Part 1 is a summary of the Bhumika. Part 2 is based on the commentary on the Rik-Samhita along the lines of Sri Aurobindo's symbolic interpretation of the Riks.
On Veda
Part 1 is a summarised version of 'Rig Bhashya Bhumika', Introduction to the Commentary on the Rik-Samhita. Part 2 is a sequel and contains 3 artciles based on Siddhānjana, the Commentary on the Rik-Samhita.
THEME/S
As we follow in the footsteps of the Master in our studies of the hymns of the Rig Veda, we get more and more convinced not merely of the straightforwardness of the approach that leads us to discover the inner and true sense of the Riks, but of another fact. It is the conviction growing upon us that this is the only true way, that the inner meaning is the substance which is the trcasure of spiritual wisdom and Knowledge of the Gods and the Godhead. It is not that there is nothing else, any more or less than this, it may contain within it concealed other knowledge that pertains to the domain of many branches of Science. Therc may be and is room for other line or lines of approach affording fields of thought, for those interested in Astronomy, Geology, Biology or Ayurveda. But the one inner meaning that runs consistently through the whole body of the hymnal text is the main issue of the Veda and that is the spiritual and occult knowledge and Divine Wisdom which certainly justifies the hoary tradition of India among all religions and sects and saints that the Veda is Revelation and Divine Scripture. It may throw light on other objects of Knowledge, but they are side-issues, not the main spirit and substance which is knowledge of truths about the Godhead and the Gods who are Powers and Personalities of the Godhead and about their status and manifestation in the Cosmos as well as in man.
Apart from this sacred tradition which is based upon the secret and inner sense of the Veda, there runs a parallel tradition that the Veda is a book of Works, karma kāņda, rituals and sacrifice, and this is true in the external and gross sense, so ably and with great industry and diligence worked out and brought forth in the great commentary of Sayana. Leaving aside the question of discrepancies and quite often the incongruous and poverty-stricken thought that run through this commentary on a large body of the hymns — and after all this is a matter of detail — Sayana’s work is consistent in giving us the external and ritualistic meaning of the hymns. And this is a great asset for us, for those who attempt to get into the inner secret through the outer garb that is provided in this monumental work of extraordinary grossness and crudities often bordering on incoherences; it provokes our thought and invites our attention to seek for the secret behind the apparent. But though Sayana gives us the outer and apparent meanings of Riks, though the Gods are treated as Nature-powers, though very often his interpretation with the occasional help of Yaska lends support to the Naturalistic interpretation of modern scholarship he does not reject, as Sri Aurobindo points out, the spiritual authority of the Veda or "deny that there is a higher truth concealed in the Riks.” Nor does he affirm that the Vedic hymns are sacrificial compositions of priests, even though his interpretation constitutes a colossal support for ritualism.
But it may be asked: is it a baseless assumption on the part of scholars that the hymns are compositions of the priests for use in the sacrifices? Such a doubt naturally arises in the absence of a correct understanding of the position of the priest in the Vedic society, as well as the real character of the hymns used and chanted in the public sacrifices. For it is the seer, Rishi, who was the priest officiating at the ceremonies and the Riks were used for the rituals. The seers were certainly singers and their chants were sung at public sacrifices referring "constantly to the customary ritual and seem to call for the outward object of these ceremonies, wealth, prosperity, victory over enemies." While the Riks in their inner sense are profoundly spiritual and the exoteric sense was a mask which alone was perceptible to the outward mind, it was not and need not be merely a mask. Again as the Master points out, they were " words of power, powerful not only for internal but external things." The ancient mystics were concerned first and foremost with things of the Spirit, but they were also possessed of Knowledge of occult truths and "believed that by inner means outer as well as inner results could be produced, that thought and words could be so used as to bring about realisations of every kind, both the human and the divine” daivam mánuşam.
