Treasures of the Past

Welcome to the 9^th issue of Treasures of the Past! In this issue we continue to discuss the Isavasya Upanishad that is part of the Sukla Yajur Veda. Moreover we shall begin the discussion of the primary Vedic text of yajur Veda too. So that we can appreciate that it is an esoteric representation and not a mere ritualistic compendium of songs sung by nomadic tribes as understood by the western philosophers!

We saw the first five verses of this Upanishad, now we shall see the next five.

Verse 6.

yas tu sarvani bhutany

atmany evanupasyati

sarva-bhutesu catmanam

tato na vijugupsate

To one who sees himself as the self of all beings, and all beings within himself, is devoid of aversion towards any one. He is the wise one.

Now the Upanishad starts defining the benefit of apprehending the Brahman or Eternal truth. It describes the state of mind of a yogi. By proper understanding of the concept of Brahman and making such an understanding a living reality through direct apprehension facilitated by yoga and meditation, one arrives at a point of established truth. That is the phenomenal creation is an extension of the eternal Brahman that is beyond the dualities, forms and names. It is far beyond the scope of physical organs of perception. When such an understanding is reached the Sadak gets a unified perception of whole creation and beyond. He sees himself as the self of all beings and all beings within himself. The resultant attitude will be love all without any exception. This is an empathy view of creation.

Verse 7.

yasmin sarvani bhutany

atmaivabhud vijanatah

tatra ko mohah kah soka

ekatvam anupasyatah

To one who has a unified perception and sees himself in everything and every thing within him, where is infatuation or suffering?

This verse reinforces the view point elaborated by the previous verse and goes a little further and states that to such a person there is no infatuation or suffering. These actions are emotional in nature and they loose their relevance once this understanding is abiding! Let us take an example and try to understand what the Upanishad explains. For instance if there is fire and a person happens to touch it, ordinarily he is bound to feel the heat and pain associated with the burning. But on the other hand if he has attained the perception detailed above, there will not be any difference between the fire and that which is burnt! Hence he would not react to such circumstances and fire does not burn him either. We have numerous examples of these incidents being highlighted by great puranas. From the Nrsimha purana we learn that Prahladha is subjected to a number of punishments comes out unscathed because he never distinguished between himself and his surroundings. He saw Sri Narayana in every thing. He later asserts with conviction that there is nothing around that does not possess Sri Hari inside. Prushasuktham states that all within and without are occupied by Sri Narayana. Similarly we see the resolve with which Nachiketas declined all the material gratifications offered by the Lord of Death! The story of Druva reminds us about the unflinching resolve that achieved the purpose of apprehending the Lord Sri Narayana!

Srimath Bhagavat Gita verse 30 Chapter 6.

yo mam pasyati sarvatra
sarvam ca mayi pasyati
tasyaham na pranasyami
sa ca me na pranasyati

Lord Krishna says that a person who sees himself, within every creation around and everything within himself, always stays established within Me and I am established within him. The quality of, being mutually non exclusive! This is the highest consciousness level to be attained by a yogi.

Verse 8. 

sa paryagac chukram akayam avranam

asnaviram suddham apapa-viddham

kavir manisi paribhuh svayambhur

yathatathyato 'rthan vyadadhac chasvatibhyah samabhyah

The Brahman is self existent all pervading, without body, muscles, it remains unaffected by ignorance, it is full of radiance, it is pure, it personifies the seer or an accomplished yogi, embodiment of all knowledge, it envelops all, directs its own nature to manifest and perform the manifestation as role, from time immemorial!

The verse elaborates the self existent nature of Brahman. The emphasis is on the nature of remaining attribute less yet performing the role of phenomenal creation!

Verse 9.

andham tamah pravisanti

ye 'vidyam upasate

tato bhuya iva te tamo

ya u vidyayam ratah

Those who pursue “Avidya” are like the blind proceeding towards the darkness, whereas those who pursue “Vidya” are lead to greater darkness.

