The Essence of a Yogi

Offering of Works

Extract from Shri Kapli's foreword to Siddanjana - Commentary on Rig Veda

.. Nearly ten years ago some friends here asked me to give word-for-word meaning in simple Sanskrit for Rig Veda hymns so that they could be rendered easily in Hindi afterwards. I thought it could be done, but thought also that it would not be acceptable to scholars in the absence of necessary explanations, grammatical notes, justification for departure where necessary from old commentaries or modern opinion. So I placed the matter before Sri Aurobindo with my submission that I would undertake the task only if he would be pleased to go through what I write. This he graciously agreed to do and added that I could write the commentary keeping close to his line of interpretation and using the clues he has provided to unveil the symbolic imagery for arriving at the inner meaning that is the secret of the Veda.

With his blessings, then, I started the work. As it was proceeding, I placed it before him in convenient parts for perusal at his pleasure ...

A Note

What Sri Aurobindo gave to the world was only the intuitive key to unlock the secrets of the Vedas. To collect the immense treasures that lay therein was the task of someone who knows Sanskrit thoroughly well and who had gone through the traditional method of learning. Sastriar was the God-sent person most fitted for the job! Sanskrit was his forte and traditional learning was running through his veins from the days of his ancestors.

"Sri Aurobindo marks out a fresh line of approach to the study of the Vedic hymns. Under uncommon circumstances he made his entry into the world of Vedic wisdom, perceived with the discerning eye of light the revealing images of the Vedic Gods and Goddesses, chanced upon the hidden secrets of human speech as a living force and organic growth with the people of that original Epoch of the Veda, opened the doors behind which lay open the covert meanings of the Mantras of the Rik Samhita." - Shri Kapali in Lights on the Upanishads.

Two decades of intensive Sadhana at the feet of the Mother and the keen and the active interest taken by Sri Aurobindo himself led Kapali to venture on the most stupendous work of his literary career - Siddhanjana...in his sixtieth year.

Sri Aurobindo asked Sastriar to write the commentary keeping close to his line of interpretation and using the clues he has provided to unveil the symbolic imagery for arriving at the inner meaning that is the secret of the Veda.

Siddhanjana is the magnum opus of T. V. Kapali Sastry. His life as well as his Sadhana found culmination in this monumental work.

Source: Verstalie Genius > Pages 70,73