The Rig Veda's Seventh Sukta: Further insights about King Indra

Let's start today's discussion of the Rig Veda's seventh Sukta with a relevant quote from the Course -- a quote so central to the process of awakening, I recently added it to my profile to serve as a constant reminder. Because, as Jesus explains somewhere in the Text, we can not be too often reminded of the Truth of our Being. And that Truth, as he states in Workbook Lesson 95 (I am One Self, united with my Creator), is essentially this:

You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be. You are one Self, the holy Son of God, united with your brothers in that Self; united with your Father in His Will. Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts. This is your Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with His strength within you and His Love forever yours. You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all your illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you. (ACIM, W-95.13:1-5)

It is given us to FEEL this Self within us, he says. And, in my experience, we FEEL that Self as a radiantly energetic fullness in the center of our chest. That energetic "fullness" is known as "pleroma" in Christian theology.

And it is this "fullness" or "pleroma" to which St. Paul refers in Ephesians 4:13, which reads:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the FULNESS of Christ.

Listening to the Living Water for extended periods feeds that glorious radiant fullness, and that glorious radiant fulness, in turn, feeds the Living Water. In this way, the two Great Rays work in symbiotic partnership to "cast all your illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you." 

This is both HOW the Holy Spirit engineered the At-one-ment process to work and WHY "drinking" or "absorbing" the Living Water (the Om vibration or Song of Wholeness) for long periods of time (in deep meditation) is an absolutely essential practice for sincere enlightenment-seekers. There is no other way, as all advanced Teachers of God will attest.  

What's this got to do with the Rig Veda's seventh Sukta? Everything. Not that we'd get that from Ralph T. H. Griffith's rather absurd contortion of its illuminating prose. What Griffith gets right is that the Rik concerns King Indra, who is (unbeknownst to Griffith) the Red Ray of the One Self we FEEL more and more FULLY as we progress around "the radiant circle of the spiritual journey." What he gets wrong is pretty much everything else. First and foremost, the Sukta is NOT an ingratiating hymn of praise addressed TO King Indra; it's a teaching ABOUT what King Indra represents in Hindu theology -- and how to tap into that glorious radiant fullness to hasten our circular sojourn toward remembrance of God.

Yes, I know. I said I wouldn't quote Griffith and his Oxford cohorts any more, but it feels at times like I'm walking the high-wire without a balance-pole. So, I'll share Griffith's translation for equilibrium's sake, and let you decide whether to read, skim, or scroll on by.

INDRA the singers with high praise, Indra reciters with their lauds,
Indra the choirs have glorified.
Indra hath ever close to him his two bay steeds and word-yoked car,
Indra the golden, thunder-armed.
Indra hath raised the Sun on high in heaven, that he may see afar:
He burst the mountain for the kine.
Help us, O Indra, in the frays, yea, frays, where thousand spoils are gained,
With awful aids, O awful One.
In mighty battle we invoke Indra, Indra in lesser fight,
The Friend who bends his bolt at fiends.
Unclose, our manly Hero, thou for ever bounteous, yonder cloud,
For us, thou irresistible.
Still higher, at each strain of mine, thunder-armed Indra's praises rise:
I find no laud worthy of him.
Even as the bull drives on the herds, he drives the people with his might,
The Ruler irresistible:
Indra who rules with single sway men, riches, and the fivefold race
Of those who dwell upon the earth.
For your sake from each side we call Indra away from other men:
Ours, and none others', may he be.

Having spent the past few days investigating the original Sanskrit, I can understand how he arrived at some of these definitions. The trouble is, he was rowing with only one oar because he had no guiding understanding of higher truth. Moreover, he wasn't interested in uncovering whatever Great Truths the Vedas might reveal, because he regarded them not as timeless sacred teachings to be mined for wisdom, but as historical recordings of ancient "heathen" hymns and ritual-practices. He was, in fact, bound by the terms of the Bowden Professorship to convert as many Hindus as possible to Anglicanism. Never mind that the Church of England was established rather nefariously (in 1524) so King Henry VIII could divorce his legitimate wife and install his mistress as queen. Hinduism, in comparison, dates back to at least 5,000 BCE. Not that Hinduism is without its distortions and obscurations, of course. They are, in fact, rampant. How could they not be when Vritra has had so many millennia to work his evils?

An obvious symbol for the Ego Mind, Vrtra is the snake-demon King Indra destroyed with his thunderbolt-throwing Vajra in the puranic legends of Hinduism.

Luckily, we have two oars in the water. We have the framework understanding and the Lamp of Truth to shine away those pesky distortions and obscurations. So, let's pull hard on those paddles as we continue through the Great Ocean of Vedic wisdom. 

We'll start by reviewing the whole of Rv 1.7 in transliterated Sanskrit, so we can see all the variations of the word-name "indra." We find "indram," "indrah," "indra," and "indrasya" -- all of which have slightly different meanings. Insensitive to these nuances, Griffith (among others) rendered them all as plain-old "Indra." So, right off the bat, we know his translation aren't trustworthy.

indram it gāthinaḥ bṛhat indram arkebhiḥ arkiṇaḥ indram vāṇīḥ anūṣata

indraḥ it haryoḥ sacā sam-miślaḥ ā vacaḥ-yujā indraḥ vajrī hiraṇyayaḥ

indraḥ dīrghāya cakṣase ā sūryam rohayat divi vi gobhiḥ adrim airayat

indra vājeṣu naḥ ava sahasra-pradhaneṣu ca ugraḥ ugrābhiḥ ūti-bhiḥ

indram vayam mahā-dhane indram arbhe havāmahe yujam vṛtreṣu vajriṇam

saḥ naḥ vṛṣan amum carum satrā-dāvan apa vṛdhi asmabhyam aprati-skutaḥ

tuñje-tuñje ye ut-tare stomāḥ indrasya vajriṇaḥ na vindhe asya su-stutim

vṛṣā yūthā-iva vaṃsagaḥ kṛṣṭīḥ iyarti ojasā īśānaḥ aprati-skutaḥ yaḥ ekaḥ carṣaṇīnām vasūnām irajyati indraḥ pañca kṣitīnām

indram vaḥ viśvataḥ pari havāmahe janebhyaḥ asmākam astu kevalaḥ

Let's now go line by line. By my calculations, the first line (indram it gāthinaḥ bṛhat indram arkebhiḥ arkiṇaḥ indram vāṇīḥ anūṣata) translates along these lines:

King Indra animates the song of Brahspati (the Lord of the Song of Prayer) -- King Indra, the Lesser Light descended from the Greater Light of Wholeness; King Indra, the one who embodies Anu's essence.

My definitions:

indram (King Indra) it (animates) gāthinaḥ (the song or singers of) bṛhat (Brhaspati, the Lord of the Song of Prayer and/or Guru Word, which is Om) indram (King Indra) arkenhi (the Lesser Light) arkiṇaḥ (descended from the Greater Light of Wholeness) indram (King Indra) vāṇīḥ (the one who embodies) anū-ṣata (Anu's essence, substance, or reality)

 My notes:

In an earlier post, I explained what Brhaspati actually represents in the Vedas. I also translated part of a Vedic teaching about Brhaspati to back up my assertions. In case you missed those posts, Brhaspati is the one modern-day Hindus call Ganapati, Ganpati, and/or Ganesha. He is, in short, the personified Living Water or Om vibration -- the "little brother" of Airavata, the "vahana," "vehicle," "shakti," or "special atonement power" of King Indra. And, as we discover later in this verse, the "big brother" of the Living Water is the Call to Joy.

