16

CHAPTER – II

IDEA OF UNITY IN THE VEDAS

The religion and culture of India is rooted in the Vedas, the first ever literature

of mankind. It was India’s time tested spiritual background that imparted

dynamism to her nation soul and steeled her cultural temperament down the

millennia. Her sacred lore, the Vedic literature energized and sublimated the very

fibre of her being so much so that she could stand the vicissitudes of time down

the lanes of its history. Vedas are a vast collection of literature with its different

works inextricably intertwined and not independent of each other. Naturally they

are to be studied as a united whole because any study of the Upanishads or any

other branch of Vedic literature without the Vedas would be imperfect since the

former are the appendices of the latter. Hence the nomenclature the Veda=nta or

the end portion of the Vedas for Upanishads. Therefore it is necessary to have a

peep into the Vedas before proceeding to the Ve`da=nta or the Upanishads.

Upanishads are the culmination and condensation of the Vedic learning.

According to a modern Indian seer,

Such profound and ultimate thought, such systems of

subtle and elaborate psychology as are found in the

substance of the Upanishads, do not spring out of a

previous void. The human mind in its progress

marches from knowledge to knowledge, or it renews

and enlarges previous knowledge that has been

obscured and overlaid, or it seizes on old imperfect

clues and is led by them to new discoveries. The

thought of the Upanishads supposes great origins

anterior to itself [The great origins anterior to the

17

Upanishads referred here are the Vedas.] and these in

the ordinary theories are lack.1

The word Veda means knowledge, the knowledge of the supreme. The sounds

vid, dyu, div, dyo=v, deva etc having a common root, betoken light. That which

imparts light or enlightenment alone is Vidya or the Ve`da. Therefore whatever is

enlightening could be included within the purview of the Ve`da. The Vedas

according to the R/shis or the seers have always existed, they being the

revelations of truth dawned to them in their heights of meditative bliss. These

poet seers or the Kavis were the hearers of truth – kaviya= satyas`ruta=, and what

was revealed to them remained collectively and at random till the advent of the

sage Krishnadvaipayana, better known Vedavyasa who collected and compiled

them into four sections in accordance with the nature of Vedic hymns. The

peripheral argument leveled by some Indologists including the European scholars

that they were the compositions of different ages and their compartmentalization

of the Vedas into those of the early and later Vedic periods hardly stands a

reasonable and objective study of Vedic literature.

Four in number, they are R/k, Yajur, Sa=ma and Ath/arva, all couched in with

the canons of perfect poetics. Even their prose passages, laced with classic grace

are exquisitely rhythmic. Apaurushe`ya, i.e., impersonal and springing from the

highest values, the Vedas were considered nitya (existing in all eternity) and the

R/shis, the manthradrasht/a or the inspired ‘Seers’ who got the ultimate light from

the supreme creator were men of universal vision as the names of the seers like

Vis`wamitra or the friend and lover of the whole world reveal. Apaurushe`ya or

impersonal, they are revelations to the men of supreme perception who in their

transcendental heights of spiritual light shed their ego or personal identity.

R/k, Sa=ma, Ath/arva and Yajur Vedas though seemingly different in nature

have no fundamental ideological difference in their vision and spiritual

18

background. Whereas the R/k Veda is fully spiritual and divine just as in the case

of Sa=ma Ve`da, which is a collection of songs mostly taken from the R/k Veda,

Ath/arva Ve`da is a collection of spells and charms. The R/k Ve`da contains 1028

su=ktas, divided into ten mand/alas and again in eight asht/akas. Each of them is

ascribed to the family of priests like Gritsamata, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadwaja

and Vasishta. The ninth mand/ala is a collection of hymns addressed to So=ma.

The Pura=n/as refer to thousand samhithas of the Sa=mave`da. But we do not have

all these except the one in three recensions, like the Kuthuma current in Gujarat,

the Jaimini+ya in Karnataka, and the Ran/aya=ni+ya in the Maratha country. These

hymns are 1810 in number. The R/k and Sa=ma are full of prayers for the

attainment of knowledge and enlightenment whereas the other two often pray for

the material welfare and prosperity. R/k Ve`da envisions a world of enlightenment;

it prays to lead man from “untruth to the ultimate truth, from darkness to light,

from death to immortality”. It bristles with stories like that of the Gora Angirasa

or Kutsa Angirasa which point to the attainment of the world of celestial light or

a life divine as the ultimate aim of all human endeavors. Yajurveda is full of

samhithas, which are a collection of sacrificial formula. Pathanjali speaks of the

101 schools of the Yajurveda. However, at present we have only the five like

Kath/aka Samhita, the Kapishth/ala-kath/aka Samhita, the Maithrayani Samhita,

the Thaittriya Samhita and Vajasanayi Samhita. Ath/arva Veda is mostly

terrestrial with the spells either to charm away the epidemics and physical

ailments and some time even for getting a scholarly daughter (duhitha= me pand/ita=

ja=yate) or a beautiful bride.

