10.90: Of the various cosmogonic hymns that are important for a study of archaic Yoga inasmuch as they describe not only the evolution of the cosmos but also the genesis of the human psyche, the purusha-sûkta, or “Hymn of Man,” is one of the most striking. In the first verse the primeval male (purusha) is said to have covered the entire creation and extended ten digits beyond it. This is meant to suggest that the Creator transcends his creation, that the manifest world emanates from the transcendental Reality but does not define it. A more elaborate version of this hymn is found in the Atharva-Veda (15.6).
10.121: The seer of this hymn envisions the universe as arising out of the Golden Germ (hiranya-garbha). The great singular Being, whose “shadow is immortality,” is declared to be the ruler of the world who has firmly fixed both Heaven and Earth. Nine of the ten verses of this hymn end in the refrain “Which God shall we worship with oblations?”
10.129: Known as the nâsadîya-sûkta, or the “Hymn of Creation,” this cosmogonic hymn foreshadows the later metaphysical speculations of the Sâmkhya school of thought that was so closely allied with Yoga. A translation is given below.
10.136: This is known as the keshî-sûkta, or “Hymn of the Long-hair,” which is also rendered into English below. The keshin is a special type of non-Vedic ascetic in whom some scholars have seen a forerunner of the later yogin. According to the later Sanskrit commentators, each verse of this hymn was composed by a different sage: Juti, Vâtajûti, Viprajûti, Vrishânâka, Kari-krata, Etasha, and Rishyashringa.
10.177: This short hymn, rendered below, proffers a valuable glimpse into the Vedic spiritual practice of visionary, ecstatic intuition (manishâ).
As we begin to understand the enigmatic poetry of the rishis better, we also learn to appreciate more the complexity of their spiritual culture. The small selection of Rig-Vedic hymns given in Source Reading 5 provides only a rudimentary picture of Vedic spirituality and its Proto-Yoga. Further information can be found in some of the books by Sri Aurobindo and more recently David Frawley.22
Miller has examined the Rig-Veda from the point of view of spiritual practice, and she concludes that the discipline of meditation (dhyâna), as the fulcrum of Yoga, goes back to the Rig-Vedic period. She observes:
The Vedic bards were seers who saw the Veda and sang what they saw. With them vision and sound, seership and singing are intimately connected and this linking of the two sense functions forms the basis of Vedic prayer. 23
Vedic Sanskrit has two words for prayerful meditation—brahman and dhî. The former is derived from the verbal root brih meaning “to grow,” or “to expand,” whereas the latter stands for intensive thought, inspired reflection, or meditative vision. Miller describes the brahmic meditation as follows:
This is the essence of the Vedic brahman—the Vedic magic: an invocation and an evocation, an active participation, by means of mental energy and spiritual insight, in the divine process, rather than a mere passive reception of external influences; a deliberate drawing forth out of a probing deep within the psyche, and the appropriate formulation thereof; the words themselves into which the orison [prayer], now mentally conceived, is finally couched, being but the form in which is clothed the inspiration—vision—action.24
According to Miller, the meditative practice in Vedic times displays three distinct but overlapping aspects, which she calls “mantric meditation,” “visual meditation,” and “absorption in mind and heart” respectively. By “mantric meditation,” she means mental absorption via the vehicle of sound, or sacred utterance (mantra). Visual meditation, again, is epitomized in the concept of dhî (the later dhyâna), in which a particular deity is envisioned. Finally, absorption in mind and heart is the highest meditative stage in which the seer, on the basis of what Miller calls a “seed-thought,” explores the great psychic and cosmic mysteries that led to the composition of the remarkable cosmogonic hymns, such as the “Hymn of Creation” (Rig-Veda 10.129).
Meditation, when successful, leads to illumination, the discovery of the “fearless Light” (Rig-Veda 6.47.8). Thus, Sage Atri in one Rig-Vedic hymn (5.40.6) is said to have “found the sun hidden by darkness” in the course of the fourth stage of prayer, which can be equated with ecstasy (samâdhi). Miller sees in this the “culmination of the Vedic quest for truth.”25 She concedes that the full meaning of this fourth stage is not given in the Rig-Veda itself, and she relates it to a later key teaching of Vedânta, as embodied especially in the Mândûkya-Upanishad, which speaks of the Absolute as the Fourth (turîya).
