The Rig Veda is full of spiritual and psychological wisdom and is also magnificent
poetry.
It is the earliest book to declare that knowledge is infinite like a vast mountain, in which
each peak corresponds to one branch of knowledge.
Freedom is a key idea in RV; all persons whatever their external condition-men, women, married couples, householders, wandering mendicants and so on-have a right to tread 2 the paths of immortality. RV does not impose any rigid external prerequisites. RV itself does not debar anyone from reading or following RV. RV even allows the voice of the skeptic who does not believe in the existence of devas. In (8.100.3), a skeptic declares "who is Indra, who has ever seen him". The rishi gives a reasonable reply in the next verse (8.100.4) without invoking any threat of punishment in this world or the punishment in the life after death. Look upon me here! All that exists I surpass in my glory; The Truth makes me mighty' RV has no conception of a hell into which all its critics are cast. There is no great divide between the so called spiritual life and worldly life as in later times. According to RV, every being, not just the human being, develops according to his/her own self-law svadha. RV does not speak of a Cosmic Controller who controls all beings, himself staying outside of them. Every human being has to become aware of this self-law and follow the path of immortality unique to him/her. In this learning process, the help of the devas is ever here. Knowledge constitutes the bulk of RV. The range of knowledge contained in it is so vast and so different from the more traditional types of knowledge found in the books like Puranas making it very hard to get a comprehensive view of the RV. It reminds one of the proverbial blind person trying to generalise the physical form of an elephant touching only one particular part of the animal like its rope-like trunk, the iron-like tusk, leaf-like ear etc. As a first step, we can group the verses under several categories like cosmology and cosmogony, human beings and psychology, the role of devas like Agni, evil, suffering and conflicts, every day life, the paths of immortality and so on. in ref. [6] the verses are grouped under different yogas like Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, Raja etc. The keynote of knowledge in RV is its integrality. It is not divided into several rigid compartments. The knowledge is like a vast net in which each topic is intimately connected to every other topic. Take any verse dealing with one of the topics mentioned above. This verse brings in many other topics also. Similarly every dominant aspect of human personality is intimately connected to the corresponding one in the cosmos. All the realms of mental operations in a man like thinking, intellect, meditation, concentration and so on, are associated with the cosmic world dyu, Heaven. Therefore when a person is thinking, he is in touch with the cosmic world of Heave, Since all human beings are in touch with the same world, we see here a neat explanation of the phenomenon of simultaneous discoveries by persons in different continents. Again every human action also has a cosmic dimension. In every action we see the dominant contribution of the devas. Thus both devas and humans are collaborators or co-creators in all activities. Eventually every human being can achieve the perfection natural to a cosmic power, deva. This comprehensiveness of knowledge distinguishes RV from all other spiritual books. Verses like (1.10.2) clearly state that the knowledge is infinite like a vast mountain with many peaks and valleys. The acquisition of knowledge by each individual is unique. No two paths are same. As (1.10.2) describes elegantly, we cannot envision all the details in one step. From one peak only certain details are available. We have to go to a higher peak to get more details. The analogy of knowledge acquisition to mountain climbing appears for the first time in modern times, in books dealing with the theoretical Physics [14] only at the beginning of twentieth century. Such comprehensiveness of knowledge is possible because the Supreme Divine or God, 3 the One without a Second, pervades all existence, both living and non-living. There are many verses describing the spiritual presence of the transcendent God as well as of the God immanent in all existence. Both RV and the Upanishads use the same word vaishvanara, the Universal Divine Force, to describe the immanence of God in all aspects of creation ranging from stone to herbs to man. Again the idea of devas, the distinct powers and personalities of the One, conscious of Truth is described both at an individual level such as Agni, Indra and also at the collective level as All-Gods vishvedevah.
The first to take birth in man is Agni, the leader. There are many verses which declare that he sits inside us and guides us, . We should remember that man is primarily a thinker, then secondly a performer of actions. Agni infuses the energy and makes the will strong and makes him/her do the work. All the work is done by Gods. Agni worships on behalf of man. He is prayed to perform yajna in (2.9.4). Agni is the leader of yajna, the collaborative effort. Becoming acquainted with these psychological powers may take a long time. Once some degree of mastery is established, then the person embarks onto the second stage, in this stage, s/ he enquires whether each psychological power that has come to his attention has a universal fount or source from which the corresponding power in all other humans is derived. According to the Vedic sages, education means getting the knowledge or power directly from the main source. The book is only an instrument.