Make sense, right?

Ganesha (the Living Water), the "offspring" of Shiva and Parvati, is the "little brother" (metaphorically speaking) of Airavati (the Call to Joy).

So, this verse tells us (among other things) that it's King Indra, the Red Ray of the One Self, who "animates" or "enlivens" the Om vibration/Living Water through his "shakti," the Call to Joy or Call to Awaken. It also tells us that King Indra personifies the Lesser Light embodying Anu's true essence, which is God's Perfect Love or Agape -- as in "God is but Love, and therefore so am I,"  the lead affirmation for the fifth review section of the Course's Workbook for Students. And that just happens to be where I landed in the Workbook today.

Coincidence? I think not.

Let's move on to the second line (indraḥ it haryoḥ sacā sam-miślaḥ ā vacaḥ-yujā indraḥ vajrī hira-ṇyayaḥ), which translates more or less as follows: 

Indra's radiance animates Hari, the holy spirit-souls of God's Word, joined together. Indra's radiance wields the Vajra's diamond of higher reason.

My definitions:

indraḥ (Indra's love, radiance, or splendor ) it (animates) haryoḥ (Hari) sacā (the true, holy, or eternal) sammiślaḥ (spirit-soul) ā (of God's) vacaḥ-yujā (Word joined together) indraḥ (Indra's love, radiance or splendor) vajrī (wields the Vajra's) hira-ṇyayaḥ (diamond of higher reason)

My notes:

Most of this is self-explanatory, with the possible exception of the word "hiranyayah." While it might be a compound of "hiran" (golden) and "yayah" (??), it's more likely a marriage of "hira" (diamond) and "nyayah" -- a word found pretty often in the Hindu scriptures. Moreover, "nyaya" -- which supposedly means "method," "rules," "judgment," or "logic" -- is one of the six darshans (world-views) in Hindu philosophy. I've defined it herein as "higher reason," because that elevates the "judgment" or "logic" the word describes from the low-level human intellect to the high-level God Mind, which King Indra indeed represents.

Our next line (indraḥ dīrghāya cakṣase ā sūryam rohayat divi vi gobhiḥ adrim airayat) translates roughly as follows:

King Indra's radiance dwells in the holy place of the Holy Teachers of God -- the holy singers rising toward the celestial realm, away from the (ego) mind feeding the consciousness of separation.

My definitions:

indraḥ (King Indra's radiance) dīrghāya (dwells in the holy place of) cakṣase (the Holy Teachers) ā (of God) sū-ryam (the holy singers) rohayat (rising toward) divi (the celestial realm) vi (away from) gobhiḥ (the mind) adrim (feeding the consciousness of) airayat (breaking apart, dividing, or separation)

 

This brings us to Rv 1.7.4, which reads: indra vājeṣu naḥ ava sahasra-pradhaneṣu ca ugraḥ ugrābhiḥ ūti-bhiḥ). Using my two metaphoric "oars," I've translated that verbiage as follows:

Indra, the holy vibration of wholeness, brings down that powerful radiance to advance the holy treasures connected to Shiva's strong arms of protection.

My definitions:

Indra (Indra) vājeṣu (the holy vibration) naḥ (of wholeness) ava (brings down) sahas-ra-pra-dhaneṣu (that powerful radiance to advance the holy treasures) ca (connected to) ugraḥ (Shiva's) ugrābhiḥ (strong arms) ūti-bhiḥ (of protection)

My notes:

Don't believe anyone who tells you that Shiva (who is Shesha and Ishana) isn't mentioned in the Rig Veda, because he absolutely is. Ditto for Ishana, whose name crops up again in this very Sukta. Shiva, "the auspicious one," has many epithets in Hinduism, including "Ugrah" (the one found herein). And Ugrah's "strong arms of protection" are, of course, the Everlasting Arms mentioned in the Bible and the Course. As explained in a previous post, Everlasting Arms is a scriptural metaphor for the two Great Rays (a fact affirmed in the very next line).

Proceeding apace, Rv 1.7.5 (indram vayam mahā-dhane indram arbhe havāmahe yujam vṛtreṣu vajriṇam) translates something akin to this:

King Indra's auspicious twins produce these two arms: Indra's fear-slaying Call to Joy, coupled with the enveloping spirit of the indestructible Name of God.

My definitions:

indram (King Indra's) vayam (auspicious twins) mahādhane (produce these two arms) indram (indra's) marbhe (fear-slaying) havāmahe (call to joy) yujam (coupled with) vṛtreṣu (the enveloping spirit) vajri-ṇam (of the indestructible Name of God)

My notes:

Herein we are told very specifically what the two Everlasting Arms represent. Assuming my translations are accurate, they are the Call to Joy and the "enveloping spirit" of the indestructible Name of God.

Jesus mentions the Call to Joy many times in the Course. In one place, he says: 

The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the Call to Joy. This Call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at Its sound. That is why you must choose to hear one of two voices within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. But the other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it. The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the Voice that calls you back to where you were before and will be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God’s Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons. (ACIM, T-5.II.3:1-11)

 

Let's proceed to the sixth line, which reads: saḥ naḥ vṛṣan amum carum satrā-dāvan apa vṛdhi asmabhyam aprati-skutaḥ. In English, those words translate more or less as follows:

The Supreme Lord of Wholeness rains down that one's blessed offering on the faithful -- Living Water to inflame the fearless Self to make full the utmost (spiritual) body underneath.

My definitions:

saḥ nah (The Supreme Lord of Wholeness) vṛṣan (rains down) amum (that one's) carum (blessed offering) satrādāvan (on the faithful) -- apa (living water) vṛdhi (to inflame) asm-abhyam (the fearless "I am") apr-ati (to make full the utmost) sku-taḥ (spiritual body underneath)

My notes:

As I interpret this passage, the Supreme Lord of Wholeness is King Indra, whilst "that One" refers back to "the enveloping spirit" mentioned in the previous line. The Holy Spirit, in other words. And that "enveloping spirit" is the source of the Living Water.

This line also affirms what I explained before about the Living Water "inflaming" or "swelling" the One Self that "makes full" the spiritual body "underneath" (not within!) the physical body. As I explained several posts back, the spiritual body and the physical body exist on two separate planes of perception. In Judeo-Christian terms, the spiritual body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit housing the Menorah (the inner-instrument), the seven Mansions and/or Churches (the Lunar Mansions or chakras), and the Holy of Holies (the inner-altar or Heart-Cave). St. Paul also differentiates these two bodies in 1 Corinthians 15, wherein he writes:

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 

In Hinduism and Buddhism, these two bodies are often erroneously conflated. The chakras and primary nadis are not, for example, part of the flesh-body; they are located in the spiritual body "underneath" the flesh-body.

