Weaving the Universe
The Rig Veda X.130 describes our ancient progenitors as weaving the universe
with their cosmic sacrifice, YAJŃA. The universe is interwoven in the vaults
of heaven on shuttle-wheels [cakrus-tasarâny-otave], backwards and forwards.
By rays of the gods, by the threads extended, drawn out, spreading on every
side, the acts of a hundred 'gods' — the world is woven
Although the Sanskrit term YAJŃA is usually taken to mean sacrifice, modern
scholars have said that it is unfortunate that this word has been translated
as 'sacrifice', because the real meaning is the transformation of one form
of energy into another. The subtle realms once invisible to the human eye,
solidify becoming material, and over time dissolve back into their source
the unseen. The world we exist in is said to be the YAJŃA of the ubiquitous
One, a portion of God turned inside out. Thus it is the sacrifice of Its
Oneness that allows for the appearance of multiplicity we play in and enjoy.
The Meters in the Rig Veda
Sound must be considered when contemplating the manner in which subtle
energies are transformed into matter that is differentiated and perceivable
to the five senses. The verses in the Rig Veda are written in specific
meters. The major meters in the Rig Veda are Gayatri, Ushnik, Anushtup,
Brihati, Pańgkti, Trishtup, and Jagati [R.L. Kashyap]. The priests are
rigorously trained in the perfection of their intonation of these various
meters. The precise numerical harmonic relationships that connect the
sounds, weaving them into patterns are of the greatest import and the key to
success.
Why after thousands of years are the mantras in the Rig Veda still
considered to have great power? In 'Sonic Theology', Guy L. Beck says: "The
Rig Veda is believed to be impregnated with sacred speech, Vâk [word]...The
Rishis (sages) are said to have visualized the mystic form of Vâk which is
subtle, eternal or imperishable and incomprehensible by ordinary sense
organs. ...Vâk is said to reside in the 'upper-half of heaven,' with only a
portion of herself known to mortals. Rig Veda verse I.164.45: Vâk was
divided in four parts [catvâri vâk]. These the Brahmins with insight know.
Three parts, which are hidden, mortals do not activate; the fourth part they
speak."
Any musician knows how powerfully sound can alter the emotional state of the
listener. Audiences can be manipulated by sound. Sounds can sooth, heal and
elevate, or drive us mad. Some are beyond the human ear to hear and thus are
silent sounds, which nevertheless affect us. We know that incantations are
considered an intrinsic mechanism in magic. The rhythms of various sounds
and their repetition are known to create certain forms — whether they are in
the mental, astral or material realms.
Sound/Shabda & Light/Prakasha
Sound travels through all material substances. Sound is composed of
longitudinal waves (alternate compressions and expansions of matter) and
light is composed of transverse waves in an electromagnetic field. Sound
waves require a solid, liquid, or gaseous medium; light waves travel through
empty space. Light can travel in a vacuum, but sound cannot exist in a
vacuum because there is nothing to oscillate. Sound waves travel a million
times slower than light waves.
Sound is vibration and vibration can be quantified. I am suggesting that the
meters in the ancient Rig Veda verses are the remnants of quantified
vibrational frequencies, formulas in sound used by the beings who colonized
our planet Earth with their advanced technology, and made Earth habitable
for the various races they cultivated here. The most well known meter is the
Gayatri, because the famous Gayatri Mantra in the Rig Veda III.62.10
composed by the Rishi Vishvamitra is said every day by millions around the
planet, including me. Each of the meters correlates to numerical
quantifications.
What I am feeling is that the Rishis were themselves participants in the
creation of Life on planet Earth, either they were actually members of the
ancient colonizing beings, as I believe the Angirases were — or they
elevated themselves to positions that made them somewhat 'equal' to their
progenitors. This earned equality gave them the right to be taught the
subtle mechanics of using sound to generate form. This is inferred in the
Rig Veda itself where it appears that a few chosen special humans were
elevated and 'became' gods.