RV is high-class poetry. It is sheer poverty of imagination to read poetry suppressing 4 symbolism. Veda itself says there is a secret in RV. That secret must be the symbolism. A symbol attempts to describe an experience beyond the realm of the senses. Symbols can be either auditory or visual. For persons who have the gift, hearing a word can create an impression in the inner being which conveys the full power of the symbol. There are four classes of symbols in the RV. Firstly, the devas Agni, Indra and so on and the devis Sarasvati, Sarama, Mahi represent distinct types of divine powers and associated functions. In the second class are Vrtra, Vala, Shushna, the powers of falsehood. The third class of symbols consists of the common nouns like go, cow, ashva, horse, adri hill, apah, waters, nadi, rivers, vrka, wolf etc. Lastly is the class of the names associated with the sages and poets like Kanva, Kutsa. Each member of these four classes represents a distinct psychological power which is helpful or otherwise. The unravelling of the symbolism behind each word was done by Sri Aurobindo [9] and Sri Kapali Sastry [10] using their intuition. There is considerable support for the symbolism theory in our ancient books like Shatapatha Brahmana or the Brhad Devata. But we do not have to merely believe what they say. We can set up concrete objective tests to determine whether the symbolic meanings suggested by them are correct or not. For instance, take the word "go” which ordinarily means cattle. It and its synonyms like usra occur in more than one thousand verses. Of course, many of these verses may involve other members of the four classes like adri, hill. Regard all these words in these verses as unknown. Substitute the symbolic meanings for the unknowns and see whether the verse makes sense. For the verses involving "go", all the verses make excellent sense except those where “go" is used as a simile in which case it is an animal. Then all the phrases which appears enigmatic or senseless become meaningful. 'go' stands for knowledge, each individual "go" standing for one type of knowledge, adri is the symbol for the forces of ignorance and in conscience as can be easily guessed. The phrase 'they smashed the hill with 'go' means the forces of ignorance were overcome by the forces of knowledge. The phrase 'they smashed the hill with their sound’ means that the forces of ignorance were destroyed by the power of Mantra, the potent word. We give the following table the symbolic meanings of some of the members of the four classes. The recovery of the symbolic meanings of individual words is only the first step. The recovery of the deeper meaning of the verses needs much more work. Once this is done, the consistency of the meaning of all the phrases in a verse and consistency of all the verses in a hymn is assured. The wisdom of RV comes upfront.
Agni: Fire; It is the cosmic power of heat and light and the will power united with wisdom. Human will power is a feeble projection of this power. It can be strengthened by the RV chants to Agni. Indra : He is the lord of the Divine Mind and Action. In Indian tradition, mind is not a source of knowledge, it manipulates the knowledge to aid action. Indra battles the evil forces on behalf of the human. Vayu : Wind; He is the lord of all the Life-energies, Prana which represent the passions, feelings, emotions, abilities. Ashvins : The lords of bliss and divine physicians who render the human body free of 5 disease so that it can accept the divine Prana, the life-energy. Mitra : The lord of love and harmony. Varuna : The master of infinities who cannot tolerate restrictive thinking or actions. Only he can cut the three bonds which restrict the three aspects of every human being-physical, vital and mental. Sarasvati : The Goddess of inspiration
Sri Aurobindo states: "The rishis of the Upanishads sought to recover the lost or waning knowledge of the Veda by meditation and spiritual experience and they used the text of the ancient Mantras as a prop and authority for their own intuitions and perception or else the Vedic word was a seed of thought and vision by which they recovered old truths in new forms. What they found, they expressed in other terms more intelligible to the age in which they lived". As examples of the first method, we 7 may mention the Chandogya Upanishad (3.12.5) or Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.23) which state 'as stated in the Rik, the mantra of Rig Veda'. As an example of the second, we may mention the concept of Brahman. RV mentions repeatedly the Supreme One, or the One Truth, ekam sat, which underlies all existence. The Upanishads developed this seed of thought into the magnificent conception of Brahman. Upanishads themselves are not philosophical, but express their findings in a manner which the intellect can understand. These findings are the basis for the later systems of Indian philosophy. But in the Indian tradition, intellectual knowledge alone will not lead to the realization of the spirit. The Upanishads contain many hints for spiritual practice. But there are not many books in print which discuss the relevance of Upanishadic thought for spiritual practice. One such book is the 'Light on the Upanishads' by Sri T.V. Kapali Sastry (Vol. 1 in [10]) which discusses some of