Commentary on the Rig Veda

NOTES

(Page 83) 1. The utterance of victory, jayavāda, in the first verse extends in its full import to or draws to itself Salutation, namaskāra, to the Deity who is the Self of all souls. This kind of drawing to itself another meaning is called ākṣepa.

“The worlds that have come to light means the worlds that are manifested. The idea is that the worlds that are created are all manifestations only and they do not come to light from nothing. Thus the Godhead is proclaimed to be the Lord of all creation, the sole Self of all souls and as such He is saluted in the beginning of the work.

Note — paraḥ is used to denote that He transcends the Creation; he is beyond and above, yet retains relation of the creator and the created

(Page 83) 2. He who is the Trancendent mentioned in the first verse is saluted here as the Supreme Person in his creative poise which is expressly stated here, though implied in the substance of the first verse. As the Creator he assumes the form of the primordial Sound, nāda, the Creative Logos. The śabda is his body; his Life-breath is Tapas which is Consciousness as Force. To show that the tapas (as explained) is inherent in him an anthropomorphic figure is pressed into service on the strength of scriptural authority that he exhales and the worlds are created. Creation is the natural, effortless outcome of that poise of the Lord, prabhu.

Uttama-sabda-artha is the adjective of pumān. The very meaning of the word uttama is He, Supreme Person. In Sanskrit the first person ’I’ is called uttama purușa as against madhyama and prathama which are equivalent to the second and the third persons respectively. The uttama puruşa, the ’I’ is what it is, lives in fact, because of some stable support from within the core of this support being the Person within, the Supreme seated in the heart of all beings, the deeper truth of the individual whose figure on the surface is the ego that is at play in the mind, life and body.

(Page 83) 3. The Lord is lauded in his creative poise of Extension, as the paramam vyoma. It is this sublime ākāśa, the subtle etherial Extension spread over and beyond the Creation, the universe, that the ancient Rishis regarded with esteem as the Home of the Mantras that were revealed to them. From this level of the heights of Being Creation also proceeds. Thus the worlds and the word-rhythms -the Mantras — rise from the same source, the Supernal Ether.

Creation is purposive, sārthakam. It has been created deliberately by parameșțhin (i.e. hiranyagarbha) which term means he who stands, tişthati, with his feet firm in the Supreme above, parame.

Note that the Rig Vedic hymn X. 129, has bearing on the verse here. Parāmeşthin is at once the seer of the hymn and Hiranya garbha. Note also that visąsți. release, is the word used by the Rig Vedic seer to denote creation. It also implies that Creation is under the con.rol of the Over-seer. adhyakşa, in whom the Cause, material and efficient, preexists.

(Page 83) 4. Arauinda-padam mahaḥ: pada means abode as well as the foot. In the latter sense salutation is obviously meant. In the former sense the idea is that the splendour of great parts is embodied in the personality of this seer of the Vedic Secret. This Splendour has great parts i.e. many aspects suggesting the multiple personality of the seer whose field of action and thought embraces many spheres. Mahas is significantly used. It is the name of the fourth vyāhrti explained in the book on Page 112 and corresponds to the Supermind of Sri Aurobindo.

Abodhaiḥ karmabandhanaiḥ: bonds of ritual without understanding. Rituals become meaningless when separated from the knowledge of which they are supposed to be outward acts, spontaneous expressions. On this subject of Rituals performed with faith and knowledge, see further Note at the end of the Notes.

(Page 83) 5. Sānga Veda, Veda with limbs. There are six limbs, subsidiary works, a study of which is indispensable for a complete study of the Vedas. They are (1) Sikṣā, the science and art of correct articulation and pronunciation of letters and words with accents. (2) Vyākaraņa, grammar. (3) Chandas, prosody dealing with metres. (4) Nirukia, etymological derivation of Vedic words. (5) Jyotişa, astronomy, for the regulation of sacrificial rituals according to the Vedic calendars preserved in the memory of the ancient Vedists. (6) Kalpa, process and rules for ceremonial Vedic rites.

Note - it is conceded that the Puranas enlarged upon and expounded the truths embedded in the Vedas, though only in parts. Mostly the legends have served to encrust the core of the truth beyond recognition. "The soul is lost to sight in the opulence of the colours and the heavy folds of the costumes."

(Page 83) 6. According to some authorities, the origins of social customs are to be traced to the Veda. The implication is that these should remain unchanged for all time since the Vedas are eternal.

