R. Narayanaswami
Active member
This post has an identifier as "Vedas - 104" in addition to its title of "Adhyathmic Meanings of Veda Mantras (Continued ..)".
The ID "Vedas-104" is chosen for this post because the 3 previous posts "Power of Veda mantras" will be given identifier of "Vedas - 101" and "Meanings of Veda mantras" the identifier "Vedas - 102" and the "Meanings of the Veda Mantras (continued)" the identifier "Vedas - 103". Future Veda posts in this series will be numbered with 105, 106 etc.
This post looks at 2 specific examples of partial Veda Mantras from Rig Veda to understand how the meanings of the Veda mantras change by use of spiritual meanings.
1. Phrase of Veda Mantra from RV (1.7.3): “gōbhiḥ adrim airayat”
gō: cow, water (Sayana), the direct word meaning; ray of knowledge (spiritual meaning)
adri: hill (real meaning, added by author), cloud (used by Sayana); force of ignorance (spiritual)
airayat: destroyed.
The "go" and "adrim" words were explained with direct and adhyathmic meanings in previous post, "Vedas-103" also.
Translation 1 (Spiritual meaning): (Indra) destroyed the forces of ignorance with the knowledge.
Translation 2 (Sayana): (Indra) charged the clouds with water.
Translation 3 (Griffith): (Indra) smashed the hill for getting the cows.
Analysis: “It is difficult to understand Translation 3. Even if there is information or knowledge that the cows are in (inside) the hill, by smashing the hill even the cows are destroyed with the hill. Translation 2 is acceptable, as part of the external word meanings, but where is the wisdom in the Mantra?”
2. Phrase of Veda Mantra from RV (1.53.4): “nirundhānō amatim gōbhir asvina”
nirundhānō: dispel
amatim: ignorance. Sayana assigns the meaning of ‘poverty’
gōbhir: cows (Sayana), Light (of knowledge) (spiritual meaning)
ashvina: horses (Sayana) Life energy (spiritual meaning)
Translation 1 (Spiritual meaning): Dispel our ignorance using the Light and Life energies.
Translation 2 (Sayana): Dispel our poverty by (giving us) cows and horses.
Analysis: “Sayana does not state how he assigned the meaning of ‘poverty’ to ‘amati’”
From these 2 examples, it may be noted that the spiritual and psychological meaning is the true meaning intended by the Veda mantras. This secret was known to the Rishis of the Vedas who taught it to their initiate disciples. The outer meaning acts as a cloak for preserving the true meaning from exposure to persons not prepared for their practice. In many places, Sayana’s explanations may not be useful even for his own purposes of outer yajna. Griffith’s meanings in many places do not make sense at all (that may be why he concluded that Vedas have no value and devoid of wisdom instead of concluding that he has not understood the true meanings of the Veda mantras).
The reason that many persons were not able to understand the spirituality and wisdom of the Vedas may be due to Veda Mantra meanings explained ONLY using with direct or external word meanings. After the early 20th century of works of Sri Aurobindo (SA) and works of Prof Kashyap by the end of the 20th century and early 21st century, we now have the full spiritual meanings available. Further posts in this series will attempt to explain the spirituality and wisdom in the Vedas.
The ID "Vedas-104" is chosen for this post because the 3 previous posts "Power of Veda mantras" will be given identifier of "Vedas - 101" and "Meanings of Veda mantras" the identifier "Vedas - 102" and the "Meanings of the Veda Mantras (continued)" the identifier "Vedas - 103". Future Veda posts in this series will be numbered with 105, 106 etc.
This post looks at 2 specific examples of partial Veda Mantras from Rig Veda to understand how the meanings of the Veda mantras change by use of spiritual meanings.
1. Phrase of Veda Mantra from RV (1.7.3): “gōbhiḥ adrim airayat”
gō: cow, water (Sayana), the direct word meaning; ray of knowledge (spiritual meaning)
adri: hill (real meaning, added by author), cloud (used by Sayana); force of ignorance (spiritual)
airayat: destroyed.
The "go" and "adrim" words were explained with direct and adhyathmic meanings in previous post, "Vedas-103" also.
Translation 1 (Spiritual meaning): (Indra) destroyed the forces of ignorance with the knowledge.
Translation 2 (Sayana): (Indra) charged the clouds with water.
Translation 3 (Griffith): (Indra) smashed the hill for getting the cows.
Analysis: “It is difficult to understand Translation 3. Even if there is information or knowledge that the cows are in (inside) the hill, by smashing the hill even the cows are destroyed with the hill. Translation 2 is acceptable, as part of the external word meanings, but where is the wisdom in the Mantra?”
2. Phrase of Veda Mantra from RV (1.53.4): “nirundhānō amatim gōbhir asvina”
nirundhānō: dispel
amatim: ignorance. Sayana assigns the meaning of ‘poverty’
gōbhir: cows (Sayana), Light (of knowledge) (spiritual meaning)
ashvina: horses (Sayana) Life energy (spiritual meaning)
Translation 1 (Spiritual meaning): Dispel our ignorance using the Light and Life energies.
Translation 2 (Sayana): Dispel our poverty by (giving us) cows and horses.
Analysis: “Sayana does not state how he assigned the meaning of ‘poverty’ to ‘amati’”
From these 2 examples, it may be noted that the spiritual and psychological meaning is the true meaning intended by the Veda mantras. This secret was known to the Rishis of the Vedas who taught it to their initiate disciples. The outer meaning acts as a cloak for preserving the true meaning from exposure to persons not prepared for their practice. In many places, Sayana’s explanations may not be useful even for his own purposes of outer yajna. Griffith’s meanings in many places do not make sense at all (that may be why he concluded that Vedas have no value and devoid of wisdom instead of concluding that he has not understood the true meanings of the Veda mantras).
The reason that many persons were not able to understand the spirituality and wisdom of the Vedas may be due to Veda Mantra meanings explained ONLY using with direct or external word meanings. After the early 20th century of works of Sri Aurobindo (SA) and works of Prof Kashyap by the end of the 20th century and early 21st century, we now have the full spiritual meanings available. Further posts in this series will attempt to explain the spirituality and wisdom in the Vedas.