Scholars like Dayananda and Sri Aurobindo have interpreted the stories of

the Rk/ Ve`da as symbolic of the high metaphysical truth visualized by the ancient

bards who were the hearers of the Truth. While studying the nature of the Rk/

Vedic hymns, the opinion held by the European Indologists like Max Muller or

19

William Johns that the Vedas were materialistic holds no water. Rk/ Veda is full

of prayers to the divinities like ‘Agni’ who is both Purohitha and the R/tvik. Agni

is the God of prime importance, the saviour, the benefactor, the purifier of mind

and soul, the destroyer of all the sins. There are also a host of Gods like Indra,

Varuna, Pushan, Ushas, Aswins, Brihaspathi, Aranyani, etc. With different

functions, these Gods and their names are often used in the same context, and

with same duties. Or why the Vedic bard prays “Salutations to thee oh Indra who

appears in the form of the Sun God and shatters the saradiyapura”? Perhaps the

notion that the same Godhood has its different manifestations through different

incarnations must have made the Vedic seers use the names of different Gods in

same context or the same God for different functions.

These four Samhithas constituted the basis of the four Vedas, which were

accompanied by their annexure and appendixes viz., the Brahmanas, the

Aranyakas and the Upanishads. The cases of the Aithare`ya Bra=hmana/ and

S`atapath/a Bra=hman/a are well known. Finally there are the Upanishads or the

Vedantas, which are the conclusions of the Vedas. Innumerable are the

Upanishads, and the generally studied principal Upanishads are twelve in

number. Upanishad, which means ‘sit near’, was taught to the disciple who sat

near the ‘Guru’ or the spiritual preceptor engaged in helping the seeker to have

his final sitting near God. The high metaphysical expositions were often couched

in the flowerbed of the poetic conversations as seen in the Kat/ha Upanishad

where Yama, the God of death explains to Nachikethas a hundred and more

mysteries of the nether world. The discourse in Chha=ndo=gya Upanishad on the

Gross-Subtle monism by Uddalaka to Swetaketu with the aid of a nya=gro=dh/a

seed is definitely the most effective and simple way a highly complex subject

could be explained lucidly and unambiguously.

20

Besides these, there is another class of works belonging to the Vedic

literature. These are called Sutra or Vedanga, which are six in number. They are

not six distinct books or treatises, but six subjects the study of which was

necessary either for the reading or understanding the real connotations of the

Vedic literature. They are Siksha (pronunciation), Chh/andas (metre), Vya=karan/a

(grammar), Nirukta (explanation of words), Jyo=thisha (astronomy), and Kalpa

(ceremonial). The first two are necessary for reading the Vedas, the next two for

understanding it, and the last two for employing it at sacrifices. Though these

subjects were originally dealt within the Brahmanas and Aranyakas, later

separate texts were written on each of them. Couched in a peculiar style, they are

called Sutras, which consist of a series of extremely concise formulae noted for

their algebraic brevity.

There is another class of literature called Upavedas or subsidiary Vedas,

which deal with medical science (A+yurve`da), military science (Dh/anurveda),

music (Gandharvaveda), architecture (Sth/a=pathyave`da) and many other

analogous subjects.

There are the Puranas and the Ithihasas which relate the life and culture of

the period the Vedas were authored and that preceded. Though we cannot fix a

precise date regarding their authorship, it can easily be inferred from their

description that they speak of the period the Vedas and their allied literatures

were composed. The Vishn/u Pura=n/a and the Harivams`a Pura=n/a inform us a lot

about the period of the Vedas and also the chronology thereafter. Likewise there

are Vayu and Mathsya Puranas. The Ithihasas like the Ramayana and the

Mahabharata too describe the life in times of the Vedas. Though compiled only

later, they speak about a society that existed millennia ago. If the Ramayana, the

earliest one, speaks about the kingdoms of Ayodhya, Mithila and Kosala and the

socio-political life that flowered around them, the Mahabharatha is narrative of

21

the very age of Vyasa. According to tradition Vyasa was an eyewitness of the

Battle of Kurukshethra that took place by the end of the Dwapara Yuga, and that

the age of Veda Vyasa, the battle of Bharata, the life and death of Krishna and

the collection and classification of the four Vedas had almost synchronized.

Having sprung from the lofty vision the Vedic seer realized in the moments of

unity with the universal, when he felt himself the part of universal whole, most of

the Vedic Mantras are the reflections of the idea of unity, physical, mental and

spiritual. The idea of how to attain this unity is the core of all Vedic thoughts

since these ancient bards always taught humanity fare the track from all the de-

coherences to coherence. Progress rather than retrogression is the order of all the

movements of the universe which is rightly called Jagat or that which always

moves forth, and in this progress towards unity dwells beauty and perfection. It is

the state of balance that brings out the beauty and perfection in harmony.

Harmony is another name for unity which again leads to beauty. Wherever unity

is attained through harmony there the beauty manifests, at different levels, in

different fields including the mundane.

How this unity is the sole force of all universal existence is well explained in

the Vedas, especially in the Sa=nkhya teaching which enunciates the philosophy

of oneness of all things. Its exponent, Kapila is an adviaitin or a pure monist who

surpasses the naïve world view that highlights the discords and divisions of the

ordinary material plane. He theorizes that the realm of objects is in truth a scene

of continuities and differentiations, all grounded in and integrated with an

underlying basic oneness and unity. The foundation of the objective realm Kapila

calls prakruti which is rather invisible, avyaktam. This basic reality is a

composite entity made of three gunas which are substances, a group of active

entities manifesting both in physical and psychic plains. Kapila points to the

psychic and physical entities as the manifestations of the single aspect, the

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prakriti which is both quiescent and emergent or potential and kinetic

respectively. Quiescent is the state of dynamic equilibrium called samya while in

the emergent state, the vaisamya the gunas or constituents vibrantly interact,

clashing and cooperating in the process of progress and ascendancy. Since the

visible is the manifestation of the invisible and the objects in the world are

limited in time and space Kapila looks beyond the material existence for their

source and cause. This in fact leads one to the ideas of universal causal energy

and substance which find themselves in a state of unity of all forms or

vais`varu=pyam. Sankhya which denies the substances’ independent entity

theorizes on the interconnectedness of things and events which find themselves

in an unbroken continuity from the lowest inorganic to the highest organic forms.

