For success in this [psychocosmic] battle in which there are prizes to be won. we will invoke the generous Indra, most manly and brawny, who listens and gives help in combat, who kills enemies [i.e., evil forces] and wins riches [i.e., spiritual treasures]. (22)
3.38
Like a carpenter, craft an intuition (manishâ), proceeding like a well-yoked steed. Intent on what is desirable and most worthy,32 I desire to behold the well-inspired (sumedha) seer-poets (kavî) [who are in the celestial realms]. (1)
Ask of the glorious race of seer-poets, [who] firm-minded and acting well, have created Heaven. May these praises, swelling and fast as the mind, duly reach You. (2)
Understanding what is hidden here [in this world], they have anointed both worlds [i.e., Heaven and Earth] for [their] dominion—limited them by measure, connected them together, widespread and vast, and fixed the intermediate realm for support (dhûr). (3)
All adorned Him [i.e., God Indra] ascending [in his celestial chariot]. He moves self-radiant and clothed in splendor. Great is the name of that Asura, showerer (vrisha) [of countless blessings). Multiform. He resides among the immortals. (4)
The Primal one, elder, and showerer [of blessings] has generated [the Waters], These are the abundant healing draughts. O grandsons in Heaven, by your visions (dhî) you have acquired dominion over the splendid sacrifices. (5)
O rulers, attend and fill the three splendid sacrifices. I saw in my mind that the gandharvas, with hair blowing [in the wind], have gone to the rite. (6)
For the showerer [of countless blessings] they milk the agreeable [milk] of the cow of [many] names. Invested with various kinds of power (âsurya). the builders (mâyin) put a form (rûpa) upon Him.33 (7)
No one holds apart my golden luster from Savitrî’s in which he has taken refuge. Through praise He manifests both all-pervading worlds [i.e.. Heaven and Earth] as a woman cherishes her offspring. (8)
Of the ancient ones, you two [i.e., Maruts] promote the power that spreads all around us as divine well-being. All the builders behold the many deeds of Him who stands still and whose tongue is protected. (9)
For success in this [psychocosmic] battle where there are prizes to be won, we will invoke the generous Indra. most manly and brawny, who listens and gives help in combat, who kills enemies [i.e., evil forces] and wins riches [i.e., spiritual treasures]. (10)
3.57
This hymn speaks of the rishi’s discovery of the Single Cow, the cosmic Female, who is the wielder of power similar to the Shakti of later Hinduism. Like a mother, this great force in the universe provides sustenance for the spiritual pilgrim. She nurtures even the Gods, the sons of immortality, to whose abode the rishi aspires. Through Agni, the God of the sacrificial fire, the seer-bard’s spiritual impulse is carried on high to yield the desired celestial vision or communion.
My finely discerning intuition (manishâ) has discovered the Cow (dhenu) roaming singly without herdsman, who instantly yields abundant milk for sustenance; hence Indra and Agni praise Her. ( 1 )
Indra and Pûshan, vigorous and deft-handed, have indeed joyously milked the Ever-Flowing [Cow] of heaven. When all the Gods have delighted in Her. there, may I find grace (sumnam). (2)
The sisters who desire the Power (shakti) of the Seeder-Bull (vrisha), go [to Him] with reverence and recognize the seed (garbha) in Him. The cows come eagerly to the son [i.e., Soma?], who bears many forms (vapûmshi). (3)
I glorify the well-made Heaven and Earth, as I prepare the stones during the sacrifice [by means of] intuition (manishâ). These flames of Yours-visible and adorable—rise upward with abundant boons for humankind. (4)
O Agni, Your honeyed tongue, exceedingly wise, is said to be the Broad [i.e., the earth] among the Gods. By Her make all the adorable ones sit down here to drink the honey-brew. (5)
God Agni, Knower of [all] birth, bestow upon us She who is to You like a variegated, inexhaustible stream of a mountain—[She who is] knowledge (pramati). wisdom (sumati), [belonging to] all people. (6)
5.81
The sun. as the visible manifestation of the transcendental Light, is a central image of Vedic Proto-Yoga. This hymn reveals some of the elements of the Solar Yoga of the rishis. Spiritual realization is literal enlightenment, or the illumination of the inner world of consciousness by the unmanifest Light, which is the supreme Being.