(Page 83) 7. The Wise know (they not merely say) the Vedas to be the repository of Divine Knowledge which is Illumination obtained through faculties of a higher order, Inspiration, Intuition; besides they are records of Tapas and faith on the part of the seekers to reach the Divine. ālavāla, feeder basin: significantly used, for in such a trench the sustaining waters do not flow; it remains stagnant. This is amply borne out by history.

(Page 83) 8. Purva Tantra is another name for Purva Mimamsa while the Vedanta is called the Uttara Mimamsa. The two Mimamsas are two separate Shastras according to Acharya Shankara, while others hold that they are the former and latter parts of one Shastra.

(Page 84) 9. It is held that the Mantras are invariably associated with the Rituals because they are in existence for no other purpose. They are for prayoga, application, hence in practice they are assigned a position of subservience to Karma, ritual.

(Page 84) 10. The efficient use of the Mantras for purposes other than the ritual is admitted on all hands even by the votaries of Rituals e.g. the Rig Vidhāna of Shaunaka.

(Page 84) 11. For the first time only in the Sutra literature one finds it solemnly stated that the name Veda is given to Mantra and, Brahamana.

(Page 84) 12. There have been undoubtedly many commentaries whose names alone are known to us; their works are nowhere available now. The commentaries of some of them are found only in parts. The rest are either lost or not written at all. Some modern scholars mention the names of about 27 Bhashyakaras for all the Vedas of which 16 names are those of the commentators on the Rig Veda and the 17th is Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

(Page 84) 13. Uvvata is said to have commented on the Rig Veda, his Bhashya on the Shukla Yajur Veda is available in print, as is that of Mahidhara. Skandaswami and Venkata Madhava — their commentaries on the Rig Veda are being brought out in Madras and Trivandrum. There is another complete commentary of Narayana on the Rig Veda but not yet available in print.

(Page 84) 14. “The uncritical learning" does not apply to the whole class of Pundits, for in modern times, the Pundit does not escape the influence of critical scholarship; besides, there are Pundits nowadays whose innate tendency emboldens them to look ahead and freely and overlook conservatism for its own sake.

(Page 84) 15. “Came upon new path quite unexpectedly”. A passage from the Arya (Vol. I, P. 277) of Sri Aurobindo explains in clear terms how he came upon the Veda. Let him speak: “My first contact with Vedic thought came indirectly while pursuing certain lines of self-development in the way of Indian Yoga, which, without my knowing it, were spontaneously converging towards the ancient and now unfrequented paths followed by our forefathers. At this time there began to arise in my mind an arrangement of symbolic names attached to certain psychological experiences which had begun to regularise themselves; and among them there came the figures of three female energies, Ila, Saraswati, Sarama, representing severally three out of the four faculties of the intuitive reason, revelation, inspiration and intuition. Two of these names were not well known to me as names of Vedic goddesses, but were connected rather with the current Hindu religion or with old Puranic legend, Saraswati, goddess of learning and Ila, mother of the Lunar dynasty. But Sarama was familiar enough. I was unable, however, to establish any connection between the figure that rose in my mind and the Vedic hound of heaven, who was associated in my memory with the Argive Helen and represented only an image of the physical Dawn entering in its pursuit of the vanished herds of Light into the cave of the Powers of darkness. When once the clue is found, the clue of the physical Light imaging the subjective, it is easy to see that the hound of heaven may be the intuition entering into the dark caverns of the subconscious mind to prepare the delivery and outflashing of the bright illuminations of knowledge which have there been imprisoned. But the clue was wanting and I was obliged to suppose an identity of name without any identity of the symbol.”

(Page 86) 16. In the body of the work i.e. the Bhūmikā, texts from works mentioned are quoted to show that they do proclaim that there is Secret in the Veda.

(Page 87) 17. Bhūmikā is the term used here to denote plane. The conception of Plane looks on the face of it modern. But in fact the seers of the Rig Veda used the figure of plateaus as in “They climbed from plateau to plateau” or from "peak to peak”, sānoḥ sānum āruhat. In modern language we use the term plane to show the levels of Being and states of consciousness with its grades, gross, subtle etc. The plane conception is absolutely necessary to grasp the method and teachings of the Vedic Mystics.

(Page 89) 18. Since we are dealing with ideas that are afloat in the atmosphere of educated India’s leaning towards conjectures of modern scholars mistaking them for gospel truth, the name of the Indian is not mentioned; it is unnecessary for our purpose.