Our next line (Rv 1.7.7) reads: tuñje-tuñje ye ut-tare stomāḥ indrasya vajriṇaḥ na vindhe asya su-stutim. In English, the line reads more or less as follows:

Sing! Sing! those who are on the northern side (the upper half of the Prabha Mandala), the songs of praise from Indra's mouth: the indestructible wholeness unblocking the mouth of the holy glorification.

My definitions:

tuñje-tuñje (sing, sing) ye (those who are) uttare (on the northern side) stomāḥ (the songs of praise) indrasya (from Indra's mouth) vajriṇaḥ (the indestructible wholeness) na-vindhe (unblocking) asya (the mouth) sustutim (of the holy glorification).

My notes:

I love it when the rishis use terms found in the Course. I love it even more when they use terms found in the Judeo-Christian scriptures -- like "su-stuti," which literally translates as "holy glorification." As Christianity rightly teaches, "glorification" is the final stage of spiritual purification. Some sects confuse "glorification" with "canonization" -- the granting of sainthood by church authorities -- but they are not the same thing at all.

As the Catholic Church correctly espouses (but doesn't fully apprehend), "at the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed [...] The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, 'so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just,' sharing their glorification in the glorification of the risen Jesus Christ."

The Catholic Church also correctly teaches that glorification takes place in Purgatory. What they fail to understand is that Purgatory isn't a place good-but-imperfect Souls are sent after physical death to be "cleansed of sin" before entering Heaven. The English word "Purgatory" derives from the Latin word "Purgatorium," which means "to purge," "to cleanse," or "to purify."

The Sanskrit word "vishuddha" likewise means "final purification." And Vishuddha is the name assigned to the fifth or throat chakra -- the chakra wherein we experience Self-Realization. To enter Vishuddha Consciousness, we have to "undo" the Vishnu Granthi -- the second of three "psychic knots" our Souls bump up against as they move around the circle. Like the chakras and nadis, these "knots" are located in the spiritual body, rather than in the physical body.

The Vishnu Granthi -- the "knot" of individual ego and power -- resides in or around the Anahata or Heart Chakra, the "energy center," "wheel," or "window" just below the Vishuddha Chakra. The Vishnu Granthi represents, therefore, "the door" into the Hiranyagarbha -- the third quadrant of the journey presided over by Ishana (Shiva), the water-palanquin of Ishvara (Vishnu).

,And that "door" is also the "mouth of the holy glorification" mentioned in this Vedic verse. To unblock that "mouth," the rishis tell us, we have to "sing" the Song of Wholeness in the Northwest quadrant. We must, in other words, meditate on the "unstruck sound" we begin to hear after reaching the Anahata Chakra. And that sound, as Course-Jesus affirms, will purify our minds enough to unblock the mouth, untie the knot, or pass through the door into the Golden Egg (choose your preferred metaphor). 

From all of this we can glean that what Christians call Purgatory is, in actuality, the Golden Egg wherein our Souls experience the final stage of purification that prepares them to enter the fourth quadrant of Moksha -- the "heaven on earth" Course-Jesus calls the Real World. 

Rv 1.7.8, which reads: vṛṣā yūthā-iva vaṃsagaḥ kṛṣṭīḥ iyarti ojasā īśānaḥ aprati-skutaḥ, should translate as follows:

The Bull of Heaven (God's Will) unites the separated family of Christ in this world to brighten the radiant energy of Ishana to make full the utmost spiritual body underneath sustaining the one shining circle -- the dwelling place of Iravati (the well or fountain) springing up to awaken the five realms of identity.

My definitions:

vṛṣ-ā (the Bull of Heaven, Nandi, Shiva's vahana, or God's Will) yūthāiva (unites the separated) vaṃsagaḥ (family of) kṛṣṭīḥ (Christ or Creation in this world ) iyarti (to brighten) ojasā (the radiant energy of) īśānaḥ (Ishana) aprati-skutaḥ (to make full the utmost spiritual body underneath) yaḥ (sustaining) ekaḥ (the one) carṣaṇīnām (shining circle) -- vasūnām (the dwelling place of) irajyati (Iravati, the wellspring or fountain) indraḥ (springing up to waken) pañca (the five) kṣitī-nām (worlds of identity = the five lokas in Hinduism)

My notes:

When I came upon the phrase "panca-kstinam" a few days ago, I was a stranger to the Hindu concept of the five "lokas," worlds, or planets. And I still have only a Wikipedia-level understanding of what these five symbolic "planets" represent. But, that will suffice for now, because Wikipedia tells us that "loka" can be translated as "planet," "plane," or "realm of existence." And I've suspected for some time that the planets we perceive "out there" -- like the sun, moon, and stars -- are actually outward projections of components within the spiritual mind-body. So, the lokas presumably represent the planes of consciousness we fell down and must now climb back up to return to Heaven, Knowledge, Superconsciousness, or Omniscience. In some schools of thought there are seven lokas; in others, there are twelve or fourteen. But this verse mentions only five, so let's stick with that number for now.

According to Google, the five lokas are Bhur-loka (the earthly plane), Bhuvar-loka (the atmospheric plane), Svar-loka (the celestial realm), Mahar-loka (the great realm), and Satya-loka (the realm of truth). In terms of the Soul's Journey, this makes perfect sense. The first four "realms" represent the four quadrants of the circle-journey, while the fifth -- the Realm of Truth -- represents Heaven, Knowledge, or Omniscience.

So ...

Bhur-loka = the first quadrant occupied by Bhumi-Lakshmi (Dharma)

Bhuvar-loka = the second quadrant occupied by Dhana-Lakshmi (Artha)

Svar-loka = the third quadrant occupied by Dhyana-Lakshmi (Kama)

Mahar-loka = the fourth quadrant occupied by Gaja-Lakshmi (Moshka)

Satya-loka = the God Mind Bubble, which reabsorbs or "lifts us up" after we complete our service to the Great Crusade (Brahman)

Before we move on, let's talk briefly about "the one shining circle -- the dwelling place of Iravati." Because that has to be a reference to the same fiery circle with the well in the middle seen and described by the prophet Ezekiel. So, once again, the Rig Veda and the Bible are in perfect concordance (when both are translated and interpreted accurately).

The Sukta's final line (indram vaḥ viśvataḥ pari havāmahe janebhyaḥ asmākam astu kevalaḥ) translates more or less as follows:

Indra's vehicle in the world underneath the circle, the Call to Joy generates for all of us the grace of omniscience. 

My definitions:

indram (indra's) vaḥ (vehicle) viśvataḥ (in the world underneath) pari (the circle) havāmahe (the call to joy) janebhyaḥ (generates for all) asmākam (of us) astu (the grace) kevalaḥ (of omniscience)

My notes:

Indra's vehicle underneath the circle is the Call to Joy. Indra's vehicle in Hinduism's mystical mythology is Airavata -- the big white elephant with three heads and seven trunks. Airavata was born from Iravati, the sacred naga symbolizing the wellspring "in the midst" of the circle. Ergo, Airavata symbolizes the Call to Joy -- King Indra's "special atonement power." King Indra delegated that power to Lord Krishna, "the enveloping spirit" of the indestructible Name of God, in the form of Nandi and Kamdhenu, the miracle-cow, after Jesus activated the Atonement Plan by opening the door to the fifth loka (i.e., ascending into Heaven). And that is why Lord Krishna is generally depicted playing a flute in the presence of a white bull or cow (as seen below).

