June topic;mAyA in the Vedas: Purpose of division

[Guest guest]

Namaste all,

This is the last of the introduction section and I

hope that we can go into the Vedic hymns with some

closer understanding of the contexts of ourselves and

the rishis.

For those who remember the lengthy discussion on

infinity back in the April topic it may be worth

looking back at Sunderji's posting that set it all

off. It was a posting quoting HH. Sri

Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswamiji in which he

was using mathematical division as an illustration.

 

This posting builds on the last one on YAska's work in

etymology and looks at the use of division in

language. We know what we want to say and have to dig

into our store of vocabulary to express it. An inner

sound of meaning is divided for the purpose of sharing

understanding.

 

Best wishes Ken Knight

 

Explanation through Division

 

(Please Note. Western scholars, seeking the meaning of

the Vedas, were initially dependant upon the 14th

century CE work of Sayana. His emphasis, in his

commentary (bhAshya), upon the ritualistic aspect of

the Vedic corpus does not always bring out the

philosophical, non-dualistic passages that accord with

Yaska’s viewpoint. Dr. Ramachandra Rao has presented

three illustrations of the adhyajna, adhidaivata and

adhyAtma proponents. These in his presentation are,

Sayana, Saunaka and Yaska respectively. ‘RgVeda

Darshana Volume Two Interpretations’ S K Ramachandra

Rao Kalpatharu Research Academy Publications 1998 )

 

The division of a primordial sound into words and

syllables for the purpose of understanding may be

taken to echo the process of emanation from the One

into the many. YAska’s comments on the flowering and

fruiting of meaning through speech, are immediately

followed by YAska recalling the status of the original

rshis in the history of the Vedic mantras. He restates

that through the power of penance, tapas, they

‘directly experienced, sAkshAtkRta, and involuntarily

articulated, aspects of truth, dharmANaH. ‘

 

sAkshAtkRtadharmANa Rshayo babhUvoH | Nirukta I.20

 

When they had to pass on their insight to their

children, their disciples or other interested persons,

they had to expand their insights through explanations

and instructions, upadeSha, and thereby created the

spiritual tradition known as sampradAya. YAska uses

the word sampradu.

‘They (seers) by oral instruction handed down the

hymns to later generations who were destitute of

direct intuitive insight. The later generations,

declining in (power of) oral communication, compiled

this work, the Veda, and the auxiliary Vedic

treatises, in order to comprehend their meaning.’

Nirukta I.20

 

In the earlier posting we noted the practice of

mentioning the seers’ names in the hymns accords with

the tradition of acknowledging the authority of the

Apta, the trustworthy person, who through valid,

direct experiences can impart knowledge effectively.

This illustrates the importance of the Apta and the

need for us to find such a one to truly comprehend

these texts.

 

YAska then concludes this section of his Nirukta with

a stark statement:

bilmaM bhilmaM bhAsanabhiti vA |

‘bilma=bhilma (division) or illustration.’

 

Placed at this point, in the explanation of the

outpouring of the intuitively perceived mantra into

later expositions and commentaries, is the suggestion

that a division is for the purpose of illumination or

illustration. A single sound, unintelligible to those

without the power of insight in direct experience,

requires division of that sound into syllables to

enable contemplation, rational study and finally,

revelation; the full experience of the meaning. This

process of division for illumination is bilma or

bhilma. It is a word right at the heart of our quest

to understand how the Vedic teachers sought the answer

to the questions, ‘How, (or why), does the One become

many?’, ‘How do we unveil the unity in this apparent

diversity?’

 

To return to the example of the pupil learning

multiplication: The knowledge of multiplication is a

complete ‘sound’ or substratum in the awareness of the

teacher. In order to teach it is necessary to divide

up that knowledge into parts. Each part is limited, of

partial usefulness, but contains the impulse of, and

is linked to, the overall meaning. From the

concentrated study, tapas, by the pupil, of those

parts and the ‘ritualistic’ practices that accompany

the study, a moment of direct experience comes, the

eureka moment, and then the pupil shares in the

awareness of the teacher.

 

I began the second posting of this series with a

stanza from the Rgveda to illustrate how confusing the

English translation of the Rgveda could be. It is

therefore now relevant to note that in that hymn,

which is dedicated to the ‘Son of the Waters’,

apAMNapAt, there is given the only RgVedic use of that

word chosen by Yaska, bilma, when he completes his

explanation of the flowering and fruition of speech.

 

asmaí bahuunaám avamaáya sákhye yajñaír vidhema

námasaa havírbhiH |

sáM saánu maárjmi dídhiSaami bílmair dádhaamy ánnaiH

pári vanda RgbhíH ||

 

‘Him, nearest Friend of many, will we worship with

sacrifice. and reverence and oblation.

I make his back to shine, with chips (bilmair,

division) provide him; I offer food and with my songs

exalt him.’ RV.II.35.12

 

The ‘chips’, the pieces of kindling, bring fire to the

fire. Is there something here on the division of an

eternal sound into the forms of the mantra ? We would

need to look at the whole hymn to see this line in

context but I think it is worth some study.

