King Indra, the Holy One, sends forth Matsya, the water of joy, to kindle the Om, the light of wholeness Soma's cycles bring to fullness in the scattered sparks of God's radiant energy.
[H. H. Wilson translated the same words as: Come, Indra, and be regaled with all viands libations, and thence, mighty in strength, be victorious (over your foes).]
My definitions:
indrehi (King Indra, the Holy One, sends forth ) matsy(a) (Matsya, "the joyous one" or "water of joy") '(e)ndhas-o (to kindle the Om) viśve-bhiḥ (the light of wholeness) soma-parvan-hiḥ (Soma's cycles bring to) mahām̐ (fullness) abhiṣṭir (in the scattered sparks of) ojas-ā (God's radiant energy)
My notes:
Let's start with the name. Matsya is, I believe, a marriage of "ma" (producing) and "t(a)sya" (the Holy Name or the Name of God). And it is indeed the Water Ray or Light of Joy that produces the Living Water we hear. In Hinduism, Matsya is the first of ten avatars, incarnations, or manifestations assigned to Lord Vishnu, the Vishwapurusha (the Atonement "spirit" of the Christ Mind). Those ten avatars or "Dasavantaras" are (in order of appearance) 1) Matsya (a fish), 2) Kurma (a turtle), 3) Varaha (the boar-form that rescued and married Bhumi), 4) Narasimha (a man-lion hybrid), 5) Vamana (a dwarf), 6) Parasurama (Rama with an axe), 7) Rama himself, 8) Krishna (the Teacher of God), 9) Buddha (the Enlightened Being), and 10) Kalki, the prophesied final avatar, who will appear at the end of "Kali Yuga" (the current age lasting 432,000 years) to restore righteousness and order.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna (the seventh avatar of Vishnu) explains to his pupil, Arjuna: "Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness ... I send forth Myself." And he did, indeed, "send forth" his Self in the second half of the 20th Century -- at a time when, according to Jesus, many Souls were moving backward on the journey. He sent himself forth in the form of "the voice" that dictated A Course in Miracles to Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1974.
In his Matsya or "fish" persona, Vishnu looks like a merman.
The allegorical legend of Matsya bears a striking resemblance to the Biblical story of Noah's Ark. Hardly surprising, given that Truth is One. The protagonist is Manu Satyavrata (meaning "the mind's true purpose"), who is said to be the first man, as well as the progenitor of the human race. As the story goes, Manu was offering oblations by a river one day when a tiny fish jumped out of the water into his hands. Before he could throw it back, the fish asked for Manu's protection. To comply, Manu placed the fish in an earthenware jar, which it soon outgrew. He then returned the fish to the river, but that too proved too small very quickly. The same thing happened after he moved the fish to the much-larger Ganges River and, later, to the ocean.Eventually, the fish admitted to being an avatar of Lord Vishnu. After telling Manu the world would soon be destroyed by a great flood, the fish advised his protector to build a sizeable boat, into which he should put the seven rishis, a variety of plants, and one of each type of animal. When the flood started, Manu fastened the boat to the horn of the fish, using as a "tether" Vasuki, the divine snake coiled around Shiva's neck. The fish then pulled the boat through the floodwaters, until they reached the peaks of the Himalayas.
The story makes perfect sense when we comprehend the symbolism. Matsya, "the joyous one," represents the Water Ray, which "sings" the Song of Heaven or Call to Joy into our inner-ears to dissolve the parasitical Ego Mind. That Water Ray of Joy goes forth from King Indra, the Blood Ray of Peace, to "kindle the Om," as this Vedic verse explains. As Manu Satyavrata "protected" the sound within his mind, his consciousness grew beyond its previous limitations (as indicated by the progressively larger bodies of water into which he placed the growing fish).
