=Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद)====In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna himself says that those who are devoid of proper knowledge of the real purport of the Ved and the proper method of propitiating the Almighty, are deluded by ignorance. They think that they themselves are capable of performing Vedic sacrifices, even without the help or grace of God.
~ (Sri Ramanuja's Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 15.15)
The literal meaning of Advaita has been explained by Madhusudana Saraswati as "That in which there is no two-foldness".
Shankara’s Advaita Siddhanta is not only the climax of all spiritual philosophies and the highest philosophy of ethics, but also a way of life. As the culmination of man’s metaphysical contemplation and spiritual evolution it is the natural final goal of our spiritual Sadhanas.
In fact, some of the most beautiful Upanishadic verses which Shankara has interpreted in the light of Advaita occur in the Samhita portion of the Rig Ved.
________________________________________________
The Nasadiya Sukta :
The famous ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.129) contains the most sublime depiction of Advaitic idea that was later elaborated upon in the Upanishads and expounded by the great Shankaracharya.
In this hymn all phenomena are traced to the one Principle which is beyond opposites like life and death, existence and non-existence, being and non-being, day and night, and so on. The one Reality is neither existence nor non-existence; it is beyond name and definition. The concept of maya, which explains why the perfect Reality appears as this imperfect world, has its roots in the ‘Nasadiya Sukta’.
The Brahman without attributes, the ultimate Truth, is neither Void (Shunya, as the Buddhists proclaim) characterized by Non-existence, nor the phenomenal universe (the empirical reality) characterized by Existence.
It is beyond Space-Time-Causation (देश-काल-निमित्त). The following mantra shows that there was no Space (sky) prior to creation :
नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.1
" Existence was not then, nor non-existence ; The world was not, the sky beyond was neither. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The following mantra also shows that Space-Time is a part of the universe. When there was no creation, Space-Time did not exist.
This mantra negates separate ' day and night ' prior to creation. It is basically a negation of the concept of Time prior to creation :
न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः |
आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.2
" Death was not then, no immortality, The night was neither separate from day, But motionless did That vibrate alone, with Its own glory one— Beyond That nothing did exist. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The term 'That vibrate alone' is an implication that Brahman is not just an insentient material cause of the universe like a lump of clay is of pots etc., but it is Pure Consciousness in nature (शुद्ध चैतन्य स्वरुप).
The One Homogeneous Existence as a whole beyond all Names and Forms (नाम-रूप भेद ), i.e. without any differentiating attributes is proclaimed :
तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.3
"At first in darkness hidden darkness lay ; Undistinguished as one mass of water."
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Then the 'Sankalpa' (divine will, the desire) of creation arose in Brahman and Non-existence (the attributeless Brahman) became Existence (the phenomenal universe) :
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.4
" First desire rose, the primal seed of mind ; The sages have seen all this in their hearts, Shifting existence from non-existence. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
But how can it happen ?
This is being answered in the next mantra. Creation is the play of the ' Maya Shakti ', the inexplicable creative energy.
Brahman (the Self-sustaining principle) is the substratum (अधिष्ठान) of This creative energy :
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत |
रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.5
" Creative then became the glory ; With self-sustaining principle below. And Creative Energy above. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Here we may very well remember that Advaita is, after all, a matter of inner experience (" Anubhavaikavedyam" ; 'known through experience alone’, in the language of Shankaracharya) and not a subject for philosophical speculation.
The ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ is perhaps the most scientific description of the ultimate Reality as well as of the projection of the phenomenal world. It makes the relative and the Absolute, nature and Spirit, the twin aspects of that one Reality and shows that men of wisdom (Kavayah), who had controlled their senses, found out the ultimate cause of this world (which appears to be real) in their own hearts (Hridi) through concentrated intellects (Manisha).
________________________________________________
The concept of Maya :
रूपं-रूपं परतिरूपो बभूव तदस्य रूपं परतिचक्षणाय |
इन्द्रो मायाभिः पुरुरूप ईयते युक्ता हयस्य हरयःशता दश ||
............. Rig Ved 6.47.18
भावार्थ :
इन्द्रदेव मायाशक्तियों द्वारा अनेक रूप बनाकर यजमान के पास प्रकट होते हैं | इन्द्रदेव के रथ में उनकी अनेक शक्तियों के रूप में सहस्रों घोड़े युक्त हैं |
English :
" Indra, has assumed various forms, and such is his form as that which (he adopts) for his manifestation ; Indra through Maya appears as of many forms (to his many worshippers), for his horses, yoked to his chariot are a thousand. "
Indra has been identified here with the Supreme Lord, the Brahman associated with (aggregate of) Maya. Here ' Maya ' denotes the projecting power (विक्षेप शक्ति) of the Supreme Lord.' Maya ', although one, but its powers to cover the true nature of Brahman are manifold according to different Jivatmas (individual selves).
As a forest, from the standpoint of the units that compose it, may be designated as a number of trees, and as a reservoir from the same point of view may be spoken of as quantities of water, so also ignorance when denoting separate units is spoken of as many.
________________________________________________
The Realisation of Brahman :
The well-known ‘Devi Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.125) is another striking example of a Samhita mantra depicting Advaitic experience.
