The Lords of Bliss

In the symbolism of the veda, the master of the supreme Truth — truth of being, truth of knowledge, truth of process and action and movement and functioning — is sūrya, the sun, the father, fosterer, enlightener of our souls. The illuminations we seek are the herds of this Sun who comes to us in the track of the divine Dawn and releases and reveals in us night-hidden world after world up to the highest Beatitude.

agni, of Divine Will is the first power that helps us undertake this journey and is severally described in the veda as creating the light of intuition within us and tearing down the “desert” of our dwelling. He makes us climb to greatness along the paths of plenitude.

indra, of Divine Mind, is next. He is the deity within us that gives us appropriate knowledge to perform our actions, on the physical, mental and vital planes. indra battles against and protects us from the psychological forces of darkness, vṛtra, the concealer or tearer and his hosts — śuśna, namuci, vala and other pani by whatever name ascribed —– the several censurers, confiners, covetors, dividers, dualists, hurters, miser-traffickers, plunderers and stealers, within us.

Among the deities who accompany us throughout our journey are the aśvin. Described severally across the veda and the upaniṣat, these twin powers are symbolic of life-energy and nervous force, the prānā. They are the gods of enjoyment seeking honey, “physicians” who bring back youth to the old, health to the sick, wholeness to the maimed. Puranic legend describes the aśvin as divine physicians, ascribing to them an almost physical character. Exploring the myths around the aśvin and their love of honey, the famous legend of ṛṣi dadhyann and his imparting the madhu-vidyā to the twins, I found myself going back to several sections of the ṛg veda including the hymns of kakṣīvān, vāmadeva and those of the atri.

I realise that the aśvin are the psychological powers that energise and propel forward all the vital movements. In that sense, the aśvin are the establishers, of a enlightened, happy and healthy condition of mind, vitality and body, in us — they occupy our parts of knowledge and parts of action and prepare our physical (anna-maya), mental (mano-maya) and vital (prānā-maya) being for an easy and victorious ascension.

They are especially described as dasrā, ones who are effectual in action, from the sanskrit etymological root, das meaning “to do” and as nāsatyā, lords of the journey, from the ancient root, nas, meaning “to move”. The aśvin are usually described with epithets of swiftness in motion and as riders of the horse/chariot.

To paraphrase Sri Aurobindo:

“The indications are perfectly clear. . . The aśvin are twin divine powers whose special function is to perfect the nervous or vital being in man in the sense of action and enjoyment. . . they are also powers of Truth, of intelligent action, of right enjoyment. . . powers that appear with the Dawn, effective powers of action born out of the ocean of being who, because they are divine, are able to mentalise securely the felicities of the higher existence by a thought-faculty which finds or comes to know that true substance and true wealth.”

The hymns of the ṛg veda addressed to the aśvin are also full of symbolic expressions featuring the praise of their chariot, their horses and their rapid all-pervading movement; their seeking of madhu, honey and their joy in it, and the satisfying delights that they carry in their car; and their close association with the sun, sūrya and his daughter, sūryā/uśas, the dawn [of awakening].

At 1.46.2, ṛṣi praskaṇvaḥ kāṇvaḥ says:

या दस्रा सिन्धुमातरा मनोतरा रयिणाम्
धिया देवा वसुविदा

yā dasrā sindhumātarā manotarā rayiṇām
dhiyā devā vasuvidā

O ones effectual in action, children of the ocean
Make available felicities beyond the mind
By a thought faculty that comes to know true substance

At 1.117.2, ṛṣi kakṣīvāna dairghatamasaḥ auśijaḥ further states:

यो वामश्विना मनसो जवीयान्रथः स्वश्वो विश आजिगाति
येन गच्छथः सुकृतो दुरोणं
तेन नरा वर्तिरस्मभ्यं यातम्

yo vāmaśvinā manaso javīyānrathaḥ svaśvo viśa ājigāti
yena gacchathaḥ sukṛto duroṇaṁ
tena narā vartirasmabhyaṁ yātam

O aśvin, your car that is faster than thought
And drawn by graceful steeds, comes to the good people
You go with your car to the houses (subtle bodies) of persons engaged in good works
Come to our abode (with your car), o leaders

Again at 4.45.3, ṛṣi vāmadeva gautama says:

मध्वः पिबतं मधुपेभिरासभिरुत प्रियं मधुने युञ्जाथां रथम्
आ वर्तानिं मधुना जिन्वथस्पथो दृतिं वहेथे मधुमन्तमश्विना

madhvaḥ pibataṁ madhupebhirāsabhiruta priyaṁ madhune yuñjāthāṁ ratham
ā vartāniṁ madhunā jinvathaspatho dṛtiṁ vahethe madhumantamaśvinā

Drink of the honey with your honey drinking mouths, for the honey yoke your car beloved
With the honey you gladden the movement and its paths, full of honey, O aśvin, is the skin you bear

ṛṣi paura ātreyaḥ at 5.73.5 sings:

आ यद्वां सूर्या रथं तिष्ठद् रघुष्यदं
परि वामरुषा वयो
घृणा वरन्त आतपः

ā yadvāṁ sūryā rathaṁ tiṣṭhad raghuṣyadaṁ
pari vāmaruṣā vayo
ghṛṇā varanta ātapaḥ

sūryā, the daughter of the sun-god, ascends in your swift car
The winged powers that draw this car are red with action and full of heat
They guard us from attack on all sides by their burning clarity

“The blind shall see and the lame shall walk” is a power supposedly possessed by several prophets across religions. I personally believe these powers are to be understood in their spiritual significance. The inability to distinguish between truth and falsehood is a metaphorical blindness. Again, the seizure by the psychological foes within us — vṛtra, the tearer and his impious hosts — to progress above a particular spiritual plane creates an inability of movement. The aśvin remove these impediments in our progress. These healing powers of the aśvin are beautifully described by the ṛṣi kutsa āṅgirasaḥ at 1.112.8, thus:

याभिः शचीभिर्वृष्णा परावृजं प्रान्धं श्रोणं चक्षस एतवे कृथः
याभिर्वर्तिका ग्रसिताममुञ्चतं
ताभिरू षु ऊतिभिरश्विना गतम्

yābhiḥ śacībhirvṛṣṇā parāvṛjaṁ prāndhaṁ śroṇaṁ cakṣasa etave kṛthaḥ
yābhirvartikā grasitāmamuñcataṁ
tābhirū ṣu ūtibhiraśvinā gatam

O Showerers, your powers aided parāvṛja
Gave sight to the blind and the power of walk to śroṇa
[You] freed the tremulous yogin from seizure by the foes
Come to us with your protections, O aśvin

By the action of the aśvin, human progress towards a Beatitude becomes itself beatific; all his travail and struggle and labour grow full of a divine delight. The twins, themselves share a mutual relationship of balance and harmony, neither of them existent without the other. This mutual dependence is explained by their love of madhu, the delight of being, in all existence, which affects, supports and binds them together and holds them in close harmony.

Peace
S

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