What the story really represents is the four legs of the Soul's Journey. At the start of the allegory, we learn that Manu Satyavrata has been practicing spiritual austerities for thousands of years. He has, that is to say, been traveling for some time the Lotus Path of "Dharma" -- the first quarter of the circle-journey.The fish jumping into Manu's hands represents his newly realized ability to hear the Living Water -- the obstacle-removing Om vibration. His willingness to protect the fish marks the start of the circle-journey's second leg of "Artha" -- giving to receive the priceless INTERNAL treasures of God, rather than seeking to obtain the worthless EXTERNAL fantasy-riches and false idols of the world.The boat represents the water-palanquin, Golden Egg, or cistern we enter on the third leg of the circle-journey -- the leg of "Kama." Guided by Vishnu, Manu takes refuge in the boat with the seven "seers" (the seven spirits or lamps "before the throne") and the "wholeness" consciousness of the Golden Circle (symbolized by the animals and plants).Matsya then pulls Manu's boat to the peaks of the Himalayas, a long-time symbol of enlightenment. So, reaching the Himalayas represents his entrance into the quadrant of "Moksha," the circle's fourth and final "leg." The "tether" binding Matsya to the boat is, meaningfully, Vasuki -- the "naga" representing the purifying serpent-fire, Kundalini. This suggests that it's by the power of Kundalini that we graduate from the third to the fourth quadrant. Somewhere in the story, Matsya gives the Vedas to Manu to share with the human race, which he later "spawned" to restore "the mind's true purpose." The Water Ray, with Kundalini's help, in other words, gave higher Self-Knowledge to Manu to share with and illuminate all the dreaming parts of the Universal Mind.
Makes sense, right? And it also tells us the Holy Spirit's first "manifestation" in the formless void was the Water Ray or Mem power of Elohim. And that's precisely what the Bible also explains in Genesis 1:2, which reads: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness (was) upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God [the Ruach of Elohim in the original Hebrew] moved upon the face of the waters [of thought, not H2O].
Let's move on to Rv 1.9.2, which reads: em evam srjata sute mandim indraya mandine cakrim visvani cakraye. By my calculations, those words read along these lines:
The course of the Holy Spirit (the at-one-ment or universal curriculum), created in the now-moment (the Holy Instant), begot the light body Indra's four embody in the circle of the totality of existence (the Golden Circle) belonging to the wheel (of the Soul's Journey).
(H. H. Wilson's virtually meaningless translation of the same line reads: The libation being prepared, present the exhilaration and efficacious (draught) to the rejoicing Indra, the accomplisher of all things.)
My definitions:
em (the course, path, or way) evaṃ (of the Holy Spirit) sṛj-ata (created in the now-moment) sute (begot) mandim (the light body or Temple) indr-āya (Indra's four "aspects") mandine (embody) cakriṃ (in the circle) viśvāni (of the totality of existence) cakraye (belonging to the wheel)
My notes:
The Sanskrit experts tell us "em" almost always precedes the word "eva" when found in the Vedas -- and here we have the first instance of that verbal pairing. They further tell us the combination of "em" and "eva" means "indeed," "thusly," or "in this manner" -- the same thing "eva" allegedly means on its own. And that, quite frankly, defies logic. As explained in my last post, "eva" is almost certainly the Sanskrit word for the Holy Spirit. So, what might the oft-forerunning "em" mean? Sadly, there's no clear answer, even in languages rooted in Sanskrit. The closely related Sanskrit word "ema," however, means "course, path, or way." It might also mean "universal wholeness" or "universal oneness," which is the real definition of "emma" in Hebrew (rather than "mother"). Because there's no way of knowing, let's go with "course" for now and see where it takes us.
In this line, we also encounter the perplexing and seemingly related words "mandim" and "mandine," which I've defined as "light body" and "embody," respectively. Indra's "four," could refer back to the "horses" referenced in the previous Sukta, but my money's on the Living Beings known in Hinduism as the "Chatuvidha Lakshmi." Why? Because those four "aspects" do indeed "embody" the circle-journey that IS the Holy Spirit's path, way, or course.
The Sukta's third line reads: matsya susipra mandibhih stomebhir visvacarsane sacaisu savanesva, which translates something akin to this:
Matsya (the Water Ray) is the power advancing the illuminating light preserving the spiritual vision of the universal being of the true and holy Word of God encircling the Higher Self.
(H. H. Wilson's cringe-worthy translation: Indra with the handsome chin, be pleased with these animating praises; do though, who art to be reverenced by all mankind (come) to these rites (with the gods.)