(Page 90) 19. "To meet the champion wrestler” may imply that he is the foremost among the scholars — which is not the case. He represents most effectively the opposition and raises all possible objections in a spirit of keen aralytical dissection. His critical acumen exhausts the possible opposition in a brief compass. It is for this reason he is chosen by us as representing the stumbling block in the way of Mystic Interpretation being accepted by thinking minds.

(Page 92) 20. Note - Knowledge, Power, Wealth, Service are the four factors that have each in its turn predominantly influenced the human aggregate everywhere in a descending order from a historical point of view. The last, represented by the proletariate is now having its turn.

(Page 99) 21. Sthāli-pulaka Nyāya: one comes to the conclusion that the whole quantity of rice in the pot is well cooked on finding a single grain of rice well cooked. Similarly one example is given to show that the Vedic poets were the human authors of the revealed poetry of inspiration that is the mantra.

(Page 101) 22. Hare’s horn, it is true, has its parallel in the "Mare’s nest". But there is difference here; for the former is absolutely non-existent, while in the latter there is the element of illusion, as it is a discovery which turns out to be a hoax. So “Mare’s nest” corresponds to the ’waters in the mirage’, mrgatışņā-jalam.

(Page 102) 23. Bhagiratha’s effort corresponds to Herculean labour. By severe austerities Bhagiratha achieved the almost impossible task of bringing down Ganga from the high regions of the heavenly sky and with its waters washed the ashes of his forefathers, Sagara etc. By his tremendous effort Hercules also brought the river Alpheus to cleanse the Augean stables.

(Page 106) 24. Sixfold change. According to ancient teacher Vārsyāyaņi mentioned by Yaska, every creature undergoes a sixfold change called sadbhāvavikara. They are (1) jāyate, is born, (2) asti, is (3) vardhate, grows (4) vipariņamate, ripens (for the worse), (5) apak-șiyate, decays, (6) vinaśyate, perishes. But these six stages are not in current usage now and are included in the broad classification of creation, preservation and destruction.

(Page 107) 25. Kavya-prākā ša, the standard work on Rhetoric, states that the expressive power of a word which may have many significations is restricted by certain factors such as (1) Conjunction i.e. presence of contact, samyoga, (2) Disjunction i.e. absence of contact, viprayoga, (3) Constant association, sāhacarya and Contradiction, virodhitā, (4) Purpose, artha, (5) Context, prakaraņa, (6) Specific sign, linga, (7) Proximity, sannidhi, (8) Power to produce an effect, sāmarthyam, (9) Propriety, auciti, (10) Place, deśa, (11) Time, kāla, (12) Gender, vyakti and (13) Accent, svara.

(Page 125) 26. Codanā : definition of Dharma is given in the second aphorism of Jaimini stating: “Injunction is the indicatory sign of, Dharma". This is a literal rendering of the Sanskrit codanālakšano dharmaḥ. The exegetic passages of Shabara, Kumarila and others on the Sutra quoted above mean in effect that the Vedic injunction is the only reliable means of knowing Dharma which, as has been stated in the text of the Bhumika, has its root in the Veda, Vedo’-khilo dharmamūlam.

