Sri Aurobindo’s Method of Interpretation

To understand the intent of the Veda one needs to understand the nature of its language as also the abstract psychological phenomena which it represents. These two aspects are interlinked and are central to Sri Aurobindo’s method of interpretation.

Language, in the early Vedic period, was at a stage where it was extremely fluid. It had not been cast into a fixed mould where each word referred to a particular thing and that thing alone. There was a creative utilization of word roots and each root could have multiple meanings. The word that a root gave birth to held, first, the sense of the root, and then, of the object which it named.

“The word for the Vedic Rishi is still a living thing, a thing of power, creative, formative. It is not yet a conventional symbol for an idea, but itself the parent and former of ideas. It carries within it the memory of its roots, is still conscient of its own history.”^[1]

“When in English we use the word “wolf” or “cow”, we mean by it simply the animal designated… But for the Vedic Rishi “vrika” meant the tearer and therefore, among other applications of the sense, a wolf; “dhenu” meant the fosterer, nourisher, and therefore a cow. But the original and general sense predominates, the derived and particular is secondary.”^[2] 

Secondly, there is a particular kind of inner, psychological experience that is being expressed through the hymns of the Veda. In fact, this fluidity of language gave the Rishis a suitable medium for conveying their abstract experiences.

“In that original epoch thought proceeded by other methods than those of our logical reasoning and speech accepted modes of expression which in our modern habits would be inadmissible. The wisest then depended on inner experience and the suggestions of the intuitive mind for all knowledge that ranged beyond mankind’s ordinary perceptions and daily activities.”^[3]

This inner experience is also the deeper layer of meaning behind the outer ritualistic and naturalistic framework and the Veda itself reveals it in certain passages. In such verses, the veil of symbols temporarily lifts and the spiritual intent is seen without any doubt whatsoever. One is required to find and hold on to these clues and correlate them with other occurrences of the same ideas. Eventually, one is able to affix the exact meaning to each symbol, each image, and the seemingly disconnected mass of hymns becomes a unified expression of a single conception.

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[1] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.54, Line no.6 from bottom

[2] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.55, Line no.1

[3] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.10, Line no.2

Brihaspati - The Creative Soul-Force

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

Brihaspati is one of the most important Vedic deities. In the later Puranic literature, Brihaspati was merely the teacher of the gods. However, in the Veda, he has a much deeper significance and a larger role to play in man’s spiritual development.

Brihaspati is also referred to as Brahmanaspati in the Veda – a name which was omitted in the Puranas. We have to first understand this name to begin unravelling the symbolism behind Brihaspati.

The word ‘brahman’, among other meanings, signifies the Vedic mantra, the intuitive Word which expresses the Truth. The Rishis were seers of the Truth and the mantras were the expressions of that Truth in words.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Brahman in the Veda signifies ordinarily the Vedic Word or mantra in its profoundest aspect as the expression of the intuition arising out of the depths of the soul or being.”[1]

Brahmanaspati is the Master of this Word.

Now, we have to understand that this Word is no ordinary word but the creative Power or Force by which, first, the all-containing and all-formulating (supramental) consciousness[2] descends into matter, and then, it is also the means by which man ascends out of the subconscient to that same Supramental consciousness. For both processes, the Word is the means.

In the later Puranic tradition, both these processes were separately represented – the former by Brahma, the creator, the foremost of the holy trinity; and the latter by Brihaspati, the counsel to the gods, who guides them towards the Truth.

“The Divine, the Deva, manifests itself as conscious Power of the soul, creates the worlds by the Word… This power of the Deva is Brahma..

The manifestation of the different world-planes in the conscient human being culminates in the manifestation of the superconscient, the Truth and the Bliss, and this is the office of the supreme Word or Veda. Of this supreme word Brihaspati is the master… Brihaspati gives the Word of knowledge.. to the gods and especially to Indra, the lord of Mind..

It is easy to see how these conceptions came to be specialised in the.. Puranic symbolism into Brahma, the Creator, and Brihaspati, the teacher of the gods. In the name, Brahmanaspati, the two varying stresses are unified and equalised. It is the link-name between the general and the special aspects of the same deity.”[3]

Brihaspati is thus invoked by the Rishis to facilitate the ascent to the luminous Truth-consciousness or Supramental-consciousness. Although, this consciousness is manifest in man, but it is obscured by the Inconscient and the Subconscient – represented in the Veda as the Dasyus, sons of darkness, Vritra, Vala, Pani etc.

But it is not by physical weapons that the Dasyus are defeated, but by the power of the intuitive Word, the brahman, that Brihaspati and other Gods subdue the dark forces. This was perhaps the origin of the mythical brahmāstra of the Puranas and Itihasas.

bṛhaspatiḥ prathamaṃ jāyamāno maho jyotiṣaḥ parame vyoman

saptāsyas tuvijāto raveṇa vi saptaraśmir adhamat tamāṃsi

sa suṣṭubhā sa ṛkvatā ghaṇena valaṃ ruroja phalighaṃ raveṇa

bṛhaspatir usriyā havyasūdaḥ kanikradad vāvaśatīr ud ājat

– R.V. IV.50.4-5

“Brihaspati, coming first into birth from the great Light in the supreme ether, seven-mouthed, multiply-born, seven-rayed, dispelled the darknesses; he with his host that possess the stubh and the Rik broke Vala into pieces by his cry. Shouting Brihaspati drove upwards the bright herds that speed the offering and they lowed in reply.”[4]

           

Brihaspati is often imaged as one who breaks open the dark mountain caves and releases the Light by the force of the Word. This represents how the Soul-Force breaks open the rock of this material existence and reclaims the luminous Truth-consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo summarily explains:

“The conscious Soul-Power that is the universal creator and realiser, leads in all his (man’s) activities. It gives him the guidance of the Truth in his relations with all creatures and therefore he acts upon them with an entire and spontaneous mastery. This is the ideal state of man that the soul-force should lead him, Brihaspati, Brahma, the spiritual light and counsellor, and he realising himself as Indra, the royal divinity of action, should govern himself and all his environment in the right of their common Truth.”[5]

This is the secret of the Vedic deity, Brihaspati.

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[1] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.318, Line no.2

[2] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.318, Line no.15

[3] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.318, Extracts from Parah.2

[4] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.143, Line no.11

[5] The Secret of the Veda, Pg.324, Line no.11
Picture Source: Wikipedia