My definitions:
matsyā (the joyous one) suśi-pra (is the power advancing) mandibhiḥ (the illuminating light) stomebhir (preserving the spiritual vision) viśva-carṣaṇe (of the universal being) sacai-ṣu (of the true and holy) sa-vane-ṣva = (Word of God encircling the Self)
My notes:
Okay, wait ... because, while searching for a cleaner copy of Wilson's translation, I was (mis)informed by the Google-bot that Wilson translated Rv 1.9.3 thusly: "Humility, not arrogance, is the path to highest wisdom." As astute as that sentiment is, it is NOT either a) how Wilson translated this line or b) what the line says in any way, shape, or form.
Try though I did, I could not solve the mystery of how this mix-up originated -- or where that teaching actually comes from -- because all my searches took me in circles. What I did discover is that Hindus put a lot of stock in the idea behind that quote -- as they should. Because humbling the ego is indeed an important step on the path to Higher Wisdom. It is not, however, the path itself, as the mysterious misquote seems to imply.
To quote Jesus:
Of your ego you can do nothing to save yourself or others, but of your spirit you can do everything for the salvation of both. Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the spirit. Spirit is beyond humility, because it recognizes its radiance and gladly sheds its light everywhere. The meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this gives them truer perception. The Kingdom of Heaven is the spirit’s right, whose beauty and dignity are far beyond doubt, beyond perception, and stand forever as the mark of the Love of God for His creations, who are wholly worthy of Him and only of Him. Nothing else is sufficiently worthy to be a gift for a creation of God Himself. (ACIM, T-4.I.12:1-6)
I made an educated guess that "mandibhih" meant something akin to "illuminating light" -- a foundational concept in Hindu theology. According to my research, the term refers to the symbolic representation of divine knowledge, enlightenment, and the victory of good, light, truth, and strength over evil, darkness, ignorance, and weakness. And it is this Hindus celebrate on Diwali (among other festivals), as well as what lighting the traditional "diya" is meant to signify. The flame itself represents the presence of divine energy -- and our connection to it -- during prayers and rituals.
Remarkably, Jesus never once uses the specific phrase "illuminating light" in the Course. He does, however, speak at length in several places about the light that facilitates vision. One such place is Workbook Lesson 92: Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one. In that lesson, he says:
It is God’s strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body’s eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.
Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with light, of which it is a part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there. Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.
Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself. Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.
Returning to the Vedic verse under discussion, "the true and holy Word of God encircling the Higher Self" is LOVE or, more accurately, AGAPE -- a form of love the Ego Mind can't comprehend. Agape, Perfect Love, or Divine Love also is a force too potent to be used to wake us up without 1) scaring the bejeezus out of us and 2) desecrating our free will. So, Indra-Elohim divided that supreme creative energy into the Joy Ray and the Peace Ray. The Joy Ray is the Water Ray and the Peace Ray is the Blood Ray. Thus, we experience "the Peace of God that defies (human) understanding" after the Water Ray cleanses our Soul-Spirit of all the Ego Mind's "chitta" -- the obstacles to peace housed in the ego-body or "human" unconscious-mind "storage container."
As Course-Jesus tells us, light and strength are one. And so are joy, peace, and love, because joy and peace retain all the attributes of their source -- just as we retain all the attributes of ours. Stated another way, we are still as perfect, innocent, powerful, and glorious as God, but in a slightly toned-down capacity (while in the dream-realm) -- just as joy and peace are still as powerful and glorious as Love, but in a slightly toned-down capacity. The moment we return to FULL capacity Agape (which is what we ARE), we are absorbed back into Heaven proper. And, just like that, the dream is over and forgotten in the proverbial Holy Instant.
Having explained to us what Matsya, the Water Ray, does, the Vedic rishis now tell us more about Indra, the Blood Ray. Rv 1.9.4 reads asrjram indra te girah prati tvam ud ahasata ajosavrsabham patim, which translates thusly:
The Blood Ray, Indra is the one speaking in the likeness of the Self higher up, belonging to the Greater Light up there, perpetually raining down the light of the Bridegroom.
[H. H. Wilson's translation: I have addressed to thee, Indra, the showerer (of blessings), the protector (of thy worshipers), praises which have reached thee, and of which thou hast approved.]
My definitions:
asṛj-ram (the Blood Ray) indra (Indra) te (is the one) giraḥ (speaking) prati (in the likeness) tvām (of the Self) ud (higher up) ahāsata (belonging to the Greater Light up there) ajoṣā = ajassa (eternally or perpetually) vṛṣabham (raining down the light) patim (of the Lord, Master, or Bridegroom).