But a question may arise. How can we say that the seer of profound spiritual knowledge was also the priest for public worship? Of course in the Puranic legends many Rishis are mentioned as priests, purohits, and some of them are Rig Vedic names of renown, Vasishtha for example. Is it safe to build and base such a theory on later stories? This difficulty vanishes, once we study the hymns closely, note the tradition in regard to their outer applications also and take the help of the Brahmanas in the context in spite of their obscure symbolism. When we scrutinise, we find not only that the Rishi officiated as the Purohit at the Yajna, but also that the Riks he used are deliberately ritualistic to outward appearance mentioning the implements, external objects, and other things used in the sacrifice, as symbols covering an inner secret known to the Rishi and the initiates. I propose to illustrate this point by citing the example of a well-known Seer who consented to officiate at a Soma sacrifice without the customary goat-immolation. This ritual is entitled anjah-sava. which, Sayana explains, means a rapid direct straight-way offering of libation without the admixture of the sacrificial animal, anjasā rjunā márgena isți-pașu sānkaryam antarena. The seer-priest is the renowned Shunah-shepa and the hymn for the Anjah-sava is the fifth of the seven Hymns ascribed to him in the First Mandala of the Rik Samhita. It is 1.28, containing nine Riks in which external things like the pressing stones for the extraction of the Soma juice, the platters to receive the juice, the pestle and the mortar, the wooden vessel and other outer things are so plainly mentioned that on the face of it one can conclude that it is a sacrificial composition. When we consider the ideas expressly stated, it is rather childish, devoid of any deep thought, or significance. But when we look deeper into it and ponder over the terms used and the application of the whole hymn in the ritual as explained in the Brahmanas and also take into account the interesting explanation given by the Brahmanas for certain terms used according to themselves as symbolism, we find ourselves no longer studying the babblings of primitive people deceiving themselves and deceived by an avaricious and cunning priestcraft, but enter into the mysteries of the profound Vedic Yoga of which the seer in question was a notable votary and indeed he embodies one of the types of spiritual victories recorded in the Rig Veda that crowned the toil and ascension of the Aryan soul.
Sayana in his commentary on the 28th hymn of the First Mandala refers to Anjah-Sava as the title of the rapid rite of Soma libation seen by the Rishi Shunahshepa in response to the request of other sages and priests that the former must officiate on that day, the day of sacramental bath that is the close of the ceremony. Here mention is made of Aitareya Brahmana 33-5 which narrates the story in brief. The point to be noted in this connection is this that Shunahshepa was unanimously chosen to officiate because he was recognised as one who was the recipient of the grace of the Gods, devata-anugraha-sampanna, whose favours helped him to get released from the bonds to which reference for the first time is made in 1.24.
And these bonds are not fastenings with ropes on three parts of the body — the head and the waist and the feet—in spite of the later stories. There is nothing in the 24th hymn, in the text itself to support the extraordinarily gross meaning read into the hymn to the effect that he was sold to be immolated in a sacrifice. The legend started slowly with the Aitareya Brahmana in a moderate form, but assumed huge proportions in the Puranas. But a close reading of the hymn itself shows beyond a shadow of doubt that these fastenings refer to the upper, the lower and the middle regions; uttama, adhama, madhyama are the words used in the Rik. And certainly they point to the parts of the being; the upper is the knowledge part represented by the mind and spirit, the lower the material basis, the physical, while the middle refers to the link between Matter and mind, the vital nexus the life-principle. The profound sense of the whole hymn reveals the spiritual significance of every line and word in the Riks of that entire hymn. It is not our purpose here to take up the question of Shunahshepa and explain the meaning of the hymn around which so much crust has collected. That has been done elsewhere. It is sufficient to note here that such was the seer whom the priests honoured to officiate at the ceremony.
The Rishi readily consented to conduct the rite and saw, "dadarsha”, the method of a rapid rite for the straightway offering of the Soma libation. And the 28th hymn of nine Riks is used for the ritual. We shall first give a close rendering of the Riks which are apparently meant for the rite and make mention of the materials connected with the ceremony and then show how these very things are used as symbols for the inner sacrifice and signify subtle and deep truths pertaining to the Vedic Yoga. And in unveiling the symbols we shall as a matter of course take into account ancient authorities who looked upon these materials as symbols, though not exactly in the way we do, but still were familiar with a general knowledge of symbolism.