The sages (vipra) of the greatly inspired Sage [i.e., Savitrî] harness the mind; they harness their visions (dhî). He alone who is versed in the rules [of sacrifice] assigns the priesthood. Great indeed is the praise of God Savitrî. (1)
The seer-poet (kavî) releases all forms and provides auspiciousness for the two-legged and the four-legged [creatures]. Most adorable Savitrî has illumined the Heaven and governs brightly (râjati) with vitality (ojas) after Dawn’s passage. (2)
After the passage of that God. the other Gods follow [in order to obtain) majesty with vigor (ojas). He who measured the earthly [regions] by his greatness is the resplendent God Savitrî. (3)
You traverse the three luminous spheres; or You mix with Sûrya’s rays; or You encompass Night on both sides; or You, O God, are Mitra because of Your [benign] qualities (dharma). (4)
You alone rule over creation (prasava). You, O God, are Pushân because of Your movements. You govern brightly (rajasi) over this whole world. [Sage] Shyâvâshva has offered praise to You, O Savitrî. (5)
8.48
Vedic sacrificial ritualism is unthinkable without the mysterious soma draft, celebrated in this hymn. The pressed and filtered soma juice, mixed with milk and water, is the single most important oblation in special public (shrauta) sacrifices. This ambrosial draft is here invoked as King Soma, the guardian of the body, who bestows immortality upon his worshipers in the company of the Gods. He is also addressed as the Drop (indu), which reminds one of the “seed-point” (bindu) of later Tantra-Yoga.
I have consumed the delicious drink of life, knowing that it inspires good thoughts and joyous expansiveness and which all the deities and mortals seek together, calling it honey. (1)
And going within. You become boundless (aditi), and You will avert the wrath of deities. Rejoicing in Indra’s friendship, O Drop, create riches [for us] like an obedient racer [i.e., a horse] carrying a burden. (2)
We have drunk the Soma. We have become immortal. We have gone to the Light. We have found the Gods. What can enmity do to do us now, and what injury by a mortal, O Immortal one? (3)
When we have drunk You, O Drop, pacify our heart. O famous Soma, be kind like a father toward his son, thoughtful like a friend toward a friend. O praiseworthy Soma, extend our life so that we may live long. (4)
I have drunk these glorious [drops of soma] that widen me. [Yet] my limbs are tied together like bullocks yoked to a cart. Let them protect my foot from stumbling and may they ward off lameness because of [imbibing] the Drop. (5)
Inflame me like a fire kindled by friction. Make us farseeing. Make us richer, better. For when I am intoxicated with You, O Soma, I consider myself rich. Draw near and make us thrive! (6)
Impelled by a powerful mind, may we enjoy You like wealth [inherited] from a father. O King Soma, extend our life as the sun [expands] the days of spring. (7)
King Soma, have mercy on us for our welfare. Know that we are devoted to Your laws (vratya). O Drop, passion and enthusiasm are stirred up. Do not deliver us to the whim of the enemy. (8)
For You, O Soma, are the guardian of our body. Watching over men. You have settled down in every limb. If we break Your laws, O God, have mercy on us like a good friend, [milking us] better. (9)
Let me join closely with my compassionate friend so that He will not injure me when I have drunk [the Drop], O Lord of bay horses, for the Soma that is stationed in us 1 approach Indra to prolong our life span. (10)
Weaknesses and diseases have gone. The forces of darkness have fled in terror. Soma has climbed up in us, expanding. We have arrived where our life span is prolonged. (11)
The Drop thal
we have drunk has entered our hearts, an immortal within mortals. O forefathers, let us serve that Soma with the oblations and abide in His mercy and kindness. (12)
Uniting in agreement with the forefathers, O Soma, You have extended Yourself through Heaven and Earth. O Drop, let us serve with an oblation. Let us be masters of riches. (13)
You protecting Gods, speak out for us. Do not let sleep or harmful speech seize us. Let us, always dear to Soma, speak as men of power in the sacrificial gathering. (14)
O Soma, You give us the force of life on every side. You who have found Heaven and watch over men. enter into us. O Drop, summon Your helpers and protect us front and back. (15)
10.129
The “Hymn of Creation” is often hailed as one of the few truly philosophical hymns of the Rig-Veda, but, although it reflects a particularly poignant cosmogonic inquiry, it does not stand alone. Rather, once we have jettisoned the bias that the Vedic hymns represent basically “primitive poetry,” we can see profound philosophizing throughout the Vedic corpus. We need, however, to appreciate that Vedic philosophy is multifaceted and integrally interwoven with Vedic spirituality. Thus, even the present hymn must be read as proffering probing questions not only about the origin of the external universe but also our inner world. Vedic cosmogony is psychocosmogony—a characteristic that has been preserved in the subsequent philosophical traditions of Yoga, Sâmkhya, and Vedânta, which (in their own unique ways) postulate a transcendental Ground from which arise both the multiplicity of objective realities and the multistructured minds apperceiving them.