The Rig Veda's Sixth Sukta (Part 2): The Circle-Journey, the Living Creatures & the Sacred Naga

Let's start the second half of our conversation about the Rig Veda's sixth Sukta by reviewing the verse under discussion when last we met. That verse should be numbered Rv 1.6.5, rather than Rv 1.6.6. As explained last time, Max Muller threw off the numbering when he split into two lines the previous verse (Rv 1.6.4), which should have been one long sentence broken by a semi-colon. As I've also stated more than once, the Rig Veda's Suktas are neither metered poems nor hymns of praise to pagan gods. Rather, the Rig Veda is a sacred compendium of narrative teachings revealed by the Holy Spirit to selected rishis and scribes in India between 1500 and 1200 BCE. Those still-relevant wisdom-teachings parallel, in uncanny ways, the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible and, even more so, in A Course in Miracles -- not because Jesus studied the Rig Veda while in India; but because Jesus Christ was the Holy Spirit incarnate. And, as he rightly explains in the Course, the Holy Spirit's teachings will vary in form, but never in content.

Having said all that, let me now say this: According to my research and guidance, Rv 1.6.5 should read:

The journey to the divine realm of Brahman, which varies according to intelligence, clears the veil of deception blocking awareness of the Vasu, the voice(s) of the Greater Truth of Anu conveying Self-Knowledge.

What, you may wonder, is the Greater Truth of Anu? The short answer is the Word of God. The longer answer is God's Final Judgement, which (according to Course-Jesus) is this: “You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.” (ACIM, W-pII.10.5:1-3)

Essentially, the quote from the Course in my blogger profile is the Greater Truth of Anu. And, as I understand it, that's essentially the "song" the Vasu sing to us night and day -- a song very like the one John the Elder hears in his "revelation" of the four Living Creatures. The Vasu probably, therefore, include those four "creatures." And it is their Song of Heaven (to quote the Course) that gradually awakens us to the Truth of our Being.

FIRST, however, we have to be able to hear that ancient melody.

Now that we know where we are, let's turn to "the journey to the divine realm of Brahman." As Hinduism rightly teaches, that journey is made in "stages" represented by the four legs of Nandi, the vahana of Shiva. The bull itself represents, I'm fairly certain, the power of God's Will to end the dream, which "bears" Shiva and Vishnu. We see this when Shiva and Vishnu come together as Harihara (as shown below).

Vishnu and Shiva combined to form Harihara. Note the golden circle behind the figure, as well as the mountain on the right-hand side. The bird we see is Garuda, the giant eagle-like "vahana" belonging to Vishnu. Garuda, whose name means "song of the sacred-syllable" almost certainly represents the Living Water or Om vibration, which Vishnu transmits from the Golden Egg.

Contrary to what most Hindus believe, Nandi's legs don't symbolize the four pillars of dharma. They are the four "legs" of the Soul's circular journey around the Bhavacakra -- the Wheel of Life also known as the Prahabha Mandala -- "the radiant circle of the spiritual journey." Shiva, whose "special atonement power" or "shakti" is God's Will to end the dream, embodies that "circle-journey" in his Nataraja form.

Shiva as Nataraja, performing the Tandava ("the spreading fire") inside the Prahabha Mandala. The vanquished figure on which he "dances" is Apasmara, a dwarf-demon representing ignorance and the ego-inspired belief in opposites. The word-name "Apasmara" translates as "loss of memory" or "forgetfulness." Ergo, Shiva's dance in the dream of time restores our memories of the Truth of our Being.  

Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra or Wheel of Time also symbolizes the circle-journey Shiva (as the Atonement) "makes happen." Like Shiva's Trishul, Vishnu's Sudarshana isn't a weapon. It represents the authority delegated to the Vishwapurusha (Vishnu) by the Great Purusha (Shiva). Rightly understood, Sudarshana (meaning "holy presence") represents the Soul's journey back to the Heart of God, which Vishnu guides up to a point. And that's the reason we sometimes see Shiva handing the Sudarshana Chakra to Vishnu (as in the image below). 

The ascending Soul -- personified in Hinduism as Lakshmi -- makes the journey around the Wheel of Time (a spiral, according to Course-Jesus). And that is almost certainly what the popular Hindu icon of Lakshmi's feet or footprints actually signifies.

Before Lakshmi can walk, she needs to get her "spiritual legs" firmly under her. And those "spiritual legs" are the four pillars of Dharma we fortify -- through rightminded choosing and living -- on the first half of the circle-journey. In Hinduism, those four Soul-supporting pillars are identified as Satyan, Daya, Tapa, and Shaucham. Over time, as usual, Brahma has tampered with the definitions of those four terms -- to make escape from his enthrallment even more difficult. Ergo, the four pillars of Dharma are not (as commonly taught) Truthfulness, Compassion, Austerity, and Cleanliness. Their true definitions are more along these lines:

Satyam = Striving to live in accord with the Truth of our Being in thought, word, and deed

Daya = Striving to perceive all Living Beings as part of our own Self

Tapa = "Atoning" or "repenting" for our mistakes by requesting perceptual correction and forgiving ourselves and others for falling prey to Brahma's deceptions

Shaucham = Participating in the purification of the Whole Christ Self by giving and receiving ablution or lustration via the Living Water vibration

As I've said, the four pillars of Dharma are the legs supporting the Soul on its journey, rather than Nandi's legs. Yes, it's confusing, but differentiating the two sets of "legs" is important. Nandi's legs, as I said, represent the four stages of the Soul's journey around the "radiant circle of the spiritual journey." In Hinduism, those four "legs" are identified as Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moshka, which are also the four "aspects" of Lakshmi. 

In Buddhism, the four Taras, which derived from Lakshmi, represent those same "legs." In the Judeo-Christian scriptures (unbeknownst to most Jews and Christians), the same four "legs" take the form of the "Living Beings" seen by the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and John the Elder. (They were also seen by Mohammed, who mentions them in the Qur'an.)

That almost no one seems to "get" what these Living Beings are meant to signify is the fault (as usual) of poor translation and unilluminated interpretation. Because these mysterious "beings" have fascinated me for decades, I've read a lot of speculation about what they represent, none of which hits the nail on the head. Just recently, I read that there is now a whole discipline within Biblical scholarship devoted to studying the differences between the descriptions of these "beings" or "creatures" recorded by Ezekiel and John the Elder (in the Book of Revelation). When I read this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because there are no real differences (as I'm about to demonstrate).

Yes, I did indeed take the time to translate both accounts from the original Hebrew and Greek. Let's start with Ezekiel's. The 16th-century King James translation of Ezekiel 1:4-14 reads as follows:

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and was out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. as for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. and they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright , and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

How accurate is this translation? Not very. When the original Hebrew is interpreted with more figurative and historical understanding, what Ezekiel actually recorded reads closer to this:

Through spiritual vision, I beheld Ruach (God's Cosmic Breath) come from the North -- a mighty thunder-cloud of God's fiery presence -- to give and receive light in a circle. In the midst (of the circle), was a wellspring (or eye) of pure compassion (the true meaning of the mysterious Hebrew word "chashmal," which occurs nowhere else in the Bible); amidst the fire in the center was the likeness of four living forms or apparitions ("chay-mareh"). They resembled Adam (the human Soul or humankind) as one; four presences as one; four quarter-legs of the right or straight path; the bowing-down path; bowing down to the circle-journey -- the radiant circle lightening the fetters holding the Soul quarters in four parts. Four parts in quarters; quarters to be joined as spirit-sisters to circle around and around on the journey; the journey to cross over into the presence of the face resembling the face of God; four faces of Adam, alike in appearance.