Everything forms the inseparable part of the cosmic web or originates from and

returns to the common source of the universe which Kapila calls the prakruti

which is avyakta or undifferentiated from the universal energy and existence.

This is further illustrated by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita who states that all

are in their beginning undifferentiated from the infinite and hence without a

separate identity, a state which they again attain on their return to the

undifferentiated whole. Things and beings come to have their differentiation and

separate identity only when they are between the beginning and the end, i.e.

when they are in their manifest form.

avyakta=di+ni bhu=ta=ni vyaktamadh/ya=ni bha=rata

avyaktanidh/ana=nye`va tatra ka= paridevana.2

Visibility is thus the state between the existence or sat which is the real cause

of all manifestations and its reverse, the non- existence or asat. It is the jagat, the

moving and disappearing state which Sankara calls mith/ya which is neither

existence nor non-existence. It is only a stage in the cyclical process of the

universal movement wherein existence (sat), the visible world (jagat or midh/ya)

23

and non-existence (asat) recur one after the other. In fact an ancient Indian

counterpart of the modern theories of Unified Field and Quantum

interconnectedness, this Vedic dars`ana pointed to the primordial cause or the

existence of effects in their material or any other causes which express

themselves differently through the process of evolution or parin/a=ma

It thus points to an ultimate reality as well as unity as the sole cause behind

the entire universe and its phenomena. There is only unity behind all varieties

which in an ultimate analysis prove just delusions.

It is the attainment of this wisdom that determines the spiritual height and

helps one get the eternal salvation (apavarga) or the ultimate unity with the

unmanifest totality or universal soul which Kapila calls the Prakruti. Prakruti is

thus the cause all effects come from. Existence is born of existence. Nothing

comes out of nothing. (na=sato= satja=yate) Discarding the unscientific notion of

creation out of nothing and basing on satka=ryava=da, Kapila gets on with the idea

of evolution or parin/a=ma. Evolution according to Kapila is a cyclical process

with the Prakruti as the beginning and the end. What is seen outwardly is the

manifestation of the unseen. As Sri Aurobindo points out, “we have therefore

two fundamental facts… a fact of being, a fact of becoming. To deny one or the

other is easy, but to find out their relation is the true and fruitful wisdom”.3

Behind all this the teacher of Sankhya says is the Buddhi or Mahat which, in

simple terms is the cosmic principle – the wisdom that conceives the order and

principle of things. It is the primordial and ultimate wisdom or the universal

spirit which expresses itself as well as withdraws.4 It is this wisdom that

determined to manifest itself into the manifoldness. The unity thus expressed

itself into the variety. Unity and diversity are thus one and the same like the

cause and effects which are inextricably intertwined. Cause is born for the effect

just as effect is within the cause. Every thing is predetermined and things happen

24

as are due. True, the theory of causation gains significance in ordinary human

contexts. But this too is just a medium in the hands of destiny so that what are

already in store must have their mundane expression. Causes are just factors that

bring about an incident and it is for the happening of an incident the cause

surfaces. What is already in store must happen either due to one cause or the

other. Cause is thus within the effect itself or they are one and the same, yet

another instance of the Vedic idea of unity.

The idea of unity which thus inheres in the very three-faced existence

(creation-preservation-destruction) and movement of the universe finds itself

expressed in all the facets of life, spiritual as well as mundane. The entire

universe, the Vedas say, evolved from the Supreme Being which it calls the

Purusha who sacrifices himself into the multiplicity. This purusha is everything:

purusha evadam sarvam

yadbhu=tam yaccha bhavyam

uta=mrutatvasye`sa=na

yadanne`na=tirohiti 5

This visible world, the past, the present and the future

are nothing but purusha who controls the eternal. And

to help the beings enjoy the fruits of their actions the

purusha transformed from the being to the manifest

form.

tasma=d vira=d/aja=yata

vira=jo= adh/i pu=rusha

sa jato= atyarichyata

pas`cha=d bhu=minadho= pura 6

From the purusha was born the brahmanda and from it the vira=d/purusha.

Purusha thus assumed the manifold forms as the earth, the world and the bodies

25

to fill it. Unity thus transformed itself into the variety. Vedas thus point to the

relation between the unity and variety and vice versa which could be better

equated with a pendulum swinging between creation and destruction which come

one after another in an unending process, maintaining the eternity and continuity

of the universal energy and matter which constitute the real content.

It is this content which is the subject matter of all Vedic vision and teachings

which the ancient bards or the seers of Truth put in the flowerbed of poetic

imagery. Poet was the hearer and reveler of Truth. Poetry was to him no dancing

girl of the mind but a priestess appointed in the God’s house not to spin fiction

but to give image to the hard and secret realities deriving from the mystic vision.

