Usha - Dawn of the Truth

(This article was first published in the August 2016 issue of 'The Call Beyond', monthly magazine of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, New Delhi.)
 

“The human individual is an organised unit of existence which reflects the constitution of the universe. It repeats in itself the same arrangement of states and play of forces. Man, subjectively, contains in himself all the worlds in which, objectively, he is contained.”[1]

- Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda

The spiritual progress of the Rishis towards Truth-consciousness is represented through a complex system of symbols and imagery in the Veda. Many aspects of the physical, natural world are utilized to represent psychological phenomena because they are, in essence, quite the same. One such key Vedic representation is the imagery of Dawn and the rising Sun.

In the physical world, dawn is the gentle daylight which precedes the arrival of a bright, shining sun. In the Veda, too, Dawn precedes the advent of Sun or Surya. But it is not merely the description of the everyday physical dawn but the rarest of rare dawns of the supramental or Truth-consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo calls Surya the Master of Truth[2]. The word ‘surya’ means illuminator and it is a symbol for the luminous Truth-consciousness. Regarding Surya, Sri Aurobnido writes:

“His rays in their own nature are supramental activities of revelation, inspiration, intuition, luminous discernment, and they constitute the action of that transcendent principle which the Vedanta calls Vijnana, the perfect knowledge, the Veda Ritam, the Truth. But these rays descend also into the human mentality and form at its summit the world of luminous intelligence, Swar”[3]

Swar is the summit of Vedic heaven and the realm of Surya which is nothing but that luminous plane of consciousness where only Truth is seen. Dawn or Usha is the medium for this luminous awakening.  She represents the perceptive vision of the mind which is capable of seeing the Truth clearly. 

vi nūnamuchādasati para ketu - R.V. I.124.11

Now perceptive vision has broken out into its wide dawn where nought was before[4]

Sri Aurobindo explains the role of Usha in great detail: “By her increasing illumination the whole nature of man is clarified; through her he arrives at the Truth, through her he enjoys the Beatitude.”[5]

The following hymns will help us appreciate these ideas better:

dyutad-yāmānam bṛhatīm ṛtena ṛtāvarīm… svar āvahantīm - R.V. V.80.1

“of a luminous movement, vast with the Truth, supreme in (or possessed of) the Truth, bringing with her (the luminous world of) Swar”[6]

yā vahasi puruspārhaṃ vananvati ratnaṃ na dāśuṣe mayaḥ - R.V. VII.81.3

“thou who bearest to the giver the beatitude as a manifold and desirable ecstasy.”[7]

One may find it strange that the same Usha is also described in the Veda as gomatī aśvavati. Literal translation of these epithets would be cowful and horsed, which seems bizarre. However, Sri Aurobindo shows that actually these words, go and aśva, which generally mean cow and horse, are actually symbols congruent with the overall schema of Vedic symbolism. 

Cows are a symbol of Light, they represent the luminous rays of Surya, and this is proved by Sri Aurobindo by referring to numerous Vedic hymns:

 

prati bhadrā adṛkṣata gavāṃ sargā na raśmayaḥ - R.V. IV.52.5

“her happy rays come into sight like cows released into movement.”[8]

saṃ te gāvas tama ā vartayanti jyotir yachanti - R.V. VII.79.2

 “Thy cows (rays) remove the darkness and extend the Light”[9]

These and many other mentions of cows indicate towards the sense of Light. Similarly, it is shown that horse is the symbol for Prana or nervous energy.

“A study of the Vedic horse led me to the conclusion that go and aśva represent the two companion ideas of Light and Energy, Consciousness and Force, which to the Vedic and Vedantic mind were the double or twin aspect of all the activities of existence.”[10]

Thus, the bounty that Usha brings is not merely material wealth but that rich state of being which turns towards the Truth-consciousness. 

Sri Aurobindo summarily describes Usha as: “the inner dawn which brings to man all the varied fullnesses of his widest being, force, consciousness, joy; it is radiant with its illuminations, it is accompanied by all possible powers and energies, it gives man the full force of vitality so that he can enjoy the infinite delight of that vaster existence.”[11]

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[1] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 288, Line no.1

[2] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 287, Line no.2

[3] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 287, Line no.3

[4] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 134, Line no.19

[5] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 295, Line no.4

[6] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 132, Line no.23

[7] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 133, Line no.18

[8] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 126, Line no.19

[9] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 126, Line no.22

[10] The Secret of the Veda, Pg 44, Line no. 20

[11] The Secret of the Veda – Pg. 136, Line no.15