{"id":891,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=891"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:03","slug":"19-the-seven-headed-thought-swar-and-the-dashagwas-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\/19-the-seven-headed-thought-swar-and-the-dashagwas-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-19_The Seven Headed Thought Swar and the Dashagwas.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


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


\nThe Seven-Headed Thought, <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\nSwar and the Dashagwas <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/font>HE <\/font><\/b>language of the hymns establishes,
\nthen, a double aspect for the Angirasa Rishis. One belongs to
\nthe external garb of the Veda; it weaves together its naturalistic
\nimagery of the Sun, the Flame, the Dawn, the Cow, the Horse,
\nthe Wine, the sacrificial Hymn; the other extricates from that
\nimagery the internal sense. The Angirasas are sons of the Flame,
\nlustres of the Dawn, givers and drinkers of the Wine, singers of
\nthe Hymn, eternal youths and heroes who wrest for us the Sun,
\nthe Cows, the Horses and all treasures from the grasp of the sons
\nof darkness. But they are also seers of the Truth, finders and
\nspeakers of the word of the Truth and by the power of the Truth
\nthey win for us the wide world of Light and Immortality which
\nis described in the Veda as the Vast, the True, the Right and as
\nthe own home of this Flame of which they are the children. This
\nphysical imagery and these psychological indications are closely
\ninterwoven and they cannot be separated from each other.
\nTherefore we are obliged by ordinary common sense to conclude
\nthat the Flame of which the Right and the Truth is the own home
\nis itself a Flame of that Right and Truth, that the Light which is
\nwon by the Truth and by the force of true thought is not merely
\na physical light, the cows which Sarama finds on the path of the
\nTruth not merely physical herds, the Horses not merely the
\nwealth of the Dravidians conquered by invading Aryan tribes,
\nnor even merely images of the physical Dawn, its light and its
\nswiftly moving rays and the darkness of which the Panis and
\nVritra are the defenders not merely the darkness of the Indian
\nor the Arctic night. We have even been able to hazard a reasonable hypothesis by which we can disentangle the real sense of
\nthis imagery and discover the true godhead of these shining gods
\nand these divine, luminous sages. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 166<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

The Angirasa Rishis are at once divine and human seers.
\nThis double character is not in itself an extraordinary feature
\nor peculiar in the Veda to these sages. The Vedic gods also have
\na double action; divine and pre-existent in themselves, they are
\nhuman in their working upon the mortal plane when they grow
\nin man to the great ascension. This has been strikingly expressed
\nin the allocution to Usha, the Dawn, "goddess human in mortals", devi
\nmarteṣ<\/span>u
\nmānuṣ<\/span>i<\/i>
\n(VII.75.2). But in the imagery of the
\nAngirasa Rishis this double character is farther complicated by
\nthe tradition which makes them the human fathers, discoverers
\nof the Light, the Path and the Goal. We must see how this complication affects
\nour theory of the Vedic creed and the Vedic symbolism. <\/p>\n

The Angirasa Rishis are ordinarily described as seven in
\nnumber: they are sapta viprāḥ<\/span>,<\/i> the seven sages who have come
\ndown to us in the Puranic tradition\u00b9<\/font> and are enthroned by Indian
\nastronomy in the constellation of the Great Bear. But they are
\nalso described as Navagwas and Dashagwas, and if in VI.22.2, we
\nare told of the ancient fathers, the seven seers who were Navagwas, pūrvepitaro
\nnavagvāḥ<\/span>
\nsapta viprāsaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nyet in III. 39.5, we have
\nmention of two different classes, Navagwas, and Dashagwas, the
\nlatter ten in number, the former presumably, though it is not
\nexpressly stated, nine. Sakhā ha yatra sakhibhir navagvair
\nabhij\u00f1vā satvabhir gā anugman; satyam tadindro daśabhir
\ndaśagvaiḥ<\/span>,
\nsūryam viveda tamasi kṣ<\/span>iyantam;<\/i>
\n"Where, a friend with his friends
\nthe Navagwas, following the cows Indra with the ten Dashagwas
\nfound that truth, even the Sun dwelling in the darkness." On the
\nother hand we have in IV. 51.4, a collective description of the
\nAngirasa seven-faced or seven-mouthed, nine-rayed, ten-rayed,
\nnavagve angire daśagve saptāsye.<\/i> In X.108.8, we have another
\nRishi Ayasya associated with the Navagwa Angirasas. In X.67.1,
\nthis Ayasya is described as our father who found the vast seven-headed Thought that was born out of the Truth and as singing the
\nhymn to Indra. According as the Navagwas are seven or nine,
\nAyasya will be the eighth or the tenth Rishi. <\/p>\n