He is the ‘Seer’ of the eternal truth of Unity (sana=tana dh/arma). For instance the

Vedas are packed with prayers addressed to various gods. But these gods are

only manifestations or representations of the one reality which is eternal, timeless

and transcendental or the supreme energy which works out the cosmic web. The

idea of unity conveyed by the allied literature including the I+s`ava=syo=panishad

which envisions a world which abides in the supreme spirit (I+s`a=va=syamidam

sarvam) is in fact only a repetition of Vedic vision of Unity. The subject of the

Vedas always centers around the ‘eternal’ and the ‘perfect’, and the seers of the

Vedas are those who had reached the heights of unified vision or the Seer or

drasht/a of the undivided whole which by all means is the real entity, the sat. That

which has a beginning has a cause behind its origin whereas the one without

beginning is not caused by anything other than itself. Nedamamu=lam bhavishyati

or this will not happen without a cause, says the Veda. The fact that the visible

universe with its manifoldness sprang up from an ultimate indivisible ‘reason’ is

explained in the na=sadi+ya su=kta of the R/k Ve`da:

na=sada=si+nno= sada=si+d 7

(asat na a=si+t – it was not non-existence in the beginning

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sat na a=si+t – there was not existence)

The origin of the universe was thus neither from non-existence nor from

existence. According to the Vedic vision, in the beginning there was nothing as

void. It was an undefined and undivided whole, the formless, the eternal and all

purifying light which is wordless and indescribable that held everything to its

bosom in an ecstasy of perfect union. The expression of the higher vision of the

mysterious light and the mighty ineffable force working in the depth of the

primeval effulgence is thus portrayed with impressive economy of an inimitable

diction:

Then there was neither Aught nor Naught,

There was neither air then nor the sky beyond.

What covered all? Where rested all?

In the cosmic water, in depth unfathomed?

Then there was neither death nor immortality,

nor was there then the torch of night and day

The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining

There was that One then, and there was no other

At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness

All this was only unillumined water, a vast invisible sea

That One which came to be, a void in chaos wrapt

at last arose, born of its own fervour, a power of heat

In the beginning desire descended on it –

that was the primal seed, born of the mind.

27

The wise sages who have searched in their hearts

know that which is kin to that which is not.

And they have stretched their cord across the void

and know what was above, and what below

Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces

Below was energy, and above was impulse.

But, after all, who knows, and who can say

whence it all came, and how creation happened?

The Gods themselves are later than creation

and who knows truly whence it all has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,

he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not

he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,

he knows – or may be even he does not know.8

The R/shi searching for the ultimate unitary principle, found that an infinite

and absolute power is the primary cause of the manifest world. The word cause is

used here only to clarify that there is an ‘idea’ or the ‘being’ of the universal

existence. It doesn’t mean that the god sitting at a high plain created this world

at a particular time which definitely stands against the unitary concept behind

this diversity. This ‘Absolute’ is neither masculine nor feminine; it was beyond

all names and forms. This leads us to the fact that the Vedas do not give us an

anthropomorphic religion encompassing different personal deities as it often

appears to a dilettantish reader with a purely materialistic bend of mind. The

28

knowledge of the ultimate reality the Ve`da discourses is not reached by a

rationalistic approach but the mystical experience.

The wisest then depended on the inner experience

and the suggestions of the intuitive mind for all

knowledge that ranged beyond mankind’s ordinary

perception and daily activities. Their aim was

illumination, not logical conviction, their ideal the

inspired seer, not the accurate reasoner. Indian

tradition has faithfully preserved this account of the

origin of the Vedas. The Rishi was not the individual

composer of the hymn, but the seer (drasta) of an

eternal truth and impersonal language. The language

of the Veda itself is sruti, a rhythm not composed by

the intellect but heard, a divine Word that came

vibrating out of the Infinite to the inner audience of

man who had previously made himself fit for

impersonal knowledge.9

Unlike what is told in modern science, this ultimate ‘Idea’ which is moving

as well as unmoving or remains in both manifest and potent form is no subject to

be perceived through any laboratorial apparatus. Even the highest intelligence of

modern science which points to the ‘super personal content’ or things which are

‘beyond’ could only evolve a world view that stands at the threshold of the

unknown. Even a few western poets whom one may definitely term the spiritual

aristocrats could only experience just a fleeting feeling of this kind. True, we

have the lofty mystic experiences of a poet who chanted his Hymn to Intellectual

Beauty or envisioned a Skylark which like the Chhandas Ga=yatri of the Ve=da

soars into a higher plain and ‘pourest in profuse strains a rupture so divine’.10 But

29

they could not get a definite vision of this ‘idea’ which is of super sensual

perception or give a theoretical foundation to their lofty ecstasy. Because they

were mystics of ordinary kind and were no ‘Seers’ with frequent experiences of

audience with what modern science calls the ‘unknown’. In fact the realization of

this ultimate reality calls for an illumined intuitive cognition and intellectual

coherence, say the men of Vedic tradition.

Vedas thus clearly establish that the ultimate reality that abides everything is

the one self-effulgent which should be intuitively realized. The Vedic literature

symbolically presents many such instances of realization. Symbols, the Vedic

seers knew, were the only means to convey a lofty idea which is invisible and

intangible. Hence the use of symbols in the forms of Gods or stories. Thus there

is the symbol of the luminous dawn representing a progressive revelation of a

transcendental reality or an ever broadening emergence towards the Ultimate.

