The Devas and the Veda as Consciousness

   The Veda  emphatically states That the deva are both gross /jada and subtle force/chaitanya. These devata are;
agnirdEvatA vAtO dEvatA sUryO dEvatA chandramA dEvatA vasavO dEvatA rudro ... varuNO dEvatA (Yajus 14-20)

sukarmANa surucO dEvayantO ayOna dEvA janimA  dhavantaH ....parishadantI Agyan || Rk Veda 4.2 .17.
   This mantra describes the dEvatA purusha that includesanybody who is of noble character, doing good to others.
VidvaaMsO hi dEvAH | Even the learned / jnyanis are dEvaas.

  yathA vashanti dEvAsthatE  dasat | Rk Veda 8. 28. 4 dEva janaaH |
Good hard working people are protected by Gods. This also sattes that the determined hard working persons can decide the course of action and get divine blessings in their pusruits. In other words, God helps those who help themselves..

 . triMshati trya paraH | Gods are 33 and they are gross (jada) as well as subtle forces (Chetana). Whoever displays the qualities of goodness are called gods! dEvO dAnadvAdeepanadvA dyOta nAdvA bhavatIti vAH | (Rk Veda 8.28.1). In this sense of the term the gross earth is also the deva who provides us food and shelter.

  Hence we need not search for God anywhere?
 The Veda as Consciousness, the Self (Atman)

  The Rk Veda Samhita is the Science of Consciousness- the path of Enlightenment and Liberation, Emancipation, mokshagati, or Mumukshu tattva. It is the synthesis of Yoga

    This concept is elaborately dealt with in great detail here. The Aryaman is a mumukshu here praying all the Deities for help and guidance. He addresses his Prayers first to Agni and Indra, and then to Rudra, Varuna, Maruta, Ashvins, Vasus, the Vishve Devas and the like. There are certain misunderstandings arising out of our confusion of Itihasa, Purana, Upanishads and other scriptures. These are, no doubt, constitute the Vedic Literature as well in the strict sense of the term; but, we living in the Twenty-first Century of the shalivahana shakha, or the Christian Era (CE), in the Prathama Charana of Kali yuga of the Seventh Kalpa (Vaivasvata manvantara) have to go back to the prathama charana of the Satya Yuga (Krita Yuga) 4.30 million years ago, the times when not even the Vedas were uttered! The Sun, Vivasvan was just born and was instructed of the fundamental principles of creation, sustenance, development and dissolution by Lord Shree Krishna. In fact, the Veda comes after this instruction of Gitopadesha to Sun God Vivasvan (4.56 Billion Years ago). The 'nasadiya Sukta' of the Rk Veda, Mandala X, came later when the Rishis got enlightened and became Maharishis (Sages of higher consciousness/Drushtaras). They cried in joy of enlightenment, in an exalted state of pure consciousness that came to be known as ‘the Veda’, the ‘Revealed Knowledge’. It is this apourusheya ut githa now available to us in tit bits that is causing so much difference of opinion and confusion.

     Thus, these Puranas, Itihas, Nirukta, Vyakarana (Grammar), Shiksha, Phonetics and study of Languages were produced out of this Knowledge. Thus, we have to imagine a situation where the Rishis and Devatas communicated only through signs and symbols- blessings of crystal-clear thought-particles like electric charges. Words come later than the images, Ideas, ‘Thought-forms’.  So we have to think in terms of the Veda without any influence of our present-day knowledge, particularly of the Puranas like Mahabharata and Ramayana. Then only, we would be able to clearly understand the Veda, as what the Veda is, and not as what Veda ought to be.

    At the present state of mind, fully loaded with all sorts of trash in the name of knowledge, we are bound to get confused with what we read as the Vedic Texts. Since we have come a long way from the height of pure consciousness to a muddled brain and mind full of desires it is difficult to rise again from the muddle. All those desirous of release from this bondage of avidya (Maya) seek guidance in the scriptures, the Veda. In a way, there is no constraint of Time and Space for Knowledge (Jnyan/’vid’), the Rk Veda Samhita, an intuitional Knowledge of the enlightened Sages, the ‘Drushtaras’, The Rishis are thus not of the bygone eons but anybody could be one if he/she reaches the exalted state of Mind, that level of pure consciousness. These Rishis are those who attain to this highest level of Consciousness, now and here, or anywhere. Anybody who is eager to attain Enlightenment, mokshagati may try and attain it and Prakruti/Nature also helps him/her in this adventure of consciousness.