the secret vidyas in the Upanishads and relate them to the corresponding ideas in RV. These vidyas are identified either by the name of the teacher like Shandilya Vidya, Bhrgu Varuni Vidya or by their contents like the Bhuma Vidya, Vaishvanara Vidya, Madhu Vidya, Prana Vidya and so on. Vaisvanara means the divine force, which permeates every aspect of existence. This knowledge in the Chandogya Upanishad is related to the similar idea in the RV contained in the ten hymns to the Deity Vaishvanara. The madhu vidya or the doctrine of the honey or bliss as the foundation of alt existence, discussed in detail in (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad)^ 1.5) [12] is related to the corresponding mantras in the first book of Rig Veda (1.90). Again the particular method of realisation described in the sixth book of Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (6.3.6) involves the chanting of the famous gayatri hymn of RV (3.62.10) and the madhu mantras RV (1.90). This particular method is extolled
in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (6.3.12) stating 'if any one sprinkles it on a dry stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth'. There are numerous mantras of RV quoted verbatim in Upanishads. There are many key phrases in the Upanishads which have their corresponding ones in RV. A systematic study of the Veda and Upanishads has not been done. We give here just a few examples. The oftquoted passage of Shvetashvatara Upanishad (2.5), 'Here ye, children of immortality' occurs originally in Rig Veda (10.13.1). The famous hamsa mantra of Katha Upanishad (2.2.2) "The Swan that settles in the purity., born of Truth -itself the Truth, the Vast" occurs originally in RV (4.40.5). The famous mantra of the two birds signifying the individual soul and supreme soul found in Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) [13] is originally from RV (1.164.20). It is hardly a coincidence since the word supama translated as bird occurs In more half a dozen verses of RV bearing always the symbol of soul. Some commentators often misinterpret the phrase two birds in RV as husband and wife. The famous utterance of Upanishad that Brahman cannot be attained by duality Is in RV (5.12.2). The idea that Brahman cannot be attained by mere action or effort is in RV (8.70.3) and , Brahman cannot be approached by thought is in (RV 1.170.1). We reiterate that the Vedic sages did not regard the family life as an obstacle to achieving spiritual excellence. A detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this essay. VEDIC WAY OF LIFE To achieve the goal to immortality or bliss, the RV suggests a way of life referred to as patha, pantha, yajna and so on in more than one thousand verses. However it does not give any external signs of this path. RV does not make any firm distinction between the spiritual life and the so called worldly life. It calls upon all persons differing in their external conditions like men, women, married, householders or wandering ascetic, king, craftsmen, to participate in this way of life. Every sage calls upon the deva to reveal the path to the Truth.
The implication is that the journey of life is mainly psychological, each person has to find a path which is suitable for him or her. For instance (6.9.2) uses the analogy of a loom which weaves cloth : I know not the woof, I know not the warp, nor what is this web, That they weave moving to and fro in the field of their Motion and labour (6.9.2). Then (6.9.3) declares : The deva Agni knows the warp, knows the woof, He tells in their tune the things that must be spoken. (6.9.3) Again the deva guides the human being from within. There are many references, one of which is (6.9.5). An immortal Light set inward for seeing, A swiftest mind within men that walk on the way (6.9.5). The entire nature seems to commune with the rishi in (6.9.6). 'My ears range wide to hear and my wide eyes to see, Wide this Light set in the heart; wide walks my mind..' (6.9.6). This journey is described as a yajna, not a mere rite but a collaborative effort companioned by the devas. It is also described as a battle against the supraphysical hostile forces Vrtras and dasyus who want to oppose the journey towards the truth. The devas secure the victory in these supraphysical battles on behalf of the humans. Again the journey is described in numerous places as a ship in an ocean (1.99.1) taking the person to the shores of knowledge. Another hymn (1.10.2) describes the journey as going from one peak of mountain to another higher peak. Only at each peak does the person know what to do next. Whenever any help is needed, the devas arrive and offer the help. One of the striking features of the ideal of Vedic life is that there is no exhortation to give up desire. All later Hindu and Buddhist scriptures from the Upanishads to the Gita regard the overcoming of the desire as the first step in spiritualizing life. This feature together with the mistranslation of some of the prayers of Vedic rishis as asking for cows and horses have made many, both in India and in the West, to regard the RV as devoid of the ‘higher aspects' of spiritual life. This is a fundamental mistake. Veda pursues the strategy espoused in the later yoga of devotion, bhakti yoga. It calls upon the seeker to establish an