The story of Purusha Su=kta hymn of the R/k. Ve`da makes it clear. It speaks of the

sacrifice of the Purusha or Brahman and the emergence of the four-fold division

of society, from the mouth, the arms, the thigh and the feet of the Brahman

respectively.

bra=hmano=syamukhama=si+d

ba+hu ra=janya kruta

u=ru= tadasya yad vaisya=m

pa=dbhya=m s`u=dro= aja=yata= 11

This would appear to a superficial eye as a mere poetical and imaginative

description that Brahmins were the men of knowledge, Kshatriyas the men of

power, Vaisyas the producers and Sudras the servants. But a more piercing look

would bring out the idea that Truth manifests in different ways, that God has

different faces – the Divine as knowledge, as power, as material prosperity and

as service. Gita explains it further when it says:

30

chaturvidh/a= bhajante ma=m jana=h sukritino=rjuna

a=rto= jijn#a=surardh/a=rth/i jn#a=ni+ cha bharatarshabha 12

“Four kinds of people who have done virtuous deeds worship Me, O Arjuna – the

distressed person, the aspirant after knowledge, the seeker of wealth and the man

of knowledge, O best of Bharatas”, say Krishna who is considered the God

incarnate. Naturally it is therefore the duty of the divine to appear before the

devotee in the very form he is sought after. Hence the God’s manifestation in the

four forms. More over, these four divisions as Sri Aurobindo points out, answer

to four cosmic principles. They are “the wisdom that conceives the order and

principle of things, the power that sanctions, upholds and enforces it, the

harmony that creates arrangement of its parts, the work that carries out what the

rest directs”.13 Likewise is the Gita’s presentation of Arjuna as a man subject to

the action of the nature-force. He travels in the celestial chariot driven by the

divine and fights against the forces of evil. Vedas also present this image of the

chariot carrying the human soul and the divine across the battle to the world of

the divine light. The divine here is Indra, the lord of the world of light and

immortality. He is the power of the divine knowledge, descending to help the

seeker battling with darkness and mortality. The goal of the seeker is the plane

effulgent with the light of supreme truth Indra presides. The human soul is Kutsa

who constantly seeks the seer knowledge, as his name implies. The son of

Arjuna or Arjuni, the white one, the child of Switra, the white mother, he is the

enlightened soul open to the bliss of the divine knowledge. Similarly we have the

story of Satyavan and Savitri which is usually taken as a story of conjugal love

conquering death. But spiritually interpreted, this legend is one of the many

symbolic myths of the Vedic literature. Satyavan is the symbol of the soul that

carries the truth of the being within itself but descended into the grip of death and

ignorance. Savitri, again as Sri Aurobindo says, is the “divine word, the daughter

31

of the sun, the goddess of the supreme truth who comes down and is born to

save” all the fallen ones from the grip of mortality.14 Vedic literature thus

presents the idea of the supreme Truth or Light through the symbols.

Vedas, thus containing the message of coherence and unity, aimed at forging

the unity and visualizing the non-duality in both mundane as well as the spiritual

spheres of life. Without material there can’t be the spiritual since the both are co-

existing and complimentary. Though highly spiritual the Vedas never relegated

the mundane to insignificance. The spiritual truth being subjected to man’s

perceptions and consciousness, mundane life too loomed important to the Vedic

theme. Along with man’s spiritual unity with the ultimate truth, his life on earth

too should find its beauty in unity and cooperation. Hence the Vedic injunctions

to make man’s corporate existence a success so that his mundane existence too

could be a reflection of the underlying basic unity. It is desirable to mention here

the Samva=dasu=kta that prays for the progress of unanimity among the people

aspiring to reach the same goal.

Sangachh/adh/vamsamvadadh/vam

samvo=mana=msija=nata=m

deva=bha=gam yath/a=pu=rve

sanjja=na=na= upa=sate`

sama=no=mantrassamitissama=ni+

sama=nam manassaha chittame`sha=m

sama=nam mantramabhimantraye`va

ssama=nnavo= havisha=juho=mi

sama=ni+va a=kuti

32

ssama=na= hrudaya=nivah

sama=namastuvo=mano=

yathha=vassusaha=sati 15

Oh thou seekers (of the divine), walk in union and speak unanimously

Let your mindset as well as your ends be similar and remain united

Be ye the imbibers of own potentials just as those ancient Gods each

of whom accepts in unanimity the oblations which are due to each.

Let the chants of thou who co-work be the same

May you all attain the same end, the ultimate unity!

May your consciousness and intuitions be alike!

I do my chants and sacrifice, praying for your unity.

May your imaginations, decisions be similar

May the commerce of your minds be alike

May your intuitions be as much similar

as to bring about the beauty of harmony.

It may be noted that Vedic seer’s prayer for the unity and unanimity of

thoughts and actions emanated from the basic creative unity, the unity of

godhead. All are the expressions of the supreme ‘One’ which manifested as

many. Even the Gods themselves with seemingly different attitudes and

attributes are according the Veda one and the same.

indrammitram varunamagnima=hu

rath/o=divyassasuparno=garutma=n

e`kamsatvipra= bahudha=vadantya

gnimyamam mataris`va=nama=hu 16

33

(This Aditya is also called Indra just as he is called Mitra, Varuna, Agni and the

winged Garuda born of effulgence. He is also called Agni, Yama and

Matarisvan. But the reality is one and the same though the scholars describe it

differently.) Again, these Gods shine upon all, and give them a touch of unity

and raising them from the many to the one. Thus sings the seer:

One is Agni kindled in many a spot;

One is Surya shining over all;

One is Ushas illumining all this

That which is one has become this All.17

One could look at how the Vedas see everything as the manifestations of the

Supreme energy which the Vedic bards identified with the Goddess Aditi.