Miller’s exacting and sensitive studies have revealed hitherto mostly unsuspected depths of spiritual practice among the Vedic settlers, and a spectacular world of symbols and ideas that bespeak a people who were as fond of introspection and contemplation as they were of earthly delights. The recent work of David Frawley in a way complements Miller’s and is equally helpful in bringing out the profound spiritual dimension of the Vedas.26
The hymns are expressions of the deep spirituality of the Vedic Aryans. To compose a hymn meant to envision it in a state of contemplation. The envisioner was known as a rishi, or seer, by virtue of his sacred vision. By performing the prescribed sacrifices, the “mind- yoked” (mano-yuja) seer “sent forth” his vision (dhî) to the Divine. Frawley says of the Vedic seers that they “were the incarnation of the love of truth, of a free and open creativity, of a great ardor of life and awareness.”27 He continues enthusiastically:
In stature they were like great mountains; in movement like great streams. Their powers of perception extended through all the realms of cosmic existence. Their creative force manifested in many worlds. Yet they were as humble and serviceable as a cow, as impartially beneficent as the sun … They were our spiritual fathers, the makers of civilisation, and as long as civilisation upheld their inner sand spiritual values, there was true harmony on earth. 28
“Awesome are the seers. Obeisance be to them!
What vision is theirs and what truth is in their mind!”
—Atharva-Veda 2.35.4
The Proto-Yoga of the rishis contains many of the elements characteristic of later Yoga: concentration, watchfulness, austerities, regulation of the breath in connection with the recitation of the sacred hymns during rituals, painstakingly accurate recitation (foreshadowing the later Mantra- Yoga), devotional invocation (finding full flowering in the medieval Bhakti-Yoga), visionary experience, the idea of self-sacrifice (or surrender of the ego), the encounter with a Reality larger than the ego-personality, and the continuous enrichment of ordinary life by that encounter (heralding the later Sahaja-Yoga).
Because the Vedas were created by seers of extraordinary spiritual aptitude, they are more than poetry and more than a depository of history. They are sacred utterances, testimonies to the spiritual potential of our species, and therefore we must read them accordingly. Miller, Frawley, and also Sri Aurobindo, who was himself modern India’s finest seer-poet, consequently have championed a spiritual interpretation of the Vedic hymns. Aurobindo wrote:
The Veda possesses the high spiritual substance of the Upanishads, but lacks their phraseology; it is an inspired knowledge as yet insufficiently equipped with intellectual and philosophical terms. We find a language of poets and illuminates to whom all experience is real, vivid, sensible, even concrete, not yet of thinkers and systematisers to whom the realities of the mind and soul have become abstractions … Here we have the ancient psychological science and the art of spiritual living of which the Upanishads are the philosophical outcome.29
Aurobindo pushed the symbolic interpretation of the Vedas as far as possible, and any unbiased reading of these scriptures will bear him out. Thus he insisted that the this-worldly tone of many of the Vedic hymns, which petition the deities for a long life, health, and wealth, must not be understood as mere materialistic requests. Rather, we should read them in metaphoric terms. Aurobindo’s approach to Vedic interpretation is far sounder than the literalist reading favored by many scholars, who see in t
he Vedas little more than primitive poetry. However, we can easily appreciate the Vedic rishis’ spiritual wisdom, lofty idealism, and overall metaphysical orientation without denying that they also prayed for things in this world. Not everything in the Vedas is necessarily written in code, though a good deal appears to be. In relation to the latter, Subhash Kak has shown that the hymns of the Rig-Veda are organized according to an astronomical code, which demonstrates the superlative significance of astronomy in the ritual life of the Vedic Aryans.30 This code also informed the construction of the five-layered fire altars. Thus we can begin to appreciate that the Vedic worldview was a consistent whole based on extensive micro- cosmic-macrocosmic correspondences.