The four faces of Adam faced a lion on the right-hand side (of the circle) and the four faces of the umbilical cord on the left. Four faces of a vulture they faced. The four faces in quarters divided upward; two faces to be joined, face to face; two to cover the lifeless body on the spiritual journey of man to the realm attended by Ruach; the journey to the circle; the journey in the likeness of the Living Apparitions to kindle the Fire of God in the form of lamps; to bring to life the fire of God's glory; a fire bringing forth lightning alive with God's pleasure at the return of the scattered (Souls).

Pretty different, wouldn't you say? And much clearer in terms of what those "Living Beings" are meant to represent. Especially noteworthy is that Ezekiel sees no wings or animal heads on the beings themselves. The Hebrew word translated as "wings" by the KJV team can also mean "quarters" -- and that makes much more sense contextually. Furthermore, the prophet sees them FACING a lion's head on the right, and four vulture-heads on the left -- not HAVING four heads each. And yes, I will explain what those symbols represent. First, however, let's compare John the Elder's account in Revelations 4:6-8. In the KJV Bible, those passages read:

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, is, and is to come."

Before I share my translation, let me point out that these "beings" or "apparitions" have no actual form. They're symbols of spiritual concepts, projected into the mind of the beholder by the Holy Spirit. Ergo, they appear to different prophets "according to their intelligence." So, even if Ezekiel did indeed see four heads and wings on each, while John saw one head and six wings on each, it wouldn't mean the creatures had changed in appearance. It would only mean that the two prophets needed different symbols to understand the same idea.

You get that, right?

Alrighty, then. Here's my interpretation of John's account, based on the original Greek.

Encircling the throne, four living beings filled the mind's eye in the appearance of before and after (of being sequential). The first living creature was like a lion (symbolizing God's strength); the second living creature was like a calf (symbolizing God's gift of purification); the third being possessed the presence of the whole of humankind (symbolizing the wholeness perceived through Christ's Vision); and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle (symbolizing soaring above the illusion, eagle-eyed). And the four living beings possessed among them -- moving up and down -- six streams circling around and filling the eye within (the spiritual eye). And resting not day or night, they spoke the message, "Different from the world; like unto the Lord in holiness. Lord God Almighty. Whenever, indeed, any living creature assigns the glory of God's presence, in value and gratitude, the seat upon the throne, they will experience God's gift of life into eternity."

Once again, John mentions no wings, because ... well, instead of explaining the reason myself, let me quote the Abarim Publications' Online Greek Dictionary:

The noun πτερυξ (pterux) means wing, but a wing in Biblical times was not the same thing as a wing now. Our noun derives from the unused noun πτερον (pteron), meaning feather or plumage, and shares its Proto-Indo-European root "pet-," meaning to rush or fly, with the verb οταομαι (ptaomai), to fly about, and ultimately the familiar noun ποταμος (potamos), meaning stream or river. That means that to the ancient Greek, a wing was not the proverbial instrument of flight but rather the proverbial instrument of flow and ultimately that of protection.

So, the wings in both accounts were (as I said) the produce of mistranslation, while the visages of lions, calves, eagles, and "Adam" were meant to symbolically communicate what the apparitions represented. And those symbolic beasts do indeed represent the four "legs" of the Soul's journey -- as I'll explain by and by.

First, let's return to Ezekiel's vision, wherein we encounter the curious phrase "the four faces of the umbilical cord." To those unfamiliar with Hindu iconography, that phrase might seem pretty bizarre. But we actually see that phrase illustrated in the image below, wherein the four-headed Brahma is attached to Vishnu-Narayana by an actual umbilical cord.

As the image above accurately depicts, Brahma's four heads represent the four "faces" of human birth or existence -- hence, "the umbilical cord." Don't believe for a moment that Brahma's four heads represent the Vedas, as is suggested all over the Internet. Such ignorant presumptions are as ludicrous as those equating the four Living Creatures with the four canonical gospels, the four cardinal signs of the zodiac, or the four elements.

Rightly understood, Brahma's heads represent the four levels of ego deception binding our Souls to the Wheel of Karma -- the four ego-manufactured blindfolds we must remove to vanquish Apasmara. Those four blindfolds are 1) Manas (believing in and valuing the world the body's senses perceive), 2) Chitta (holding onto the wrong-minded past-learning in the Ego's unconscious "storehouse"), 3) Ahamkara (identifying with and seeking love, peace, and joy through the ego-authored self-concept), and 4) Buddhi (valuing worldly learning, knowledge, and judgments over spiritual wisdom and guidance).

According to the Hindu legends, Brahma originally had five heads until Shiva cut one of them off. Shiva cut off his fifth head because Brahma lusted after Sarasvati -- the Cosmic Ocean of God's pure communications (the "sea of glass like unto crystal" John the Elder sees surrounding the throne of God). Brahma -- the Great Deceiver of humankind -- tried to pollute those communications, in other words, which Shiva (protecting the Atonement) prevented.

That Ezekiel sees Brahma's four faces as "neshers" -- vultures, not eagles -- should tell us they aren't godly. Vultures are vile creatures, which (like the ego) feed on the rotting flesh of the dead.

In the Hindu pantheon, the "god" who rides a vulture is Shani, the god of karma and justice. What little I've read about Shani-dev characterizes him as a helpful force facilitating "purification through suffering" and/or "justice through punishment of past misdeeds." Both of these wrongminded "religious" concepts were devised by the Ego Mind to deceive us into erroneously (and fearfully) equating salvation with pain and suffering. What we fear, we avoid -- at all costs. And that is indeed Brahma's chief aim.

If indeed Shani-dev is a helpful force, then he might represent forgiveness, the process through which we, in a manner of speaking, "pick the flesh of the body off the bones of the spirit in vulture-like fashion."

Let's now return to Shesha, the multi-headed serpent acting as Vishnu's water-palanquin in the image I've shared several times. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to balance all the planets of the universe on his cobra-hoods, as well as to constantly sing the glories of Vishnu from all his mouths (like the Living Beings in John's vision). His name means "remainder" or "he who remains," because (according to the lore) even as the world is destroyed at the end of each (of four prophesied) kalpas, Shesha shall remain as he ever was.

In the allegorical Mahabharata epic, Shesha is the son of Kashyapa ("anointing to protect") and Kadru ("the Great Purusha's pole-star"), making the meaning of his parentage pretty obvious. The allegory says that Shesha was the first of a thousand snakes born to Kadru, the next three of which (in order) were Vasuki, Iravati, and Taksaka. Very briefly, Vasuki is the snake coiled around Shiva's neck; Iravati is the mother of Airavata, King Indra's vahana; and Taksaka was used by the Devas and Asuras to churn the Ocean of Milk (as illustrated below).

