{"id":918,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=918"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","slug":"25-summary-of-conclusions-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\/25-summary-of-conclusions-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-25_Summary of Conclusions.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

Summary of Conclusions <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nW<\/font>E HAVE <\/font><\/b>now closely scrutinised the Angirasa legend in the Rig-veda from
\nall possible sides and in all its main symbols and are in a position to
\nsummarise firmly the conclusions we have drawn from it. As I have already
\nsaid, the Angirasa legend and the Vritra mythus are the two
\nprincipal parables of the Veda; they occur and recur everywhere;
\nthey run through the hymns as two closely connected threads of symbolic imagery,
\nand around them all the rest of the Vedic symbolism is woven. Not that they are
\nits central ideas, but they are two main pillars of this ancient
\nstructure. When we determine their sense, we have determined the sense of
\nthe whole Rik Sanhita. If Vritra and the waters symbolise the cloud and the
\nrain and the gushing forth of the seven rivers of the Punjab and if
\nthe Angirasas are the bringers of the physical dawn, then the Veda is
\na symbolism of natural phenomena personified in the figure of gods and
\nRishis and maleficent demons. If Vritra and Vala are Dravidian gods and
\nthe Panis and Vritras human enemies, then the Veda is a poetical and
\nlegendary account of the invasion of Dravidian India by Nature-worshipping
\nbarbarians. If on the other hand this is a symbolism of the struggle
\nbetween spiritual powers of Light and Darkness, Truth and Falsehood,
\nKnowledge and Ignorance, Death and Immortality, then that is the real
\nsense of the whole Veda. <\/p>\n

We have concluded that the Angirasa Rishis are bringers of the Dawn,
\nrescuers of the Sun out of the darkness, but that this Dawn, Sun, Darkness
\nare figures used with a spiritual significance. The central conception of the
\nVeda is the conquest of the Truth out of the darkness of Ignorance and by
\nthe conquest of the Truth the conquest also of Immortality. For the
\nVedic ṛ<\/span>tam<\/i>
\nis a spiritual as well as a psychological conception. It is the true
\nbeing, the true consciousness, the true delight of existence <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 233<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

beyond this earth of body, this mid-region of vital force, this
\nordinary sky or heaven of mind. We have to cross beyond all these planes
\nin order to arrive at the higher plane of that superconscient Truth which is
\nthe own home of the gods and the foundation of Immortality. This is the world
\nof Swar, to which the Angirasas have found the path for their posterity. <\/p>\n

The Angirasas are at once the divine seers who assist in the cosmic and
\nhuman workings of the gods and their earthly representatives, the ancient
\nfathers who first found the wisdom of which the Vedic hymns are a chant
\nand memory and renewal in experience. The seven divine Angirasas are sons
\nor powers of Agni, powers of the Seer-Will, the name of divine Force
\ninstinct with divine knowledge which is kindled for the victory.
\nThe Bhrigus have found this Flame secret in the growths of the
\nearthly existence, but the Angirasas kindle it on the altar of
\nsacrifice and maintain the sacrifice through the periods of the
\nsacrificial year symbolising the periods of the divine labour by which
\nthe Sun of Truth is recovered out of the darkness. Those
\nwho sacrifice for nine months of this year are Navagwas, seers of
\nthe nine cows or nine rays, who institute the search for the herds
\nof the Sun and the march of Indra to battle with the Panis. Those who
\nsacrifice for ten months are the Dashagwas, seers of the ten rays who
\nenter with Indra into the cave of the Panis and recover the lost herds. <\/p>\n

The sacrifice is the giving by man of what he possesses in his being to
\nthe higher or divine nature and its fruit is the farther enrichment of his
\nmanhood by the lavish bounty of the gods. The wealth thus gained
\nconstitutes a state of spiritual riches, prosperity, felicity which is
\nitself a power for the journey and a force of battle. For the sacrifice is
\na journey, a progression; the sacrifice itself travels led by Agni up the
\ndivine path to the gods and of this journey the ascent of the Angirasa
\nfathers to the divine world of Swar is the type. Their journey of the
\nsacrifice is also a battle, for it is opposed by Panis, Vritras and
\nother powers of evil and falsehood, and of this warfare the conflict
\nof Indra and the Angirasas with the Panis is a principal episode. <\/p>\n

The principal features of sacrifice are the kindling of the divine
\nflame, the offering of the ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> and the Soma-wine and the <\/p>\n