Tradition asserts the separate existence of two classes of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Not that the names given them by the Purana
\nneed be those which the Vedic tradition
\nwould have given.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 167<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Angirasa Rishis, the one Navagwas who sacrificed for nine
\nmonths, the other Dashagwas whose sessions of sacrifice endured
\nfor ten. According to this interpretation we must take Navagwa
\nand Dashagwa as "nine-cowed" and "ten-cowed", each cow
\nrepresenting collectively the thirty Dawns which constitute one
\nmonth of the sacrificial year. But there is at least one passage of
\nthe Rig-veda which on its surface is in direct conflict with the
\ntraditional interpretation. For in the seventh verse of V.45, and
\nagain in the eleventh we are told that it was the Navagwas, not
\nthe Dashagwas, who sacrificed or chanted the hymn for ten
\nmonths. This seventh verse runs, anūnod atra hastayato adrir
\nārcan yena daśa māso navagvāḥ<\/span>; ṛ<\/span>tam yatī saramā gā
\navindad,
\nviśvāni satyā angirāscakāra,<\/i> "Here cried (or,
\nmoved) the stone
\nimpelled by the hand, whereby the Navagwas chanted for ten
\nmonths the hymn; Sarama travelling to the Truth found the
\ncows; all things the Angiras made true." And in verse 11, we have
\nthe assertion repeated; dhiyam vo apsu dadhiṣ<\/span>e svarṣā<\/span>m, yayātaran daśa
\nmāso navagvāḥ<\/span>;
\nayā dhiyā syāma devagopāḥ<\/span>, ayā dhiyā
\ntuturyāma ati amhaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\n"I hold for you in the waters (i.e. the seven
\nRivers) the thought that wins possession of heaven\u00b9 (this is once
\nmore the seven-headed thought born from the Truth and found
\nby Ayasya), by which the Navagwas passed through the ten
\nmonths; by this thought may we have the gods for protectors, by
\nthis thought may we pass through beyond the evil." The statement is
\nexplicit. Sayana indeed makes a faint-hearted attempt to
\ntake daśa māsaḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\nin V.45.7, ten months, as if it were an epithet
\ndaśa māsaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nthe ten-month ones i.e. the Dashagwas; but he offers
\nthis improbable rendering only as an alternative and abandons it
\nin the eleventh Rik. <\/p>\n

Must we then suppose that the poet of this hymn had forgotten the tradition and was confusing the Dashagwas and
\nNavagwas? Such a supposition is inadmissible. The difficulty
\narises because we suppose the Navagwas and Dashagwas to have
\nbeen in the minds of the Vedic Rishis two different classes of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font>Sayana takes it to mean, "I recite the
\nhymn for water" i.e. in order to get rain; the
\ncase however is the locative plural, and dadhis<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>e<\/span><\/i> means
\n"I place or hold" or, with the psychological sense, "think"
\nor "hold in thought, meditate". Dhis<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>an<\/span>̣ā<\/span><\/i>
\nlike dhī<\/i> means thought; dhiyarit
\ndadhis<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>e<\/span><\/i> would thus mean "I think or meditate the
\nthought".<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 168<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Angirasa Rishis; rather these seem to have been two different
\npowers of Angirasahood and in that case the Navagwas them-
\nselves might well become Dashagwas by extending the period of
\nthe sacrifice to ten months instead of nine. The expression in the
\nhymn, daśa māso ataran,<\/i> indicates that there was some
\ndifficulty
\nin getting through the full period of ten months. It is during this
\nperiod apparently that the sons of darkness had the power to
\nassail the sacrifice; for it is indicated that it is only by the con-
\nfirming of the thought which conquers Swar, the solar world,
\nthat the Rishis are able to get through the ten months, but this
\nthought once found they become assured of the protection of the
\ngods and pass beyond the assault of the evil, the harms of the
\nPanis and Vritras. This Swar-conquering thought is certainly
\nthe same as that seven-headed thought which was born from the
\nTruth and discovered by Ayasya the companion of the Navagwas ; for by it, we
\nare told, Ayasya becoming universal, embracing
\nthe births in all the worlds, brought into being a fourth world or
\nfourfold world, which must be the supramental beyond the three
\nlower sessions, dyau, antarikṣ<\/span>a<\/i> and pṛ<\/span>thivī,<\/i> that wide world
\nwhich, according to Kanwa, son of Ghora, men reach or create
\nby crossing beyond the two rodasī<\/i> after killing Vritra. This
\nfourth world must be therefore Swar. The seven-headed thought
\nof Ayasya enables him to become viśvajanya,<\/i> which means probably
\nthat he occupies or possesses all the worlds or births of the
\nsoul, or else that he becomes universal, identifying himself with
\nall beings born, \u2014 and to manifest or give being to a certain
\nfourth world (svar), turīyam svij janayad viśvajanyaḥ<\/span><\/i> (X.67.1); and the thought established in the waters which enables the Navagwa Rishis
\nto pass through the ten months, is also svarṣā<\/span>ḥ<\/span>,<\/i> that
\nwhich brings about the possession of Swar. The waters are clearly
\nthe seven rivers and the two thoughts are evidently the same.
\nMust we not then conclude that it is the addition of Ayasya to the
\nNavagwas which raises the nine Navagwas to the number of
\nten and enables them by his discovery of the seven-headed
\nSwar-conquering thought to prolong their nine-months’ sacrifice
\nthrough the tenth month? Thus they become the ten Dashagwas. We may note in this connection that the intoxication of the Soma
\nby which Indra manifests or increases the might of Swar or the <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 169<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Swar-Purusha, (svarṇ<\/span>ara)<\/i>
\nis described as ten-rayed and illuminating daśagvam vepayantam<\/i>
\n(VIII. 12.2). <\/p>\n