As the story unfolds, Shesha becomes disgusted by the cruel acts of his brothers, leaves his mother and kin, and lives austerely and devotedly until his flesh disappears (not unlike Jesus). At one point, he asks Brahma(n) that he be allowed to keep his mind under control while he continues his austerities. Impressed with Shesha's discipline, Brahma(n) agrees -- but asks, in return, that Shesha go "underneath" to give Bhumi stability. This Shesha does, by supporting Bhumi (the first aspect of Lakshmi, pictured below) with his cobra-hoods.

Bhumi, the first aspect of Lakshmi, is often depicted with one or more owls. In this particular image, she sits on a conch-shell representing the sacred Shankha through which Vishnu sounds the Call to Awaken and Song of Heaven. The name Bhumi doesn't just mean "earth," as commonly espoused. It's a compound of "bhu" (earth) and "mi" (existence or perception).

All of this is, of course, highly symbolic -- and, therefore, generally misunderstood. Bhumi doesn't represent the physical earth, as is generally presumed. She is the first "aspect" of Lakshmi -- the Living Being representing the first leg of the circle-journey. She's associated with "earth" because she occupies the southwest quadrant of the Wheel -- the first "leg" wherein we're still largely earth-bound in terms of perception. It is on this "leg" that we both answer the Call to Awaken and begin to adopt the spiritual beliefs, disciplines, and practices that prepare us to advance to the second quadrant of "Artha."

Dhana, the second aspect of Lakshmi, is surrounded by pots of gold representing the Treasures of Heaven or Gifts of God (not worldly wealth). We obtain those intangible treasures through our Golden Circle "offerings" or "yajnas" on the second leg of the circle-journey. The image below makes especially clear that the gold associated with Dhana is spiritual, rather than material.

Lakshmi's second "aspect" is Dhana, who the ego deceptively identifies as "the goddess of (worldly) wealth." Rightly understood, Dhana represents "Artha" -- the leg of the journey undertaken in the northwest quadrant; the quadrant governed by Vayu, the Ruach Ezekiel sees coming out of the North. Sadly, "Artha" has come to mean "the pursuit of material wealth or advantage" in present-day Hinduism. Sadder still, "the pursuit of material wealth or advantage" has become -- through ego-corrupted teachings and practices -- "one of the four traditional aims in life."

"Artha" does not mean "wealth." Most likely a compound of "arth" (aim or purpose) and "a" (of God) the word basically means "Holy Purpose." Alternatively, "Artha" could be a marriage of "ar" (to reach or reaching for) and "tha" (the circle or moon) -- in which case, it would mean "reaching for the Moon," "reaching for the circle," or reaching for the Atonement (which both the Moon and the circle represent).

Either definition works, because it's in the second quadrant of the Mandala that we begin the Golden Circle offerings by which we achieve the purity of heart that opens "the door" to the Hiranyagarbha (wherein the third "leg" of the journey takes place). And that is indeed the Holy Purpose of every embodied human Soul, as Course-Jesus explains ad infinitum. 

Let me say again that pursuing worldly wealth and advantage is NOT an aim smiled upon by the gods. It is, in fact, a serious obstacle enlightenment-seekers must strive to overcome. How, then, could it be a leg on the Soul's circle-journey to enlightenment? The answer is: it can't be and it isn't, so don't be deceived into believing otherwise.

The aspect of Lakshmi representing the third leg of the journey is called Dhyana. That leg takes place in the northeast quadrant of the circle -- the quadrant housing the Golden Egg. That leg is called "Kama," a Sanskrit word that can mean either love or desire. Generally, it's associated with carnal love, but I believe its meaning is more spiritual in this instance. (I also believe that Kamadeva is no more the "god of love" than Agni is the "god of fire," but we won't "go there" just now.) The Golden Egg is, after all, the "cistern of love" wherein the Soul reclaims its memories of God and Heaven.

In the above image, Dhyana is dressed in green (as she should be) and stands in a lotus within a golden egg-shaped frame. In the image below, she is surrounded by pots of gold representing the fruits she has reaped through her alms-giving ministry. Often, she is shown surrounded by grains, which similarly represent the abundant fruits of her "good works."

The fourth aspect of Lakshmi is Gaja -- the "elephant Lakshmi" representing the quadrant of Moksha -- the final quadrant on the circle-journey. She's called "Gaja" because, having attained enlightenment, she now has the power to heal other Souls through Miracles of Grace. The Sanskrit word "gaja" has come to mean "elephant" in modern usage, but it's actually a marriage of "ga" (the sacred-syllable or guru-word, Om) and "ja" (born or produced). The fourth quadrant is, I believe, what Course-Jesus calls the Inner Altar, the Heart of God, the Real World, and the "lawn" or "(sacred) grass" just outside the gates of Heaven.

Having reached the Inner Altar or Heart of God, Gaja has joined the Great Crusade to save the world and all the parts of her own Self from the mind-imprisoning deceptions of Brahma. What exactly her role is at this point, I can't really say. She might be a Christ-realized miracle-worker doing her part for the Great Crusade in a body (like Jesus, at first), or she might be a bodiless Ascended Master helping out from above the illusion. 

Please excuse the amateur graphic, but I did my best to map out how I envision the circle-journey's four quadrants at this point in time.

Now that we've met the four faces of Lakshmi, let's return to the Mahabharata story of Shesha. When the allegory says Shesha goes "underneath," it doesn't mean he goes into the underworld typically equated with hell. The illusion of earthly existence is the only hell there is. When, therefore, the story says Shesha goes "underneath" -- it means he goes beneath the illusion to Patala (to borrow a Hindu term) -- the "home" of the Soul located behind or below the world perceived through the ego-body senses; that deep-down place in the mind Course-Jesus urges us to reach in meditation. In Workbook Lesson 49: God's Voice speaks to me all through the day, he tells us how to find that deep inner-place:

 

Listen in deep silence. Be very still and open your mind. Go past all the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your eternal link with God. Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic, riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world. You do not live here. We are trying to reach your real home. We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome. We are trying to reach God. (ACIM, W-49.4:1-8)

Let's cut to the chase. If Shesha is Vishnu's water-palanquin, then Shesha also is Shiva, the transcendent aspect of Brahman Christians call "saving grace" and Course-Jesus calls "the Atonement." And that partly explains why Shiva is often depicted with a snake coiled around his neck. As stated a few paragraphs back, the snake Shiva wears is Vasuki, which means "resembling a snake." According to the legends, Vasuki helped Shiva drink the poisonous Halahala or Kalakuta -- the toxic fear-based thoughts that emerged when the gods used Taksaka to churn the Ocean of Milk.

From this, we can ascertain that Shesha, Vasuki, Iravati, and Taksaka all symbolize key atonement tools or powers. As the water-palanquin of Narayana, Shesha almost certainly represents the five faces of Sadashiva (Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha, and Ishana, according to most sources), while Vasuki, the "coiled" serpent around Shiva's neck, pretty obviously represents the purifying serpent-fire called Kundalini (which means "coiled" and also "resembles a snake").

Vasuki, the naga "coiled" around Shiva's neck represents the purifying serpent-fire commonly called "Kundalini." Last night in meditation, I "saw" that the five heads of Shesha (the five faces of Shiva?) represent the upper branches of the Temple Menorah. So, Vishnu's water-palanquin is in fact the Soul's inner-instrument of awakening, which makes perfect sense.