The word " चिकितुषी " in the third mantra of this sukta is explained by Sayana as :
"cikitushi yatsakshat kartavyam param barhma tajnatavati svatmatya sakshat krtavati "
" She (the rishi) had known or realized as her own Self the supreme Brahman, that which must be realized. "
In this sukta, realising her identity with Brahman, Vaak who is the daughter of Rishi Ambhrina, says :
अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुतविश्वदेवैः |
अहं मित्रावरुणोभा बिभर्म्यहमिन्द्राग्नीहमश्विनोभा ||
............. Rig Ved 10.125.1
" I move with Rudras and Vasus, I walk with the Sun and other deities, I esteem mithra, varuna And Indra, fire and the Aswini devas. "
अहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चाहं कक्षीवाँ ऋषिरस्मि विप्रः।
अहं कुत्समार्जुनेयं न्यृञ्जेऽहं कविरुशना पश्यता मा॥
............... Rig Ved 4:26:1
" I was Manu and I was Surya; I am the wise rishi Kaksivan ; I have befriended Kutsha, the son of Arjuni ; I am the far-seeing Usana ; behold me. "
This mantra attributed to sage Vamdev : the sage uttered the verse and the following two verses, while yet in the womb, knowledge of Brahman being generated in him, and enabling him to identify himself with universal existence; through the eye of supreme truth I am everything.
Innumerable mantras of the Rig Ved Samhita have been explained by Sayanacharya in an exclusively Advaitic sense.
_______________________________________________
The Identity of Jiva and Brahman :
Some mantras of the ‘Purusha Sukta’ (which occurs in the Shukla Yajur Ved as well) are interpreted even by Sayanacharya in Advaitic terms.
Sayana commenting on the mantra beginning with :
परि द्यावापृथिवी यन्ति सद्यः परि लोकान् परि दिशः परि सुवः
~ Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12
" Having gone swiftly round the earth and heaven, around the worlds, around the sky, around the quarters",
Acharya Sayana states :
"Here the nature of jiva is Brahman."
~ (Sayanacharya's commentary on Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12)
Similarly, the Krishna Yajur Ved Samhita too is full of mantras which have an Advaitic content. The Tandya Brahmana and the Samavidhana of the Sama Ved are equally rich in Advaitic ideas. So also the Atharva Ved.
For example, the following mantra traditionally associated with the Mundak Upanishad (3.1.1) is found in the Rig Ved as well :
दवा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वर्क्षं परि षस्वजाते |
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं सवाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभि चाकशीति ||
........... Rig Ved 1.164.20
" Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, cling to the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruits of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating. "
The mantra brings out the essence of Advaita philosophy and the identity of jiva and Brahman. The bird on the lower branch is the jiva and the one sitting on the upper branch of the tree as witness, without eating fruits, is God Himself.This mantra shows that though its philosophical and logical perfection is reached in Upanishadic literature, the origin of Advaita philosophy is, in fact, to be found in the Rig Ved Samhita itself.
________________________________________________
The Conditioned and Supreme Brahman :
One of the most striking depictions of the relation between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the absolute and the relative, the ultimate cause and its effect : Karana Brahman and Karya Brahman (कार्य ब्रह्म एवं कारण ब्रह्म) and the assertion that both are, in reality, infinite, full and perfect, occurs towards the end of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita in the Shanti mantra for the Ishavasya Upanishad beginning with :
‘ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं .....‘
" That (supreme Brahman) is infinite, and this (conditioned Brahman) is infinite. "
The above mantra occurs also in Brihadaranyak Upanishad 5.1.1.(see Shankaracharya's commentary).
Several portions of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita (for instance, the ‘Rudradhyaya’) contain ideas that are strikingly Advaitic in content and form.
The Rig Ved gives a great message in the first mantra of the thirteenth Sukta of the tenth mandala. This is perhaps the most forceful expression of man’s divinity and immortality found in the whole of Vedic literature. It runs as follows:
युजे वां बरह्म पूर्व्यं नमोभिर्वि शलोक एतु पथ्येवसूरेः |
शर्ण्वन्तु विश्वे अम्र्तस्य पुत्रा आ ये धामानिदिव्यानि तस्थुः ||
........... Rig Ved 10.13.1
" O my sense organs and their presiding deities, I salute you (that is, I merge you all with the eternal Brahman through meditation). May this hymn of praise spread everywhere through the medium of the wise. May you all, children of immortal Bliss, and all those living in the bright (divine) worlds, listen to me ! "
________________________________________________
The word Brahman or Brāhmaņa occurs more than a hundred times in the Rig-Ved. In only one place, the Purusha Sūkta occurring in the tenth mandala, uses the term Brāhmaņa to signify an order.
Again, Brahman of the Rig-Ved is not the Brahman, Para Brahman of the Upanishads, the highest principle of Existence. Rig-Ved uses the words "tad ekam", "That one," param (beyond), "Ekam Sat" (one reality) to signify the principle of Para Brahman or “The one without a second" of the Upanishads.
Brahman is used in the Rig Ved as term for a high divinity or as another name for Agni :
असादि वर्तो वह्निराजगन्वानग्निर्ब्रह्मा नर्षदने विधर्ता |
दयौश्च यं पर्थिवी वाव्र्धाते आ यं होता यजति विश्ववारम ||
......... Rig Ved 7.7.5
“He has come, chosen bearer, and is seated in man's home, Brahman, Agni, the Supporter, He whom both Heaven and Earth exalt and strengthen whom, Giver of all boons, the Hotar worships ."
The term Brahman is also used to represent the spoken word. Brahman acquires the meaning of unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality in the Upanishads.
" Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
No comments:
Post a Comment