--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > Indian yogis personified the fields of nature they perceived to > make the science of yoga more understandable to the general public. > I heard a great lecture on this when in Cochin once. Personification > also makes teachings easier to remember.
A bit of synchronicity: I was looking for something in Google's archive for alt.meditation.transcendental and stumbled across the post from almost 10 years ago I'm reproducing below. I had found this essay on the Web site for the Age of Enlightenment Mall, a Fairfield operation that is apparently now defunct (at least, the URL no longer works). About The Vedic Deities The Inner Dimension of the Devas The consciousness which we experience in common as pure awareness has been described as long as man has existed in different terms. The totality of pure being which is the basis of the Cosmic Intelligence has been said to have the qualities of silence, omnipresence of love, and creative power. The ancient seers of every culture have described that Cosmic Intelligence which is formless, limitless, infinite, and pure awareness as the Mother of all Life. In ancient India, these great seers of thousands of years ago were called Rishis. They gave expression to their experiences of the unbounded Cosmic Intelligence or Self in the language of feeling. The language they used was a universal language called the Vedic Language of which Sanskrit is the present remnant. The word Veda means "knowledge", so the Vedic language was a language made up of the spontaneous expressions of the heart which came about as a result of direct cognition of the qualities of the objects, concepts and emotions they experienced. For example, one Vedic word in every culture is the sound Ma. "Mama" is a word expressing every child's experience of their mother and is expressive of the same mother quality across all nations and civilizations. [Note: It's been suggested that the sound "ma" refers to "mother" in so many cultures not because of any inherent subtle value of the sound that is expressive of experience of the maternal quality, but simply because when a baby starts to babble, "ma" is the first sound it makes--all it requires is opening and closing the mouth while activating the vocal cords. The sound has been associated with the mother because the mother is usually the first one to hear the baby make it, and it's assumed the baby's first utterance would be directed at the object in its environment that is the primary focus of its attention.--JS] Similarly our word "heart" is derived from the Vedic sound "Hrid" which described the sound of the pulse of the heart. When the Rishis wanted to express the silent value of pure consciousness they gave a name Shiva. The word "Shiva" means silence--"Shivam Shantam Advaitam Chaturtham" i.e., Shiva is silence (Shantam), non-dual (Advaitam), the fourth state of awareness (Chaturtham) transcending the transitory sleep, waking and dream states. Similarly when the Rishis wanted to express the value of omnipresence of love--that consciousness seemed to them so harmonizing and unifying--they expressed that quality as Vishnu: Vish means to pervade and nu means within, i.e. that consciousness which is all pervading within. When the Rishis wanted to express the fact that the Cosmic Intelligence, their Self, was huge and creative giving rise to the whole universe they used the word Brahma. The word Brahma comes from the sound Brihat (huge). The "B" in Brahma stands for the formation of boundaries; the "r" stands for activity of creation; the "a" indicates expansion of creation; and the "m" in Brahma signified the bliss of vibrating within oneself--the cosmic hum. It is that cosmic joy in waves of bliss that allows the universe to be maintained in ever expanding waves of life. Naturally, some Rishis felt that these three qualities of creative energy, omnipresence of love, and the quality of silence or pure beingness needed to be appreciated in terms of femininity. They felt that Cosmic Intelligence was nurturing and full of the lovingness that a mother would have so they expressed that feeling in terms of expressions reflecting the female nature (Mother Nature) of each of these sound-qualities previously mentioned. So some Rishis said that the silent nature of pure consciousness is Shivaa (feminine term like Shiva); other Rishis said that Cosmic Intelligence was omnipresent love as a Mother Divine called Vaishnavi (feminine form of the word Vishnu); and yet other Rishis expressed the creative energy of the Cosmic Self as Brahmi (feminine form of Brahma). In addition to the three primary aspects of the Cosmic Self as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva there was another value of the Self which was given the name of Ganapati. The word Ganapati or Ganesha means the lord of the ganas, the powers of the Transcendental Consciousness of Shiva. This aspect of consciousness represents the junction point between the Absolute Being (Shiva) and the totality of its multifold expressions (Shivaa or the Divine Mother--Mother Nature). This junction point represents the fully awake Cosmic Intelligence which is the vortex of transformations giving rise to all creative expressions in Nature. This is why the name "Gana-isha" or Ganesha was associated with all knowledge and dynamism of the artistic expressions of life, e.g. Lord of teachers, Lord of Gandharvans (celestial musicians--the sounds of nature), Lord of Happiness (Hrishta-citta = happy consciousness). This level of Intelligence also was given the name of Vighneshwara which means Lord of Obstacles-- ( Remover of Obstacles). That level of Cosmic Self which is fully awake and fully dynamic with all the powers of the Transcendent Silence simply is invincible and so was given the title of