That brings us to Taksaka, who is 1) one of the sacred serpents dwelling in Patala, 2) said to be the king of those eight serpents, 3) the power used by the gods to churn the Ocean of Milk, and 4) the "carpenter" of the gods. Taksaka built the atonement infrastructure, in other words, as opposed to Tvastr, the "artisan" who fashioned Indra's thunderbolt-throwing Vajra, Brahspati's Axe, and the Chalice of Redemption.

At the end of the day, the word-name Taksaka tells us all we need to know. A compound of "taksa" (a form of "ksan," meaning "auspicious instant") and "ka" (the Great Purusha), Taksaka literally means "the Holy Instant of the Great Purusha." So, mystery solved.

Which power Iravati is meant to represent proved a wee bit harder to nail down. She is not, for example, listed among the eight sacred Nagas, despite being born from the same symbolic parents as Shesha, Vasuki, and Taksana. A character in the Ramayana epic, Iravati is, most notably, the mother of Airavata, the vahana of King Indra. Whatever she represents should logically, therefore, be related to what Airavata represents (which the image below makes pretty clear).

In Sanskrit, "aira" means "nourishing water," while "vata" refers to the ethers of the celestial realm. Ergo, Airavata represents the nourishing water coming down from the Upper World ruled over (inertly) by King Indra. As King Indra's "special atonement power," Airavata represents the Living Water of God's Grace the Red Ray dispenses to wash away the ego-barnacles of fear, guilt, and sin clinging to its scattered sparks.

Airavata's mother would be, therefore, the source of those waters, which is what? The answer has to be the wellspring, fountain, or cistern, right? And this totally tracks with her name, which (when correctly translated), means "she who possesses the water." Iravati is, in fact, a form of Sarasvati. So, Iravati represents the wellspring aspect of the Cosmic Ocean, which is indeed "the mother" of Airavata.

Makes sense, right?

Still wondering about the Vasu, I went ahead and worked out which at-one-ment powers the Ashta-Nagas represent. Here's my quick-and-dirty results:

Anatha, who is also Shesha = the five faces of Sadashiva

Vasuki = Kundalini

Taksaka = the Holy Instant

Karotaka = the Chalice of Redemption

Shankhapala = the Call to Awaken

Padma = the Lotus Path that restores rightmindedness

Mahapadma = the Lord of the Lotus Path, who is Vishnu-Krishna (the Vishwapurusha)

Gulika = the "pit" of the Great Purusha, which is the wellspring or cistern (Iravati)

So, Iravati is there -- but under another name, possibly because Gulika is male?

Let's move on, because we still need to talk about Parvati -- Shiva's "partner," "consort," or "wife," whose vahana is a lion. This tells us straight-away that her "special atonement power" is the strength of God that restores Shiva's Vision -- the bay horse "which goes everywhere." From this we can ascertain that Parvati represents the "active" force of God's Will within the Temple, whereas Shiva (who spends most of his time meditating atop Mt. Kalash) represents the "banked" or "passive" aspects.

In her eight hands (as shown below), Parvati holds all the instruments of the Atonement, including Shiva's Trishul. Symbolically, this tells us Parvati -- the gentle strength by which the Atonement reopens our Spiritual Eye -- works throughout the Temple on behalf of the Trinity Powers in the Upper World. In Ezekiel's vision, Parvati's energy is almost certainly the "lion's head" the four Living Beings faced on the right-hand or eastern side of the circle -- the direction from which the "lightening" of dawning enlightenment travels across the circle.

In the Hindu lore, Parvati is the mother of Ganesha, the personified Om vibration. According to the legends, she made Ganesha out of ghee (clarified butter) in the form of a boy, to guard the door while she bathed. When Shiva came home, eager to see his wife, the boy refused him access. In anger, Shiva cut off his head -- much to Parvati's dismay. To make amends, Shiva replaced the boy's missing head with the head of the first animal he came across -- an elephant.

Yes, the story's a bit silly, but it tells us that Ganesha -- the Lord of the Om -- was created by Parvati to safeguard the undoing process of lustration, without Shiva's initial involvement. By lopping off the boy's human head and replacing it with an elephant's, Shiva granted Ganesha the superior powers of Airavata. He promoted him, in other words, from being an inert protector of the Living Water to being its dispenser in the lower chambers of the Temple. The subtext of the story is that Ganesha played no active role in the Atonement process until Jesus activated the whole mechanism by "opening the door" dividing the lower chambers of the Temple (the two western quadrants) from the upper chambers (the two eastern quadrants).

Let's revisit Ezekiel's vision -- because that whole bit about the lightning is incredibly important. If my translations are correct, the lightning is generated by the fire of God's "glory," brought back to life (in our minds). And that lightning "is alive" with God's joy at the return (to rightmindedness) of our scattered Souls. That lightning is, I believe, King Indra's power of revelation -- the power to wake us up instantly with a well-timed jolt of pure grace.

As I sat in meditation, envisioning the Golden Circle, I also saw (very briefly) little bursts of lightening in spider-like webs (sort of like the image below).

 

As I witnessed these spidery flashes, I suddenly remembered something I'd read very recently about the light reaching from the east across to the west. Just now, I googled the key words, and guess what? It comes from the Bible. More specifically, it is something Jesus said concerning the Second Coming of Christ.

In Matthew 24:26-28, for example, he says:

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he [Christ] is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase [the lifeless body] is, there will the eagles [vultures?] be gathered together.

The lightning cometh out of the east, because that is the direction guarded by King Indra. And it is Indra (in the Hindu form of the curriculum) who occupies "the throne of grace" mentioned in Hebrews 4:16.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

This tells us a few interesting things. The first is that, in the Hindu model, Indra represents the Spirit of Grace who entered the void to set up the at-one-ment infrastructure at the start of Genesis. Indra is, therefore, the one the Hebrew Bible calls Elohim and Course-Jesus refers to as "the Holy Spirit." And it is indeed the Holy Spirit who safeguards the channel through which God reveals Himself to us, as Jesus explains below:

Revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to the Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of my brothers. I can thus bring down to them more than they can draw down to themselves. The Holy Spirit mediates higher to lower communication, keeping the direct channel from God to you open for revelation. Revelation is not reciprocal. It proceeds from God to you, but not from you to God. (ACIM, T-1.II.5:1-5)

In the citation from Matthew, notice that Jesus used the same phraseology as Ezekiel. The "carcase" or "lifeless body" is the human body, which God did not create or "give life." Like the Hebrew word "nesher," the Greek word translated as "eagles" (aetoj) can also refer to vultures. And that definition makes more sense here, given that eagles don't usually feed on carrion in groups. That said, it's also possible the eagles he speaks of are the enlightened Souls circling overhead (in a manner of speaking) in the circle's fourth quadrant of Moksha.

As I see it, the lightning symbolizes the Light of Truth reaching across the Dharmachakra from Lord Indra's Vajra in the east to light our way home. It can "zap" us in the Holy Instant and wake us up right away, or it can gently and gradually brighten as we make our way around the circle. Either way, that lightning is the symbolic thunderbolt King Indra's Vajra discharges. It might also be the proverbial "lamp" Jesus brought into the world when he opened "the door" between the circle's third and fourth quadrants.