Of Seers and Ecstatics
The ancient brahmins, like their modern Hindu counterparts, represented the conservative arm of the Vedic religion. By contrast, the rishis were the creative force that constantly infused into the Vedic ritualism the lifeblood of their concrete visions of the deities and their realization of the ultimate Being. Later, with the waning influence of the visionary culture of the rishis, who tested their visions in verbal combat with each other, the brahmanical ritualism quickly rigidified under the heavy hand of priestly conservatism.31 The sacrifices became more important than the visions and higher spiritual realizations. The meaning of the Vedic hymns was lost sight of, to the point that Kautsa, an ancient ritualist, was able to declare, “Mantras are meaningless.” By mantras he meant the sacred hymns, which, in his opinion, contained many nonsensical utterances. By this attitude he anticipated the stance of not a few modern scholars who fail to perceive the spiritual import behind the dictionary definitions of Vedic Sanskrit words.
Be that as it may, as is evident from the Upanishads, mystical esotericism continued to break forth here and there outside the fold of the priestly orthodoxy. Even at the time of the rishis there were those who, like the munis, pursued the spiritual quest at the margins of Vedic society. The munis were ecstatics who remained close to the shamanic heritage. In the “Hymn of the Longhair” (Rig-Veda 10.136), translated below, the muni is said to ride the winds and to benefit his fellow beings, both of which are typical shamanic motifs. At the time of the Upanishads, the wisdom tradition, with its emphasis on ecstatic selftranscendence and Self-realization, was often transmitted not by brahmins but by members of the warrior estate—rulers like Ajâtashatru, Uddâlaka, and the latter’s son Shvetaketu. Let us not forget here that the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, which is called an esoteric teaching (upanishad) in the colophons to its eighteen chapters, was communicated by Lord Krishna to Prince Arjuna, son of King Pându. Of course, there were also great brahmins at the dawn of the Upanishadic Age—foremost among them the great sage Yâjnavalkya—who also taught the secrets of the inner sacrifice.
SOURCE READING 5
Rig-Veda (Selection)
The language of the Rig-Veda is mantric. poetic, and often allegorical and esoteric. Unless this is appreciated, we cannot hope to grasp the message of the Vedic hymns. The following renderings of just a handful of the 1,028 hymns found in the Rig-Veda are based in the recognition that the seer-bards were not mere “primitives” but master wordsmiths who, moreover, were profoundly skilled in the art of ecstatic self-transcendence through ritual, prayer, and sound.
These readings from the most ancient part of the Vedic corpus have been selected because they are particularly relevant to a discussion of Vedic Proto-Yoga. They give us a basic idea of the Vedic approach to the sacred. They also show that the rishis had developed an elevated spiritual metaphysics anticipating the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gîtâ. and other Sanskrit scriptures fundamental to Vedânta and Vedântic Yoga.
The Vedic hymns are pregnant with symbolism and mythology, which were the vehicles for the rishis’ expression of deeper spiritual truths, although we do not know enough about the Vedic worldview to completely “unpack” the hymns’ dense symbolism and metaphoric language. Ultimately, even with an arsenal of scholarly elucidations to draw from, the modern student of the Vedas must rely on his or her personal intuition in trying to comprehend the hymns.
3.31
God Indra, who is at the center of Vedic spirituality, is frequently invoked in the Rig-Veda. Commonly interpreted as a thunderstorm deity, Indra is a truly Protean God who is associated with a variety of phenomena—from thunder, lightning, and rain to sky, fire, and sun, as well as the year. In this hymn, Indra is revealed as the divine agent who slays Vritra, the demon of darkness, and releases the imprisoned cows. For the Vedic people, the word go meant a great many things apart from “cow,” including “life-giving water,” “light rays,” and “sacred speech.” The present hymn can be read in many ways, and the various meanings may all have been present in the mind of the rishi who composed it. There is obviously an intentional play on the experience of the dawning light at daybreak and at the moment of spiritual illumination. Both occurrences are aided by the sacrificial ritual honoring Indra, destroyer of darkness. Again we have here an indirect reference to Solar Yoga, the Yoga of tuning into the radiance of the great heavenly being the ancients knew as Sûrya.
Sri Aurobindo understood Indra as a symbol for the purified and thus empowered human mind that can release us from bondage (i.e., ignorance) and shower us with the blissful divine Light. When we are thus freed from egoic constraints, we can experience great spiritual intuitions, which become translated into inspired speech.