     Hence, the names of the Rishis indicate the heightened levels of consciousness and these are only symbolic. The names of Dirghatamas, Madhuchanda, Vishva Mitra, or Ghrutsmad, etc. signify the state of existence at different levels of Consciousness. For instance, Dirghatamas was the one who was in a state of ignorance or darkness for quite a long time before he became enlightened. Anybody who attains the heightened state of consciousness and gets revelation of a mantra is a Rishi, drushtara. He attains this by Sadhana- spiritual practices like Dhyana, Dharana, Pranayama and Samadhi or, simply called Yoga. So, Sage Vishva Mitra here becomes the Sun, a friend of all. So also the Sage Bhrugu, Brishaspati or Brahmanspati is the teacher of all- gods and men.

   The Rishis have neither noted down their Yogic experiences, nor do they remember (smarana) their revealed Knowledge (obtained in a state of trance) intact and conveyed it to others in writing. Hence, the scriptures now available to us seem incomplete, incoherent, vague, ambiguous, abstract, and incomprehensible. These are known only as ‘shrutis’, the heard voices, anahata dhvani.

    In fact, there is no fixed time and place of origin of the Veda since it is said to be nitya, shuddha, and nirantara. Taking cue from this statement of the Veda, one can infer that the Veda is an ‘Eternal Science’ and could be easily obtained by anybody now and here, or anytime anywhere!

      However, it must be noted that, in fact, the Veda is not something (Knowledge/vid) to be attained; it is only Realization (anubhaava), experience (svaanubhava). It is not something that comes within the grip of Time or Space, nor it could be grasped by Mind or Intellect; once attained, it is not something that could be expressed by words in concrete terms. It is abstract. It concerns the Self, the Brahman, i.e., the Absolute Abstract, Atyantaabhava, a Dynamic Silence from where Sound, Time, Space, Causation, Light, Energy, Force, electricity and magnetism, creation- all begin.

   The Rk Veda Samhita presented here is not the traditional puritanical version that is restricted to Samskrut scholars or the Yajnic ritualists. It is the Samhita, not just a collection of Verses/Mantra/Rks but the Totality, Wholeness, of ‘vid’ and it encompasses all faculties of Knowledge- science, philosophy, religion or spirituality, art and what not! It is a very rational and scientific rendering of the most important knowledge concerning the Self. It is an exact science in the sense that it explains everything going back to the Black Hole where the matter collapsed and disappeared under the weight of its own mass only to re-emerge at the end of it, the White Hole. It concerns with the origin of Stars, the Galaxies, the ‘Go Loka’, and Life and Death. It deals with the subtlest of the subtlest state of matter and goes back in its trail to the Spirit of the Matter, the Soul or the Aatmaa. It goes back to the state of the ‘Unmanifest’ manifest in subtlest form of vibration! It is the centre and the periphery, the Veda and the Vyasa, the Island or ‘Dvaipayana’! It is the undiminishing pure Consciousness, Krishna Consciousness! It is the pure, the Eternal, Unchanging and the All-pervading ‘sat’ and ‘cit’; rather, it is the ‘sat’ out of which the ‘cit’ (Knowledge), ‘citi’ (the Fire/Agni), chetasa, chetana, chaitanya, and ananda (Bliss) manifest. It is the creative force and, all that is found here is the product of this single inexplicable ‘tat’ or that something (that can never be known by the Intellect or the Mind); it is the Unmanifest Brahman, the Veda Brahma. It is the beginning and the end by itself, like a point on the circle! It is the centre as well as the periphery. It is Poornam, complete in itself. “Poornamadah poornam idam…”

    Thus, this approach to the study of Veda may seem to be a little different from all that we know so far. It is needless to say again that this is not a classification of the Veda(s) as ‘this and that’, but, it is the Rk Veda Samhita- not merely a collections of verses or Suktas. It is the Totality, Undivided, single, all-inclusive Knowledge/JNYAN. It is the ‘Wholeness on the move’. It is ‘poornam’, Total Knowledge (vid). It makes no difference between science, philosophy, art, or religion. It concerns the Soul (Atman), the Spiritual component of our system- body, mind, nerves and neurons and the soul- complex. Since all Knowledge is considered as ONE and ONLY- the Veda is by itself a plural number; it is not called the Vedas here. In fact, it is first the Atharva Veda (consisting of more than Twenty thousand Rks) that was imparted by Prajapati Brahma to his first manas putra (Brain-child) Atharvan, and it includes everything about creation, sustenance, development, and dissolution. Later, it was classified into four divisions to suit the requirements of the rituals of fire sacrifice and whoever did it is called the Veda Vyasa. But, this is also not an appropriate name since the term Veda and Vyasa means the part and the whole, the centre and the periphery connected by the radius, focal point and its outer sphere, the Circumference and the radius connecting the focus in geometry. It is totalty, wholeness or poornam. The world of Mathematics begins here and it is called the Vedic Mathematics. This aspect of the Veda is dealt with later in this Text.

