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

NOTES

Person (Father)—Nature (Mother) spirit (Son, Life)”

14 See Bohme, Mysterium Pansophicum, I-III. Only when the Will is dually personified as Kamadeva and Rati can it be said that the Willspirit and the Craving are actually distinguished: elsewhere, either kama represents the Will as an undivided principle, or we must understand from the context what will is implied. In our text, especially vv. I and 4, where it is Death, Privation, Godhead, that wills (syam, akamayat)—a thing that can only be conceived analogically in the Not-Self—we must understand it is not the Will-spirit (kama, libido, “Jubet’’), but the Craving (irsaa, coveting, fatality, that which “ draws a man on’’ when he is “ fey’) ; that is the desire of Nature (prakrti) for intrinsic form (svaripa), the ardour of the Waters “in their season,’ Pavicavimsa Brahmana, Vil, 8, I, an unconscious, functional, dark will-to-life. In X, 129, 4 (p. 55 ) on the other hand, where kama is identified with the “ primal seed (retas) of Intellect (manas) ’’—not, i.e., the germinal source of Intellect, but the germinal aspect of Intellect, Jogos spermatikos, the rasa of Rg Veda, I, 164, 8the light Will-spirit is clearly implied. The two wills are immediately correlated and perfectly balanced in unitary being: representing His knowledge of himself (in both senses of the verb to ‘“know’’). In other words, the movement of the Will-spirit towards its object is the “answer’’ to the unspoken “‘ wish”’ of the unconscious, as in Rg Veda, 1, 164, 8, ‘‘ He by Intellect forewent her.’’ These considerations seem to solve the difficulties felt by Keith, Religion and Philosophy of the Veda, p. 436.

15 Reg Veda, VII, 33, 11, Brhad Devata, V, 148 and 149, and Sarvdnukramani, 1, 166: the child begotten of Mitra-Varunau and the Waters is Vasistha, who like Brahma makes his appearance upon a lotus, 1.e., is established in the Waters, in the possibility of existence, and who is in fact the same as Brahma-Prajapati, as rightly identified in the Satapatha Brahmana, iI, 4, 4,2, cf. Nirukta, V,14. Hence Vasistha’s patronymic Maitra-varuni. Againin the Aitareya Avanyaka, Il, 2, 1 and 2, Vasistha and other “ sages’ are identified in various ways with the progenitive Person and the positive existence of all things. In Atharva Veda, X, 8, 20, the expression “churned forth’’ (nivmanthate), appropriate to Agni, is used of Vasu (= Vasistha). The name Vasistha (superlative of vasu) seems to be rightly understood by the Commentators to mean “ foremost of those who dwell, exist, or live,’ either from toot vas “‘to assume a form,’’ or root vas “to live,’”’ or “ abide in a given condition.’’ Vasu is also derivable from root vas to shine, giving the secondary meaning “‘ wealth.’’ Whatever the root, the meanings are not incompatible, inasmuch as to be unindigent of life or existence is the primary “‘ good.’’ Cf. Vasudha, Vasudhara, Earth as “‘ Mistress of Wealth,’’ ‘‘ Habundia,” or ‘‘ Upbearer of Life ”’ (Vasudha also = Laksmi); and Vasudhara, Krsna as “‘ Lord of Life ”’ in relation to Radha, where both meanings are implied.

Like Vasistha, Agni (VaiSvanara) is born of, literally ‘‘ churned from’ a lotus, i.e., the Earth, Rg Veda, VI, 16, 13. That is, as the element of Fire and as Sacrificial Fire in the Three Worlds: for Agni as the Supreme Deity is the ‘‘ Father,’’ being like Mitra-Varuna seduced by the Waters, Tatttiviya Brahmana, I, 1, 3,8, and Satapatha Brahmana, Il, 1,1,4and5. Needless to point out that Mitra-Varuna, Sun, Fire, Spirit, etc., are all denotations of one and the same first principle of manifestation, and that the Waters, often called the wives of Varuna, or