intimate relationship with each deva, Agni, Indra and others, like son, friend, father, mother etc. When the faith develops in these devas, then this faith gives the certitude to the seeker that the devas will give whatever is needed. Then the hankering after desires disappears. The perfect person is called in RV as a person whose desires have been satisfied Aptakama, the same phrase being used in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad [12]. It is interesting to observe that in RV there is no condemnation of the persons who are skeptical of the existence of devas (8.100.3). There are many references to poets saying that they recite the Vedas, still they are still plagued by a variety of troubles. RV has no conception of hell. Here there is no question of the unbelievers of skeptics being thrust to hell after their death. ADITI AND INFINITY She is the Goddess of infinity as the following verse unambiguously declares: Aditi is Heaven, Aditi is mid-region, 9 Aditi is the Mother (Earth), Father and Son; She is all the Gods; She is the five peoples Aditi is all that is born and what is to be (1.89.10)/ The five peoples are the beings of the five planes of matter (earth), prana (mid-region), manas (heaven), svar (world of light) and ananda (the world of bliss). This verse is also the invocation to the Prashna Upanishad. To understand Aditi, we have to understand the puranic story of Kashyapa and his two wives, Diti and Aditi in a symbolic sense. Diti in the RV denotes finiteness. All the devas are called as adityas because they are descended from Aditi. RV makes several interesting references to Diti and Aditi together. Let the knower discriminate the knowledge chittim and ignorance achittim, The straight open levels and the crooked that shut in the mortals; God, lavish on us the finite Diti and guard the infinite Aditi, (4.2.11). Mitra, Varuna, in the uprising of the Sun You ascend and then you behold the infinite Aditi and the finite Diti, (5.62.8). May we abide in the law of thy Workings and be blameless before the Mother infinity aditaye, (1.24.15). Aditi is the Mother of all, Mother of all the Gods, Mother of all creation. She is the infinite consciousness. We can become blameless only by rejecting all things that are contrary to the Supreme Law.
Freedom is a key idea in RV; all persons whatever their external condition-men, women, married couples, householders, wandering mendicants and so on-have a right to tread 2 the paths of immortality. RV does not impose any rigid external prerequisites. RV itself does not debar anyone from reading or following RV. RV even allows the voice of the skeptic who does not believe in the existence of devas. In (8.100.3), a skeptic declares "who is Indra, who has ever seen him". The rishi gives a reasonable reply in the next verse (8.100.4) without invoking any threat of punishment in this world or the punishment in the life after death. Look upon me here! All that exists I surpass in my glory; The Truth makes me mighty' RV has no conception of a hell into which all its critics are cast. There is no great divide between the so called spiritual life and worldly life as in later times. According to RV, every being, not just the human being, develops according to his/her own self-law svadha. RV does not speak of a Cosmic Controller who controls all beings, himself staying outside of them. Every human being has to become aware of this self-law and follow the path of immortality unique to him/her. In this learning process, the help of the devas is ever here. Knowledge constitutes the bulk of RV. The range of knowledge contained in it is so vast and so different from the more traditional types of knowledge found in the books like Puranas making it very hard to get a comprehensive view of the RV. It reminds one of the proverbial blind person trying to generalise the physical form of an elephant touching only one particular part of the animal like its rope-like trunk, the iron-like tusk, leaf-like ear etc. As a first step, we can group the verses under several categories like cosmology and cosmogony, human beings and psychology, the role of devas like Agni, evil, suffering and conflicts, every day life, the paths of immortality and so on. in ref. [6] the verses are grouped under different yogas like Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, Raja etc. The keynote of knowledge in RV is its integrality. It is not divided into several rigid compartments. The knowledge is like a vast net in which each topic is intimately connected to every other topic. Take any verse dealing with one of the topics mentioned above. This verse brings in many other topics also. Similarly every dominant aspect of human personality is intimately connected to the corresponding one in the cosmos. All the realms of mental operations in a man like thinking, intellect, meditation, concentration and so on, are associated with the cosmic world dyu, Heaven. Therefore when a person is thinking, he is in touch with the cosmic world of Heave, Since all human beings are in touch with the same world, we see here a neat explanation of the phenomenon of simultaneous discoveries by persons in different continents. Again every human action also has a cosmic dimension. In every action we see the dominant contribution of the devas. Thus both