{"id":919,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=919"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","slug":"13-the-seven-rivers-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\/13-the-seven-rivers-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-13_The Seven Rivers.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n\tC<\/font>HAPTER <\/font>
\n\tXI <\/font> <\/b><\/p>\n


\n\tThe Seven Rivers <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t                T<\/font>HE <\/font><\/b>Veda speaks constantly of the waters
\nor the rivers, especially of the divine waters, āpo devīḥ<\/span><\/i> or āpo
\ndivyāḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nand occasionally of the waters which carry in them the
\nlight of the luminous solar world or the light of the Sun, svarvatīr
\napaḥ<\/span>.<\/i> The
\npassage of the waters effected by the gods or by man
\nwith the aid of the gods is a constant symbol. The three great
\nconquests to which the human being aspires, which the gods are
\nin constant battle with the Vritras and Panis to give to man are
\nthe herds, the waters and the Sun or the solar world, gāḥ<\/span>, apaḥ<\/span>,
\nsvaḥ<\/span>.<\/i> The
\nquestion is whether these references are to the rains
\nof heaven, the rivers of Northern India possessed or assailed
\nby the Dravidians \u2014 the Vritras being sometimes the Dravidians and sometimes
\ntheir gods, the herds possessed or robbed
\nfrom the Aryan settlers by the indigenous "robbers", \u2014 the
\nPanis who hold or steal the herds being again sometimes the
\nDravidians and sometimes their gods; or is there a deeper, a
\nspiritual meaning? Is the winning of Swar simply the recovery
\nof the sun from its shadowing by the storm-cloud or its seizure
\nby eclipse or its concealment by the darkness of Night? For here
\nat least there can be no withholding of the sun from the Aryans
\nby human "black-skinned" and "noseless" enemies. Or does
\nthe
\nconquest of Swar mean simply the winning of heaven by sacrifice? And in either
\ncase what is the sense of this curious collocation of cows, waters and the sun
\nor cows, waters and the sky?
\nIs it not rather a system of symbolic meanings in which the
\nherds, indicated by the word gāḥ<\/span>.<\/i> in the sense both of cows and
\nrays of light, are the illuminations from the higher consciousness
\nwhich have their origin in the Sun of Light, the Sun of Truth?
\nIs not Swar itself the world or plane of immortality governed by
\nthat Light or Truth of the all-illumining Sun called in Veda the
\nvast Truth, ṛ<\/span>tam
\nbrạ<\/span>hat,<\/i> and
\nthe true Light ? and are not the divine <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 104<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

waters, āpo devīḥ<\/span>, divyāḥ<\/span><\/i> or svarvatīḥ<\/span>,<\/i> the floods of this higher
\nconsciousness pouring on the mortal mind from that plane of
\nimmortality? <\/p>\n

It is, no doubt, easy to point to passages or hymns in which
\non the surface there seems to be no need of any such interpretation and the
\nSukta can be understood as a prayer or praise for
\nthe giving of rain or an account of a battle on the rivers of the
\nPunjab. But the Veda cannot be interpreted by separate passages
\nor hymns. If it is to have any coherent or consistent meaning, we
\nmust interpret it as a whole. We may escape our difficulties by
\nassigning to svar<\/i> or gāḥ<\/span><\/i> entirely different senses in different passages\u2014just as
\nSayana sometimes finds in gāḥ<\/span><\/i> the sense of
\ncows, sometimes rays and sometimes, with an admirable light-heartedness,
\ncompels it to mean waters.\u00b9 But such a system of
\ninterpretation is not rational merely because it leads to a
\n"rationalistic" or "common-sense" result. It rather flouts
\nboth reason
\nand common sense. We can indeed arrive by it at any result
\nwe please, but no reasonable and unbiassed mind can feel convinced that that
\nresult was the original sense of the Vedic
\nhymns. <\/p>\n