This conclusion is entirely confirmed by the passage in
\nIII. 39.5, which we have already cited. For there we find that it is
\nwith the help of the Navagwas that Indra pursues the trace of the
\nlost kine, but it is only with the aid of the ten Dashagwas that he
\nis able to bring the pursuit to a successful issue and find that
\nTruth, satyam tat,<\/i> namely, the Sun that was lying in the darkness.
\nIn other words, it is when the nine-months’ sacrifice is prolonged
\nthrough the tenth, it is when the Navagwas become the ten
\nDashagwas by the seven-headed thought of Ayasya, the tenth
\nRishi, that the Sun is found and the luminous world of Swar in
\nwhich we possess the truth or the one universal Deva, is disclosed
\nand conquered. This conquest of Swar is the aim of the sacrifice
\nand the great work accomplished by the Angirasa Rishis. <\/p>\n

But what is meant by the figure of the months ? for it now
\nbecomes clear that it is a figure, a parable; the year is symbolic,
\nthe months are symbolic.\u00b9 It is in the revolution of the year that
\nthe recovery of the lost Sun and the lost cows, is effected, for we
\nhave the explicit statement in X.62.2, ṛ<\/span>tenābhindan parivatsare
\nvalam,<\/i> "by the truth, in the revolution of the year, they broke
\nVala", or as Sayana interprets it, "by sacrifice lasting for a
\nyear".
\nThis passage certainly goes far to support the Arctic theory, for it
\nspeaks of a yearly and not a daily return of the Sun. But we are
\nnot concerned with the external figure, nor does its validity in
\nany way affect our own theory; for it may very well be that the
\nstriking Arctic experience of the long night, the annual sunrise
\nand the continuous dawns was made by the Mystics the figure of
\nthe spiritual night and its difficult illumination. But that this
\nidea of Time, of the months and years is used as a symbol seems
\nto be clear from other passages of the Veda, notably from Gritsamada’s hymn to
\nBrihaspati, 11.24. <\/p>\n

In this hymn Brihaspati is described driving up the cows,
\nbreaking Vala by the divine word, brahmaṇā<\/span>,<\/i> concealing the
\ndarkness and making Swar visible (Rik 3). The first result is the
\nbreaking open by force of the well which has the rock for its face <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Observe that in the Puranas the Yugas,
\nmoments, months, etc. are all symbolic and it
\nis stated that the body of man is the year.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 170<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

and whose streams are of the honey, madhu,<\/i> the Soma sweetness,
\naśmāsyam avatam madhudhāram<\/i> (Rik 4). This well of honey
\ncovered by the rock must be the Ananda or divine beatitude of
\nthe supreme threefold world of bliss, the Satya, Tapas and Jana
\nworlds of the Puranic system based upon the three supreme
\nprinciples. Sat, Chit-Tapas and Ananda; their base is Swar of the
\nVeda, Mahar of the Upanishads and Puranas, the world of
\nTruth.\u00b9 These four together make the fourfold fourth world and
\nare described in the Rig-veda as the four supreme and secret
\nseats, the source of the "four upper rivers". Sometimes, how-
\never, this upper world seems to be divided into two, Swar the
\nbase, Mayas or the divine beatitude the summit, so that there
\nare five worlds or births of the ascending soul. The three other
\nrivers are the three lower powers of being and supply the principles of the
\nthree lower worlds. <\/p>\n