(Page 131) 27. All this is stated to lay stress on the peculiar character of the Mantra, the revelatory origin of the word-rhythm proceeding from the Infinite and caught by the disciplined audition of the Rishi. It is not that there is no poetical charm or other qualities that we associate with Poetry. On the other hand there is sublime poetry in the Rig Veda — sublime even when judged from modern standards. What is true of poetry in a general way is pre-eminently true in the case of Mantra poetry. It must be borne in mind that to know the thought-content of a poem is not the same as to allow the soul and substance of poetry to invade and possess the sense and feeling and thought in the core of one’s being in communion with the spirit of Poetry. Of the untranslatable elements in poetry, especially in the Mantra poetry, the word-rhythm and the word-order stand prominently as the two wings of the soaring soul of poetic sound. Nevertheless, to the composer of the Vedic hymn it was only a help, a means for his progress and a help for others. The act of expression was just a means, not an aim. That is why pursuit of aesthetic grace or beauty or richness does not act as an incentive to the Rishi for varying the consecrated form which was an accepted principle among the Mystics of the Rig Veda. On this point Sri Aurobindo’s view is noteworthy. He explains the apparent monotony in many places which even lesser minds could easily vary or break by simple or artful devices or common poetical conceits. "Only out of the sameness of experience and out of the impersonality of knowledge, there arise a fixed body of conceptions constantly repeated and a fixed symbolic language which was the inevitable form of these conceptions... We have at any rate the same notions repeated from hymn to hymn with the same constant terms and figures and frequently in the same phrases with an entire indifference to search for poetical originality or any demand for novelty of thought and freshness of language. ..... The mystic poets do not vary the consecrated form which has become for them a sort of divine algebra transmitting the eternal formulae of the knowledge to the continuous succession of initiates. “The hymns possess indeed a finished metrical form, a constant subtlety and skill in their technique, great variations of style and poetical personality – they are not the work of rude, barbarous and primitive craftsmen. ..... They differ in temperament and personality; some are inclined to a more rich, subtle and profound use of Vedic symbolism; others give voice to their spiritual experience in a barer and simpler dictum...’.... There are risings and fallings in the same hymn. . . . . . Some hymns are plain and almost modern in their language; others baffile us at first by their semblance of antique obscurity. But these differences take nothing from the unity of spiritual experience. In the deep and mystic style of Dirgha-tamas as in the melodious lucidity of Medhatithi, in the puissant and energetic hyms of Viswamitra as in Vasishtha’s even harmonies we have the same firm foundation of knowledge and the same scrupulous adherence to the sacred conventions of the Initiates." (Sri Aurobindo)

(Page 133) 28. The apparent contradiction between the two statements that the Vedas are eternal and that the Mantras are composed by Rishis is explained in the text. But the real character of the Mantra is explained in the Note No. 27 above.

(Page 143) 29. As regards the images and symbols the main thing to be noted is that there is a world of symbols that are perceived when the vision centre opens upon them. These symbols may be certain figures, images, colours etc., each representing a truth of that plane communicated to the seer of the vision. These symbols in fact are vehicles of expression like language, natural to that world.

(Page 147) 30. In the post-Vedic age the Rishis were classified into several types; they are generally three, and often seven viz. Devarshi, Brahmarshi, Rajarshi, Paramarshi, Srutarshi and Kandarshi. They denote the rank or the class of Rishis according to the real character of their Rishihood. Srutarși is a Rishi of lesser rank who becomes a Rishi after hearing the Veda (both word and meaning) from a Rishi who was a seer. Yaska is called a śrutarși by his commentator. But it is doubtful if he received initiation from a Rishi who was a seer. In any case he is generally accepted as a śrutarși by tradition.

(Page 151) 31. The Rik referred to by Yaska is the first verse of the 29th hymn in the last Book. But Sayana in his commentary while mentioning Yaska’s objection to the Pada Patha ignores it in his exposition of the verse.

(Page 159) 32. Rājākuvalaya-ullāsi: here there is double entendre (parono-masia). When kuvalaya means waterlily or blue lotus, instantly that rājā means moon arises in the mind of one who has a sound knowledge of Sanskrit. When it means the earth, naturally rājā means king. This will be clear to a learned mind.

(Page 159 33. Vịtti is the power of the word to express an idea. It is of three kinds according to Rhetoricians viz. (1) abhidhā or mukhyā vrtti, the primary or original meaning that directly refers to the object, (2) laksana, indirect meaning that is indicated and (3) vyañjanā vrtti meaning conveyed by suggestion, dhvani. According to Madhvacharya the supremely primary meaning of the Name of a God in the Veda is the supreme Being Vishnu; hence he calls it parama-mukhyavrtti.

(Page 187) 34. The Rishis considered the Mantras as not merely a mask in the exoteric sense, but regarded them as words of power, powerful even for external things. So in the Vedic times the priest who was also the teacher and a seer knew the power and sense of the sacred words that were repeated and conducted the service effectively. Later, the function of the priest became a routine matter, even purohits of repute performed the rites with a very imperfect knowledge; The old balance between the inner knowledge and the outer ritual — the synthesis — was disturbed. The material aspect of the Vedic worship grew like a thick crust over the inner knowledge. The power began to disappear out of the symbolic ritual. The light departed and only a lifeless outward form with a belief in its mysterious efficacy to support it remained. Therefore of rituals are performed with a strong faith in the original intention and a knowledge of the external rite as a ceremonial and active expression of the inner truth, they are powerful and effective. That is why the Gita advises abstinence from disturbing the faith in outward rites, karma, and also encourages the performance of rites, karma in accordance with Shastraic injunction as a discipline and corrective to the ego-fed freelance.