But if we adopt a more consistent method, insuperable difficulties oppose
\nthemselves to the purely material sense. We have
\nfor instance a hymn (VII.49) of Vasishtha to the divine waters, āpo devīḥ<\/span>,
\nāpo divyāḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nin which the second verse runs "The divine
\nwaters that flow whether in channels dug or self-born, they
\nwhose movement is towards the ocean, pure, purifying, \u2014 may
\nthose waters foster me." Here, it will be said, the sense is quite
\nclear; it is to material waters, earthly rivers, canals,\u2014or, if
\nthe word khanitrimāḥ<\/span><\/i>
\nmeans simply "dug", then wells, \u2014 that
\nVasishtha addresses his hymn and divyāḥ<\/span>,<\/i> divine, is only an ornamental
\nepithet of praise; or even perhaps we may render the
\nverse differently and suppose that three kinds of water are
\ndescribed, \u2014 the waters of heaven, that is to say the rain, the
\nwater of wells, the water of rivers. But when we study the hymn
\nas a whole this sense can no longer stand. For thus it runs: <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font>So
\n\talso he interprets the all-important Vedic word <\/font>r<\/font>̣<\/font><\/span>tam<\/font><\/i> sometimes as sacrifice, sometimes as truth, sometimes
\nas water, and all these different senses in a single hymn of five or <\/font>
\n\tsix verses!<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tPage \u2013 105<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"May those divine waters foster me, the eldest (or greatest)
\nof the ocean from the midst of the moving flood that go purifying, not settling
\ndown, which Indra of the thunderbolt, the Bull,
\nclove out. The divine waters that flow whether in channels dug
\nor self-born, whose movement is towards the Ocean, \u2014 may
\nthose divine waters foster me. In the midst of whom King
\nVaruna moves looking down on the truth and the falsehood of
\ncreatures, they that stream honey and are pure and purifying,
\n\u2014 may those divine waters foster me. In whom Varuna the king,
\nin whom Soma, in whom all the Gods have the intoxication of
\nthe energy, into whom Agni Vaishwanara has entered, may those
\ndivine waters foster me." (VII.49.1-4) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is evident that Vasishtha is speaking here of the same
\nwaters, the same streams that Vamadeva hymns, the waters that
\nrise from the ocean and flow into the ocean, the honeyed wave
\nthat rises upward from the sea, from the flood that is the heart
\nof things, streams of the clarity, ghṛ<\/span>tasya dhārāḥ<\/span>.<\/i> They are the
\nfloods of the supreme and universal conscious existence in which
\nVaruna moves looking down on the truth and the falsehood of
\nmortals, \u2014 a phrase that can apply neither to the descending
\nrains nor to the physical ocean. Varuna in the Veda is not an
\nIndian Neptune, neither is he precisely, as the European scholars
\nat first imagined, the Greek Ouranos, the sky. He is the master
\nof an ethereal wideness, an upper ocean, of the vastness of being,
\nof its purity; in that vastness, it is elsewhere said, he has made
\npaths in the pathless infinite along which Surya, the Sun, the
\nLord of Truth and the Light can move. Thence he looks down
\non the mingled truths and falsehoods of the mortal conscious-
\nness…. And we have further to note that these divine waters are
\nthose which Indra has cloven out and made to flow upon the
\nearth \u2014 a description which throughout the Veda is applied to
\nthe seven rivers. <\/p>\n

If there were any doubt whether these waters of Vasishtha’s
\nprayer are the same as the waters of Vamadeva’s great hymn, madhumān ūrmiḥ<\/span>,
\nghṛ<\/span>tasya
\ndhārāḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nit is entirely removed by another Sukta of the sage Vasishtha (VII.47). In the
\nforty-ninth
\nhymn he refers briefly to the divine waters as honey-streaming, <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 106<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