Of the nine Riks, in the first four Indra is invoked to come down and drink the Soma; the next four relate to the extraction of the Soma juice and the part of the pestle and mortar, while the last refers to the wooden vessel in which the Soma juice is poured and preserved and the cow-hide in which the dregs are kept.
Here is the English rendering of the hymn, verse by verse.
Note. Yatra "where” means "in the ritual”, in this action; it can be applied to the outer rite as well as the inner Yaga. Sayana takes the preposition ava in the second half to mean avagatya, recognise. This is unwarranted even for the exoteric meaning. The sense of the Rik is this: Indra is above, he is called upon to come down, ava, to drink jalgulaḥ the drippings of the Soma juice from the mortar. In the ritualistic interpretation, grārā, stone is taken to be the pestle. Now there is a discrepancy. It is clearly the pressing stone and not pestle. The scholiast calls it pestle because there is the mortar, ulūkhala in the second line. Pestle and mortar are of wood and used in the Vedic rites to separate the chaff from the grain, they are not used to extract the Soma juice. Gråvá is stone used to crush the Soma creeper, so that it becomes soft and pressed, yields the juice which is received in the platters. Here in the very first Rik of the hymn the seer significantly refers to the "stone above” urdhva; he does not say it is raised, though for the external rite it can be so interpreted. This stone which is above is Indra’s weapon, the vajra. Indra is above, his weapon is above; by the blow dealt by the vajra even as Vritra, the darkened ’cloud of adverse forces and ignorance and inertia vanishes, so also the hard matter of body loses its hardness, becomes plastic, free from tamas, inertia and its brood of adverse conditions and forces that oppose the release of Rasa, the delight of all experiences to be offered to the Gods, the Cosmic powers of the Godhead. Here the mortar is the material body, and it must be noted that earth and every product of it such as the tree, and anything made of wood is symbolic of the physical body and even life and mind as products of the body are very often treated symbolically as of earth and earthern material; of this again later on. This then is the gist of the first Rik. Here this body symbolised by the mortar, "ulukhala ”, has yielded the Soma, the rasa, its sap, the essence and essential delight for the acceptance of Indra, the Divine mind, the God of the luminous mind, the higher consciousness in the pure mind of heaven, the ruler of this triple world of Matter, Life and Mind. The Rishi addresses Indra invoking his presence to come down and drink the Rasa whose extraction was possible because of the benign blows of the grava, the Vajra weapon of Indra himself. Note that this stone is the Vajra weapon, not the gross thunderbolt which is meaningless in the inner sacrifice, but the Vak, the Word wide-based in the Vast above, ürdhva-budhna, prthu-budhna, as can be gathered from repeated reference to it as such in many lines of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and so explained in the Brahmanas in their moods of symbolic interpretation of the Vedic rituals and Vedic mantras. This Vak, the Word or speech whose source is the Vast above is really that of the luminous mind of heaven, of the higher consciousness and when it functions, its vibrations rush forth and blow off the din and dust of the lower triple body of mind, life and matter, it illumines the mind, energises the life-force, drives out the inertia from the physical body and softens it so that it releases the rasa of the all experiences it earned through the life and heart and mind. This, then, is the real character and function of the gräva that it is the Word of power issuing forth from the higher consciousness which is the domain of Indra, pregnant with the light of knowledge, but dynamic in its vibrant movement that renoves all kinds of coverings and effects with the blow it deals out to the being of the worshipper, yajamāna, the release of the essence of all delight lying latent and hidden in the vessel, ādhara, of the human being which is indicated by the symbol of the wooden mortar, ulūkhala.
Now in the external rite of Soma extraction pressing stones are used to crush the creeper, squeeze and make it soft and release the sap. This extraction is called abhishava. But the juice is received in two platters, called " adhi-savaņa phalaka". They are two shallow dishes, one to receive and and the other to cover. They are broad and likened to broad hips to denote that they are broad and always two, never one without the other.