The verses themselves and their meters are actually formulas that create,
bringing the subtle realms of energy into form. The meters correlate with
cosmic and metaphysical principles.
Common sense tells us earthlings that the unidentified ships that fly in our
skies do not use any form of propulsion that we know about. Many have
surmised that technologies exist that can manipulate both Space & Time — and
thus allow the vast distances in space to be traversed.
Bruce Cathie in his 1998 book, 'The Harmonic Conquest of Space' says: "The
universe does not rely on chance to manifest within itself the physical
substances which we perceive and call reality. A very strict, ordered system
of mathematical progressions is necessary to create the smallest speck of
matter from the primeval matrix of space."
Mathematical progressions encoded in sacred verses
I am proposing that the ancient meters in the Rig Veda are the remnants of
this very strict, ordered system of mathematical progressions that the
Rishis knew to be of such great importance that they encoded them into their
sacred verses. The efficacy of using these rhythms would have diminished
down through the Cycles of Time into our current Kali Yuga. The quality of
results would also depend on and be relative to the consciousness of the one
voicing them.
Back to Bruce Cathie: "During my years of research into the complexities of
the Earth grid system, I have gradually built up a picture in my mind of the
possible geometric combinations necessary to form matter from resonating,
interlocking wave-forms." What could be more descriptive of the metaphysical
idea of the 'Woven Universe' than Cathie's idea of forming matter from
resonating, interlocking waveforms!
Vibratory waves & magnetic forces give birth to the elements
Cathie: “The period or frequency rate between each pulse of physical matter
creates the measurement that we call time…”
In 'While the Gods Play', Alain Danielou explains the ancient theory of
Samkhya thus: “Space represents pre-matter, the substratum in which energy
can be manifested in the form of vibratory waves and magnetic forces which
give birth to the elements, to the appearance of matter. In the conception
of Samkhya…the subtle precedes the concrete…objects are simply made up of
galaxies of atoms, centers of energy…[whose] appearance is illusory. Time
and everything that will be established in the universe are forms of energy.
The various forms of time are simply the relative measurement of dynamic
tendencies (vritti), the vibratory or gravitational movements that
constitute matter, the perceptible substance of the universe.”
A complex pattern of interlocking waveforms
Vibrating effulgence is Word at its ultimate stage
The Manifestation of Sound: "The activity of divine consciousness which
brings the universe into existence, and which at the highest level...is pure
light, Prakâsha, is often described as a flashing forth, a radiance, a
luminous vibration... This vibrating effulgence, as much as that of
consciousness, is that of Word at its ultimate stage... Manifestation, as it
is born out of the Word [VÂC] and along with it, may thus be understood as a
flashing forth which gradually becomes obfuscated.
"This occurs through a series of transformations and condensations of sound
or phonic primal energy, which gradually brings forth (but in a never-ending
process, for it takes place beyond time) the manifested universe, a process
that takes place analogously in human beings, within whom the sound (and
then speech) will develop following a process corresponding to that of the
cosmogony, and where the phonetic symbols appear as closely related to
visual metaphors referring to the Word's aspect of light." [VÂC, The Concept
of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras, by André Padoux]
What follows is my translation of X.130 with hopefully useful notes and
comments. I could not even begin my interpretations without the translations
of India's real scholars, who I have noted below. I openly state that I am
not a Sanskrit scholar. I am an old mystic, seeker of truth, and a painter.
I hold the Rig Veda in the highest esteem. I make no pretense to authority.
My off-planet interpretations of the Rig Veda are purely intuitive and
visionary — meaning what comes to me, what I see in the 'eye of my mind' as
I transcribe the verses in Sanskrit and read the various conflicting
translations.
Rig Veda X.130 - Rishi Yajńah Prâjâpatyah
1. The ancient fathers, our progenitors, they weave transforming the threads
[from waveform frequencies into the appearance of solidity and back again],
weaving forwards and backwards, which is drawn out, on every side extended,
by the acts of a hundred 'gods' [metaphysical powers] as worship when the
vast world is woven.