madhuścutaḥ<\/span><\/i>
\nand speaks of the Gods enjoying in them the intoxication of the energy,
\n\tūrjam
\nmadanti;<\/span><\/i> from this we can gather
\nthat the honey or sweetness is the madhu,<\/i> the Soma, the wine of
\nthe Ananda, of which the Gods have the ecstasy. But in the fortyseventh hymn he makes his meaning unmistakably clear.\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"O Waters, that supreme wave of yours, the drink of Indra,
\nwhich the seekers of the Godhead have made for themselves,
\nthat pure, inviolate, clarity-streaming, most honeyed (ghṛ<\/span>tapruṣ<\/span>am madhumantam)<\/i> wave of you may we
\n\ttoday enjoy. O
\nWaters, may the son of the waters (Agni), he of the swift rushings,
\nfoster that most honeyed wave of you; that wave of yours in
\nwhich Indra with the Vasus is intoxicated with ecstasy, may we
\nwho seek the Godhead taste today. Strained through the hundred purifiers,
\necstatic by their self-nature, they are divine and
\nmove to the goal of the movement of the Gods (the supreme
\nocean); they limit not the workings of Indra: offer to the rivers a
\nfood of oblation full of the clarity (ghṛ<\/span>tavat).<\/i> May the rivers
\nwhich the sun has formed by his rays, from whom Indra clove
\nout a moving wave, establish for us the supreme good. And do
\nye, O Gods, protect us ever by states of felicity." (VII.47.1-4) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here we have Vamadeva’s
\n\tmadhumān ūrmiḥ<\/span>,<\/i> the sweet intoxicating wave,
\nand it is plainly said that this honey, this sweetness is the Soma, the drink
\nof Indra. That is farther made clear by
\nthe epithet śatapavitrāḥ<\/span><\/i> which can only refer in the Vedic language
\nto the Soma; and let us note that it is an epithet of the rivers
\nthemselves and that the honeyed wave is brought flowing from
\nthem by Indra, its passage being cloven out on the mountains by
\nthe thunderbolt that slew Vritra. Again it is made clear that these
\nwaters are the seven rivers released by Indra from the hold of
\nVritra, the Besieger, the Coverer and sent flowing down upon the
\nearth. <\/p>\n

What can these rivers be whose wave is full of Soma-wine,
\nfull of the ghṛ<\/span>ta,<\/i>
\nfull of ūrj,<\/span><\/i> the energy ? What are these waters
\nthat flow to the goal of the god’s movement, that establish for
\nman the supreme good ? Not the rivers of the
\n\tPunjab; no
\nwildest
\nassumption of barbarous confusion or insane incoherence in the <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 107<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

mentality of the Vedic Rishis can induce us to put such a construction upon
\nsuch expressions. Obviously these are the waters
\nof the Truth and the Bliss that flow from the supreme ocean.
\nThese rivers flow not upon earth, but in heaven; they are pre-
\nvented by Vritra the Besieger, the Coverer from flowing down
\nupon the earth-consciousness in which we mortals live till Indra,
\nthe god-mind, smites the Coverer with his flashing lightnings and
\ncuts out a passage on the summits of that earth-consciousness
\ndown which they can flow. Such is the only rational, coherent
\nand sensible explanation of the thought and language of the
\nVedic sages. For the rest, Vasishtha makes it clear enough to us; for he says that these are the waters which Surya has formed by
\nhis rays and which, unlike earthly movements, do not limit or
\ndiminish the workings of Indra, the supreme Mind. They are, in
\nother words, the waters of the Vast Truth, ṛ<\/span>tam bṛ<\/span>hat<\/i> and, as we
\nhave always seen that this Truth creates the Bliss, so here we
\nfind that these waters of the Truth, ṛ<\/span>tasya dhārāḥ<\/span>,<\/i> as they are
\nplainly called in other hymns (e.g. V.12.2 "O perceiver of the
\nTruth, perceive the Truth alone, cleave out many streams of the
\nTruth"), establish for men the supreme good and the supreme
\ngood\u00b9 is the felicity, the bliss of the divine existence. <\/p>\n

