression). With a mind that
\nsought the Light (the cows) they entered their seats by the illumining words,
\nmaking the path towards Immortality (ni gavyatā
\nmanasā sedur arkaiḥ<\/span>
\nkṛ<\/span>ṇ<\/span>vānāso amṛ<\/span>tatvāya gātum).<\/i>
\nThis is that
\nlarge seat of theirs, the Truth by which they took possession
\nof the months (the ten months of the Dashagwas). Harmonised
\nin vision (or, perfectly seeing) they rejoiced in their own (abode,
\nSwar) milking out the milk of the ancient seed (of things).
\nTheir cry (of the Word) heated all the earth and heaven
\n(created, that is to say, the burning clarity, gharma, taptam
\nghṛ<\/span>tam,<\/i>
\nwhich is the yield of the solar cows); they established in <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 208<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

that which was born a firm abiding and in the cows the heroes
\n(that is, the battling force was established in the light of the
\nknowledge). <\/p>\n

"Indra, the Vritra-slayer, by those who were born (the sons
\nof the sacrifice), by the offerings, by the hymns of illumination
\nreleased upward the shining ones; the wide and delightful Cow
\n(the cow Aditi, the vast and blissful higher consciousness) bringing for him
\nthe sweet food, the honey mixed with the ghṛ<\/span>ta, <\/i>yielded it as her milk. For this Father also (for Heaven) they
\nfashioned the vast and shining abode; doers of perfect works,
\nthey had the entire vision of it. Wide-upholding by their support
\nthe Parents (Heaven and Earth) they sat in that high world and
\nembraced all its ecstasy. When for the cleaving away (of evil
\nand falsehood) the vast Thought holds him immediately increasing in his
\npervasion of earth and heaven, \u2014 then for Indra in
\nwhom are the equal and faultless words, there are all irresistible
\nenergies. He has found the great, manifold and blissful Field
\n(the wide field of the cows, Swar); and he has sent forth together
\nall the moving herd for his friends. Indra shining out by the
\nhuman souls (the Angirasas) has brought into being, together, the
\nSun, the Dawn, the Path and the Flame" (Riks 7-15). <\/p>\n

And in the remaining verses the same figures continue, with
\nan intervention of the famous image of the rain which has been
\nso much misunderstood. "The Ancient-born I make new that I
\nmay conquer. Do thou remove our many undivine hurters and
\nset Swar for our possessing. The purifying rains are extended
\nbefore us (in the shape of the waters); take us over to the state
\nof bliss that is the other shore of them. Warring in thy chariot
\nprotect us from the foe; soon, soon make us conquerors of the
\nCows. The Vritra-slayer, the Master of the Cows, showed (to
\nmen) the cows; he has entered with his shining laws (or lustres)
\nwithin those who are black (void of light, like the Panis); showing the truths
\n(the cows of truth) by the Truth he has opened all
\nhis own doors", pra sunṛ<\/span>tā diśamāna ṛ<\/span>tena duraś ca viśvā
\navṛ<\/span>ṇ<\/span>od
\napa svāḥ<\/span>)<\/i>
\n(Riks 19-21); that is to say, he opens the doors of his
\nown world, Swar, after breaking open by his entry into our
\ndarkness (antaḥ<\/span>
\nkṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ṇā<\/span>n gāt)<\/i> the "human
\ndoors" kept closed by
\nthe Panis. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 209<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Such is this remarkable hymn, the bulk of which I have
\ntranslated because it both brings into striking relief the mystic
\nand entirely psychological character of the Vedic poetry and by
\nso doing sets out vividly the nature of the imagery in the midst
\nof which Sarama figures. The other references to Sarama in the
\nRig-veda do not add anything essential to the conception. We
\nhave a brief allusion in IV.16.8, "When thou didst tear the
\nwaters out of the hill, Sarama became manifest before thee; so
\ndo thou as our leader tear out much wealth for us, breaking the
\npens, hymned by the Angirasas." It is the Intuition manifesting
\nbefore the Divine Mind as its forerunner when there is the
\nemergence of the waters, the streaming movements of the Truth
\nthat break out of the hill in which they were confined by Vritra
\n(verse 7); and it is by means of the Intuition that this godhead
\nbecomes our leader to the rescue of the Light and the conquest
\nof the much wealth hidden within in the rock behind the fortress
\ngates of the Panis. <\/p>\n