This verse is the most difficult one that has prompted diverse interpretations being given to it by various scholars. We need to be more careful in analyzing the actual purport of the verse. There are two words that are used here one is “Vidya” and the other is “Avidya”. One way of interpreting it is that Vidya is knowledge and Avidya is ignorance. But you may observe that the Upanishad says those who pursue Vidya approach greater darkness! To resolve this contradiction we need to go back to the previous verses. The Upanishad talked about two different perceptions; they are at the outset seemingly opposed to each other. A perception that looks at the phenomenal worlds as different entities, but found a common chord of Self connecting every creation. The other is seeing everything within Self! These two perceptions one emphasizing the variety and the other emphasizing the underlying unity, need to be reconciled and a profound understanding of both possibilities in a unified consciousness is to be arrived at.

Avidya is a perception of a sadak and not a non initiate. He has achieved progress and perceives the divinity within himself as well as all other components of creation. He perceives God within himself as well as outside! He has missed the unity that is beneath all that pervades all and envelops all. So this condition is called Avidya. Non apprehension of unity. But during sadana or contemplation he may arrive at an all together different perception too. That is all phenomenal creation might disappear from his perception including himself and only the unified perception may be available to him. This will render his understanding being not profound. Since there is a possibility of apprehending the phenomenal creation too as part of the eternal! That is the reason why the Upanishad explains the folly of understanding one without the other. Both are when taken independently are incorrect perceptions. But when achieved together as a logical progress of consciousness into a profound one, is the best achievement of yoga. Both the phenomenal creation that is connected by Self and the Eternal unmanifested truth or consciousness being the base and enveloping the phenomenal creation and exceeding it should be apprehended and understood together.

Verse 10.

anyad evahur vidyaya

anyad ahur avidyaya

iti susruma dhiranam

ye nas tad vicacaksire

The two perceptions called Vidya and Avidya are different and yield different results that are opposed in nature, they need to be reconciled. So say the seers or those who have accomplished the profound perception.

Following the above mentioned concepts of understanding namely Vidya and Avidya two different results will be obtained. This is the conclusion arrived at by the Seers.

The remaining verses shall form part of the next issue.

Now we shall see the primary Vedic text with an introduction on Veda and Yagnas.

Yajur Veda

We shall see the verses in this Veda, in their proper order of Anuvakas. They are primarily explanatory verses of rituals performed. They explain the minutest details of construction of the fire altar, their geometrical construction, their position with respect to the performer, and the four principal directions. They not only tell us about the fire altars but also other service areas such as cow shed, secondary fire altar, the positions for keeping the vessels in which the offerings such as clarified butter, milk, curd, soma juice, cooked rice are kept. These may appear to be ritualistic and not very rational to an ordinary reader, but when read with an inquisitive mind, they reveal an inner meaning! Remember that what ever they did had a motive and the expressions are symbolic. The purpose of these rituals is to rid the mind of its diversions and by constant practice increase the contemplation on the Universal principle GOD. The entire objective of human birth is to understand his origin and abide in it while he is alive, this gives him the ever lasting joy! In a yagna, experts in all the four Vedas participate and help the initiate who is a householder to embark upon the enquiry on Eternal Brahman.

Given below are certain expressions that represent the priests involved in the yagna.

The Hotr-priest, specialist of the Rgveda, takes care of recitations that accompany the offerings. His assistants are: the Maitravaruna (or Prasastr), the Acchavaka, the Gravastut.

The Adhvaryu, specialist of the Yajurveda, murmurs offering formulas and takes care of the "management" of the enire ritual. He is assisted by the Pratiprasthatr, the Nestr, the Unnetr.

The Udgatr, specialist of the Samaveda, takes care of the chants. He is assisted by the Prastotr, the Pratihartr and the Subrahmanya.