Still, neither in these hymns nor in Vamadeva’s is there an
\nexpress mention of the seven rivers. We will turn therefore to
\nthe first hymn of Vishwamitra, his hymn to Agni (III.l), from its
\nsecond to its fourteenth verse. The passage is a long one, but is
\nsufficiently important to cite and translate in full. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tPrā\u00f1cam yaj\u00f1am cakṛ<\/span>ma vardhatām gīḥ<\/span>,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tsamidbhir agnim namasā duvasyan;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tdivaḥ <\/span>śaśāsur
\nvidathā kavīnām,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tgṛ<\/span>tsāya
\ncit tavase gātum īṣ<\/span>uḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\n(2) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMayo dadhe medhiraḥ<\/span>
\npūtadakṣ<\/span>o<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tdivaḥ<\/span>
\nsubandhur januṣā<\/span>
\npṛ<\/span>thivyāḥ<\/span>;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tavindan nu darśatam apsvantar<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tdevāso agnim apasi svasṛ<\/span>ṇā<\/span>m.<\/i>
\n(3) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\u00b9<\/span>The
\nword indeed is usually understood as "felicity".<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 108<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 
\n\tAvardhayanta subhagarh sapta yahvīḥ<\/span>,<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\tśvetam jaj\u00f1ānam aruṣ<\/span>am mahitvā;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tśiśum na jātam abhyārur aśvā<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tdevāso agnim janiman vapuṣ<\/span>yan.<\/i> (4)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tŚukrebhir angai raja ātatanvān,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tkratum punānaḥ<\/span> kavibhiḥ<\/span>. pavitraḥ<\/span>);<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tśocir vasānaḥ<\/span> pari āyur apām,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tśriyo mimiīe bṛ<\/span>hatīr anūnāḥ<\/span>.<\/i> (5)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tVavrāja sīm anadatīr adabdhāḥ<\/span>,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tdivo yahvīr avasānā anagnāḥ<\/span>;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\tśanā<\/i> atra
\nyuvatayaḥ<\/span> <\/span>sayonīr <\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\tekam garbham dadhire sapta vāṇī<\/span>ḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\n(6)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tStīrṇ<\/span>ā asya samhato viśvarūpā<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tghṛ<\/span>tasya yonau sravathe madhūnām;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tasthur atra dhenavaḥ<\/span>
\npinvamānā<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tmahī dasmasya mātarā samīcī.<\/i> (7)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBabhrāṇ<\/span>aḥ<\/span> sūno sahaso vyadyaud,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tdadhānaḥ<\/span> <\/span>śukrā
\nrabhasā vapūmṣ<\/span>i;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tścotanti dhārā madhuno ghṛ<\/span>tasya,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tvṛ<\/span>ṣā<\/span> yatra vāvṛ<\/span>dhe kāvyena.<\/i> (8)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPituś cid ūdhar januṣ<\/span>ā viveda,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tvyasya dhārā aṣ<\/span>rjad vi dhenāḥ<\/span>;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tguhā carantam sakhibhiḥ<\/span> <\/span>śivebhir<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tdivo yahvībhir na guhā babhūva.<\/i> (9)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPituś ca garbham janituś ca babhre,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tpūrvīr eko adhayat pīpyānāḥ<\/span>;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tvṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ṇ<\/span>e sapatnī śucaye sabandhū,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tubhe asmai manuṣ<\/span>ye
\nni pāhi.<\/i> (10)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tUrau mahān anibādhe vavardha,<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tāpo agnim yaśasaḥ<\/span> sam hi pūrvīḥ<\/span>;<\/i>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tṛ<\/span>tasya yonāvaśayad
\ndamūnā<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tjāminām agnir apasi svasṛ<\/span>ṇā<\/span>m.<\/i>
\n(11)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 109<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 Akro na babhriḥ<\/span> samithe mahīnām,<\/i>
\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tdidṛ<\/span>kṣ<\/span>eyaḥ<\/span> sūnave bhāṛ<\/span>jīkaḥ<\/span>;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tud usriyā janitā yo jajāna,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tapām garbho nṛ<\/span>tamo
\nyahvo agniḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\n(12) <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tApām garbham darśatam oṣ<\/span>adhīnām,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tvanā jajāna subhagā virūpam;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tdevāsaś cin manasā sam hi jagmuḥ<\/span>,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tpaniṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>ham jātam tavasam
\nduvasyan.<\/i> (13) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBṛ<\/span>hanta id
\nbhānavo bhārjīkam,<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tagnim sacanta vidyuto na śukrāḥ<\/span>;<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tguheva vṛ<\/span>ddham
\nsadasi sve antar<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\t\tapāra ūrve amṛ<\/span>tam duhānāḥ<\/span>.<\/i> (14) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"We have made the sacrifice to ascend towards the supreme,
\nlet the Word increase. With kindlings of his fire, with obeisance
\nof submission they set Agni to his workings; they have given
\nexpression in the heaven to the knowings of the seers and they
\ndesire a passage for him in his strength, in his desire of the
\nword.<\/p>\n