My notes:
Okay, so ... Indra, the Blood Ray, is God's vehicle in the dream of separation. God can't speak to us directly (because we blocked His channel with fire and ice), but He can still communicate with us through the Christ Mind (since Jesus reopened the channel). Thus, Indra speaks for the awake "Self higher up" and also "rains down" the Living Water, vibratory essence, and/or "illuminating light" coming from "the Bridegroom." And, as already established, Indra also is Elohim, "the One" on the chariot-throne. And that makes two things VERY clear. The first is that King Indra does indeed represent the Red Ray, Blood Ray, or "Blood of Christ" in the Hindu pantheon. The second is that Elohim does the same in the Old Testament.
What it doesn't make clear is why Indra is no longer worshipped in India. We might not be able to reach Indra (the Blood Ray that IS the Great Purusha) without going through the mediating Vishwapurusha, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't honor God's Host as we would honor God Himself. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
Let's move on because, in the very next line (Rv 1.9.5) we learn the identity of the "four" beings mentioned a few verses back. We also solve the mystery of the Vasu -- or at least part of the mystery. The verse reads: sam codaya citram arvag radha indra varenyam asad it te vibhu prabhu asman. My research suggests those words translate as follows:
The Word of God urges forward the four Bright Ones, the spokes of the wheel speaking for selfless devotion and service to Indra, the chosen vehicle in unreality for the Supreme Lord of the Highest Heaven.
(Wilson's translation: Place before us, Indra, precious and multiform riches, for enough and more than enough are assuredly thine.)
My definitions:
saṃ (the Word of God) cod-aya (urges forward the four) citram (bright ones or celestial maidens) ar-vāg (the spokes of the wheel speaking for) rādha (selfless devotion and service) indra (to Indra) vareṇyam (the chosen vehicle) asad (in unreality) it (for) te (the) vibhu (Supreme) prabhu (Lord) asmān (of the highest heaven).
My notes:
Here, the rishis affirm that Indra is indeed God's vehicle in the dream of separation. They also tell us how the Wheel of the Soul's Journey moves forward. The Word of God -- the Om vibration coming down from Heaven -- advances the Wheel by "urging forward" the four Bright Ones -- the four Living Beings and/or aspects of Lakshmi who are also (I strongly suspect) the Vasu. Four of them, anyway -- if indeed there are eight, as commonly believed. And, FYI, Indra is also Allah, and the four "Bright Ones" are the "amlat al-arsh" -- the throne-bearers of Allah mentioned in the Qur'an.
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The four "aspects" of the Soul are the Living Creatures Ezekiel called Cherubim. |
_of_the_celestial_throne_Wellcome_L0030654.jpg) |
The four "aspects" of the Soul are the throne-bearers seen by Muhammed. |
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The four "aspects" (or their guardians) are also probably the four symbols of Chinese mythology. |
Let's take a minute to revisit the Vasu, a word meaning "Bright Ones" in Sanskrit. According to Wikipedia, "The Vasu are a group of deities in Hinduism associated with fire and light. They are described as the attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. Generally numbering eight and classified as the Ashtavasu, they are described in the Ramayana [epic] as the children of Kashyapa and Aditi, and in the Mahabharata as the sons of Manu or Dharma and a daughter of Daksha named Vasu. They are eight among the thirty-three gods mentioned in the Vedas."
(For lots of reasons, I question that there are in fact thirty-three gods mentioned in the Vedas. But that's neither here nor there in terms of our present topic of discussion.)
Let's start with Kashyapa, the father of the Vasu, as per the Ramayana epic. The name supposedly means "turtle" or "tortoise" (which doesn't tell us much), but it's actually a compound of "kashi" (light) and "apa" (water). So, Kashyapa almost certainly represents the two Great Rays, rather than "the first human rishi" or any Vedic scribe. His wife, Aditi is believed to be the Mother of the Cosmos, more or less; but her name tells a different story. A marriage of "adi" (the first) and "ti" (three), Aditi probably represents the Atonement Trinity -- the first three powers Indra/Elohim produced after entering the void to carry out God's Great Awakening Plan. If my interpretations are correct, the Vasu were created by the Great Rays in partnership with the Atonement Trinity. They can not, therefore, BE any of those five powers.