This secret well of honey is drunk by all those who are able
\nto see Swar and they pour out its billowing fountain of sweetness
\nin manifold streams together, tarn eva viśve papire svardṛś<\/span>o bahu
\nsākam sisicur utsam udriṇ<\/span>am<\/i> (II. 24.4). These many streams
\npoured out together are the seven rivers poured down the hill
\nby Indra after slaying Vritra, the rivers or streams of the Truth,
\nṛ<\/span>tasya
\ndhārāḥ<\/span>;<\/i>
\nand they represent, according to our theory, the
\nseven principles of conscious being in their divine fulfilment in the
\nTruth and Bliss. This is why the seven-headed thought, \u2014 that is
\nto say, the knowledge of the divine existence with its seven heads
\nor powers, the seven-rayed knowledge of Brihaspati, saptagum,
\n<\/i>has to be confirmed or held in thought in the waters, the seven
\nrivers, that is to say the seven forms of divine consciousness are
\nto be held in the seven forms or movements of divine being; dhiyam vo apsu dadhiṣ<\/span>e
\nsvarṣā<\/span>m,<\/i>
\n"I hold the Swar-conquering
\nthought in the waters". <\/p>\n

That the making visible of Swar to the eyes of the Swar-seers, svardṛ<\/span>śaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> their drinking of the
\nhoneyed well and the outpouring of the divine waters amounts to the revelation
\nto man of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font>In
\nthe Upanishads and Puranas there is no
\ndistinction between Swar and Dyau; there-
\nfore a fourth name had to be found for the world of Truth, and this is the
\nMahar discovered
\naccording to the Taittiriya Upanishad by the Rishi Mahachamasya as the fourth
\nVyahriti, the
\nother three being Swar, Bhuvar and Bhur, i.e. Dyau, Antariksha and Prithivi of
\nthe Veda.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 171<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

new worlds or new states of existence is clearly told us in the next
\nverse, 11.24.5, sanā<\/i>
\ntā kā cid bhuvanā bhavītvā, mādbhiḥ<\/span>. śaradbhiḥ<\/span> <\/span>duro varanta vaḥ<\/span>;
\nayatantā carato anyad anyad id, yā cakāra
\nvayunā brahmaṇ<\/span>aspatiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "Certain eternal
\nworlds (states of existence) are these which have to come into being, their
\ndoors are
\nshut1 to you (or, opened) by the months and the years; without
\neffort one (world) moves in the other, and it is these that Brahmanaspati has
\nmade manifest to knowledge"; vayunā<\/i> means
\nknowledge, and the two forms are divinised earth and heaven
\nwhich Brahmanaspati created. These are the four eternal worlds
\nhidden in the guhā,<\/i> the secret, unmanifest or superconscient
\nparts of being which, although in themselves eternally present
\nstates of existence (sanā bhuvanā),<\/i> are for us non-existent
\nand in
\nthe future; for us they have to be brought into being, bhavītvā,
\n<\/i>they are yet to be created. Therefore the Veda sometimes speaks
\nof Swar being made visible as here (vyacakṣ<\/span>ayat svaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> II.24.3)
\nor discovered and taken possession of, avidat, asanat,<\/i> sometimes
\nof its being created or made (bhū, kṛ<\/span>).<\/i> These secret eternal worlds
\nhave been closed to us, says the Rishi, by the movement of Time,
\nby the months and years; therefore naturally they have to be
\ndiscovered, revealed, conquered, created in us by the movement
\nof Time, yet in a sense against it. This development in an inner
\nor psychological Time is, it seems to me, that which is symbolised
\nby the sacrificial year and by the ten months that have to be spent
\nbefore the revealing hymn of the soul (brahma)<\/i> is able to discover
\nthe seven-headed, heaven-conquering thought which finally
\ncarries us beyond the harms of Vritra and the Panis. <\/p>\n