In the inner sacrifice, these two platters are symbols of Earth and Heaven according to Brahmanic symbology in which case they are the lower physical consciousness and the higher consciousness of the luminous mind. But we do not follow the Brahmanas in unveiling the symbols as they are very often at variance with the many alternatives they themselves suggest or with other Brahmanic interpretations with the result that they become obscure to us. But they shed light on the truth that the stone, platters, mortar, wooden cup or pot, camasa and kalaša are all symbolic and should not be taken in their literal sense as unthinking priestcraft would do. The two platters are the mind and life in the body which represent the principles of knowledge and activity. These two are together engaged in receiving the rasa yielded by the mortar of the material body and are conjointly there to receive and preserve the juice, the substantial element in all experience for offering to the Gods. In fact it is the twin aspect of knowledge and action, mind and life quite in accord and proper adjustment that makes it possible to receive and preserve the extracted rasa which is their common aim and true function. This is in brief the inner meaning of the second verse. It must be noted here that the implements used in the ritual are all mentioned here one by one, at the same time used as symbols which are avowedly said to be symbols, as has been pointed out, and not our invention or the result of ingenious speculation. Now let us pass on to the third Rik.
This is an interesting Rik. The woman goes out of and comes into the sacrificial hall. The woman is the sacrificer’s wife. This is Sayana’s explanation of the terms, nāri, apacyava and upacyava. The point to be noted here is that no Vedic rite could be performed by any one without a wife. The idea is that the woman, as the Shakti of man, shares the act and its fruit with him whose Shakti she is. I have given egress and ingress as the English equivalents of apacyava and upacyava; it is not quite accurate and may even mislead, but it has the advantage of leaning more towards the ritualistic interpretation which is best represented in Sayana’s commentary. There other commentators, for instance, Skandaswami, giving a very ludicrous and vulgar meaning which does not merit notice here. Some modern scholars think that it is rise and fall of the pestle that the woman, the sacrificer’s wife marks and learns. But there is no actual mention of pestle at all as has been shown already. In this verse also the words used are significant pointing definitely to the true and inner meaning.
As the action of the Vedic Yoga proceeds, the rasa of the whole being of the Yogin the sacrificer, Yajamana, is pressed out and received in the two platters of life and mind in the body and this was stated in the second verse. In the third it is stated that the Shakti of the Purusha, the sacrificer constantly watches and observes and learns the Yogic process in which the higher Force comes down into the being, upacyava, and the force from the being goes up or out, apacyava, making way for the entry of the higher force into the being. Nari is Nara-Shakti and Nara is either man or God in the Veda denoting one of strength. The power, the Conscious Power of the powerful Soul, nara, watches the yogic process of the force of getting in from above and rising up from below, and thus learns, siksate, the secret of the yogic action which is fulfilled in pressing out the juice, the delight of all experiences of the being to be offered to the Higher Powers of the Godhead, the Gods. Thus an intimate knowledge of the secret of the upward and downward movement of the Yoga-force becomes a natural possession under the control of the conscious power of the strong soul that has the strength to give its all to the Gods and receive in return what comes from the Godhead.
In the external rite of Soma extraction when the juice is pressed out, it is mixed with milk or curds or corn, yava. They are called the three infusions, gavā sira, dadhyasira and yavā sira respectively. When the Soma juice is to be mixed with this infusion, it is churned; the churning stick is moved by a rope placed round the handle and round a post planted in the ground as a pivot. When the ends of the rope are drawn backwards and forwards, it gives the stick a rotatory motion and the component parts are separated. Thus they tie the churning stick with cords for churning and steadying the vessel, just as with reins one restrains a horse.
In the inner sacrifice, from the play of the Yoga-force of knowledge and action through the concord of mind and life, the rasa, the flow of delight that is pressed out has to be retained in the body-vessel and not split; and for this purpose, the body must be made firm and strong and steady and this object is achieved by the spinal column, made steady charged with the vibrations of the higher consciousness brought by the favours and workings of the Higher Powers. Thus in the first four verses, the pressing out of Soma in the Yajamana’s being and the instruments used in the process are mentioned, and the Rishi calls upon Indra to come down and accept the offering of Soma that has been extracted with so much skill and toil and devotion.
The next four Riks are used in the act of straining the Soma juice received in the platters.