We find another allusion to Sarama in a hymn by Parashara
\nShaktya, 1.72. This is one of the Suktas which most clearly reveal
\nthe sense of the Vedic imagery, like most indeed of the hymns
\nof Parashara, a very luminous poet who loves always to throw
\nback something more than a corner of the mystic’s veil. It is
\nbrief and I shall translate it in full. "He has created, within, the
\nseer-knowings of the eternal Disposer of things, holding in his
\nhand many powers (powers of the divine Purushas, naryā purūṇ<\/span>i);<\/i> Agni creating together all immortalities becomes the master
\nof the (divine) riches. All the immortals, they who are not
\nlimited (by ignorance), desiring, found him in us as if the Calf
\n(of the cow Aditi) existing everywhere; labouring, travelling to
\nthe Seat, holding the Thought they attained in the supreme seat
\nto the shining (glory) of Agni. O Agni, when through the three
\nyears (three symbolic seasons or periods corresponding perhaps
\nto the passage through the three mental heavens) they, pure, had
\nserved thee, the pure one, with the ghṛ<\/span>ta,<\/i> they held the sacrificial
\nnames and set moving (to the supreme heaven) forms well born.
\nThey had knowledge of the vast heaven and earth and bore them
\nforward, they the sons of Rudra, the lords of the sacrifice, the
\nmortal awoke to vision and found Agni standing in the seat <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 210<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

supreme. Knowing perfectly (or in harmony) they kneeled down
\nto him; they with their wives (the female energies of the gods)
\nbowed down to him who is worthy of obeisance; purifying them-
\nselves (or, perhaps, exceeding the limits of heaven and earth)
\nthey created their own (their proper or divine) forms, guarded in
\nthe gaze, each friend, of the Friend. In thee the gods of the sacrifice found
\nthe thrice seven secret seats hidden within; they, being
\nof one heart, protect by them the immortality. Guard thou the
\nherds that stand and that which moves. O Agni, having knowledge of all manifestations (or births,) in the worlds (or, knowing
\nall the knowledge of the peoples) establish thy forces, continuous,
\nfor life. Knowing, within, the paths of the journeying of the gods
\nthou becamest their sleepless messenger and the bearer of the
\nofferings. The seven mighty ones of heaven (the rivers) placing
\naright the thought, knowing the Truth, discerned the doors of the
\nfelicity; Sarama found the fastness, the wideness of the cows
\nwhereby now the human creature enjoys (the supreme riches).
\nThey who entered upon all things that bear right issue, made the
\npath to Immortality; by the great ones and by the greatness earth
\nstood wide; the mother Aditi with her sons came for the upholding. The
\nImmortals planted in him the shining glory, when they
\nmade the two eyes of heaven (identical probably with the two
\nvision-powers of the Sun, the two horses of Indra); rivers, as it
\nwere, flow down released; the shining ones (the cows) who were
\nhere below knew, O Agni." <\/p>\n

So runs this hymn of Parashara, translated with the utmost
\npossible literalness even at the cost of some uncouthness in the
\nEnglish. It is clear at the very first glance that it is throughout a
\nhymn of knowledge, of the Truth, of a divine Flame which is
\nhardly distinguishable from the supreme Deity, of immortality, of
\nthe ascent of the gods, the divine powers, by the sacrifice to their
\ngodhead, to their supreme names, to their proper forms, to the
\nshining glory of the supreme state with its thrice seven seats of
\nthe Godhead. Such an ascent can have no other meaning than
\nthe ascent of the divine powers in man<\/i> out of their ordinary cosmic
\nappearances to the shining Truth beyond, as indeed Parashara himself tells us
\nthat by this action of the gods mortal man
\nawakens to the knowledge and finds Agni standing in the su<\/span>preme <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 211<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

seat and goal; vidan marto nemadhitā cikitvān, agnim pade
\nparame tasthivāmsam.<\/i> What is Sarama doing in such a hymn if
\nshe is not a power of the Truth, if her cows are not the rays of a
\ndivine dawn of illumination ? What have the cows of old warring
\ntribes and the sanguinary squabbles of our Aryan and Dravidian
\nancestors over their mutual plunderings and cattle-lifting to do
\nwith this luminous apocalypse of the immortality and the god-
\nhead? Or what are these rivers that think and know the Truth
\nand discover the hidden doors ? Or must we still say that these
\nwere the rivers of the Punjab dammed up by drought or by
\nthe
\nDravidians and Sarama a mythological figure for an Aryan embassy or else only
\nthe physical Dawn? <\/p>\n

