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Posted on September 26, 2009 by Sandeep Sri Aurobindo and his disciples uncovered connections between the Vedas and the later scriptures such as Upanishads, Puranas and the Tantra, by tracing the evolution of concepts, use of common verses and the underlying symbolism between these scriptures. This is a synopsis of their discoveries collated from a variety of sources.
forms suitable for the changing needs of later times. As M.P. Pandit, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, wrote, the Upanishads frequently invoke the authority of the Vedic seers, in confirmation of what they say e.g. tadetadrcabhyuktam, (this is said by the Rik) or taduktam rsina bhuktyam (that is said by the Rishi) etc. or quote a whole Rik in clinching their pronouncement. Many of the ideas expounded by the Upanishads, can be found present in germ form in the Vedas. (MPU, 8.)
Now we will outline some points of correspondence discovered by Sri Aurobindo and his disciples between various scriptures:
Seven cosmic Planes Gods Vedic Vak the theory of sound The metaphor of two birds on the tree The golden lid The triple cord Vijnana and Prajnana Vidyas (paths of realization)
while Tantra saw the world as the Divine Being itself in its Power (Shakti) aspect. In the words of Nolini Kanta Gupta, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo: The exclusive stress of the Vedantic system on Chit, Pure Consciousness, led to the realisation of the Pure Being(Purusha) as mere Witness, Observer, a passive consciousness. Subsequently, it was also added that the Purusha is not merely a Witness, (saksi), but the Upholder (bharta), even Enjoyer (bhokta) of the world and creation; finally it was added also that the Purusha may be a creator also (karta), but all this is somewhat outside the pale of orthodox Vedanta, Mayavada. Tantra equated Consciousness with Energy; for it Conscious Energy or Consciousness-Energy is the indivisible Mother-Reality. The Vedanta ends in Ananda, it is a static unitary Ananda. The Tantra posits a dynamic Ananda, a dual Ananda between Ishwara and Ishwari, Shiva and Shakti. (NKG, 182)
Gods
In the Vedic conception of the Universe, Gods represent Cosmic Powers, which represent various creative aspects of the Supreme Divine, much like the way cabinet ministers represent the leader of the country. Sri Aurobindo discovered the Gods conceptualized in the Puranas, Upanishads and Tantra were actually derivatives of the Vedic Gods. The Vedic conception of the Divine is fundamentally a monotheistic system, wherein the various Gods can be seen as flavors that represent some essential Puissance of the One Supreme. This fact is left vague in the Vedas, but clearly expressed in the Upanishads, where the same Vedic Gods such as Surya, Agni, Indra, Vayu are depicted, but are shown to occupy a subordinate position to the Divine (MPU).
To demonstrate the correspondence between the Puranas and the Vedas, I will borrow some quotations from R.L. Kashyaps SAKSI website: Brihaspati, Brahmanaspati, Brahma are the three names of the god to whom the Rishi Vamadeva addresses this mystic hymn of praise. In the later Puranic theogonies, Brihaspati and Brahma have long become separate deities. Brahma is the Creator, one of the Three, who form the great Puranic Trinity; Brihaspati is a figure of no great importance, spiritual teacher of the gods and incidentally guardian of the planet Jupiter; Brahmanaspati, the middle term which once linked the two, has disappeared. (VED1) The evolution of the Vedic Brahma into Ganapati of the Puranas and Tantra is illustrated here: In the Veda the three deities Brahma, Brhaspati and Brahmanaspati denote one Deity. In the Veda Brahma stands for the Potent Word, mantra. Brahmanaspati is thus the Lord of the mantras. This deity is also the popular elephant-faced God worshipped in the Puranas whose tusk is in the form of the sacred syllable OM or AUM. He appears in the Tantra
Yoga in the form of Ganapati, presiding deity over the para-vak, the speech supreme with his abode in the muladhara chakra, subtle body of every human. (VED2) Furthermore, Sri Aurobindo showed that in the later Puranic forms of worship, Saraswati is the goddess of speech, of learning and of poetry and Bharati is one of her names, but in the Veda Bharati and Saraswati are different deities. (SAV, 89). In addition, the Puranas have Gods by the name Maruts, who are brothers of Indra and Agni has become Kumara. (VED3, KS2 15-18)
To examine the correspondence between Vedic Gods and Tantric Gods, we turn to S. Shankaranarayanan, who adumbrated how the Tantric Gods were inspired by the Vedic Gods (SN). Although this correspondence was not one-to-one, each of the ten personalities of the Divine Mother in Tantra, had been formulated based on certain concepts and realizations of the Vedic seers. Also, for certain deities, in addition to prescribing the Tantric Mantras, the Tantric Seers prescribed Vedic verses for worship. Some of the examples cited by Shankaranarayan are (SN, 114-125):
In the Rig Veda, Agni is shown as having the power of carrying the spiritual aspirant across all tribulations, while Aditi (Divine Mother) is said to afford shelter as a ship. In Tantra, these functions are built into the conception of Tara. The Vedic symbolism of primordial darkness covered by darkness gave rise to the concept of Dhumavati (Divine Smoke Screen) in Tantra. The Rig Vedic primal seed of mind, Desire (Kama) was amplified as Kamakala, the concept of Tripurasundari. The all-pervasive indivisible infinity of the Divine Mother, Aditi, was used to build the concept of Bhuvaneshwari (she who pervades the worlds). The mounting aspiration concentrated at the base of things, flaming forth as Agni became the principle of Tripura Bhairavi.