We get the connection of the rivers and the worlds very clearly
\nin 1.62.4, where Indra is described as breaking the hill by the aid
\nof the Navagwas and breaking Vala by the aid of the Dashagwas.
\nHymned by the Angirasa Rishis Indra opens up the darkness
\nby the Dawn and the Sun and the Cows, he spreads out the high
\nplateau of the earthly hill into wideness and upholds the higher
\nworld of heaven. For the result of the opening up of the higher <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font>Sayana
\nsays varanta is<\/i> here
\n"opened", which is quite possible, but vr<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span><\/i> means ordinarily
\nto shut, close up, cover, especially when applied to the doors of the hill
\nwhence flow the rivers
\nand the cows come forth; Vritra is the closer of the doors. Vi vr<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span><\/i> and apa vr<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span><\/i> mean to open.
\nNevertheless, if the word means here to open, that only makes our case all the
\nstronger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 172<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

planes of consciousness is to increase the wideness of the physical, to
\nraise the height of the mental. "This, indeed," says the
\nRishi Nodha, "is his mightiest work, the fairest achievement of
\nthe achiever" dasmasya cārutamam asti damsaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "that the four
\nupper rivers streaming honey nourish the two worlds of the
\ncrookedness," upahvare yad uparā apinvan madhvarṇ<\/span>aso nadyaś
\ncatasraḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(I.62.6): This is again the honey-streaming well pouring
\ndown its many streams together; the four higher rivers of the
\ndivine being, divine conscious force, divine delight, divine truth
\nnourishing the two worlds of the mind and body into which they
\ndescend with their floods of sweetness. These two, the rodasī,
\n<\/i>are normally worlds of crookedness, that is to say of the falsehood, \u2014 the ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i> or Truth being the
\nstraight, the anṛ<\/span>tam<\/i>
\nor
\nFalsehood the crooked, \u2014 because they are exposed to the harms
\nof the undivine powers, Vritras and Panis, sons of darkness and
\ndivision. They now become forms of the truth, the knowledge,
\nvayunā,<\/i> agreeing with outer action and this is evidently
\nGritsamada’s carato anyad anyad<\/i> and his yā cakāra
\nvayunā brahmaṇ<\/span>aspatiḥ<\/span>.<\/i> The Rishi then proceeds
\nto define the result of the work of
\nAyasya, which is to reveal the true eternal and unified form
\nof earth and heaven. "In their twofold (divine and human?)
\nAyasya uncovered by his hymns the two, eternal and in one nest; perfectly achieving he upheld earth and heaven in the highest
\nether (of the revealed superconscient, parame vyoman)<\/i> as the
\nEnjoyer his two wives" (1.62.7). The souls’ enjoyment of its divinised
\nmental and bodily existence uplifted in the eternal joy of the
\nspiritual being could not be more clearly and beautifully imaged. <\/p>\n

These ideas and many of the expressions are the same as
\nthose of the hymn of Gritsamada. Nodha says of the Night and
\nDawn, the dark physical and the illumined mental consciousness that they
\nnew-born (punarbhuvā)<\/span><\/i> about heaven and earth
\nmove into each other with their own proper movements, svebhir
\nevaiḥ<\/span>…carato
\nanyānyā<\/i> (1.62.8),\u00b9 in the eternal friendship that is
\nworked out by the high achievement of their son who thus upholds  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font>cf. Gritsamada’s ayatantā carato
\nanyad anyad.<\/i>. .bearing the same sense as svebhir evaih<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>…
\ni.e.<\/span><\/i> spontaneously.<\/span> <\/p>\n

This and many other passages show clearly,
\nconclusively, as it seems to me, that the
\nanyad anyad,<\/i> the two are always earth and heaven, the human based on the
\nphysical consciousness and the divine based on the supraphysical heaven.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 173<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthem, sanemi sakhyam svapasyamānaḥ<\/span>, sūnur dādhāra
\nśavasā sudamsāḥ<\/span><\/i> (1.62.9). In Gritsamada’s hymn as in Nodha’s,
\nthe Angirasas attain to Swar, \u2014 the Truth from which they
\noriginally came, the "own home" of all divine Purushas, \u2014 by
\nthe attainment of the truth and by the detection of the falsehood.
\n"They who travel towards the goal and attain that treasure of the
\nPanis, the supreme treasure hidden in the secret cave, they, having
\nthe knowledge and perceiving the falsehoods, rise up again thither
\nwhence they came and enter into that world. Possessed of the
\ntruth, beholding the falsehoods they, seers, rise up again into the
\ngreat path," mahas pathaḥ<\/span><\/i> (11.24.6,7), the path of the Truth, or
\nthe great and wide realm, Mahas of the Upanishads. <\/p>\n