Here is a pronounced difficulty in the gross sense. Now, the mortar is addressed and called upon to give a loud sound like the drum of the conquerors. Mortar never makes noise without the rapid rise and fall of the pestle which is nowhere mentioned in the whole hymn though grāva in the first verse is pressed to yield that meaning in the ritualistic interpretation as it has to be somehow managed. Now in the inner interpretation, the idea is quite clear. Mortar is of course the physical being. In every house, in cvcry man, there is a mortar, there is a material body but every body does not shed the precious juice. But, the Rishi says, you are splendid and have given out the essence of all the experiences for offering even though you are jada matter, thick with inertia and darkness. You have trained yourself to respond to the touches and influence of the higher Powers that are invoked by the Yajamana and have yielded the rasa of your being. Therefore you can loudly proclaim your victory over the tamasic forces that oppose the release of the rasa. Hence like the drum of the conqueror you can proclaim; it is not every mortar, the material body of every onc, that is so successful as you.
Vanaspati, literally lord of the forest is used to indicate any tree or plant or part and product of the forest. Mortar being made of wood is addressed here Vanaspati. The mortar is called upon to press out the juice, and the wind blows fiercely, vivāli! How does the wind blowing fast or fiercely help the mortar to yield the juice? Sayana says the wind blows fast in front of the mortar because of the speed of the pestle’s constant blow! Where is the pestle in the Rik? Here again, the Rik is seemingly ritualistic, but really reveals secrets of the action of Yoga-force in the inner sacrifice. Mortar is indeed the material body; Vayu is the life-force which is stimulated and by far strengthened at this stage, thus helping the body to give out the rasa. Without a strong lifc-force awake and active nothing can be done in the body whatever may be the light of knowledge that may fall upon it; the light does not enter a feeble frame, and even if it enters the weak material cannot hold it without a strong vital support. Only when it is endowed with a strong and well-poised life-force in action, can the body be willing to give itself joyfully i.e., the rasa for Indra’s drink.
Here again, the dual number is used in the address. Who are addressed is left to be understood and in the ritualist’s interpretation, they are the inevitable pestle and mortar and they give food, vāja. They are the implements of sacrifice ayaji. Because of the movement of the pestle in the mortar, they give loud sound; uchcha is thus interpreted without warrant. The straight meaning is uchchaih vihara; they sport high on like the two horses of Indra champing grain.
In the esoteric interpretation, the implements are really the two platters; they are of the forest, vanaspati, as the next verse confirms by stating so expressly. They are the procurers of strength in its plenitude, vājasātamam. They sport high above, like Indra’s horses. Because of their conjoint action and movement in the upper regions of the being of the Yogin, the Yajamana, they procure strength increasingly and receive the rasa of the being for offering. Indra’s two horses are used as a simile here for their capacity for enjoyment. It is much more than a simile. Life and mind themselves representing force of action and light of knowledge are the twin vehicles of the Divine Mind, the ruler of the triple words and king of the Gods, Indra.
Ṛṣhwā means great or mighty; to press out the juice strength is necessary; hence with the help of other priests present in the sacrifice the juice is to be pressed out of the platters.
But in the inner ritual, the Rishi calls upon the platters of Life and Mind to press out the Rasa with the help of the mighty Powers of Knowledge and Power who are ever ready to render assistance to the aspiring soul that has consecrated itself for the Godward life; and this demands the giving up of all one is and has for the acceptance and enjoyment of the higher Powers of the Universal Purusha to whom all that one is and has really belongs.
In the ritual we know the juice is purified and strained and then poured into a large wooden cup or vessel called the drona-kalasha. The dregs are set in the cow-hide.
Thus the outer rite was rapidly performed straightway offering the beverage to Indra who is invoked to come down to drink in the first four Riks.
In the inner sacrifice, when we take into consideration the context, the chamu or the camasa is a bowl and the two bowls are nothing else but the cups of the vital body and the mental body which were referred to by the symbolic platters, when they were used for the extraction of the rasa. But now, when the process is complete they are referred to as separate vessels to signify the yogic secret that though life and mind function in the body as part of it, they really are separate entities and are separated by the Yoga-force for readjustment in the new set-up for the consummation of the Yoga. Those who have studied Sri Aurobindo on the Ribhus cannot fail to appreciate the Yogic fact that out of the one bowl, four bowls are made for the Yogin by the Ribhus, who were once human beings, but have become gods by dint of their tapasya and help Indra in a variety of ways; they are indeed “artisans of Immortality”. Thus the juice of delight is taken up in the two bowls of Life and Mind. They are then poured into the Kalasha which is the material body. The residue is kept in the hide of cow which is the covering and protection of the Ray of Light in the physical frame of man.