     The Veda covers the whole gamut of Knowledge- of the Forty Divisions and Sub-divisions, such as the Rk, Saman, Yajus, Atharva, Stapathya, Gandharva, Ayur Veda, the Upanishads- Sankhya, Yoga, Purva  Mimamsa, and Vedanta- the Shad-Darshanas, culminating in the Totality of Knowledge. There are also techniques of learning such as the Shiksha, Vyakarana and Nirukta, the Veda Pratishakhyas, etc. Thus, it encompasses the entire Knowledge of the ‘holoverse’ or multiverse- everything in the universe. In fact, it unveils all the Qualities of Intelligence (QI) emerging from the Silence and the Sound (Shabda)- the static and yet the dynamic, the waves and vibrations, impulses, turbulence of the fluctuations of the radiant energy- electricity and magnetism, flowing in the form of Radiation of Light, the electro-magnetic waves (Quanta) pumped into space by the Sun (Solar Dust) and the Star Dust of host of Stars, may they be smaller or the larger, nearer or the farther ones. It is a mysterious science of Brahmandas, Mutiverses at that!

    Secret of the Veda is the secret of the secret of our existence. The secrets revealed in the Rks of the Veda emerge when we decode the Samhita that contains the Rishi, Devata and the Chandas values that go to structure the Veda Samhita. It goes to the point where the impulses start and create waves, sounds, and vibrations, that in turn, create Space (the Akasha), Mind (Manas), life-breath (Prana)- all due to Consciousness (Prajnya).

    “In pronouncing and listening to the sounds of the Rks of the Veda and the other Vedic Literature the universal holistic value of consciousness is enlivened in the total brain physiology and in each fibre of the brain, rather the nerves and neurons of the brain.” Much research has been done in this regard and this has been proved beyond all doubt” [Maharishi University of Management, U.S.A.).

  “The structure of the Veda, the sequential unfoldment of sound, which at the same time is the sequential unfoldment of the form (of the sound), is the sequential unfoldment of the shruti that which is heard by the Aatmaa, the self-referral consciousness, and darshan that which is seen by the self-referral consciousness” (ibid).

    Thus, the Veda is the science of ‘Consciousness’ that pervades the universe and manisfests as the Unmanifest, ‘cit’. It is the secret of our existence! Every living or animate being is the function of consciousness. The sounds of the Veda, the impulses of consciousness in the form of Rks of the Veda are actually seen (darshan) on the level of self-referral consciousness by self-referral consciousness. This is atma darshan. These sounds structure the forms in creation. “All the material and non-material expressions of creation have specific frequencies (sounds). These fundamental frequencies are also the frequencies which structure the human physiology and the universe; there is correspondence between consciousness, speech, text, the physiology and the entire creation (universe) in the Rk Veda and Vedic literature numbering forty in all, including the Rk Veda. The sequential development of the entire universe by the sound and the word is explained later.

   The methodology adopted here to decode the apourusheya, the ‘Revealed’ knowledge, the intuitional one, is the same as the one that is adopted by the great Sages and the ‘Revelations’ thus obtained are also the same. Transcendental Meditaion and the Siddhi obtained from regular practice of this technology (TM). This is the Maharishi Vedic Science as revealed by the technique of Transcendental Meditation. This Technique (Tantra) is also the same as Integral Yoga advocated by Sri Aurobindo. This Technique or Tantra would reveal the sat, cit, and ananda- the Bliss obtained from the Knowledge of Brahman (Brahmananda) enjoyed by the great 'drushtara' visionaries, Rishis, and is available to anybody anytime anywhere. Focused attention on the subject of Brahman (Brahma jijnasa or Brahma chintana) is the only way to know, rather realize, the Veda, i.e., the Atman, that is nevertheless Brahman (Integral Yoga). This realization requires synchronizing, streamlining, integrating the functions of the four major components viz, Body (Physical), Mind (Psychic), Nerves and Pranic Energy (Vital) and the Soul, Atma (the Spiritual entity). Integral Yoga helps to conserve the hitherto dissipated energy and direct it towards the ‘Realization of the Self’.