                                                                                                              (2) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"Full of intellect, purified in discernment, the perfect friend
\n(or, perfect builder) from his birth of Heaven and of Earth, he
\nestablishes the Bliss; the gods discovered Agni visible in the Waters, in the
\n\tworking of the sisters.         <\/p>\n

                                                                                                              (3) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"The seven Mighty Ones increased him who utterly enjoys
\nfelicity, white in his birth, ruddy when he has grown. They
\nmoved and laboured about him, the Mares around the new-born
\nchild; the gods gave body to Agni in his birth.       <\/p>\n

                                                                                                             (4) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"With his pure
\n\tbright limbs he extended and formed the middle world purifying the
\n\twill-to-action by the help of the pure lords of wisdom; wearing light as a
\n\trobe about all the life of the Waters he formed in himself glories vast and
\n\twithout any deficiency.                                                                                                              <\/p>\n

                                                                                                               (5)  \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t"He moved everywhere about the Mighty Ones of Heaven, <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 110<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

and they devoured not, neither were overcome, \u2014 they were not
\nclothed, neither were they naked. Here the eternal and ever young
\ngoddesses from one womb held the one Child, they the Seven
\nWords.           <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                      (6) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"Spread out were the masses of him in universal forms in the
\nwomb of the clarity, in the flowings of the sweetnesses; here the
\nfostering Rivers stood nourishing themselves; the two Mothers
\nof the accomplishing god became vast and harmonised.                                         <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                (7) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"Borne by them,
\n\tO child of Force, thou didst blaze out holding thy
\nbright and rapturous embodiments; out flow the streams
\nof the sweetness, the clarity, where the Bull of the abundance
\nhas grown by the Wisdom.                   <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                (8) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"He discovered at his birth the source of the abundance of
\nthe Father and he loosed forth wide His streams and wide His
\nrivers. By his helpful comrades and by the Mighty Ones of
\nHeaven he found Him moving in the secret places of existence,
\nyet himself was not lost in their secrecy.                                                                                                           (9) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"He bore the child of the Father and of him that begot him;
\n\tone, he fed upon his many mothers in their increasing. In this pure Male
\n\tboth these powers in man (Earth and Heaven) have their common lord and
\n\tlover; do thou guard them both.  <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                (10)\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"Great in the unobstructed Vast he increased; yea, many
\nWaters victoriously increased Agni. In the source of the Truth he
\nlay down, there he made his home, Agni in the working of the un-
\ndivided Sisters.                                                   <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                 (11) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"As the mover in things and as their sustainer he in the
\nmeeting of the Great Ones, seeking vision, straight in his lustres
\nfor the presser-out of the Soma-wine, he who was the father of the
\nRadiances, gave them now their higher birth, \u2014 the child of the
\nWaters, the mighty and most strong Agni.                                                                                                          <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                  (12) <\/p>\n

"To the visible Birth of the waters and of the growths of \n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tPage \u2013 111<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Earth the goddess of Delight now gave birth in many forms, she
\nof the utter felicity. The gods united in him by the mind and they
\nset him to his working who was born full of strength and mighty
\nfor the labour.          <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                          (13) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

"Those vast shinings clove to Agni straight in his lustre and
\nwere like bright lightnings; from him increasing in the secret
\nplaces of existence in his own seat within the shoreless Vast
\nthey milked out Immortality."                                             <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                  (14) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whatever may be the meaning of this passage, \u2014 and it is
\nabsolutely clear that it has a mystic significance and is no mere
\nsacrificial hymn of ritualistic barbarians, \u2014 the seven rivers,
\nthe waters, the seven sisters cannot here be the seven rivers of the
\nPunjab. The waters in which the gods discovered the visible
\nAgni cannot be terrestrial and material streams; this Agni who
\nincreases by knowledge and makes his home and rest in the
\nsource of the Truth, of whom Heaven and Earth are the wives
\nand lovers, who is increased by the divine waters in the un-
\nobstructed Vast, his own seat, and dwelling in that shoreless
\ninfinity yields to the illumined gods the supreme Immortality,
\ncannot be the god of physical Fire. In this passage, as in so many
\nothers, the mystical, the spiritual, the psychological character
\nof the burden of the Veda reveals itself not under the surface, not
\nbehind a veil of mere ritualism, but openly, insistently, \u2014 in a
\ndisguise indeed, but a disguise that is transparent, so that the
\nsecret truth of the Veda appears here, like the rivers of Vishwamitra’s hymn,
\n"neither veiled nor naked". <\/p>\n