We have stated that symbolism is the key to unlock the secret of the Veda; but the device of symbolism dating back from the age of the Rig Veda has been used in the latter scriptures also, closing with the Epics, Puranas and Tantric works. But it is the Brahmanas following the Vedas that openly gave symbolic explanations of the rituals and necessarily of the hymns used in them and this fact was recognised by later authors in their commentaries on the Brahmanas and on the Upanishads which form parts of them. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad forms the close of the 14th chapter of the Shatapatha Brahmana. Out of a number of examples we shall choose one to show how symbols were interpreted by Acharyas like Shankara, though that does not mean they recognised the close-knit symbolism of the hymns of the Rig Veda rich with deep meaning and profound truths of spiritual wisdom. But it undoubtedly shows that these later teachers of Vedanta know that there are many passages in the Upanishads and the Veda Samhitas which are symbolic, while some others are riddles and puzzles and the like. The passage occurs in Br. Up. 2.2.3. It refers to a bowl camasa with its base or bottom above and opening below. Glory that is the universe of forms or the All-form is laid in it," says the text.94 The Upanishad, rather the Brahmana itself proceeds to give the explanation on which Shankara remarks: “What is this camasa with hole below and base above? It is the head which is above like a chamasa bowl, and the mouth is the aperture below. In that bowl is laid the All-form. Just as Soma is kept in the bowl, the universe of forms or the All-form is set in the head etc.”95 This is just an instance to show that the symbolic meaning was recognised and quoted by philosophers of later times even though they were immured with the idea and spirit of their age when the tradition that the Veda was a book for rituals, karma-kānda, had long firmly settled itself in the minds of scholars and leaders of thought with great repute for originality. We may note in passing that when a meaning is not directly conveyed by the word, when it is not evident, but indirect and concealed, it is called paroksha-vachana which term is used in the Brahmana-Upanishads whenever there is symbolism or riddle or something incongruous or even repulsive. When we meet with such passages, it is a sure indication that the sense is concealed and that it is a hint to find out the secret behind the apparent language.
Now in unveiling the symbols of the Riks used in the rapid rite of Soma, we have taken the help of other passages of the Rig Veda and taken into account the Yajurveda, the Veda most important for the ritualist as well as some Brahmana passages that have bearing on the question. We have already spoken of the two platters — adhişavaniya — as symbolic and explained it in a way that fits in with the rest of the symbols in the rite. And the White Yajurveda and the Shatapatha Brahmana (2.9.4) proclaim them to be so, stating that the two platters are symbols of Earth and Heaven. With reference to gräva this Brahmana says it is vajra and the blow it gives destroys what it calls papmā, evil (or sin), the dark and opposing block of forces that prevents the release of the juice of delight, the flow of Soma; it is not the Soma that is destroyed, but the papmā, pāpma hataḥ, na somaḥ. The grava is above, its base is broad, the Vast above; it is the weapon of Indra who is above, it is Vajra in the outer world, but its character in the inner sense is Vak, speech, the Word from the higher heights coming from the region of the Indra. This is clear from many passages of the Rig Veda. The Gods are above and Indra is certainly above, he is invoked to come down to man and to accept his offering. He is there above, and lifts us, mortals that we may live above. We shall cite a few passages here:
O, Indra of hundred activities, stay on above for our growth (or protection) in this our toil for plenitude. . . . (1.30.6)
Stay on above like the God Savitri for our growth (or protection); Thou, above, bestower of plenitude. . . . (1.36.13)
Thou above, guard us from evil, with thy flame of Intuitive vision burn every devouring demon. ... .. (1.36.14)