 
\nPage \u2013 234<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

chanting of the sacred word. By the hymn and the offering the gods are
\nincreased; they are said to be born, created or manifested in man and by their
\nincrease and greatness here they increase the earth and heaven, that is to
\nsay, the physical and mental existence to their utmost capacity and,
\nexceeding these, create in their turn the higher worlds or planes. The
\nhigher existence is the divine, the infinite of which the shining Cow, the
\ninfinite Mother, Aditi, is the symbol; the lower is subject to her
\ndark form Diti. The object of the sacrifice is to win the higher or
\ndivine being and possess with it and make subject to its law and
\ntruth the lower or human existence. The ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> of the sacrifice is
\nthe yield of the shining Cow; it is the clarity or brightness of
\nthe solar light in the human mentality. The Soma is the
\nimmortal delight of existence secret in the waters and the plant and
\npressed out for drinking by gods and men. The word is the
\ninspired speech expressing the thought-illumination of the Truth
\nwhich rises out of the soul, formed in the heart, shaped by the
\nmind. Agni growing by the ghṛ<\/span>ta,<\/i> Indra forceful with the luminous strength and joy
\nof the Soma and increased by the Word, aid the Angirasas to recover the
\nherds of the Sun. <\/p>\n

Brihaspati is the Master of the creative Word. If Agni is the supreme
\nAngirasa, the flame from whom the Angirasas are born, Brihaspati is the
\none Angirasa with the seven mouths, the seven rays of the illuminative
\nthought and the seven words which express it, of whom these seers are the
\npowers of utterance. It is the complete thought of the Truth, the
\nseven-headed, which wins the fourth or divine world for man by
\nwinning for him the complete spiritual wealth, object of the
\nsacrifice. Therefore Agni, Indra, Brihaspati, Soma are all described
\nas winners of the herds of the Sun and destroyers of the Dasyus
\nwho conceal and withhold them from man. Saraswati, who is the stream
\nof the Word or inspiration of the Truth, is also a Dasyuslayer and winner of
\nthe shining herds; and they are discovered by Sarama, forerunner of Indra,
\nwho is a solar or dawn goddess and seems to symbolise the intuitive power
\nof the Truth. Usha, the Dawn, is at once herself a worker in the great
\nvictory and in her full advent its luminous result. <\/p>\n

Usha is the divine Dawn, for the Sun that arises by her <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 235<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

coming is the Sun of the superconscient Truth; the day he brings. is the day
\nof the true life in the true knowledge, the night he dispels is the night of
\nthe ignorance which yet conceals the dawn in its bosom. Usha herself is
\nthe Truth, sūṇ<\/span>rtā,<\/i>
\nand the mother of Truths. These truths of the divine Dawn are called her
\ncows, her shining herds; while the forces of the Truth that
\naccompany them and occupy the Life are called her horses. Around
\nthis symbol of the cows and horses much of the Vedic symbolism turns;
\nfor these are the chief elements of the riches sought by man from the
\ngods. The cows of the Dawn have been stolen and concealed by the demons,
\nthe lords of darkness in their nether cave of the secret subconscient. They
\nare the illuminations of knowledge, the thoughts of the Truth, gāvo
\nmatayaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nwhich have to be delivered out of their imprisonment. Their release is
\nthe upsurging of the powers of the divine Dawn. <\/p>\n

It is also the recovery of the Sun that was lying in the darkness;
\nfor it is said that the Sun, "that Truth", was the thing
\nfound by Indra and the Angirasas in the cave of the Panis. By the rending
\nof that cave the herds of the divine dawn which are the rays of the Sun of
\nTruth ascend the hill of being and the Sun itself ascends to the luminous
\nupper ocean of the divine existence, led over it by the thinkers like a
\nship over the waters, till it reaches its farther shore. <\/p>\n

The Panis who conceal the herds, the masters of the nether cavern, are
\na class of Dasyus who are in the Vedic symbolism set in opposition to the
\nAryan gods and Aryan seers and workers. The Aryan is he who does the work
\nof sacrifice, finds the sacred word of illumination, desires the gods and
\nincreases them and is increased by them into the largeness of the true
\nexistence; he is the warrior of the light and the traveller to the Truth.
\nThe Dasyu is the undivine being who does no sacrifice, amasses a
\nwealth he cannot rightly use because he cannot speak the word or mentalise
\nthe superconscient Truth, hates the Word, the gods and the sacrifice and
\ngives nothing of himself to the higher existences but robs and withholds
\nhis wealth from the Aryan. He is the thief, the enemy, the wolf, the devourer,
\nthe divider, the obstructor, the confiner. The Dasyus are powers of
\ndarkness and ignorance who oppose the seeker of truth and immortality. The
\ngods are the <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 236<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

powers of Light, the children of Infinity, forms and personalities of the
\none Godhead who by their help and by their growth and human workings in
\nman raise him to the truth and the immortality. <\/p>\n