We see that these Waters are the same as those of Vamadeva’s hymn, of
\nVasishtha’s, closely connected with the clarity
\nand the honey,\u2014ghṛ<\/span>tasya
\nyonau sravathe madhūnām, ścotanti
\ndhārā madhuno ghṛ<\/span>tasya;<\/i>
\nthey lead to the Truth, they are themselves the source of the Truth, they flow
\nin the unobstructed and
\nshoreless Vast as well as here upon the earth. They are figured
\nas fostering cows (dhenavaḥ<\/span>),<\/i> mares (aśvāḥ<\/span>),<\/i> they are called sapta vānīḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nthe seven Words of the creative goddess Vak, \u2014
\nSpeech, the expressive power of Aditi, of the supreme Prakriti
\nwho is spoken of as the Cow just as the Deva or Purusha is <\/p>\n

\n

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described in the Veda as Vrishabha or Vrishan, the Bull. They
\nare therefore the seven strands of all being, the seven streams or
\ncurrents or forms of movement of the one conscious existence. <\/p>\n

We shall find that in the light of the ideas which we have
\ndiscovered from the very opening of the Veda in Madhuchchhandas’ hymns and in
\nthe light of the symbolic interpretations
\nwhich are now becoming clear to us, this passage apparently so
\nfigured, mysterious, enigmatical becomes perfectly straightforward and
\ncoherent, as indeed do all the passages of the Veda
\nwhich seem now almost unintelligible, when once their right clue
\nis found. We have only to fix the psychological function of Agni,
\nthe priest, the fighter, the worker, the truth-finder, the winner of
\nbeatitude for man; and that has already been fixed for us in the
\nfirst hymn of the Rig-veda of Madhuchchhandas’ description of
\nhim, \u2014 "the Will in works of the Seer true and most rich in
\nvaried inspiration". Agni is the Deva, the All-Seer, manifested
\nas conscious-force or, as it would be called in modern language,
\nDivine or Cosmic Will, first hidden and building up the eternal
\nworlds, then manifest, "born", building up in man the Truth and
\nthe Immortality. <\/p>\n

Gods and men, says Vishwamitra in effect, kindle this divine
\nforce by lighting the fires of the inner sacrifice; they enable it to
\nwork by their adoration and submission to it; they express in
\nheaven, that is to say, in the pure mentality which is symbolised
\nby dyauḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nthe knowings of the Seers, in other words the illuminations of the Truth-Consciousness
\nwhich exceeds Mind; and they
\ndo this in order to make a passage for this divine force which in its
\nstrength seeking always to find the word of right self-expression
\naspires beyond mind. This divine will carrying in all its workings
\nthe secret of the divine knowledge, kavikratuḥ<\/span>,<\/i> befriends or builds
\nup the mental and physical consciousness in man, divaḥ<\/span> pṛ<\/span>thivyāḥ<\/span>, <\/i>perfects the intellect, purifies the discernment so that they grow to
\nbe capable of the "knowings of the seers" and by the superconscient
\nTruth thus made conscient in us establishes firmly the
\nBeatitude (Riks 2.3). <\/p>\n