devas and humans are collaborators or co-creators in all activities. Eventually every human being can achieve the perfection natural to a cosmic power, deva. This comprehensiveness of knowledge distinguishes RV from all other spiritual books. Verses like (1.10.2) clearly state that the knowledge is infinite like a vast mountain with many peaks and valleys. The acquisition of knowledge by each individual is unique. No two paths are same. As (1.10.2) describes elegantly, we cannot envision all the details in one step. From one peak only certain details are available. We have to go to a higher peak to get more details. The analogy of knowledge acquisition to mountain climbing appears for the first time in modern times, in books dealing with the theoretical Physics [14] only at the beginning of twentieth century. Such comprehensiveness of knowledge is possible because the Supreme Divine or God, 3 the One without a Second, pervades all existence, both living and non-living. There are many verses describing the spiritual presence of the transcendent God as well as of the God immanent in all existence. Both RV and the Upanishads use the same word vaishvanara, the Universal Divine Force, to describe the immanence of God in all aspects of creation ranging from stone to herbs to man. Again the idea of devas, the distinct powers and personalities of the One, conscious of Truth is described both at an individual level such as Agni, Indra and also at the collective level as All-Gods vishvedevah.
The first to take birth in man is Agni, the leader. There are many verses which declare that he sits inside us and guides us, . We should remember that man is primarily a thinker, then secondly a performer of actions. Agni infuses the energy and makes the will strong and makes him/her do the work. All the work is done by Gods. Agni worships on behalf of man. He is prayed to perform yajna in (2.9.4). Agni is the leader of yajna, the collaborative effort. Becoming acquainted with these psychological powers may take a long time. Once some degree of mastery is established, then the person embarks onto the second stage, in this stage, s/ he enquires whether each psychological power that has come to his attention has a universal fount or source from which the corresponding power in all other humans is derived. According to the Vedic sages, education means getting the knowledge or power directly from the main source. The book is only an instrument.
RV is high-class poetry. It is sheer poverty of imagination to read poetry suppressing 4 symbolism. Veda itself says there is a secret in RV. That secret must be the symbolism. A symbol attempts to describe an experience beyond the realm of the senses. Symbols can be either auditory or visual. For persons who have the gift, hearing a word can create an impression in the inner being which conveys the full power of the symbol. There are four classes of symbols in the RV. Firstly, the devas Agni, Indra and so on and the devis Sarasvati, Sarama, Mahi represent distinct types of divine powers and associated functions. In the second class are Vrtra, Vala, Shushna, the powers of falsehood. The third class of symbols consists of the common nouns like go, cow, ashva, horse, adri hill, apah, waters, nadi, rivers, vrka, wolf etc. Lastly is the class of the names associated with the sages and poets like Kanva, Kutsa. Each member of these four classes represents a distinct psychological power which is helpful or otherwise. The unravelling of the symbolism behind each word was done by Sri Aurobindo [9] and Sri Kapali Sastry [10] using their intuition. There is considerable support for the symbolism theory in our ancient books like Shatapatha Brahmana or the Brhad Devata. But we do not have to merely believe what they say. We can set up concrete objective tests to determine whether the symbolic meanings suggested by them are correct or not. For instance, take the word "go” which ordinarily means cattle. It and its synonyms like usra occur in more than one thousand verses. Of course, many of these verses may involve other members of the four classes like adri, hill. Regard all these words in these verses as unknown. Substitute the symbolic meanings for the unknowns and see whether the verse makes sense. For the verses involving "go", all the verses make excellent sense except those where “go" is used as a simile in which case it is an animal. Then all the phrases which appears enigmatic or senseless become meaningful. 'go' stands for knowledge, each individual "go" standing for one type of knowledge, adri is the symbol for the forces of ignorance and in conscience as can be easily guessed. The phrase 'they smashed the hill with 'go' means the forces of ignorance were overcome by the forces of knowledge. The phrase 'they smashed the hill with their sound’ means that the forces of ignorance were destroyed by the power of Mantra, the potent word. We give the following table the symbolic meanings of some of the members of the four classes. The recovery of the symbolic meanings of individual words is only the first step. The recovery of the deeper meaning of the verses needs much more work. Once this is done, the consistency of the meaning of all the phrases in a verse and consistency of all the verses in a hymn is assured. The wisdom of RV comes upfront.