The driver [i.e., God Agni who carries the oblation to the divine realms] wise in the law came, speaking devoutly as he chastened his daughter’s daughter. When the father strove to pour into his daughter [i.e., the sacrificial ladle], his heart eagerly consented. (1)
The son of the body did not leave the inheritance [i.e., the sacrificial butter] to the sister: he made her womb [i.e., the bowl of the sacrificial ladle] a treasure house for the winner. When the mothers [i.e., the kindling sticks] give birth to the driver, one of the two who do good deeds is the maker [i.e., the priest], and the other [i.e., the sacrificer] derives the gain. (2)
With his tongue quivering, Agni was born to honor the sons [i.e.. the priests of the Angiras family] of the great rosy one [i.e.. the sky at dawn]. Great was the embryo, great was their birth, and great the growth, through sacrifice, of the Lord [Indra] of bay horses. (3)
The conquerors surrounded the challenger; they brought forth great light out of darkness. The Dawn Goddesses recognized him and came to meet him; Indra became the only Lord of cows. (4)
The wise ones [i.e., the priestly sages] struck a path for those who were in the cave; the seven priests drove them on with thoughts pressing forward. They found all the paths of the right way: the knowing one entered [the cave], bowing low. (5)
If Sâramâ [i.e., Indra’s horse] finds the breach in the mountain, she will complete her earlier great pathfinding. The swift-footed one led out the head of the undying syllables [i.e., the cows): knowing the way, she was the first to go toward the cry. (6)
The most inspired one [i.e., Indra?] came, behaving like a friend. The mountain made ripe the fruit [i.e., the cows] of its womb for the one who performed great deeds. The young hero, proving his generosity, won success with the youths; then [Sage] Angiras at once became a singer of praise. (7)
The image of this creature and that creature, he knows all who are bom. Standing in the forefront, he killed Shushna [i.e., the Demon of Drought], Knowing the path of the sky. longing for cows, he went before us, singing. The friend freed his friends from dishonor. (8)
With a heart longing for cows, they sat down while with their songs they made the road to immortality. This is their very seat, still often used now, the lawful way by which they wished to win the months. (9)
Glancing about, they rejoiced in their own possessions as they milked out the milk of the ancient seed. Their shout heated the two worlds. They arranged the offspring, dividing the cows among the men. (10)
With songs, he himself, Indra the killer of Vritra, released the rosy cows together with
the offspring and the oblations. Stretching far, the cow was milked of the sweet honey-like butter that she had held for him. (11)
They made a seal for him as for a father, for these great deeds revealed a great, shining seat. They propped their two parents [i.e., sky and earth] apart with a pillar, sitting down, they raised the wild one high up. (12)
When Dhishanâ [i.e., the bowl of the sky?] determined to crush down the one who had grown great in a single day and had pervaded the two world halves, all irresistible powers came to Indra, in whom flawless praises come together. (13)
I long for your great friendship, for your powerful help. Many gifts go to the killer of Vritra. Great is praise; we have come to the kindness of the lord. Generous Indra, be good to us as our shepherd. (14)
He won great land and much wealth, and he sent the booty to his friends. Radiant with his men, Indra gave birth to the sun, the dawn, motion [i.e., the passage of the sun?], and fire. (15)
This house-friend has loosed into a single channel even the wide dispersed waters that shine with many colors, the honeyed waters made clear by the inspired fillers. Rushing along by day and night, they drive forward. (16)
The two dark bearers of treasure [i.e., day and night), worthy of sacrifice, follow Sûrya with his consent when Your beloved, impetuous friends embrace Your splendor to draw it to them. (17)
Killer of Vritra, be the lord of lovely gifts, the bull who gives life to songs of praise for a whole life span. Come to us with kind and friendly favors, with great help, quickly, O Great One! (18)
Like Angiras I honor him and bow to him, making new for the ancient one a song that was born long ago. Thwart the many godless lies, and lei us win (he sun, generous Indra. (19)
The mists that were spread about [by Vritra] have become transparent; guide us safely across them. You, our charioteer, must protect us from injury. Soon, Indra, soon, make us winners of cows. (20)
The Killer of Vritra, Lord of cows, has shown us cows. He went among the dark ones [i.e., the dark forces] with His rosy forms. Revealing lovely gifts in the right way. He has opened up all his own gates. (21)
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