“Aditi”, the Vedas say, “is the omnipotent and all pervading light. She is the

atmosphere, mother, father and the son. All the Gods and Panchajanas are Aditi.

Everything present and future are Aditi”.18 The Vedas thus reiterate the idea that

everything visible as well as invisible in universe is the manifestation of the

primordial energy which they call the supreme Purusha.

The Vedas thus envision the basic oneness of the entire universe. And this

oneness is beyond the time-space difference. Besides, Vedas also speak of how

knowledge about this ultimate unity of all events and things could be brought to

one’s knowledge. To know is to be with the Being. That if the ‘Become’ comes

from the ‘Being’ there must be a cycling back to the Being is definitely in with

the science and logic based on the theory of Vedic cycles.

Thus comes the question how is it possible for man to make himself fit to be in

union with the impersonal being. The Vedas are replete with the hidden

instructions for a seeker who is on the way to the realization of the ultimate

unity. The Vedas contain prayers for mental power that energizes and sharpens

human consciousness up to the level of looking to everything with a balanced

34

approach. This is the state of samadhi or balancing of the intellect or dhi. It is

interesting to take note of the Gayatri which prays for enlightening the ‘dhi’ or

higher intuition which alone helps one feel oneself as the part of the infinite

whole.

o=m tat savitr vare`n/yam

bhargo= de=vasya dhi+mahi

dhi+yo=yo=na pracho=daya=t

We meditate upon the glorious

Effulgence of that Savitr;

May He direct our intellects towards Him.19

Here the R/shi meditates on the principle that dwells alike in the sun as well as the

human consciousness and intelligence. This is indeed a prayer to the very light

itself to open the inner eyes, or the consciousness or the intellect latent in man.

This is what the R/k Vedic bard symbolically presents through his image of the

Sun invoked to illuminate the inner being. True knowledge is Light and higher

intelligence leads us to this light. Meditation upon this inner light was considered

the best sa=dh/ana or preparation to attain the state of awakened intellect where the

seeker realizes himself as the inseparable part of the infinite whole and attains

the vision of the ultimate unity of all things. It is this realization the

I+s`a=va=syo=panishad refers to in one of its prayers to Pushan, the Sun God thus:

pu=nne`karshe yama su=rya

pra=ja=patya vyu=harasmi+n samu=ha

te`jo= yatthe ru=pam kalya=n/atamam

pasya=mi yo=sa=vasau purushaso=hamasmi 20

Oh Sun God, the lonely farer who controls

and imbibes everything, Oh the son of

Prajapati! keep away thy dazzling rays so

35

that I see the auspicious form of thine with

thy blessings and realize myself as the

Purusha which is the source of the sun’s

streaming effulgence.

Vedas bristle with innumerable similar verses of prayer for attaining the steady

mind and balanced consciousness. The following invocations reveal one’s inner

urge for a higher state of mind.

Send us a good and happy mind,

Send us skill and wisdom

Then let men with Thy friendship joy in Thy gladness,

O Joyful One! as kine in pasture,

Thou waxest great.21

God! Give us wisdom as a father gives wisdom to his sons.

Guide us, much invoked in this path.

May we live and have light.22

Such prayers frequently occurring in the Vedas are indeed the reflections a

seeker’s (sa=dh/aka) yearnings for the vision of unity by awakening the latent

‘dhi’.. Awakening and energizing the ‘dhi’ or the supra-rational intelligence

helps one attain the supreme knowledge which the spiritual literature deems the

ultimate aim of human life. Thus says Anananda.K.Coomaraswamy:

The sense is, then, that is not by what we are told, but

by the indwelling spirit, that we can know and

understand the things, to which words can only refer

us; that which is audibly or otherwise sensed does not

in itself inform us, but merely provides the occasion

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and opportunity to recognize the matter to which the

external signs have referred us.23

True, one may be confused at the refutation of the conventional interpretation

stressing the material connotations of many Vedic expressions. The riches,

wealth and the like of which the Vedas speak as the fruits of the sacrifices

performed to the gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni etc are, as noted above, highly

symbolic. Beneath such seemingly self-contradictory and obscure statements are

hidden the treasures of knowledge that call for the highest spiritual intuition and

cognitive power to sense. A dilettantish approach would not suffice to make out

and realize the truth of the Vedas. Instead a sharp intellect, sincerity of thought,

an aristocracy of vision and purity of soul would do it. But once on the right

track the real and sincere student of the Vedas could not further be kept in

distortions and darkness. He ascends more and more heights of spiritual

knowledge which the Vedas symbolically term riches, wealth and heaven

attainable through highest sacrifice. Only the right and rational thinking enables

one to unravel the lofty wisdom couched in the flowerbed of poetic imagery. For

instance the deities to whom the sacrifices are offered are not the personal ones

with powers to bless or curse but are the gods enlightening the human souls

wherein they dwell. They are the devas or enlightening agents of the divine

present in the multitudinous of man’s existence, as body, vital air, mind, intellect,

etc. Awakening the gods and acquiring the wealth of spiritual unity is possible

through sacrifice which means the sacrifice of the self (A+tma-yajn#a).

