Rig-Veda ______

Veda is eternal (ina%\), unperceivable (Ad`oSyama\), all pervading (ivaBauma\), all-comprehensive (sava-gatma\), exceedingly subtle (sausaUxmama\), un-decaying (Avyayama\), without beginning (Anaaid) and without end (Anantma\) entirety of Wisdom (iva&anaGanama\) through receptivity (Eawa), reflection (mantvyama\) and constant meditation (inaiQaqyaaisatvyama\). It is what Dr. Whitehead designates ‘as something which is real and yet waiting to be realized; something which is remote possibility and yet the greatest of facts; something that gives meaning to all that passes, and yet alludes apprehension; something whose possession is the final good and yet beyond all reach; something which is ultimate ideal and the hopeless quest’ (Science and the Modern World). Veda is Wisdom of the unknown and not the Knowledge of the known. The vedic scriptures are the aggregate &ana, Knowledge of fragments of Wisdom ‘seen’, ‘heard’, experienced through mediation and action - ‘yaaina man~oYau kmaa-iNa kvayaao ApSyana\’ by different seers, during different periods, in different places and expressed in mystical language without human effort ‘puruYap`ya%naivanaa p`kiTtBaUt’. The hymns are known as Cndsa\, that which conceals – Cndiyait to Cndsa\ because they are recorded in mystical language. . Wisdom is constant and continuous awareness like an ocean, vast, deep yet ever turbulent; whereas Knowledge is momentary and transient like a river, not independent of the ocean from which it is sourced, ever in motion, sometimes concealed and sometimes revealed, no part lost though appearing as lost, ever changing in forms and names, perceptions, views, opinions and expressions. Wisdom is supernal, immutable, eternal, universal - kalaatIt, transcending ; Knowledge is Time bound by and circumscribed by impression, perceptions, ideas, memories of the , influencing the Present and creating aspirations in the . To reach out to Wisdom, philosophy uses Knowledge as its foot stool, to take a leap from the known to the unknown. One needs to be receptive, reflective and meditative of Knowledge to have access to Wisdom, which then reveals in the present in solitude of silence, in fraction of a moment, the past having died and the future not yet born. Knowledge can never be a substitute for Wisdom, because part can never be the whole. One has to wipe out the last vestiges of Knowledge if one has to be wise of Wisdom. When Wisdom dawns, Knowledge ceases to be effective, even as the stick used to stir fire on the funeral pyre becomes useless once the body is reduced to the ashes. There is much difference between what one experiences spiritually and what one expresses empirically. No prudent man would ever aver that vedic scriptures in themselves represent sa%ya, at best they speak about sa%ya, validating the statement - ‘ekM sad\ ivap`a bahuQaa vadaint’. ?iYa is not the author of the hymns but the ‘seer’ ‘dRYTa’ of the Prime Existence as impersonal wisdom. The vedic hymns are also known as ‘Eauit’, because they are heard in revelation of the pra vaak\ , supreme speech, seeping from the inner source of the heart and passing through layers of the mind. Through words, terms and figures used by Seers, one substratum of all that is communicated is maintained by them, some giving voice to rich, subtle and profound while others may in language which is ordinary and conventional in sense. Yet as pointed out by Sri Aurobindo “. . . we have the same firm foundation of knowledge and the same scrupulous adherence to the sacred conventions of the Initiates”. The seers

3 and prophets claim to reiterate to the new generation the Wisdom which has become obscure due to diversity of perceptions, using new vocabulary, new symbols and practic