Existence or nonexistence was not then. The bright region was not, nor the space (vyoman) that is beyond. What encompassed? Where? Under whose protection? What water was there—deep, unfathomable? (1)
Death or immortality was not then. There was no distinction between night and day. That One breathed, windless, by itself. Other than That there was nothing more. (2)
In the beginning there was darkness concealed by darkness. All this was [cosmic] water without distinction. The One that was covered by voidness emerged through the might of the heat-of- austerity (tapas). (3)
In the beginning, desire—the first seed of mind—arose in That. Seer-poets, searching in their heart with wisdom, found the bond of existence in nonexistence. (4)
Their [visions’] ray stretched across [existence and nonexistence). Perhaps there was a below; perhaps there was an above. There were givers of seed; there were powers: effort below, selfgiving above. (5)
Who knows the truth? Who here will pronounce it whence this birth, whence this creation? The Gods appeared afterward, with the creation of this [world). Who then knows whence it arose? (6)
Whence arose this creation, whether it created itself or whether it did not? He who looks upon it from the highest space, He surely knows. Or maybe He knows not. (7)
10.136
The “Hymn of the Long-hair” (keshî-sûkta) gives us a glimpse of the shamanic ecstatic in Vedic times. The keshin. who, as the name indicates, wears long hair, is said to exult in his seeing of, and participation in, truths that are concealed from the ordinary mortal. He is as compassionate as he is mindlessly God-intoxicated or “God-impelled” (deva-ishita, written deveshita).
The word keshin is also applied to the sun whose long “hair” is its luminous rays reaching across space to the earth. The long-haired human sage is sunlike in nature, and perhaps his radiant aura was blinding to those sensitive enough to see it.
There are several obscure phrases and statements in this hymn. In interpreting them, 1 have largely followed Jeanine Miller’s lead, though in a few instances I am putting forward my own divergent views and intuitions. The “tawny dirt” with which the keshin clothes himself could refer to the Hindu practice of smearing sandal paste on certain parts of the body, especially the forehead. This is held to have more than symbolic or ritual significance.
The phrase “wind-girt” has generally been interpreted to mean “nude.” But this could also have deeper symbolic significance. As is clear from other verses of this hymn, the keshin is closely associated with Vâyu, God of the wind, or the life force. If we read this hymn from a yogic point of view, we could easily wrest from this phrase a different meaning: that the keshin armed himself with the breath, that is. he practiced breath control. This would explain the first-person exclamation “upon the winds we have ascended.” In that case, it is through the regulation of the breath that the keshin enters a different state of consciousness (and its corresponding reality).
It is not clear what is meant by the “badly bent” (kunamnamâ) in the concluding stanza (the only place where this word appears). Miller speculates that it may be the “gross aspect” of the human body-mind. that is, the material vehicle that resists psychospiritual transformation. God Vâyu. the master of the life force (prâna). is said to have “churned” and “pounded” the “badly bent one” (kunamnamâ) for the keshin. Perhaps we can even see in this an early reference to the dormant psychospiritual power of the human body, which later came to be known as the kundalinî-shakti.
We must remember here that some three thousand years later the Goddess Kubjikâ was worshipped in some schools of Tantrism. She is said to reside with her divine spouse Shiva on the peak of the sacred Mount Kailâsa in the Himalayas. According to this Tantric tradition. Kubjikâ is closely associated with the kunda- lini, which is said to be her body. The syllable ku in Kubjikâ’s name is taken to represent the earth element, which is traditionally placed in the lowest psychoenergetic center, the mûlâdhâra-cakra, at the base of the spine. This is also the place of the coiled serpent power, or kundalinî-shakti.
