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

BRHADARANYAKA UPANISAD

Varuna, O steed . . . speeding with wings on paths fair and dustless,” Rg Veda, I, 163, 4 and 5, and Tatttiriya Samhita, 1V, 6, 7. For Varuna was the ancient name of the Supreme Being, Aditya, Supernal-Sun, Child-of-the Liberty. The cosmic horse is more fully described in the first adhyadya of our Upanisad, corresponding to Atharva Veda, X, 7, 32-34. The Sun is his eye, the Wind the breath of his nostrils, Universal Fire his open mouth, the Year his body, stars his bones, clouds his flesh, and he bears angels, choirs, titans and men alike across the nether (apara)*® sea of the possibilities of existence, for the ‘‘sea is his kin (bandhu), his womb (yonz).” Ina similar likeness Eckhart speaks of God’s delights: “‘ The joy and satisfaction of it are ineffable. It is like a horse turned loose in a lush meadow giving vent to his horsenature by galloping full-tilt about the field: he enjoys it, and it is his nature. And just in the same way God’s joy and satisfaction in his likes finds vent in his pouring out his entire nature and his being into this likeness, for he _is this likeness himself,” I, 240: compare Rg Veda, VII, 87, 2, referring to Varuna, ‘“‘ The Gale that is thySelf thunders through the firmament like an untamed stag that takes his pleasure in the fields.”

This is a likeness (mirti) and a figure (prattka) connatural with that of the Tree of Life or that of the Worldwheel : a figure or image of the Divine Being in extension, space pervading, not forgetting that the locus of this space (aka@Sa) is in the lotus of the heart. With the becoming of the cosmic horse-body, that of the Three Worlds is established (pvatistha) in the Waters. The remainder of the adhydaya explains the further becoming of the world in terms of generation and utterance, and with respect to mortality, sacrifice, and regeneration. The horse sacrifice is an imitation*® of the divine passion and of regeneration: and he who understands, the Comprehensor of this drama, ya evam vidvan, has verily performed the sacrifice, and thereby shares in a more