A new approach to the Vedas : an essay in translation and exegesis

A NEW APPROACH TO THE VEDAS

868 Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, passim.

87 ““ That one breathes without stir,”’ anit avata, Rg Veda, X, 120, 2: “he sees without eyes,’ pasyatyacaksuh, Svetdsvatara Up., III, 109; “sees without seeing,’’ pasyaty apasyanaya, Saddhayma Pundarika, Prose, p. 317. Other parallels could be cited.

88 Cf. Rg Veda, I, 115, 1, “the Sun (surya) is the Self (atman) of all that proceeds or exists.” Cf. Note rrr.

882 “To consume food” is a general expression for “to exist.’’ “ This indeed is the premier aspect (paravi vupam) of the Self, viz., “food” (anna), for Spirit (brdéaa) indeed is mode-ified (-maya) by “food’ .. . from ‘food’ are all-things-begotten that-abide-on-anyground verily begotten, by ‘ food’ in sooth they live, and thereto in their latter end return,” Maitri Up., VI, 11. Nature, from whom all things “ milk” their specific virtue, is the ultimate, Earth the proximate source of “ food,’’—“‘ through Me alone (viz., Vac) all eat the food that feeds them—each man who sees, breathes, hears the Word outspoken,” Rg Veda, X, 125. Needless to say that the symbol “ food ’” has the widest possible reference, implying not merely comestibles, but whatsoever nourishes the ego in any way, spiritually, mentally, or Physically: cf., “‘ eating of the Tree’’ in Genesis, and in Re Veda, I, 164, 20. Annat bhavanti bhuiani .. . paryjanyat .. . yajnat karmanah, Bhagavad Gita, III, 14.

89 Eckhart, I, 81, “ the intellect wherein there is measureless space, wherein I am as near a place a thousand miles away as the place I am

standing on this moment . . . (where) a hundred is as one.”’

90 Rg Veda, III, 62, ro.

$1 Cf. Rg Veda, IX, 113, 6 and 7, yatra brahma .. . yatra jyotir ajasram, ‘‘ where Brahma is, there Light is emanated.’ Also Brhad

Devata, VII, 109, “ that knowledge ( jnana) which is immortal Light, and by union wherewith one wins to Brahman.”

92 Cf. Rg Veda, IV, 13, 5, “ Unsupported, unattached, spread-out downwards-turned’’: and ibid., I, 24, 7, ‘‘ King Varuna upholds in the abyss (abudhna, firmament, cf. VIII, 77, 5) as Pure-Act (Daksa) the summit (st#pa) of the Tree (vana), the ground (budhna) is above, may its downward-standing flaming-banners (ketavah) be planted-deep (nthitah) in us.”

92a The notion of an Imperishable-Word (aksara) by which the earth is measured out appears in Rg Veda X, 13, 3.

925 The notions of the Tree of Life, Pillar of Smoke, and Axis of the Universe are all closely connected. Cf., for example, Rg Veda, IV, 6, 2, metaiva dhumam stabhayat upa dhyam, ‘‘ He (Agni) as a pillar of smoke upholds the heavens "’ (Sdyana explains meta as sthina). Agni, again, is often spoken of as Vanaspati, flames being his branches.

93 “ How in the beginning this world was not, either as non-existent or existent, how all this was born (jaje), that (i.e., a hymn of that kind) they term the ‘ movement of being ” (bhava vyita) (hymn).’’ Vrtta, also implying “ circle,’’ “ cycle,”’ “ transformation,’ “‘ appearance,” eventuality,’ “ activity,’ etc., is from root vrt, “to move,’’ “ revolve, “ proceed,’’ “‘ exist,”’ etc. (or with similar senses causatively), which root is also present in vartana, cakravartin, with reference to the setting in motion of the world-wheel, and in pravriti, ntvriti, “‘ extroversion ”’ and “‘introversion,”’ or “‘ evolution”’ and “involution.’”’ Certain of the hymns of the Rg Veda, &g., X, 129, are bhava vurttani, cf. Brhad