Human life is a battle field wherein the good and the evil, represented by the

Devas and Dasyus, are engaged in eternal conflict. Dasyus represent the vices

that stand in the way of one’s ascending to the divine existence and delight of the

ultimate bliss, the a=nanda which the so=ma nectar symbolizes.24 The Vedas stress

the need of subduing the vices the dasyus symbolize by invoking devas or the

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divine power which is representative of the physical, mental, intuitive and

spiritual levels. At the summit of undifferentiated unity thus attained through the

domination of the divine light (dyo or deva) over the darkness the dasyus

represent, the soul has no grief, sorrow desire or will. The soul now becomes

perfect in its union with the entirety. Being the part of the ‘All’ it becomes ‘All’

which knows all. It no more needs knowledge, mind and intellect which were

only the means to become the ‘supreme knowledge’. They, having been mere

vehicles to the highest destination it now reached, are no more required, and

hence their shedding. The soul in complete unity (e=katvam anupas`yta) with the

universal soul is free of delusion and grief.25

The whole process of the universe, the lore says, is a sacrifice knowingly or

unknowingly done. It is “the offering of all our gains and works to the powers of

the higher existence. The whole world is a dumb and helpless sacrifice in which

the soul is bound as a victim self offered to unseen god”.26 Through sacrifice

which enriches the soul one abandons everything and gets identified with the

inner spirit and attains the immortality. With the material, vital and mental

realms crossed, darkness of ignorance is completely dispelled and Ushas dawns

spreading her radiance of a=nanda or eternal bliss. Ushas or the divine ‘Dawn’ of

the Vedas is the dawn of a=nanda or beatitude. It is the symbol of the ever

broadening spiritual horizon. It is the revelation of the dyo, the light or the god

within. Ushas thus dawns on the seeker who thus prays:

O Dawn divine, shine out on us immortal, in thy

chariot of bliss, uttering the words of Truth;

let horses bring thee that are well-governed,

golden of hue, wide in their strength. 27

It would be intelligible to note how Sri Aurobindo describes the ascending

Ushas. In his poetic and highly mystical style he writes:

38

…Dawn the daughter of Heaven rises with the

radiances of her Truth, with the bliss of her boons;

putting off the darkness like a black woven robe, as a

young maiden garbed in light, this bride of the

Luminous Lord of beatitude unveils the splendors of

her bosom, reveals her shining limbs and makes the

Sun ascend upon the upclimbing tier of the worlds.28

Besides agni as well as ushas, even the cow were according to the vedic view

the symbols of light. There are references to the seven cows of the sun, saptaga=va

which do away with darkness and bring in light. (samte ga=vastama varjanti

jyo=tiryachh/anti) They are as Sri Aurobindo opines, the shining herds. Agni in the

Vedas refers to the force or the will of the Divine present in man. The Divine

Force that builds this world is active in the human soul. It is Ja=tave`da, knower of

all births, the basis of all creations. When Agni is kindled in man it devours

anything that stands in the way of its merging in the divine flame .Agni is

referred in the Vedas as the puro=hit who conducts the sacrifice meaning that all

the other gods awaken and arise to its original source by the kindling of the

divine flame in man. He is the Puro=hita or promoter of all the hitas or likes.

“Indra and Vayu awakens in consciousness (cheto=tah) to the flowing of the

Soma-wine; that is to say’ the mind-power and life-power working together in

human mentality are to awaken to the inflowing of this Ananda, this Amrita, this

delight and immortality from above”.29

When the Divine fire is lighted and the ghee of love and comprehension

(Varuna and Mitra) is poured in to it, Indra the divine mind wakes up from his

slumber, mounts on shining horses and gallops forward crossing the valleys and

ridges of diversities and differences, his path illuminated by the hound of

intuition and regains his lost kingdom, the kingdom of unity. Surya, Pooshan, or

39

Savitr is the life principle of the world .He is the one who conceals the truth of

divine oneness and in its place projects the whole realm of manifestation. He

hides the divine cows in the caves, says the Ve=da. The divine herds are only

satya and dharma and not the ordinary material kine as interpreted by some

European Indologists. The idea regarding the regaining of the lost vision of truth,

the Unity as envisioned by the Vedic seers is thus well brought out by the Vedic

literature as follows:

Hiran/mayena pa=tre`n/a satyasya=pihitam mukham

tattvam pu=sha=nnapa=vrunn/u satya dharma=ya dhrist/aye` 30

The human individual is an organized unit of existence which reflects the

constitution of the universe .The same order and arrangement behind the

existence of the universe is found in the individual being also. Man is a part of

the world which is within him. The physical body of man resides in his mind

which in turn resides in the buddh/i. Buddh/i is shed off when consciousness

(infinite) arises. When Atman which includes within itself the physical and

mental planes dawns, the fruit of the sacrifice is got, the lost herds are regained,

and there comes the perfect contentment and serenity arising from the vision of

unity. The all pervading nature of the ultimate is clearly exposed in the following

Vedic hymn:

The Divinity is the heaven, the Divinity is the mid-

region; the Divinity is the Mother, the Father, the

Son; The-Divinity is All Deities, the Divinity is the

five-classed men, the Divinity is all that is born and

will be born.31

The same elements that make up the physical body of man make up the

universe too. The Gita says that the mind is more advanced than the sense

organs, the intellect is more advanced than the mind and the soul or atman is the

40

most advanced and purest of all. The Vedas have revealed to us through many

symbolic, obscure and highly mystical poems that Spirit is the crown of human

existence. Matter is the stuff on which the Spirit works and ascension to the level

of pure spirit is not impossibility. The Vedic seers have reached it and

communicated their experience of that highest knowledge using poetic imageries

which alone they knew would convey the wordless, the invisible and the

intangible. Hence the seemingly obscure and inconsistent expressions to the

ordinary readers of the Vedas. And it calls for a highly creative, intuitive and

coherent mind to find oneself completely in perfect union with the entirety. The

r/shis of the Vedas were drusht/a or seers with so completely coherent minds that

they could apprehend the knowledge revealed to them. They had also shown the

way to the attainment of this coherence called Sama=dh/i or chitta e`ka=kgrata

wherein the vision of unity is attained. The seeker, the sought and the process of

seeking merge together into an unbearably ecstatic unity. With the three petals or

triput/i of dh/ya=ta (seeker), dh/ye`ya (the sought) and dh/ya=na (process of seeking or

meditation) withering, the light of the divine, the true ushas emerges. It is the

dawn of true enlightenment, the height of creative unity.

Not only the Vedas but their allied literatures as well bristle with stories,

apothegms and discourses regarding the idea of unity. Ithihasas and the puranas

characteristically apply the Vedic visions in real life with themselves turning

completely spiritualistic, the Bhagavad Gi+ta of the Maha=ba=ratha, many portions

of Ra=ma=yan/a like Lakshman/o=pade`s`a, Ta=ro=pade`s`a etc and the innumerable

contexts in the Bha=gavata pura=n/a, and Ma=rka=nd/e`ya pura=n/a being the examples

par excellence.

This idea of unity was however not merely a celestial one with no material

application. The seer who got himself in unity with the supreme knowledge had

all the knowledge well within his vision though this constituted only a minute

41

part of his total knowledge called Brahmavidya. In fact what is at present called

the Hindu literature abounds in many a knowledge system including the material

knowledge called bhu=tavidya (knowledge or vidya regarding bhu=ta or matter).

The samhitas and the brahmanas teach the para vidya or the knowledge of the

empirical science in a highly advanced manner. India scaled unimaginable

heights in innumerable faculties of knowledge like astronomy, arithmetic,

medical science, martial arts and what not. The thoughts India’s seers theorized

on the most modern findings and concepts of science like the unified fields,

coherence and de-coherence, uncertainties, singularity, the big bang, light-years,

the time dilation etc, ideas the modern science took many more millennia to

come across. Suffice it to say, she stood atop the knowledge world.

But these systems of knowledge, the seers attained not through the modern

experimental methods or laboratorial apparatus. It was to them a part of their

holistic knowledge they attained by becoming one with the Ultimate knowledge.

It was the knowledge they attained in unity with the supreme knowledge. From

the knowledge of the supreme, all knowledge source off. Hence the Indian

apothegm yat jn#a=na=t sarvavijn#a=nam.

42

END NOTES 1. Sri. Aurobindo, Secret of the Veda, p.3

2. Gi+ta, II. 28.

3. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Pondicherry, 1982, p. 78.

4. Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo Library Centenary Edition, Vol – 15, p. 6.

5. Purusha su=kta. 2.

6. Ibid. 5.

7. R/k V. X, 129.

8. Ibid.

9. Sri. Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, p.8

10. P. B. Shelley, To a Skylark and Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.

11. Purusha su=kta. 13.

12. Gi+ta, VII. 16.

13. Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle – The Ideal of Human Unity – War and

Self-Determination, p. 6.

14. Sun is the god of light who instills life into everything including the

Brahma=n/d/a which lies inert in its potential state (Mrutam ache`tanam

brahma=n/d/am ji+vayate`ti ma=rta=n/d/ah/), the god of the supreme truth who comes

down and is born to save all the fallen ones from the grip of mortality. See Sri

Aurobindo’s preface to his Savitri.

15. R/k V. VIII. 8, 49

16. R/k V. II. 3, 22

17. R/k V. 111.58.2

18. R/k. I. 6, 16.

19. R/k.V.III. 62, 10.

20. Is`a=va=syo=panishad, 16.

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21. R/k V,25;8.

22. R/kV. V11.32-36.

23. Vidyaniwas Misra (Ed.), The Perceptions of The Vedas, p. 8.

24. so=ma is resultant of the syllables sa and uma combined. sa means ‘with’ i.e.,

with uma which is representative of the s`akti or the ultimate energy. Here the

Vedic Seer envisions the union of the Rudra with uma and the resultant

enjoyment of the so=ma=mruta or the nectar of immortality. So=ma was thus the

symbol of bliss born of perfect union. Enjoyment of the so=ma was thus the aim

and end of all sacrifices.

25. Is`a=va=syo=panishad, 7.

26. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, p. 27.

27. R/kV. III. 61.2.

28. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Vedas, p. 429.

29. Ibid, p. 68.

30. Is`a=va=syo=panishad, 15.

31. R/k V.I. 89.