dominion over all difficulties or obstacles. There was later a further elaboration of these Vedic terms expressive of the feeling evoked by pure being or Cosmic Awareness: Brahmi became expressed as Saraswati--the wisdom needed to create the universe; Vaishnavi became known as Lakshmi--the omnipresence of love and positivity in the form of abundance and prosperity; and Shivaa became known as Parvati or Mahadevi--the Great Mother Divinity expressive of all the powers of nature stemming from the Great Silence of the Absolute. In Vedic times, thousands of years ago when the Rishis lived, these qualities of the Absolute and Mother Nature were experienced directly as qualities of one's own awareness and were not clearly personified. Personification of these qualities of consciousness came later as the Rishis sought to express to the ignorant the nature of Ultimate Reality of Universal Being in terms that the masses could easily understand. To express the silent value of the Cosmic Self (Shiva) the Rishis sought to portray this in terms which every human could appreciate. Therefore, Shiva is depicted as a Supreme Yogi who sits in the awesome silence of the highest mountain covered with eternal snows. Shiva sits in meditation experiencing the state of pure beingness, transcendental consciousness with the trishula (trident) at his side. The trishula represents mastery over the three forces of creation, maintenance, and evolution through change. In addition Shiva is envisioned as having a great Naga or Celestial Snake known as Vasuki around his neck. The coiled snake Vasuki represents the dynamic power of Enlightenment and pure energy of the Transcendent value of Shiva. The image of Shiva with a third eye of wisdom on his forehead also indicates the value of pure knowingness or inner consciousness fully aware of itself. Similarly, to portray the nourishing all enriching qualities of Mother Nature the Rishis portrayed Vaishnavi or Lakshmi (the feminine nurturing quality of omnipresence of consciousness) as a beautiful female adorned with jewels and attractive red dress. Lakshmi is seen as filled with bliss and love indicated by her smiling face. With one hand She holds a flower representing the beauty of creation, with the other hand She is showering gold representing all prosperity. Frequently the devas (creative aspects of the Self) such as Lakshmi are depicted with a multitude of arms each representing a different power of that aspect of the Supreme Self. Ganesha particulary was given a highly symbolic representation to enable humanity to comprehend His abstract Supreme Nature. Ganesha represents the cosmic humm, the point of supremely awake Intelligence at the junction between Absolute Consciousness and its Relative values in Nature. He is depicted with a large belly symbolic of the ability of that Consciousness to hold all the Cosmos with its galaxies, suns and planets within itself. He has the head of an elephant representing both ability to push aside obstacles with his head and trunk as well as having the memory and wisdom an elephant is said to possess. His elephant ears represent His ability to hear all sounds in creation simultaneously. Ganesha is depicted as having several arms, each represents one of His powers: one arm holds sweets--symbolizing His nourishing value, the other holds a weapon symbolic of protection; another arm holds a prod indicating His ability to push us on towards progress; his trunk may hold the pot of immortality representing the eternal value of one's Self. Ganesha is depicted as riding upon a mouse. The mouse represents the vehicle--mind and body--upon which the Self rides. This characterization of an enormous Ganesh riding upon a mouse brings home to us the reality the enormity of the Self riding upon the seemingly limited values of mind and body. In this graphic way the Rishis sought to bring to life the abstract qualities of the Self which otherwise would remain hidden from the mass of humanity. Some basic qualities of the Self and their Vedic names are given below for reference: Shiva Silence, non dual Self awake within Itself Parvati or Mahadevi Mother Nature, power of Shiva Kali Mother Nature in the role of Mistress of Time (kala is time), dissolving all things into the beingness of pure intelligence (Shiva) Vishnu Love, the omnipresence quality of the Self Lakshmi Purity, harmony, beauty, abundance and nourishing quality of the aspect of Love Brahma Cosmic Mind, the creative aspect of the Self Saraswati The Enlightenment, Wisdom aspect of the Cosmic Mind Ganesha The Cosmic Humm, the fully awake point of Infinite Intelligence at the junction point between Relative and Absolute, the center of Bliss Siddhi and Buddhi--Two powers of Ganesh: Perfection of accomplishment and Intelligence of the intellect Krishna That aspect of Vishnu (or Cosmic Love) which is all attractive and brings everything to oneness of love and devotion Radha The soul intoxicated with Divine Love of Krishna Ram Aspect of Cosmic Love (Vishnu) which is representing the Cosmic Soul (Soorya--the Sun) in the role of restoration of evolutionary values (dharma--i.e., that which sustains evolution) Indra The Unifying Value of the Self which unifies all the laws of nature in order to promote evolution (the Power of dharma) Indrani or Sachi The feminine power of unification and evolution Yama or Dharmaraja The Divine Conscience aspect of Self, one's purity of inner conscience; that aspect of the Cosmic Self which is the Divine Judge of all one's actions at the exit of life The above qualities are just a few of the Vedic names given to different aspects of one's inner Self. By looking deeply at the Vedic words and root meanings of these sounds it will be possible to understand more deeply the inner values they express. Copyright 1996 Henry Herzberger
