Gods of the Veda SRI AUROBINDO KAPALI SHASTRY INSTITUTE OF VEDIC CULTURE #63, 13th Main, 4th Block East, Jayanagar Bangalore – 560 011 Phone: +91-80-26556315 Email: [email protected] Web: www.vedah.org Gods of the Veda TABLE OF CONTENT Agni Indra Soma Sarasvati Bharati, Mahi, Ila Vishnu Surya and Savitr Bhaga, Savitri Vayu Indra and Agastya Rudra or Shiva Varuna Rbhus Vishvedevaha Aditi Ashvins Ganapati Maruts Usha Pushan ™ SAKSIVC Page 2 of 167 Gods of the Veda Agni Agni, brief view Agni, the mystic fire Agni Vaishvanara Agni, the initiator Agni as a friend Agni Jatavedas Agni, the illumined will Agni, brief view Devas in the Veda form a hierarchy with Surya, the spiritual Sun at the head. However the number of hymns in RV dedicated to Surya is small. But Agni has about 200 hymns and Indra, 250 out of about one thousand. The reason for the prominence of Agni and Indra is that human beings in their quest towards the all-sided perfection need the help of Agni and Indra much more and hence pray for them more often. The analogy is that of a student who spends more years at the pre-university level than in the university level itself. The contribution of every rishi in the Rigveda begins with several hymns to Agni, then to Indra and then to the other devas. The RV begins with a hymn to Agni. According to tradition, the japa or conscious repetition of this hymn reveals the knowledge this deity stands for. Agni in the Veda is not merely the fire on the vedic altar or even the deity behind this physical fire. The ordinary fire is a source of heat and light which prompted the vedic sages to symbolise the deity of spiritual Light and spiritual Force by the word Agni. The physical flame gives light all through the night amidst darkness and it impels human beings to study or work otherwise. Similarly the Divine Power of Agni is residing in every human being who is full of ignorance and in conscience pushing him or her towards progress. Agni is the Divine Power of will united with wisdom, denoted by the word kratu. It is not desire; but it embraces desire and surpasses it. In the Veda Agni is essentially Knowledge or Light taking the form of force. Agni is the mental force, will power, necessary for all action. It is Agni who makes the Divine knowledge of the Supreme Sun accessible to human beings. He has many other functions, particularly the force of concentration tapas, SAKSIVC Page 3 of 167 Gods of the Veda commonly called as austerity or mistranslated as penance. He is the force of combustion in the cosmos and also the fire in the stomach jataragni who digests the food in man. In the RV Agni is said to reside hidden in the cave of the heart, guha. The ordinary human being in his outward activities is unaware of the presence of Agni. Still Agni prompts him/her on the journey. After a long time, Agni, makes the outer being become aware of the Divine force Agni within. This important event is described as the birth of Agni. He is said to be born in man, jajnana, janayan in hundreds of verses. Many translators mistake this phrase, ‘birth of Agni’ as the birth of Agni in the cosmos during the process of Creation. RV refers to the birth of Agni in every human. Agni and other devas are called twice born dvijanma, the first birth being in cosmos, the second in human. Depending on the response of the outer being of the human, the force of Agni, the divine will-force becomes stronger and stronger. Agni is pictured repeatedly as residing within and giving his direction. The worshipper develops a close relationship to Agni like that of son to father, friend, spouse etc. Agni reciprocates with the corresponding feeling. In the RV, the devas perform not only the cosmic actions of maintaining all life, but also the individual actions, the credit for which performance is claimed by the humans. It is the devas who make the crops grow, trees blossom, digest food in humans and so on. But, human beings take the entire credit. RV views every action as a collaborative effort between the devas and the humans, the human role being nominal or subsidiary. This collaborative action is called as yajna, which is not a mere rite. Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 4 reaffirms the vedic view of yajna. The first hymn in RV states that Agni is the master of yajna. He is repeatedly referred to as the performer of yajna. Often the rishis request Agni to perform the yajna and worship the other devas on their behalf. In the Vedic ritual, there are three types of priests, adhwaryu, the controller of path, hotr caller and the udgathr, singer. These three names denote distinct functions which Agni himself does. Agni guides our path to perfection at every step, hence he is the director of the yajna. Agni calls all the other devas to manifest in the human being, each deva developing a particular aspect of force in the human. Hence, Agni is the caller of the devas. He is also called the duta, the messenger of the humans to the devas, to request the latter to vitalize the human. Thirdly he is called the singer because he empowers the human being to express his aspiration to the Divine and devas by singing the hymns. Thus Agni the caller himself becomes the speech to be sung. In RV, the chief method of spiritual practice is the chanting of the hymns. This idea is repeated in the Aitareya Upanishad (1.2.4) SAKSIVC Page 4 of 167 Gods of the Veda by the statement, “Agni becoming speech, vak”. This phrase makes no sense at all if we have not studied the Rig vedic concept of Agni. Agni propels the human aspirant towards perfection and hence is said to create the perfected being, the rishi. Agni, the mystic fire Even a perusal of the 253 titles of the mantras in this book will convince the readers that whatever Agni is, it cannot be described as a simple fire in the fire- altar or even a forest fire. The ninth verse in the first hymn is a prayer to Agni ‘cling to us like a father a son’. We know the effect of the physical fire clinging to us! Again the same hymn, in verse seven, states that obeisance or salutation to Agni is done by thought. In the first verse, Agni performs the yajna; there is no mention of a human priest performing the yajna. The phrase, ‘kindling of Agni’, does occur as the title for the verse RV (1.26.5), verse 5 of hymn 26. Before we jump to the conclusion that this verse implies the kindling of the physical fire by a human, we have to read the qualifying phrases in the same verse, "The Gods Mitra and Varuna kindle Agni.'' Mitra is the Divine Force associated with friendship and harmony, Varuna with all vastness, including the vastness of the physical ocean. Again in RV (1.12.5), there is the Sanskrit word ghrta, one of its meanings being melted butter, commonly poured into fire. The reader can read the discussion on this verse and convince himself/herself that to preserve the consistency of all the phrases in that verse, the alternative meaning of clarity of thought to ghrta is more appropriate. The general impression conveyed by the titles of the verse and later by the translations is that Agni is a Divine Force endowed with consciousness. The epithet Kavi or seer, or one who has supraphysical visions, is commonly used for Agni. Agni manifests his power in human beings as the commonly used epithet, ‘born in man’, implies. He summons the other divine powers also to manifest in man, hence the name summoner for Agni. Agni can be approached by thought as well by the recitation of the mantra. The rishi prays to the conscious power Agni, not merely for physical wealth like cows, but, all-round felicities, opulence and ultimately for the supreme knowledge and bliss. It is possible for a human being to enter into a conscious relationship with Agni like a friend, spouse, father, son, SAKSIVC Page 5 of 167 Gods of the Veda etc. We see in Rigveda the beginnings of the yoga of devotion, bhakti yoga, described in later scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, the works of the ancient South Indian poets, alwars and nayanmars etc. The last hymn in this collection (1.99) is a prayer to Agni to carry us over all obstacles as in a boat to the shores of Supreme Bliss and Knowledge. Some of the most poetic and lyrical hymns in the Rigveda are the nine hymns RV (1.65-1.73) by Sage Parashara. They have a wealth of similes for Agni which are easily understandable only if Agni is understood as a benevolent cosmic divine personality. In RV (1.65.5), we find the simile, ‘Agni sits amidst waters and breathes like a Swan'. Because of the mantra ‘I am He', aham sahwhich in repetition or japa becomes hamsa, there is an intense association between persons in deep mediation and the bird hamsa or swan. These epithets to Agni remind us very much of the epithets used in the litanies to describe the Goddesses, as in Lalita Sahasra Nama (thousand names of Lalita). Obviously these epithets make no sense to translators like Griffith, who insist on regarding Agni as a physical fire.