Urdhva-budhna, uru-budhna, prthu-budhna are in frequent use in the hymns e.g. IV.2.5; 1.169.6; X.47.3. This budhna is the base or foundation which is said to be above, urdhva, extensive and vast, uru, broad and wide, expansive, prthu. It is used as an adjective to grīvā and to some other things that are to come from above, related to the Gods. In a verse Indra is called upon to bestow upon the Rishi the wealth which is at once deep, gabhira, wide and vast, uru, based in the vast, prthu-budhna. It is an interesting Rik which reveals the real nature of the wealth above for which the Rishis prayed and toiled. “Riches, "Riches,—full of powerful Mantras (su-brahmanam) God-possessing, high above, wide and based on vast foundations above, virile with the Rishi’s inspiration, conquering the enemy (that is the opposing force) – such riches, mighty and colourful, vouchsafe to us” (X.47.3). Similar is the Stone, Indra’s grāvā of the lofty heights. It is the Heaven’s bolt of thunder which is indeed a symbol of the voice of Indra above which is invoked to drop down for the destruction of the enemy (I1.30.5). The “Stone” voices with the sound of the singer’s chant (1.83.6). The “Stone” attracts with its voice the mind of Indra (1.84.3). “Go you both (Indra and Vayu) there where the stone voices forth ” (1.135.17). Again, the stones of the lofty heights (III.53.12), voiceful stone laid on the altar” (V.31.4), a variegated stone set in the midst of Heaven (V.47.3). These “stones” are of Heaven and from the heights of being; they are not of earth, not the common stones used to press the creeper Soma. For the Soma is of Heaven and pressed by the symbolic stones for offering to the Gods, tam twām devebhyo grāvābhiḥ sutaḥ (IX.80.4), “pressed by the Stone, O, Soma, you enter the sieve strainer bestowing valiant strength on the chanter” (IX.67.19). These are a few lines out of the hundreds one frequently comes across in the hymns that go to show that the “ Stone” and other objects used in the ritual are symbolic and reveal the inner truths of the Vedic Yoga of which the seers were adepts. We shall close this short study with one last reference to a Rik in Vamadeva’s hymns (IV.27.5) where the kalasha though outwardly a beaker, refers certainly to the body. It is a famous hymn quoted in the Upanishads and as such is admittedly, even according to the ritualistic commentaries, rich with spiritual truths and therefore of inner significance.
“Let Indra accept the white beaker, annointed with the cow’s yield, filled with the luminous liquid etc.” Here the beaker, kalasha, is the drona-kalasha used in the rite. But it is symbolic and indicates the body which is annointed with the Ray of Light, it is “white" i.e., it is pure and filled with the shining rasa, the liquid of Soma, Delight. Here is a fine specimen of a hymn which openly proclaims the spiritual truth of Vamadeva in the womb for Divine birth and his experience in the iron-gated cities etc.; it uses plainly, in the last verse quoted above, ritualistic objects. This would be incongruous in the extreme, if something deeper were not meant, deeper than the beaker and milk and the juice of a creeper.
Such is the character of the Vedic ritual meant for outward worship; such is the nature of the symbolic objects prayed for and the materials used in the sacrificial rite; such also is the nature of the deeper truths of the hymns which keep to the inner sense quite closely and yet maintain to a large extent the outward form and meaning suitable to the understanding and use of the un-initiate. The salient feature that must be noted is this that while the hymns occasionally throw the exoteric sense overboard when so warranted by a necessity for the esoteric pressing overtly for prominence, still in most hymns the outer meaning leaps to the eye and the hymn 1.28 used in the rite of Anjah-sava is a typical example to show that the ritual is no ordinary rite and that the hymn is not an offhand or laboured composition of the priestcraft, that it has a revelatory significance and meaning deeper than what strikes the mind at first thought. And Shunah-shepa is a seer of renown, a seer whose victorious release from the triple bond of mind and life and body has given rise to allegories and impossible legends, whose other hymns, and many Riks in them, rank high among the plainly spiritual passages of lofty ideas and occult truths in the hymnal text. Thus when we study the hymns with the necessary background the secret of the Veda becomes apparent, the inner truth becomes lucid and transparent and we begin to appreciate more fully and intelligently the Master’s words that the Vedic Seer was also a priest who officiated at public sacrifices and chanted the hymns whose real purport, the inner truth of Divine Wisdom was known to him and the initiate.
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