Or, as he explains in the Course:

My brother, you are part of God and part of me. When you have at last looked at the ego’s foundation without shrinking you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it in order to keep a dark cornerstone hidden, for its protection will not save you. I give you the lamp and I will go with you. You will not take this journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you, as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy? (ACIM, T-11.in.4:1-8)

Okay, so ... we've so far established that the four Living Beings represent the four "aspects" of Lakshmi, the ascending Soul; and those "aspects," in turn, signify the four "legs" of the Soul's circle-journey: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moshka. We also know, from Revelations, that those four Living Beings sent forth the "horses" seen by the prophets and also sing, day and night, the praises of Vishnu. What we have yet to determine is which Holy Powers protect those quadrants and which stand guard fore and aft -- at the cardinal directions. We also don't yet know for certain which eight powers make up the Vasu -- if indeed they are eight in number.

We're probably not going to solve those mysteries today, I'm afraid, because this post is already horrendously long -- and we haven't even gotten to the Sukta's next verse. So, let's do that now.

According to Sri Aurobindo's (posthumously published) website, the Rv 1.6.7 -- the Sukta's next line reads: indreṇa sam hi dṛkṣase sam-jagmānaḥ abibhyuṣā mandū iti samāna-varcasā. I'm pretty sure that's wrong, because we've already established that the "indrena" starting this line belongs to Rv 1.6.6. He also ends the line too soon. By my calculations, the seventh verse, which is much longer than generally presumed, includes the first seven words traditionally assigned to the eighth verse. To make sense, the line needs to read: saṃ hi dṛkṣase saṃjagmāno abibhyuṣā mandū samānavarcasā anavadyair abhidyubhir makhaḥ anavadyaiḥ abhidyu-bhiḥ makhaḥ sahasvat arcati gaṇaiḥ indrasya. According to my research and guidance, those words translate approximately as follows:

Come together to perceive Shesha, the whole world-mind speaking the Word of God to inspire the Om, the sacred song equal in radiance to Anu's Greater Light, the Red Ray of the celestial realm offering the mighty Voice of God-incarnate singing from King Indra's mouth.

My definitions:

samhi = Come together
drk-sase = to perceive Shesha
sam-jagmano = the whole world-mind
abibhyu-sa = speaking the Word of God
mand-u = to inspire or exhilarate the Om
samana-varcasa = the sacred song equal in radiance to
anava-dyair = Anu's Greater Light
abhi-dyubhir = the Red Ray of the celestial realm
makhah = offering
sahas-vad =  the mighty voice
arcati = of God incarnate
gana-ir = singing from
indr-asya = King Indra's mouth

Okay, wow. Lots of solid information here, including the fact that Shesha represents the "whole world-mind speaking the Word of God." So, I'm right about Shesha being Shiva, the Great Purusha. It also affirms what I said earlier about Rudra -- the Red Ray of the celestial realm -- generating the Om that flows into the Temple. It isn't Shiva, however, who sounds the Om we hear; it's King Indra on the seventh plane. And, if we reach all the way back to the verse about the Guha, we can ascertain that Indra's "song" -- the mighty voice of God-incarnate coming down from Rudra -- conveys the Heart-Cave thoughts or pure communications of God "in the likeness of the One full of life-giving light."

Who is "the One" of which the rishis speak? I believe it's King Indra, the Holy Spirit of Grace, who Course-Jesus refers to several times as "the One." He also uses the phrase "the One Light" a couple of times. In the passage below, he explains how that One Light wakes us up in the end:

At the altar of God [the fourth quadrant of Moksha], the holy perception of God’s Son becomes so enlightened that light streams into it, and the spirit of God’s Son shines in the Mind of the Father and becomes one with it. Very gently does God shine upon Himself, loving the extension of Himself that is His Son. The world has no purpose as it blends into the purpose of God. For the real world has slipped quietly into Heaven, where everything eternal in it has always been. There the Redeemer and the redeemed join in perfect love of God and of each other. Heaven is your home, and being in God it must also be in you. (ACIM, T-12.VI.7:2-7) 

To translate this powerful Vedic teaching, I had to take a chance on several words whose dictionary definitions didn't ring true. Luckily, I found other sources explaining that "anava" was another way of denoting Anu and that "arcati" could mean God-incarnate.

Before we move on, I want to share something else related. A few years ago, I read several books by the late Michael Newton, a therapist-author who specialized in "between-lives" hypnosis. In one of those books, his subjects explained that the energy-body we "wear" in the between-lives realm changed color as our Souls moved up the levels of learning. The colors seemed to correlate with those typically assigned to the chakras, but that was just my impression. What I especially remember is one subject explaining that when the Soul's energy-body turned deep purple (the color of the Crown Chakra), they didn't return to home-base anymore. Instead, they went to "the place of the One."

I'm beginning to think the place of the One is the fourth quadrant of Moksha, which by most accounts, is protected by Agni. As the guardian of the east, King Indra guards the door into that quarter. So perhaps lightning discharged from his Vajra opens that door.

Pretty interesting, right?

Let's move on to Rv 1.6.8, which we've essentially eviserated. Borrowing seven words from that line for the previous one left a single word. That word is "kamyaih," whose meaning isn't crystal clear. My best guess is that it's a compound of "kamy" (ardent desire) and "aih" (to seek), which makes sense when combined with the first seven words from the next line. As reconfigured, Rv 1.6.8 now reads: kamyaih atah parijman a gahi divo va rocanad adhisam asminn rinjate. Those words very aptly translate as follows:

Ardently seek, therefore, the circle-journey of God's Holy Name, the divine Om bestowing the eternal light of the Supreme Lord in this realm of indebted existence.

My definitions:

kamy-aih = ardently seek
atah = therefore
parijman = the circle-journey
a = of God's
gahi = holy or family name
divo = the divine Om
va =bestowing
roc-anad = the eternal light of
adhisam = the Supreme Lord
asminn = in this realm
rinjate = of indebted existence

With seven of its eight words commandeered by the previous line, the Sukta's ninth line must, in turn, subsume the whole of the tenth. This shortens the Sukta to nine lines, the last of which reads: girah ito vā sātim īmahe divo vā pārthivād adhi indram maho vā rajasaḥ. According to my guidance and research, those sacred words translate thusly:

The voices singing in this world bestow the wakefulness of mind of the Holy All, the divine Om bestowing on earth the dawning light of King Indra, the Mighty One bestowing the (inner) radiant glory of the Self.

My definitions:

girah = the voices singing 
ito = in this world
va = bestow
satim = the wakefulness of mind
imah-e = of the Holy All
divo = the divine Om
va = bestowing
parthivad = on earth
adhi = the dawning light
indram = of King Indra
maho = the Mighty One
va = bestowing
ra-jasah = the radiant inner glory of the Self

This confirms that King Indra is indeed the One. Rather than comment further (because I've already said so much), I'll conclude our discussion of Rv 1.6 with a general quote from the Course pertaining to salvation:

Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. And what they hid is now revealed; an altar to the holy Name of God whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your forgiveness laid before it, and the memory of God not far behind. (ACIM, W-pII.2.3:1-4)