Agni: Fire; It is the cosmic power of heat and light and the will power united with wisdom. Human will power is a feeble projection of this power. It can be strengthened by the RV chants to Agni. Indra : He is the lord of the Divine Mind and Action. In Indian tradition, mind is not a source of knowledge, it manipulates the knowledge to aid action. Indra battles the evil forces on behalf of the human. Vayu : Wind; He is the lord of all the Life-energies, Prana which represent the passions, feelings, emotions, abilities. Ashvins : The lords of bliss and divine physicians who render the human body free of 5 disease so that it can accept the divine Prana, the life-energy. Mitra : The lord of love and harmony. Varuna : The master of infinities who cannot tolerate restrictive thinking or actions. Only he can cut the three bonds which restrict the three aspects of every human being-physical, vital and mental. Sarasvati : The Goddess of inspiration
Sri Aurobindo states: "The rishis of the Upanishads sought to recover the lost or waning knowledge of the Veda by meditation and spiritual experience and they used the text of the ancient Mantras as a prop and authority for their own intuitions and perception or else the Vedic word was a seed of thought and vision by which they recovered old truths in new forms. What they found, they expressed in other terms more intelligible to the age in which they lived". As examples of the first method, we 7 may mention the Chandogya Upanishad (3.12.5) or Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.23) which state 'as stated in the Rik, the mantra of Rig Veda'. As an example of the second, we may mention the concept of Brahman. RV mentions repeatedly the Supreme One, or the One Truth, ekam sat, which underlies all existence. The Upanishads developed this seed of thought into the magnificent conception of Brahman. Upanishads themselves are not philosophical, but express their findings in a manner which the intellect can understand. These findings are the basis for the later systems of Indian philosophy. But in the Indian tradition, intellectual knowledge alone will not lead to the realization of the spirit. The Upanishads contain many hints for spiritual practice. But there are not many books in print which discuss the relevance of Upanishadic thought for spiritual practice. One such book is the 'Light on the Upanishads' by Sri T.V. Kapali Sastry (Vol. 1 in [10]) which discusses some of the secret vidyas in the Upanishads and relate them to the corresponding ideas in RV. These vidyas are identified either by the name of the teacher like Shandilya Vidya, Bhrgu Varuni Vidya or by their contents like the Bhuma Vidya, Vaishvanara Vidya, Madhu Vidya, Prana Vidya and so on. Vaisvanara means the divine force, which permeates every aspect of existence. This knowledge in the Chandogya Upanishad is related to the similar idea in the RV contained in the ten hymns to the Deity Vaishvanara. The madhu vidya or the doctrine of the honey or bliss as the foundation of alt existence, discussed in detail in (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad)^ 1.5) [12] is related to the corresponding mantras in the first book of Rig Veda (1.90). Again the particular method of realisation described in the sixth book of Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (6.3.6) involves the chanting of the famous gayatri hymn of RV (3.62.10) and the madhu mantras RV (1.90). This particular method is extolled
in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (6.3.12) stating 'if any one sprinkles it on a dry stump, branches would grow and leaves spring forth'. There are numerous mantras of RV quoted verbatim in Upanishads. There are many key phrases in the Upanishads which have their corresponding ones in RV. A systematic study of the Veda and Upanishads has not been done. We give here just a few examples. The oftquoted passage of Shvetashvatara Upanishad (2.5), 'Here ye, children of immortality' occurs originally in Rig Veda (10.13.1). The famous hamsa mantra of Katha Upanishad (2.2.2) "The Swan that settles in the purity., born of Truth -itself the Truth, the Vast" occurs originally in RV (4.40.5). The famous mantra of the two birds signifying the individual soul and supreme soul found in Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) [13] is originally from RV (1.164.20). It is hardly a coincidence since the word supama translated as bird occurs In more half a dozen verses of RV bearing always the symbol of soul. Some commentators often misinterpret the phrase two birds in RV as husband and wife. The famous utterance of Upanishad that Brahman cannot be attained by duality Is in RV (5.12.2). The idea that Brahman cannot be attained by mere action or effort is in RV (8.70.3) and , Brahman cannot be approached by thought is in (RV 1.170.1). We reiterate that the Vedic sages did not regard the family life as an obstacle to achieving spiritual excellence. A detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this essay. VEDIC WAY OF LIFE To achieve the goal to immortality or bliss, the RV suggests a way of life referred to as patha, pantha, yajna and so on in more than one thousand verses. However it does not give any external signs of this path. RV does not make any firm distinction between the spiritual life and the so called worldly life. It calls upon all persons differing in their external conditions like men, women, married, householders or wandering ascetic, king, craftsmen, to participate in this way of life. Every sage calls upon the deva to reveal the path to the Truth.