Kapali Sastry notes that in the Vedas, Agni is the seer who finds the way, who burns the dross and cleanses the seeker of all sin and impurity, carries him through all obstacles, like a boat over the seas. In the Shakta Tantra, this same Deity came to be worshipped as Durga, the indomitable, the protectrix who carries the devotee safe across the sea of misery, the ocean of birth and death. More importantly, he found that in one place the exact Mantra addressed to Agni in the Vedas had been applied in Tantra to Durga. (KS2, 23)
As this passage from SAKSI points out, the Vedic Goddess Saraswati became the Guptagamini in Tantra:
The goddess Sarasvati appears in the Tantra as the, secret channel or river (guptagamini). Recall the three channels connecting the bottom Chakra (Muladhara) to the Chakra between the eye-brows (Ajna chakra), namely Ida, Pingala and Sushumna. The first two are identified with the subtle currents of the names Ganga and Jamuna. The subtle current flowing in the Sushumna, the middle channel, is Sarasvati. She is asleep normally. When she is activated by spiritual practises, she rises up indicating her manifestation (Rig Veda 1.164.49). She reaches the ajna chakra and starts to descend. Her descent indicates the manifested inspirational power is being directed to the performance of actions. The importance of the tantrik experience and explanation is that it acknowledges that the power of inspiration or Sarasvat is not only in cosmos (brahmanda) but also in our subtle body (pindanda). (VED4)
In the Rig Veda, Sri Aurobindo unveiled the symbolism of the three knots which (bodily) bind the human consciousness to the phenomenal world and showed that the same triple cord also occurs in the Upanishads (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9). Kapali Sastry pointed out that this triple cord was carried over to Tantra as well there is no doubt whatsoever that the triple bondage corresponds to the three knots famous in the tantra yoga under the names of Brahma, Vihu and Rudra. (KS1 ). Furthermore, this triple cord is also found in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. See the blog post Triple Cord for the relevant references.
Tantra Upanishads Kali Prana Vidya Tara Akshara Vidya Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III. 8 Tripura Sundari Vaishwanara Vidya Bhuvaneshwari Parovariyasi Vidya of the Chandogya Upanishad 1.9. Tripura Bhairavi Shandilya Vidya of Chandogya III.14 Chinnamasta Jyotirvidya of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Dhumavati Dhuma Vidya of Chandogya Upanishad Bagalamukhi Indra Yoni Vidya of Taittiriya Upanishad Matangi Udgitha Vidya Kamalatmika Madhu Vidya of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
References
[KS1] Kapali Sastry. Collected Works Vol 6 (SABDA) [KS2] Kapali Sastry. Sidelights on Tantra (openlibrary) as part of Collected Works. Vol 1 (SABDA) [KS3] Kapali Sastry. Lights on the Upanishads. (SABDA) MPU] M.P. Pandit. The Upanishads Gateways of Knowledge. (ISBN 9780941524445) [NKG] Nolini. Beyond Vedanta in Collected Works Vol 4. (link) [SN] S. Shankaranarayanan. Ten Great Cosmic Powers. (ISBN 978-8185208381) [SV] Sri Aurobindo. Secret of the Vedas. [VED1] http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/rig_veda/explaining_gods/brihaspati.html [VED2] http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/rig_veda/wisdom_veda/ganapati.html [VED3] http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/rig_veda/gods_of_veda/maruts.html [VED4] http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/rig_veda/gods_of_veda/sarasvati.html
Agni is the seer who finds the way, the pavaka who burns the dross and cleanses the seeker of all sin and impurity, carries him through all obstacles, like a boat over the seas. In the Shakta Tantra the same Deity worshipped as Durga, the indomitable, the protectrix who carries the devotee safe across the sea of misery, the ocean of birth and death. And what is more important, in one place the exact Mantra addressed to Agni in the Veda is applied here to Durga.
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