We begin now to unravel the knot of this Vedic imagery.
\nBrihaspati is the seven-rayed Thinker, saptaguḥ<\/span>, saptaraśmiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> he
\nis the seven-faced or seven-mouthed Angirasa, born in many
\nforms, saptāsyaḥ<\/span>
\ntuvijātaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nnine-rayed, ten-rayed. The seven
\nmouths are the seven Angirasas who repeat the divine word
\n(brahma)<\/i> which comes from the seat of the Truth, Swar, and of
\nwhich he is the lord (brahmaṇ<\/span>aspatiḥ<\/span>).<\/i>
\nEach also corresponds to
\none of the seven rays of Brihaspati; therefore they are the seven
\nseers, sapta viprāḥ<\/span>,
\nsapta ṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ayaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> who severally personify these
\nseven rays of the knowledge. These rays are, again, the seven
\nbrilliant horses of the sun, sapta haritaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> and their full union
\nconstitutes the seven-headed Thought of Ayasya by which the
\nlost sun of Truth is recovered. That thought again is established
\nin the seven rivers, the seven principles of being divine and human, the
\ntotality of which founds the perfect spiritual existence.
\nThe winning of these seven rivers of our being withheld by Vritra
\nand these seven rays withheld by Vala, the possession of our
\ncomplete divine consciousness delivered from all falsehood by
\nthe free descent of the truth, gives us the secure possession of the
\nworld of Swar and the enjoyment of mental and physical being
\nlifted into the godhead above darkness, falsehood and death by
\nthe in-streaming of our divine elements. This victory is won in
\ntwelve periods of the upward journey, represented by the revolution of the
\ntwelve months of the sacrificial year, the periods corresponding to the
\nsuccessive dawns of a wider and wider truth,
\nuntil the tenth secures the victory. What may be the precise <\/p>\n

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\n

significance of the nine rays and the ten, is a more difficult question
\nwhich we are not yet in a position to solve; but the light we
\nalready have is sufficient to illuminate all the main imagery of
\nthe Rig-veda. <\/p>\n

The symbolism of the Veda depends upon the image of the
\nlife of man as a sacrifice, a journey and a battle. The ancient
\nMystics took for their theme the spiritual life of man, but, in
\norder both to make it concrete to themselves and to veil its secrets
\nfrom the unfit, they expressed it in poetical images drawn from
\nthe outward life of their age. That life was largely an existence of
\nherdsmen and tillers of the soil for the mass of the people, varied
\nby the wars and migrations of the clans under their kings, and in
\nall this activity the worship of the gods by sacrifice had become
\nthe most solemn and magnificent element, the knot of all the rest.
\nFor by the sacrifice were won the rain which fertilised the soil, the
\nherds of cattle and horses necessary for their existence in peace
\nand war, the wealth of gold, land, (kṣ<\/span>etra),<\/i> retainers, fighting-men
\nwhich constituted greatness and lordship, the victory in the battle,
\nsafety in the journey by land and water which was so difficult
\nand dangerous in those times of poor means of communication
\nand loosely organised inter-tribal existence. All the principal
\nfeatures of that outward life which they saw around them the
\nmystic poets took and turned into significant images of the inner
\nlife. The life of man is represented as a sacrifice to the gods, a
\njourney sometimes figured as a crossing of dangerous waters,
\nsometimes as an ascent from level to level of the hill of being, and,
\nthirdly, as a battle against hostile nations. But these three images
\nare not kept separate. The sacrifice is also a journey; indeed the
\nsacrifice itself is described as travelling, as journeying to a divine
\ngoal; and the journey and the sacrifice are both continually
\nspoken of as a battle against the dark powers. <\/p>\n

The legend of the Angirasas takes up and combines all these
\nthree essential features of the Vedic imagery. The Angirasas are
\npilgrims of the light. The phrase nakṣ<\/span>antaḥ<\/span><\/i>
\nor abhinakṣ<\/span>antaḥ<\/span><\/i> is
\nconstantly used to describe their characteristic action. They are
\nthose who travel towards the goal and attain to the highest, abhinakṣ<\/span>anto abhi ye tarn ānaśur
\nnidhim paramam,<\/i> "they who travel
\nto and attain that supreme treasure" (11.24.6). Their action is invoked  <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 175<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

