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

A NEW APPROACH TO THE VEDAS

(Prajapati,** etc.) who is vajas-natured, being the progenitive Person, who gives to every existence its extension in space. Agni is here specifically the fiery nature, sometimes called the Wrath of God, the devourer and transformer of all existences : whose personal name is Rudra, Siva, famas-natured, for all change is a dying, a going forth of individual form into the dark night of nonexistence. At the same time this Trinity is One Being, to whom as such either of these personal names can be directly applied ; the functions are described, rather than divided in the Persons. «Albeit separately lauded, these three Lords of the World are of one Self-hood and a common Nature” (Byhad Devata, 1, 70-74): that unity of the Several Angels is Agni (Rg Veda, V, 3, 1) ; or any one member of the Trinity may stand for all, as when in Rg Veda, I, 115, 1, the Supernal-Sun (Surya) is called the Self of the Universe, or Vayu similarly in X, 168, 4.°4

Prana, Spiritus, Pneuma, Life (Taoist ch’z, Islamic rith) is an essential name of the Self, as Father or as Son: not as in Christian theology, a distinct Person, though in every other respect equivalent to the “‘ Holy Ghost.” In procession, by way of the Will as the principle of Motion, prana is otten spoken of as vdta or vayu, Wind or Air: and as the breaths of life in all existences, the Spirit becomes manifold, particularly fivefold (Aitareya Aranyaka, Il, 3, 3, Taittirtya Up., 1, 7, Svetdsvatara Up., I, 5, Cue),

Prana, Vayu, Vata, is that Gale of the Spirit which begins to blow at the dawn of every cycle of manifestation: thereby the glassy surface of the Waters is thrown into waves, each one of which reflects the Supernal-Sun, creating a multifarious Sheen or counter-shining, which is the world-picture. That dawn wind is not specifically mentioned in our text, but implied in the mention of the Spirit, and when it is said that the Earth becomes from the foam of the Waters.8° Hence arises one of the fundamental problems of theology, ‘‘ Why does the dawn