There is a fourth group of priests, among whom the Brahman-priest is the most important one. He is a sort of "overseer" of the ritual. For instance, his explicit permission is required when other priests want to start with a crucial part in the sacrifice, and he is the one who should know how to make corrections if something went wrong. He may belong to the three mentioned Vedas, or to the fourth, the Atharvaveda. The group of the Brahman includes further the Brahmanacchamsin, who in practice cooperates with the Hotr.

In total there are 16 priests or a 17^th, the Sadasya who is mainly a witness, they perform the sacrifice on behalf of the sacrificer and his wife; who had invited the priests and promised them a sacrificial fee called daksina.

The yagna may be conducted for five or six days, and the sacrificer along with his wife should undergo an important transformation. On the first day the Diksa or taking vow ritual takes place. The sacrificer is shaved, and from that moment on he restricts his food. Moreover, he will keep his hands from that moment on as much as possible in the form of a fist: the ancient exegetes explain that this indicates his embryonic status. 

Only after the concluding bath the Apavrta snana, after he and his wife emerge after bath, he is allowed to open his palms, and is considered as reborn . The restrictions on food and behaviour is less stringent with the wife.

With these few words we shall proceed to look at the Yajur Veda. Darsa Poornamasa is one of the fire offerings or yagna defined in this Veda. The first Anuvaka starts with a verse addressed to the Asvatha tree.

Verse 1.Oh! Asvatha, you were present in the womb of a tree, you shall be cut, for the purpose of the yagna of the brahman and brought to the yagna bhoomi or altar with salutations. Oh! Asvatha, thou art the carrier of offerings Being the possessor of Agni within, thou art the personification of Agni the divine will power in man, thou art the cause of awakening, the possessor of tranquility, the origin of Agni, thou art the one who   

 had the vahnni tree as the womb. I carry thou to the yagna!

Verse 2.Oh! Earth, thou art the Vaisvanara roopa or personification. I carry thee to the yagna! Vaisvanara

 is the digester of food. Earth is said to be the personification of Vaisvanara.

Verse 3.The bitterness of Akasa is kept in the earth, and the black colour of earth is kept in the Moon! So in the earth bitter part represents Akasa and the black part represents the Moon. Hence both are brought to the yagna. After reciting this earth that is bitter in taste and black in colour is brought to the yagna. Let us look at this verse little carefully. It talks about two physical qualities of earth, and compares them to space and Moon. These two, Akasa and Moon, are related to Earth and are represented by the taste and colour! Later we shall see the Akasa and the Moon are shown as related to consciousness and mind, thereby establishing a connection between the external ritual and the inner attitude that one must possess.

Verse 4.Oh! Agni, the Divine will, thou art present in the tree in the physical form like a rat having dug deep burrow. Having pervaded this mortal form, you have purified the form itself. As your representation we bring the earth from a rat’s burrow to this yagna! You will find the expressions are getting more symbolic.

Verse 5.Let us live for hundred years, searching the eternal bliss, we bring the earth that has been brought out by white ants, that is like bringing the essence of our physical nature, we bring that earth to the yagna!

      Verse 6.The physical form is made of a uniform mixture that is the creation of Prajapathi the creator.

      This earth representing that character is brought to the yagna by me!

    Here the mixture that is mentioned is food with the awareness of God within, that is referred to as Soma* this expression is frequently misinterpreted to be an intoxicant. Veda clearly states that it is a psychological phenomenon that is often represented externally by an extraction of essential oil from a creeper used in the yagna! This drink that is consumed during the yagna by the participants is known to increase alertness instead of reducing it, like an intoxicant!

Soma drink*

Soma is the name of a plant from which the juice is pressed that is said to have a certain effect on the mind. The plant and juice are worshiped. Several verses in the Vedic texts suggest that Soma induces wakefulness, alertness. The Soma-juice that is trickling from the sieve is compared with rain falling from heaven; the vessel in which it is collected is referred to as the ocean.

Courtesy:

Refer to the site below for pictures of yagna.Though the contents of the web site are not similar to that of the author.

http://www.jyotistoma.nl/

We shall see the rest of the Vedic texts in the following issues.