The rest of the passage describes the ascent of this divine
\nconscious-force, Agni, this Immortal in mortals who in the
\nsacrifice takes the place of the ordinary will and knowledge of <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 113<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

man, from the mortal and physical consciousness to the immortality of the
\nTruth and the Beatitude. The Vedic Rishis speak
\nof five births for man, five worlds of creatures where works are
\ndone, pa\u00f1ca janāḥ<\/span>,
\npa\u00f1ca kṛ<\/span>ṣ<\/span>ṭ<\/span>īḥ<\/span><\/i> or kṣ<\/span>itīḥ<\/span>. Dyauh<\/i> and pṛ<\/span>thivī<\/i> represent the
\npure mental and the physical consciousness; between
\nthem is the antarikṣ<\/span>a,<\/i>
\nthe intermediate or connecting level of
\nthe vital or, nervous consciousness. Dyauh.<\/i> and pṛ<\/span>thivī<\/i> are rodasī
\n\t<\/i>our two firmaments; but these have to be overpassed, for then
\nwe find admission to another heaven than that of the pure mind
\n\u2014to the wide, the Vast which is the basis, the foundation (budhna)<\/i> of the infinite consciousness, Aditi. This Vast is the
\nTruth which supports the supreme triple world, those highest
\nsteps or seats (padāni, sadāmsi)<\/i> of Agni, of Vishnu, those
\nsupreme
\nNames of the Mother, the Cow, Aditi. The Vast or Truth is
\ndeclared to be the own or proper seat or home of Agni, svam
\ndomain, svam sadaḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\nAgni is described in this hymn ascending
\nfrom earth to his own seat. <\/p>\n

This divine Power is found by the gods visible in the Waters,
\nin the working of the Sisters. These are the sevenfold Waters of
\nthe Truth, the divine Waters brought down from the heights of
\nour being by Indra. First it is secret in the earth’s growths, osadhīḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nthe things that hold her heats, and has to be brought out
\nby a sort of force, by a pressure of the two araṇ<\/span>is,<\/i> earth and
\nheaven. Therefore it is called the child of the earth’s growths
\nand the child of the earth and heaven; this immortal Force is
\nproduced by man with pain and difficulty from the workings
\nof the pure mind upon the physical being. But in the divine
\nWaters Agni is found visible and easily born in all his strength
\nand in all his knowledge and in all his enjoyment, entirely white
\nand pure, growing ruddy with his action as he increases (Rik 3).
\nFrom his very birth the Gods give him force and splendour and
\nbody; the seven mighty Rivers increase him in his joy; they
\nmove about this great new-born child and labour over him as the
\nMares, aśvāḥ<\/span><\/i>
\n(Rik 4). <\/p>\n

The rivers, usually named
\n\tdhenavaḥ<\/span>,<\/i> fostering cows, are here
\ndescribed as aśvāḥ<\/span>.<\/i> Mares, because while the Cow is the symbol
\nof consciousness in the form of knowledge, the Horse is the symbol of
\nconsciousness in the form of force. Ashwa, the Horse, is <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tPage \u2013 114<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

the dynamic force of Life, and the rivers labouring over Agni
\non the earth become the waters of Life, of the vital dynamis or
\nkinesis, the Prana, which moves and acts and desires and enjoys.
\nAgni himself begins as material heat and power, manifests secondarily as the
\nHorse and then only becomes the heavenly fire.
\nHis first work is to give as the child of the Waters its full form and
\nextension and purity to the middle world, the vital or dynamic
\nplane, raja ātatanvān.<\/i> He purifies the nervous life in man pervading
\nit with his own pure bright limbs, lifting upward its impulsions and desires,
\nits purified will in works (kratum)<\/i> by the
\npure powers of the superconscient Truth and Wisdom, kavibhiḥ<\/span>.
\npavitraiḥ<\/span>.<\/i>
\nSo he wears his vast glories, no longer the broken and
\nlimited activity of desires and instincts, all about the life of the
\nWaters (Riks 4,5). <\/p>\n

The sevenfold Waters thus rise upward and become the pure
\nmental activity, the Mighty Ones of Heaven. They there reveal
\nthemselves as the first eternal ever-young energies, separate
\nstreams but of one origin \u2014 for they have all flowed from the one
\nwomb of the superconscient Truth \u2014 the seven Words or fundamental creative
\nexpressions of the divine Mind, sapta vāṇī<\/span>ḥ<\/span>. <\/i>This life of the pure mind is not like that of the nervous life which
\ndevours its objects in order to sustain its mortal existence; its
\nwaters devour not but they do not fail; they are the eternal
\ntruth robed in a transparent veil of mental forms; therefore, it
\nis said, they are neither clothed nor naked (Rik 6). <\/p>\n