2. Man [PUMÂN] accomplished in meter [specific frequency waveforms], like a
painter spreads out the web, the prayers of the interwoven Sâman mantras
serve as the wheels of a weaving shuttle, above over the sky, the firmament,
in the vault of heaven, causing the rays of the 'gods' [metaphysical powers]
to abide, remain, settle.
[The translators take the word PUMÂN to mean either 'the First Man' (our
Lord) - and Kashyap gives the word Prajâpati
(lord of the creatures, creator, from praja = creation & pati = lord) as the
meaning. However the meaning of PUMÂN in the Sanskrit Dictionary is simply
'man' - thus I have to assume that this is one of those wherein the scholars
"have always known" and yet as always I wonder.]
3-5.
The Gâyatri meter is associated with Agni [Divine Cosmic Fire].
The Ushnik meter united with Savita [a stimulator, rouser, vivifier;
identified with the Sun (Surya), but not the sun itself, which is Surya.
Savita is rather the vivifying power and divine influence of the Sun].
Anushtubh made Soma radiant. [I believe Soma is plasma.]
Brihati increased the power of the words of Brihaspati [son of Angiras].
The meter Virât was the glory of Mitra [also associated with the Sun, but
the light that spreads before the rise of the Sun; Rishi Vasishtha calls
Surya the eye of Mitra in VII.63.1; sustains earth and sky] and Varuna
[guardian of waters, who fashions and upholds heaven. Varuna and Mitra are
both born in the celestial world or solar world V.69.4 — the sons of Aditi
the celestial Light giver].
Trishtubh meter was given to Indra in the morning offering.
Jagati meter entered into (voiced by) Vishvedevâh.
Rishis [Seers] and men were created by this Cosmic worship - Yajńa.
6. [The Rishi Yajńa Prâjâpatyah says that he is beholding, seeing in the
'eye of the mind' — pashyan manasâ cakshasâ — our ancient progenitors
(pitaro) perform this ancient transformation, sacrifice Yajńa, which created
the Rishis and human beings.]
7. The seven divine Rishis are turned [inclined and prepared through their
intensely focused discipline and TAPAS heat] towards knowledge with the
authority (pramâ) in the stoma (praise hymns) chants [meters & their
meaning], intelligently skillful and wise, [they] keep in mind their ancient
predecessors and move along the path (panthâm) like charioteers who took up
the reins (rashmin).
V. Susan Ferguson
RIG VEDA SAMHITA: Mandala X, (Text in Devanagari, Translation and Notes), by
R.L. Kashyap; Saksi, Published in collaboration with ASR, Melkote; Sri
Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore, India, 2007,
2012.
Rig Veda, Volume XII [Book X, Hymns 87-191], Translated by Swami Satya
Prakash Saraswati and Satyakam Vidyalankar; DAV Publication Division, Delhi,
2011.
Essentials of Rig Veda (With the Text, Translation and Explanation of 62
Mantras), by R.L. Kashyap; Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic
Culture, Bangalore, 2005, 2009.
The Harmonic Conquest of Space, by Bruce Cathie; Adventures Unlimited Press,
Illinois, 1998.
VÂC, The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras, by André Padoux,
translated by Jacques Gontier; SUNY 1990, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi
India, 1992.
Sonic Theology, Hinduism and Sacred Sound, by Guy L. Beck; University of
South Carolina Press, 1993.
THE ROOTS, VERB-FORMS and PRIMARY DERIVATIVES of the SANSKRIT LANGUAGE, (A
Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar, 1879), by William Dwight Whitney;
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, Delhi, 1963 - 2006.
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Terms Defined in
English, John Grimes; Indica Books, 2009.
Sanskrit-English Dictionary, M. Monier-Williams; Two volumes, Recomposed and
improved edition; Indica Books and Parimal Publications, New Delhi, 2008.
A Study of Deities in Rig Veda, by S.S. Gupta; Abhinav Publications, New
Delhi, 2006.
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