An Introduction to Vedic Religion Part 2

I set out below a beautiful and lucid piece that Sri Aurobindo wrote about the Veda. It is the underlying basis for all my readings in this great corpus and fills me with great determination and inspiration in my own spiritual pursuits. It is lengthy but needs mention in its entirety if one were to understand the foundations of human spiritual thought – human, since this extends to all of mankind, regardless of their origins and any other affiliations they acquire in their lives.

“The symbolism of the Veda depends upon the image of the life of man as a sacrifice, a journey and a battle. The Ancient Mystics took for their theme the spiritual life of man, but in order both to make it more concrete to themselves and to veil its secrets from the unfit, they expressed it in poetical images drawn from the outward life of their age. That life was largely an existence of herdsmen and tillers of the soil for the mass of the people varied by the wars and migrations of the clans under their kings, and in all this activity the worship of the gods had become the most solemn and magnificent element, the knot of all the rest.

For by the sacrifice were won the rain which fertilised the soil, the herds of cattle and horses necessary for their existence in peace and war, the wealth of gold, land (kshetra), retainers, fighting-men which constituted greatness and lordship, the victory in battle, safety in the journey by land and water which was so difficult and dangerous in those times of poor means of communication and loosely organised inter-tribal existence.

All the principal features of that outward life which they saw around them the mystic poets took and turned into significant images of the inner life. The life of man is represented as a sacrifice to the gods, a journey sometimes figured as a crossing of dangerous waters, sometimes as an ascent from level to level of the hill of being, and thirdly a battle against hostile nations. But these three images are not kept separate. The sacrifice is also a journey; indeed the sacrifice is itself described as traveling, as journeying to a divine goal; and the journey and the sacrifice are continually spoken of as a battle against dark powers.”

If we were to keep this thought in our mind, we appreciate that the Vedic Rşhis encouraged the practice of external worship through the Veda “to veil its secrets from the unfit” while cloaking its secret wisdom in the form of images and symbols “to make it more concrete to themselves”. An arrangement which simultaneously provided a spiritual experience to the higher aspirant and a physical experience to the lay-person.

I would like to make a general observation here – commentaries on the Rg Veda by Sayana Acharya, and later by several Western scholars including Griffith and others who based most of their interpretation of the Vedas on Sayana’s writings, focused primarily on the external physical aspects of the Veda. While doing so, they tended to stitch new fabric on an existing elaborate and orderly tapestry rather than merely ironing out the existing creases. The result leaves us with a seemingly barbarous collection of hymns that are both lofty and rich in their expression in places while appearing poorly constructed in other parts. This gap in understanding, sadly, is of our own creation.

When we understand that the Veda operates on a dual layer, we appreciate that seeming inconsistencies in this ancient corpus are rationally explained and resolved. They exist merely in form because their real meaning is to be found in the inner and veiled sense. We also appreciate that this ancient and great text is not the sole literary remnant of a primitive civilization. The Veda then becomes a chant to the powers of Light and their ascent by the force and vision of the Truth to its source and seat where it is free from the attack of the falsehood.

It is up to us to unlock this veiled secret in the several stages of our own journey. Assisting us throughout this (inner and) spiritual journey are several cosmic and other powers that progressively manifest themselves to us – they make themselves known to us in stages and when we are ready to receive them.

आ नो भद्राः क्रत्तवो यन्तु विश्वतः

Peace
S

PS: Sri Aurobindo’s writing quoted above (c) Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1999.