The implication is that the journey of life is mainly psychological, each person has to find a path which is suitable for him or her. For instance (6.9.2) uses the analogy of a loom which weaves cloth : I know not the woof, I know not the warp, nor what is this web, That they weave moving to and fro in the field of their Motion and labour (6.9.2). Then (6.9.3) declares : The deva Agni knows the warp, knows the woof, He tells in their tune the things that must be spoken. (6.9.3) Again the deva guides the human being from within. There are many references, one of which is (6.9.5). An immortal Light set inward for seeing, A swiftest mind within men that walk on the way (6.9.5). The entire nature seems to commune with the rishi in (6.9.6). 'My ears range wide to hear and my wide eyes to see, Wide this Light set in the heart; wide walks my mind..' (6.9.6). This journey is described as a yajna, not a mere rite but a collaborative effort companioned by the devas. It is also described as a battle against the supraphysical hostile forces Vrtras and dasyus who want to oppose the journey towards the truth. The devas secure the victory in these supraphysical battles on behalf of the humans. Again the journey is described in numerous places as a ship in an ocean (1.99.1) taking the person to the shores of knowledge. Another hymn (1.10.2) describes the journey as going from one peak of mountain to another higher peak. Only at each peak does the person know what to do next. Whenever any help is needed, the devas arrive and offer the help. One of the striking features of the ideal of Vedic life is that there is no exhortation to give up desire. All later Hindu and Buddhist scriptures from the Upanishads to the Gita regard the overcoming of the desire as the first step in spiritualizing life. This feature together with the mistranslation of some of the prayers of Vedic rishis as asking for cows and horses have made many, both in India and in the West, to regard the RV as devoid of the ‘higher aspects' of spiritual life. This is a fundamental mistake. Veda pursues the strategy espoused in the later yoga of devotion, bhakti yoga. It calls upon the seeker to establish an intimate relationship with each deva, Agni, Indra and others, like son, friend, father, mother etc. When the faith develops in these devas, then this faith gives the certitude to the seeker that the devas will give whatever is needed. Then the hankering after desires disappears. The perfect person is called in RV as a person whose desires have been satisfied Aptakama, the same phrase being used in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad [12]. It is interesting to observe that in RV there is no condemnation of the persons who are skeptical of the existence of devas (8.100.3). There are many references to poets saying that they recite the Vedas, still they are still plagued by a variety of troubles. RV has no conception of hell. Here there is no question of the unbelievers of skeptics being thrust to hell after their death. ADITI AND INFINITY She is the Goddess of infinity as the following verse unambiguously declares: Aditi is Heaven, Aditi is mid-region, 9 Aditi is the Mother (Earth), Father and Son; She is all the Gods; She is the five peoples Aditi is all that is born and what is to be (1.89.10)/ The five peoples are the beings of the five planes of matter (earth), prana (mid-region), manas (heaven), svar (world of light) and ananda (the world of bliss). This verse is also the invocation to the Prashna Upanishad. To understand Aditi, we have to understand the puranic story of Kashyapa and his two wives, Diti and Aditi in a symbolic sense. Diti in the RV denotes finiteness. All the devas are called as adityas because they are descended from Aditi. RV makes several interesting references to Diti and Aditi together. Let the knower discriminate the knowledge chittim and ignorance achittim, The straight open levels and the crooked that shut in the mortals; God, lavish on us the finite Diti and guard the infinite Aditi, (4.2.11). Mitra, Varuna, in the uprising of the Sun You ascend and then you behold the infinite Aditi and the finite Diti, (5.62.8). May we abide in the law of thy Workings and be blameless before the Mother infinity aditaye, (1.24.15). Aditi is the Mother of all, Mother of all the Gods, Mother of all creation. She is the infinite consciousness. We can become blameless only by rejecting all things that are contrary to the Supreme Law.
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