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

A NEW APPROACH TO THE VEDAS

mother-mate of Varuna, who as sprung from Her, though not by generation, is pre-eminently Aditya, Child of the Infinite, and Supernal-Sun: Mother-Nature, the same as Viraj, “ Sovran-Light,’ from whom all things “ milk” their specific virtues and proper operation, Atharva Veda, VII, 1, VIII, 9-10, and IX, 1: Vac, the means of utterance: Apah, the Waters, all the possibilities of existence, un-limited (a-diti) by particular conditionings Mahamaya, Bohme’s Magic, ‘“‘ a mother in all three worlds, and makes each thing after the model of that thing’s will ...a creatrix according to the understanding, and lends itself to good or to evil . . . ground and support of all things,” Sex Puncta Mystica, V, 11 and 20: “Tao,” as the “ Mother of all things,” Tao Té Ching, 1, 1. “‘ Contained in the Father as nature . . . wherefore he is omnipotent . . . for the Godhead has all things im posse . . . (and) flows into creatures. It gives to each as much as it can hold ; to stones their existence, to the trees their growth, to birds their flight, to beasts their pleasures, to the angels reason (? sc. intellect), to man free nature (sc. free will),” Eckhart, I, 371-372: that is, to every existence its own virtue and idiosyncrasy.

So then, niyguna Brahman, amirta Brahman, are the same as Aditi, Viraj, the Waters ; and the Bhagavad Gita is in complete accord with Vedic tradition when it declares ““ My womb (vont) is the Great (mahat = para = nirguna) Brahman; in it I bestow the germ (garbha), thence cometh the becoming (sambhava) of all existences,’ XIV, 3: and further, when Krsna, after listing the material elements of existence, adds, “‘ That is my empirical (apara) Nature (prakrti). Know thou my transcendental (para) Nature (frakyti) as another (anya), as the elements of life (jzva-) whereby the universe is held-in-being (dharayate), know this to be the womb (yoni) of all existences,” VII, 5 and 6. Just as in Brhadadvanyaka Up., I, I, 2, we find samudyo yoni, corresponding to Mundaka Up., III, I, 3, brahma-yoni, respectively ‘‘ whose womb is the sea,”