The name of the devatA to whom this hymn is dedicated

is sometimes given as tanUnapat while Griffith uses

apAMNapAt from the opening stanza. Both of these are

names of Agni and bring out the relationship of both

fire and water in his elemental imagery. ApAMNapAt is

Agni born in the form of lightning from the aerial

ocean or the firmament. This I am interpreting here

as an image for the immediate, directly intuited

experience or insight which flashes, AshuhemA, into

the poet’s consciousness and flows out of his or her

mouth as the sweet sounds of the mantra.

 

úpem asRkSi vaajayúr vacasyaáM cáno dadhiita naadyó

gíro me |

apaáM nápaad aashuhémaa kuvít sá supéshasas karati

jóSiSad dhí ||

 

‘Eager for spoil my flow of speech I utter: may the

Floods' Child accept my songs with favour.

Will not the rapid Son of Waters make them lovely, for

he it is who shall enjoy them?’ RV II.35.1

 

We are reminded here of :

agninAgniH samidhyate

‘By Agni, Agni is inflamed.’ RV I.12.6

 

The poet explains that it is Agni himself who will

delight in the praise-song that he himself has

inspired. The poet and singer is but the musical

instrument in the hands of the celestial musician. The

next verse tells us that the song, mantra, is

‘well-fashioned, forth from the heart’, hRdá A

sútaSTam mántraM. This is the famous expression, often

translated as ‘well-chiselled in or by the heart.’

imáM sv àsmai hRdá aá sútaSTam mántraM vocema kuvíd

asya védat |

apaáM nápaad asuryàsya mahnaá víshvaany aryó bhúvanaa

jajaana ||

 

‘To him let us address the song well-fashioned, forth

from the heart. Shall he not understand it'

The friendly Son of Waters by the greatness of Godhead

hath produced all things existing.’ RV II.35.2

 

The Vedic relationship between rivers and

inspirational speech has already been noted and we

could take another diversion and look at the concept

of three rivers IlA, SarasvatI and BharatI (another

time maybe)

 

Hymn 35 goes on to relate how Agni, himself the father

of these three rivers, remains as the unborn child,

resting in their womb and then is nourished by them

when born, or borne maybe, on their waters.

 

asmaí tisró avyathyaáya naáriir devaáya deviír

didhiSanty ánnam |

kR'taa ivópa hí prasarsré apsú sá piiyuúSaM dhayati

puurvasuúnaam ||

 

‘To him three Dames are offering food to feed him,

Goddesses to the God whom none may injure.

Within the waters hath he pressed, as hollows, and

drinks their milk who now are first made mothers.’

RV.II.35.5

 

This manifestation is a division of the unmanifest

godhead who is able to ‘magically’ expand, mahnA here

seems to be used in the Vedic sense of mAyA, the power

of the One to become many. The non-dual

interpretation of these and the following words would

seem to be that the unmanifest, through its own power

and glory, impels the impulse or power that is the

devatA at the subtle level, Agni in this instance,

which in turn impels the inspirational thought in the

mind/heart of the poet.

 

apaáM nápaad asuryàsya mahnaá víshvaany aryó bhúvanaa

jajaana |

 

‘The friendly Son of Waters by the greatness of

Godhead hath produced all things existing.’ RV.II.35.2

 

This undefined insight, or sound, is then

‘well-chiselled’ in the heart of the poet and singer

for the purposes of manifesting or revealing the

hidden, or previously unmanifest, meaning. The

ultimate intention of this process is of manifesting

the One into many while seeking or realising the unity

that is maintained throughout the appearance of

diversity. As we seek a share in the insight of the

Vedic poet we can but marvel at the accuracy, the

precise ‘chiselling’, the compactness of their

mantras.

Here is a perfect example that would require a book, a

veritable inundation, to explain its subtleties:

‘samAnám UrváM nadyàH pRNanti.’ Those who heard this

mantra in its correct context would have been aware of

the mythological tales of the rishi Aurva but such a

benefit is not available to myself now to enhance what

would be excessive speculation on the meaning of the

creation of the submarine fire from his thigh.

Griffiths translates the mantra well as, ‘The sounding

rivers fill one common storehouse’, but inevitably

this falls short.

These rivers, tumbling by in the physical world, sound

with bubbling, gurgling and roaring as they nourish

the lives of those dwelling by them, as do the rivers

of sound emerging in the hymn, but these do so in the

subtle world of the heart/mind, these rivers of

inspiration excite and inspire, nourish and fill the

thoughts of the singer and listener, uniting them in

the one, common place of utterance from which they

emerge and in which they find their destination. This

process is the fulfilment of the praise-song which

reflects the intention of some primary impulse. The

full meaning of pRNanti is indeed ineffable, only to

be understood in direct experience after elucidation

through division.

 

sám anyaá yánty úpa yanty anyaáH samaanám uurváM

nadyàH pRNanti |

tám uu shúciM shúcayo diidivaáMsam apaáM nápaatam pári

tasthur aápaH ||

 

‘Some floods unite themselves and others join them:

the sounding rivers fill one common storehouse.

On every side the bright Floods have encompassed the

bright resplendent Offspring of the Waters.’

RV.II.35.3

 

 

‘From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed,

breathed forth.’

 

 

 

 

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‘From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth.’