The Sanskrit word kubjâ means literally “crooked one.” This appears lo be the meaning also of the Vedic word kunamnâma. The Goddess Kubjikâ, who is also known as Vakreshvari (“Crooked Princess”), is sometimes depicted as an old woman, in addition to her two other forms—that of a girl and that of a young woman.34 Is it possible that we have here an esoteric tradition about the hidden spiritual power coiled within the human body that goes back to Vedic times?
The long-hair [endures] fire; the long-hair [endures] poison; the long-hair endures Heaven-and- Earth (rodasî) [both physical and psychic]; the long-hair gazes fully on Heaven (svar); the longhair is said to be that [transcendental] Light. (1)
The wind-girt sages (muni) have donned the tawny dirt (mala). Along the wind’s course they glide when the Gods have penetrated [them]. (2)
Exulted by our silence (mauna), upon the winds we have ascended. Behold, you mortals, our bodies [only], (3)
Through the mid-region (antariksha) flies the sage illuminating all forms; for his goodness, he is deemed the friend of every God. (4)
The wind’s steed, Vâyu’s friend, is the God-inioxicaled sage; within both oceans he dwells, the upper and the lower. (5)
In the paths of apsarases [female spirits], gandharvas [male spirits], and beasts wanders the long-hair, knower of [the most hidden] thoughts, a gentle friend, most exhilarating. (6)
For him has Vâyu churned and pounded the badly bent one (kunanmamâ), when the long-hair drank with Rudra from the poison cup. (7)
10.177
With their heart (hrid), with their mind (manas), the wise see the Winged-one (patanga) endowed with Asura’s magic (mâyâ). The seer-poets (kavî) recognize [Him] inside the ocean. The sages desire the footprint of [His] rays. (1)
With the heart, the Winged-one carries the Word (vâc) that the gandharva pronounced inside the womb. The seer-poets protect this thunderous (svarya) flashing intuition (manishâ) in the abode (pada) of the [cosmic] order (rita). (2)
I have seen the protector who untiringly approaches and withdraws along the paths. Clothed with convergent and divergent [forces], He revolves within the worlds.35 (3)
V. SPELLS OF TRANSCENDENCE— THE MAGICAL YOGA OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA
The Atharva-Veda contains sacred knowledge (veda) collected by the magus and fire-priest Atharvan, who may have been a nati
ve of what is now Bihar. As a collection, the Atharva-Veda is at least several centuries younger than the Rig-Veda, but much of its contents is probably as old as the oldest hymns of the Rig-Veda. Even though the Atharva-Veda was undoubtedly widely resorted to, for a long time it was not counted as part of the sacred Vedic canon, and even after its incorporation it was never granted by the orthodox priesthood the same status as the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Sâma- Veda.
The Atharva-Veda consists of around six thousand verses and one thousand lines in prose, most of which deal with magical spells and charms designed to either promote peace, health, love, and material and spiritual prosperity, or to call down disaster on an enemy. Here are three excerpts that epitomize the magical side of this hymnody:
As the creeper has completely embraced the tree, so may you embrace me. May you love me. May you not withdraw from me.
As the eagle, flying forth, beats its wings toward the earth, so I beat down your mind. May you love me. May you not withdraw from me.
As the sun travels swiftly in [the space between] sky and earth here, so do I go about your mind. May you love me. May you not withdraw from me. (6.8.1–3)
* * *
Having harnessed the chariot [of my mind], here has come forth the thousand-eyed curse, seeking after my curser, as a wolf [seeks out] the dwelling of a shepherd.
O curse, avoid us like a burning fire [avoids] a pool. Strike our curser here, as the [lightning] bolt from the sky [strikes] a tree.
Whoever shall curse us not cursing, and whoever shall curse us cursing, him [who is] whithered I cast unto death, as a bone [is cast to] a dog. (6.37.1–3)
* * *
Night after night, we bring to You, O Agni, [our offerings] without mixture, as fodder to a standing horse. Let us, Your neighbors, not experience harm, [but] enjoy abundance of wealth and food.
Whatever arrow [of destiny] of You who are good is in the air, that is Yours. With it, be gracious to us. Let us, Your neighbors, not experience harm, [but] enjoy abundance of wealth and food.
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