for carrying forward the life of man farther towards its
\ngoal, sahasrasāve pra tiranta āyuḥ<\/span><\/i> (III.53.7). But this journey, if
\nprincipally of the nature of a quest, the quest of the hidden light,
\nbecomes also by the opposition of the powers of darkness an
\nexpedition and a battle. The Angirasas are heroes and fighters
\nof that battle, goṣ<\/span>u
\nyodhāḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\n"fighters for the cows or rays". Indra
\nmarches with them saraṇ<\/span>yubhiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> as travellers on the
\npath, sakhibhiḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\ncomrades, ṛ<\/span>gmibhiḥ<\/span><\/i> and kavibhiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> seers and singers of
\nthe
\nsacred chant, but also satvabhiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> fighters in the battle. They are
\nfrequently spoken of by the appellation nṛ<\/span><\/i> or vīra,<\/i> as when
\nIndra
\nis said to win the luminous herds asmākebhiḥ<\/span> nṛ<\/span>bhiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> "by our
\nmen". Strengthened by them he conquers in the journey and
\nreaches the goal, nakṣ<\/span>addābham
\ntaturim.<\/i> This journey or march
\nproceeds along the path discovered by Sarama, the hound of
\nheaven, the path of the Truth, ṛ<\/span>tasya panthāḥ<\/span>,<\/i> the great path,
\nmahas pathaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nwhich leads to the realms of the Truth. It is also
\nthe sacrificial journey; for its stages correspond to the periods of
\nthe sacrifice of the Navagwas and it is effected by the force of the
\nSoma-wine and the sacred Word. <\/p>\n

The drinking of the Soma-wine as the means of strength,
\nvictory and attainment is one of the pervading figures of the
\nVeda. Indra and the Ashwins are the great Soma-drinkers, but
\nall the gods have their share of the immortalising draught. The
\nAngirasas also conquer in the strength of the Soma. Sarama
\nthreatens the Panis with the coming of Ayasya and the Navagwa
\nAngirasas in the keen intensity of their Soma-rapture, eha gaman
\nṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ayaḥ<\/span>. somaśitā ayāsyo
\nangiraso navagvāḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(X.I 08.8). It is the
\ngreat force by which men have the power to follow the path of
\nthe Truth. "That rapture of the Soma we desire by which thou, 0
\nIndra, didst make to thrive the Might of Swar (or the Swar-soul,
\nsvarṇ<\/span>aram),<\/i>
\nthat rapture ten-rayed and making a light of knowledge or shaking the whole
\nbeing with its force (daśagvam vepayantam)<\/i> by which thou didst foster
\nthe ocean; that Soma-intoxication by which thou didst drive forward the great
\nwaters (the
\nseven rivers) like chariots to their sea, \u2014 that we desire that we
\nmay travel on the path of the truth," panthām ṛ<\/span>tasya yātave tam
\nīmahe<\/i> (VIII. 12.2,3). It is in the. power of the Soma that the hill
\nis broken open, the sons of darkness overthrown. This Soma-wine <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 176<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

is the sweetness that comes flowing from the streams of the
\nupper hidden world, it is that which flows in the seven waters, it
\nis that with which the ghṛ<\/span>ta,<\/i> the clarified butter of the mystic
\nsacrifice, is instinct; it is the honeyed wave which rises out of the
\nocean of life. Such images can have only one meaning; it is the
\ndivine delight hidden in all existence which, once manifest, supports all life’s crowning activities and is the force that finally
\nimmortalises the mortal, the amṛ<\/span>tam,<\/i> ambrosia of the gods. <\/p>\n