But this is not the last stage. The Force rises into the womb
\nor birthplace of this mental clarity (ghṛ<\/span>tasya)<\/i> where the waters
\nflow as streams of the divine sweetness (sravathe madhūnām); <\/i>there the forms it assumes are universal forms, masses of the vast
\nand infinite consciousness. As a result, the fostering rivers in the
\nlower world are nourished by this descending higher sweetness
\nand the mental and physical consciousness, the two first mothers
\nof the all-effecting Will, become in their entire largeness perfectly
\nequal and harmonised by this light of the Truth, through this
\nnourishing by the infinite Bliss. They bear the full force of Agni,
\nthe blaze of his lightnings, the glory and rapture of his universal
\nforms. For where the Lord, the Male, the Bull of the abundance
\nis increased by the wisdom of the superconscient Truth, there <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tPage \u2013 115<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

always flow the streams of the clarity and the streams of the
\nbliss (Riks 7,8). <\/p>\n

The Father of all things is the Lord and Male; he is hidden
\nin the secret source of things, in the superconscient; Agni, with
\nhis companion gods and with the sevenfold Waters, enters into
\nthe superconscient without therefore disappearing from our conscient existence,
\nfinds the source of the honeyed plenty of the
\nFather of things and pours them out on our life. He bears and
\nhimself becomes the Son, the pure Kumara, the pure Male, the
\nOne, the soul in man revealed in its universality; the mental and
\nphysical consciousness in the human being accept him as their
\nlord and lover; but, though one, he still enjoys the manifold
\nmovement of the rivers, the multiple cosmic energies (Riks 9,10)<\/p>\n

Then we are told expressly that this infinite into which he
\nhas entered and in which he grows, in which the many Waters
\nvictoriously reaching their goal (yaśasaḥ<\/span>)<\/i> increase him, is the unobstructed
\nVast where the Truth is born, the shoreless infinite,
\nhis own natural seat in which he now takes up his home. There
\nthe seven rivers, the sisters, work no longer separated though of
\none origin as on the earth and in the mortal life, but rather as
\nindivisible companions (jāmīnām apasi svasṛ<\/span>ṇā<\/span>m<\/span>).<\/i> In that entire
\nmeeting of these great ones Agni moves in all things and upbears
\nall things; the rays of his vision are perfectly straight, no longer
\naffected by the lower crookedness; he from whom the radiances
\nof knowledge, the brilliant herds, were born, now gives them this
\nhigh and supreme birth; he turns them into the divine know-
\nledge, the immortal consciousness (Riks 11,12). <\/p>\n

This also is his own new and last birth. He who was born
\nas the Son of Force from the growths of earth, he who was born
\nas the child of the Waters, is now born in many forms to the
\ngoddess of bliss, she who has the entire felicity, that is to say to
\nthe divine conscious beatitude, in the shoreless infinite. The gods or divine
\n\tpowers in man using the mind as an instrument reach him there, unite around
\n\thim, set him to the great work of the world in this new, mighty and
\n\teffective birth. They, the outshinings of the vast consciousness, cleave to this divine Force
\nas its bright lightnings and from him in the superconscient, the
\nshoreless vast, his own home, they draw for man the Immortality. <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tPage \u2013 116<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Such then, profound, coherent, luminous behind the veil of
\nfigures is the sense of the Vedic symbol of the seven rivers, of
\nthe Waters, of the five worlds, of the birth and ascent of Agni
\nwhich is also the upward journey of man and the gods whose
\nimage man forms in himself from level to level of the great hill
\nof being (sānoḥ<\/span>
\nsānum).<\/i> Once we apply it and seize the true sense
\nof the symbol of the Cow and the symbol of the Soma with a just
\nconception of the psychological functions of the gods, all the apparent
\nincoherences and obscurities and far-fetched chaotic con-
\nfusion of these ancient hymns disappears in a moment. Simply,
\neasily, without straining there disengages itself the profound and
\nluminous doctrine of the ancient Mystics, the secret of the Veda. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 117<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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