Thus the interpretation of the Angirasa myth gives us the key to the
\nwhole secret of the Veda. For if the cows and horses lost by the Aryans
\nand recovered for them by the gods, the cows and horses of which Indra is
\nthe lord and giver and indeed himself the Cow and Horse, are not physical
\ncattle, if these elements of the wealth sought by the sacrifice are
\nsymbols of spiritual riches, so also must be its other elements which are
\nalways associated with them, sons, men, gold, treasure, etc. If the Cow
\nof which the ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i>
\nis the yield is not a physical cow but the shining Mother, then the ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> itself which is found
\nin the waters and is said to be triply secreted by the Panis in the Cow,
\nis no physical offering, nor the honey-wine of Soma either which is also
\nsaid to exist in the rivers and to rise in a honeyed wave from
\nthe ocean and to flow streaming up to the gods. And if these, then also
\nthe other offerings of the sacrifice must be symbolic; the outer sacrifice
\nitself can be nothing but the symbol of an inner giving. And if the
\nAngirasa Rishis are also in part symbolic or are, like the gods,
\nsemi-divine workers and helpers in the sacrifice, so also must be the Bhrigus,
\nAtharvans, Ushana and Kutsa and others who are associated with them in
\ntheir work. If the Angirasa legend and the story of the struggle with the
\nDasyus is a parable, so also should be the other legendary stories
\nwe find in the Rig-veda of the help given by the gods to the
\nRishis against the demons; for these also are related in similar
\nterms and constantly classed by the Vedic poets along with the Angirasa
\nstory as on the same footing. <\/p>\n

Similarly if these Dasyus who refuse the gift and the sacrifice, and hate
\nthe Word and the gods and with whom the Aryans are constantly at war,
\nthese Vritras, Panis and others, are not human enemies but powers of
\ndarkness, falsehood and evil, then the whole idea of the Aryan wars and
\nkings and nations begins to take upon itself the aspect of spiritual
\nsymbol and apologue. Whether they are entirely so or only partly, cannot
\nbe decided except by a more detailed examination which is not our present <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 237<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

object. Our object is only to see whether there is a prima facie <\/i>case
\nfor the idea with which we started that the Vedic hymns are the symbolic
\ngospel of the ancient Indian mystics and their sense spiritual and
\npsychological. Such a prima facie<\/i> case we have established; for
\nthere is already sufficient ground for seriously approaching the Veda from
\nthis standpoint and interpreting it in detail as such a lyric symbolism. <\/p>\n

Still, to make our case entirely firm it will be well to examine the
\nother companion legend of Vritra and the waters which we have seen to be
\nclosely connected with that of the Angirasas and the Light. In the first
\nplace Indra the Vritra-slayer is along with Agni one of the two chief gods
\nof the Vedic Pantheon and if his character and functions can be properly
\nestablished, we shall have the general type of the Aryan gods fixed
\nfirmly. Secondly, the Maruts, his companions, singers of the sacred
\nchant, are the strongest point of the naturalistic theory of
\nVedic worship; they are undoubtedly storm-gods and no other of
\nthe greater Vedic deities, Agni or the Ashwins or Varuna and Mitra or
\nTwashtri and the goddesses or even Surya the Sun or Usha the Dawn have
\nsuch a pronounced physical character. If then these storm-gods can be
\nshown to have a psychological character and symbolism, then there can be
\nno farther doubt about the profounder sense of the Vedic religion and ritual.
\nFinally, if Vritra and his associated demons, Shushna, Namuchi and the
\nrest appear when closely scrutinised to be Dasyus in the spiritual sense and if
\nthe meaning of the heavenly waters he obstructs be more thoroughly
\ninvestigated, then the consideration of the stories of the Rishis and the
\ngods and demons as parables can be proceeded with from a sure
\nstarting-point and the symbolism of the Vedic worlds brought nearer to a
\nsatisfactory interpretation. <\/p>\n

More we cannot at present attempt; for the Vedic symbolism as worked out in
\nthe hymns is too complex in its details, too numerous in its standpoints,
\npresents too many obscurities and difficulties to the interpreter in its
\nshades and side allusions and above all has been too much obscured by ages
\nof oblivion and misunderstanding to be adequately dealt with in a
\nsingle work. We can only at present seek out the leading clues and
\nlay as securely as may be the right foundations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nPage \u2013 238<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER XXIII Summary of Conclusions   WE HAVE now closely scrutinised the Angirasa legend in the Rig-veda from all possible sides and in all its main…<\/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-918","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\/918","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=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}