But it is especially the Word that the Angirasas possess; their seerhood is their most distinguishing characteristic. They
\nare brāhmaṇā<\/span>sāḥ<\/span> pitaraḥ<\/span> somyāsaḥ<\/span>\u2026 ṛ<\/span>tavṛ<\/span>dhaḥ<\/span><\/i> (VI.75.10) the
\nfathers who are full of the Soma and have the word and are therefore increasers
\nof the Truth. Indra in order to impel them on the
\npath joins himself to the chanted expressions of their thought
\nand gives fullness and force to the words of their soul, angirasām
\nucathā jujuṣ<\/span>vān
\nbrahma tūtod gātum isṇ<\/span>an<\/i> (II.20.5). It is when
\nenriched in light and force of thought by the Angirasas that
\nIndra completes his victorious journey and reaches the goal on
\nthe mountain, "In him our primal fathers, the seven seers, the
\nNavagwas, increase their plenty, him victorious on his march and
\nbreaking through (to the goal), standing on the mountain, in-
\nviolate in speech, most luminous-forceful by his thinkings",
\nnakṣ<\/span>addābham
\ntaturim parvateṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>hām, adroghavācam
\nmatibhiḥ<\/span> <\/span>śaviṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>ham<\/i> (VI.22.2). It is by
\nsinging the Rik, the hymn of illumination, that they find the solar
\nilluminations in the cave of our
\nbeing, arcanto<\/i>\u00b9 gā
\navindan<\/i><\/span> (1.62.2). It is by the stubh,<\/i> the all-
\nsupporting rhythm of the hymn of the seven seers, by the vibrating voice of the
\nNavagwas that Indra becomes full of the power
\nof Swar, svareṇ<\/span>a
\nsvaryaḥ<\/span><\/i> and
\nby the cry of the Dashagwas that he
\nrends Vala in pieces (1.62.4). For this cry is the voice of the
\nhigher heaven, the thunder that cries in the lightning-flash of
\nIndra, and the advance of the Angirasas on their path is the
\nforward movement of this cry of the heavens, pra brahmāṇ<\/span>o
\nangiraso nakṣ<\/span>anta,
\npra krandanur nabhanyasya vetu<\/i> (VII.42.1); for we are told that the voice of Brihaspati the Angirasa discovering the
\nSun and the Dawn and Cow and the light of the <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/span><\/font>r<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>c<\/span> (arcantah<\/span>̣<\/span>) m<\/span><\/i>
\nthe Veda means to shine and to sing the Rik; arka mesas<\/i> sun, light
\nand the Vedic hymn.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 177<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n Word is the thunder of Heaven, bṛ<\/span>haspatir uṣ<\/span>asam
\nsūryam gām
\narkam viveda stanayan iva dyauh.<\/i> (X.67.5). It is by satya<\/i> mantra,
\nthe true thought expressed in the rhythm of the truth, that the
\nhidden light is found and the Dawn brought to birth, gūḷ<\/span>ham
\njyotiḥ <\/span>pitaro
\nanvavindan, satyamantrā ajanayan uṣ<\/span>āsam<\/i> (VII.76.4).
\nFor these are the Angirasas who speak aright, itthā vadadbhiḥ<\/span> <\/span>angirobhiḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(VI. 18.5), masters of the Rik who place perfectly their
\nthought, svādhībhir ṛ<\/span>kvabhiḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(VI.32.2); they are the sons of
\nheaven, heroes of the Mighty Lord who speak the truth and think
\nthe straightness and therefore they are able to hold the seat of
\nillumined knowledge, to mentalise the supreme abode of the
\nsacrifice, ṛ<\/span>tam
\nśamsanta ṛ<\/span>ju
\ndīdhyānā divasputrāso asurasya vīraḥ<\/span>;<\/i> vipram padam angiraso dadhānā yaj\u00f1asya dhāma prathamam
\nmananta<\/i> (X.67.2). <\/p>\n

It is impossible that such expressions should convey nothing
\nmore than the recovery of stolen cows from Dravidian cave-dwellers by some Aryan seers led by a god and his dog or else the
\nreturn of the Dawn after the darkness of the night. The wonders
\nof the Arctic dawn themselves are insufficient to explain the
\nassociation of images and the persistent stress on the idea of the
\nWord, the Thought, the Truth, the journey and the conquest of
\nthe falsehood which meets us always in these hymns. Only the
\ntheory we are enouncing, a theory not brought in from outside
\nbut arising straight from the language and the suggestions of the
\nhymns themselves, can unite this varied imagery and bring an
\neasy lucidity and coherence into this apparent tangle of incongruities. In
\nfact, once the central idea is grasped and the mentality of the Vedic Rishis
\nand the principle of their symbolism
\nare understood, no incongruity and no disorder remain. There
\nis a fixed system of symbols which, except in some of the later
\nhymns, does not admit of any important variations and in the
\nlight of which the inner sense of the Veda everywhere yields itself
\nup readily enough. There is indeed a certain restricted freedom in
\nthe combination of the symbols, as in those of any fixed poetical
\nimagery, \u2014 for instance, the sacred poems of the Vaishnavas; but the substance of thought behind is constant, coherent and
\ndoes not vary. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nPage \u2013 178<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER XVII The Seven-Headed Thought, Swar and the Dashagwas   THE language of the hymns establishes, then, a double aspect for the Angirasa Rishis. One…<\/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-891","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\/891","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=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}