One hymn in the tenth Mandala is devoted entirely to this
\n"embassy" of Sarama, it is the colloquy of Sarama and the Panis; but it adds nothing essential to what we already know about her
\nand its chief importance lies in the help it gives us in forming our
\nconception of the masters of the cavern treasure. We may note,
\nhowever, that neither in this hymn, nor in the others we have
\nnoticed is there the least indication of the figure of the divine
\nhound which was attributed to Sarama in a possibly later development of the
\nVedic imagery. It is surely the shining fair-footed
\ngoddess by whom the Panis are attracted and whom they desire
\nas their sister, \u2014 not as a dog to guard their cattle, but as one
\nwho will share in the possession of their riches. The image of the
\nhound of heaven is, however, exceedingly apt and striking and
\nwas bound to develop out of the legend. In one of the earlier
\nhymns (1.62) we have mention indeed of a son for whom Sara-
\nma "got food" according to an ancient interpretation which
\naccounts for the phrase by a story that the hound Sarama
\ndemanded food for her offspring in the sacrifice as a condition of
\nher search for the lost cows. But this is obviously an explanatory
\ninvention which finds no place in the Rig-veda itself. The Veda
\nsays, "In the sacrifice" or, as it more probably means, "in the
\nseeking of Indra and the Angirasas (for the cows) Sarama
\ndiscovered a foundation for the Son", vidat saramā tanayāya
\ndhāsim<\/i> (1.62.3); for such is the more likely sense here of the word
\ndhāsim.<\/i> The son is in all probability the son born of the
\nsacrifice,
\na constant element in the Vedic imagery and not the dog-race <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 212<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

born of Sarama. We have similar phrases in the Veda as in 1.96.4,
\nmātariśvā puruvārapuṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>ir vidad gātum tanayāya
\nsvarvit,<\/i> "Matarishwan (the Life-god, Vayu) increasing the many
\ndesirable things
\n(the higher objects of life) discovered the path for the Son, discovered
\nSwar", where the subject is evidently the same but the
\nson has nothing to do with any brood of puppies. <\/p>\n

The two Sarameya dogs, messengers of Yama, are mentioned in a late hymn in
\nthe tenth Mandala, but without any reference to Sarama as their mother. This
\noccurs in the famous
\n"funeral" hymn X.14, and it is worth while noting the real character
\nof Yama and his two dogs in the Rig-veda. In the later
\nideas Yama is the god of Death and has his own special world; but in the Rig-veda he seems to have been originally a form of
\nthe Sun, \u2014 even as late as the Isha Upanishad we find the name
\nused as an appellation of the Sun, \u2014 and then one of the twin
\nchildren of the wide-shining Lord of Truth. He is the guardian
\nof the Dharma, the law of the Truth, satyadharma,<\/i> which is a
\ncondition of immortality, and therefore himself the guardian
\nof immortality. His world is Swar, the world of immortality,
\namṛ<\/span>te loke
\nakṣ<\/span>ite,<\/i>
\nwhere, as we are told in IX. 113.7, is the
\nindestructible Light, where Swar is established, yatra jyotir
\najasram, yasmin loke svar hitam.<\/i> The hymn X.14 is indeed not
\na hymn of Death so much as a hymn of Life and Immortality.
\nYama and the ancient Fathers have discovered the path to that
\nworld which is a pasture of the Cows whence the enemy cannot
\nbear away the radiant herds, yamo no gātum prathamo viveda,
\nnaiṣā<\/span>
\ngavyūtir apabhartavā u, yatrā naḥ<\/span> pūrve pitaraḥ<\/span> pareyuḥ<\/span> <\/i>(Rik 2). The soul of the heaven-ascending mortal is bidden to
\n"outrun the two four-eyed varicoloured Sarameya dogs on the
\ngood (or effective) path" (Rik 10). Of that path to heaven they
\nare the four-eyed guardians, protecting man on the road by their
\ndivine vision, yau te śvānau yama rakṣ<\/span>itārau caturakṣ<\/span>au pathirakṣ<\/span>ī nṛ<\/span>cakṣ<\/span>asau<\/i> (Rik 11), and Yama is asked
\nto give them as an
\nescort to the soul on its way. These dogs are "wide-moving, not
\neasily satisfied" and range as the messengers of the Lord of the
\nLaw among men. And the hymn prays, "May they (the dogs)
\ngive us back bliss here in the unhappy (world) so that we may
\nlook upon the Sun" (Rik 12). <\/b>We<\/span> are still in the order of the old <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 213<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Vedic ideas, the Light and the Bliss and the Immortality, and
\nthese Sarameya dogs have the essential characteristics of Sarama,
\nthe vision, the wide-ranging movement, the power to travel on
\nthe path by which the goal is reached. Sarama leads to the
\nwideness of the cows; these dogs protect the soul on its journey
\nto the inviolable pasture, the field (kṣ<\/span>etra)<\/i> of the luminous and
\nimperishable herds. Sarama brings us to the truth, to the sun-vision which is the way to the bliss; these dogs bring the weal to
\nman in this world of suffering so that he shall have the vision of
\nthe Sun. Whether Sarama figures as the fair-footed goddess
\nspeeding on the path or the heavenly hound, mother of these
\nwide-ranging guardians of the path, the idea is the same, a power
\nof the Truth that seeks and discovers, that finds by a divine
\nfaculty of insight the hidden Light and the denied Immortality.
\nBut it is to this seeking and finding that her function is limited. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nPage \u2013 214<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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