Since Indra is Elohim, the Atonement Trinity would be the Hindu equivalent of Aleph, Lamed, and Hey. Hard to say for sure, but I believe their Vedic counterparts are Agni (the Fire of God), Nara-Narayana (the redemption aspect of the Christ Mind), and Vayu (the Breath of God). If I'm right about this, then Indra, Varuna, Vishnu, Shiva, and Vayu -- in all their forms -- can't be among the Vasu.
Let's examine the evidence. This verse says there are four "Bright Ones" -- and that those four form the spokes of "the Wheel" the Word of God moves forward. The Wheel they mean has to be the Dharmachakra -- the Wheel of Samsara-Maya, Earthly Existence, Karma, Dharma, or Reincarnation (depending on the school of thought). For our purposes, it's the "wheel" around which the Soul (in four parts) makes its circle-journey from Dharma to Moksha.
A quick Internet search suggests the Dharmachakra features more prominently in Buddhism than in Hinduism. In Buddhism, the Wheel is generally assigned eight spokes representing the "legs" of the Noble Eightfold Path. But the Wheel can also have four spokes. And when that's the case, those four spokes represent the four stages of meditation. Those four stages are known as either the Dhyanas (a Sanskrit word meaning "meditative absorption") or the Jhanas (a Pali word meaning "meditation").
Now, what strikes me right off is that "Dhyana" is the name of one of the four Lakshmi aspects. And that suggests a couple of things. The first is that the four Dhyanas in Buddhism are probably related to the four legs of the Soul's Journey. The second is that Dhyana -- the third "aspect" of Lakshmi -- walks the path of "meditative absorption" on the circle-journey's third leg; the leg inside the Golden Egg; the leg during which, according to Course-Jesus, we have to give up every use the ego has for the body. So, "meditative absorption" probably is the order of the day.
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Dhyana-Lakshmi walks the path of "meditative absorption" to "water the seeds," so to speak, of her dreaming brethren. Is that why she's often depicted with baskets of grain? |
In case you're interested, the four Dhyanas/Jhanas are these (in a nutshell):
1) Freedom from desire: Freeing the mind from lower-mind thoughts and desires.
2) Freedom from discursive thoughts: Freeing the mind from thoughts involving reasoning and investigation (scholarship and scientific inquiry, for example).
3) Freedom from blissful states: Expanding the consciousness beyond blissful meditative states.
4) Perfect equanimity and wakefulness
(Clearly, I have a long way yet to go on the second leg of freeing the mind from reasoning and investigation. Lol. But maybe spiritual reasoning and investigation are exceptions to the rule.)
Let's jump back to the Vasu, because they're also commonly associated with the elements. What few grasp is that the associated elements are the sensory intangible and internal spiritual "elements" we've projected outward as sensory tangible and external material elements. As I see it, there are two celestial "beings" occupying each quadrant; the Lakshmi-aspect or Vasu assigned to that quarter of the circle and the deity governing or watching over that quadrant and aspect. And that's partly why it's all so bloody confusing, as well as the reason the "aspects" and their "guardians" are so often conflated.
Here's how I envision the element-aspect-guardian trios:
First Quadrant = Spiritual Earth = Bhumi, watched over and aided by Prithvi
Second Quadrant = Spiritual Wind = Dhana, watched over and aided by Vayu
Third Quadrant = Spiritual Water = Dhyana, watched over and aided by Ishvara (Vishnu-Narayana) inside Ishana (Shiva-Nara)
Fourth Quadrant = Spiritual Fire = Gaja, watched over and aided by Agni
I'm just conjecturing at this point, but it makes more sense this way, IMHO.
I further suspect that the Dikpalas or Lokapalas (the guardians of the cardinal directions) and the Dvarapalas (the "door" protectors) might have gotten confused over the centuries. The Dikpalas are said to be Indra (east), Yama (south), Kubera (north), and Varuna (west), but it's pretty clear to me that these are the four powers guarding the doors between the quadrants. Kubera's a bit of an oddity, both because he's pretty obscure and because he's depicted as a pot-bellied dwarf riding a human being. And yet, he guards the door into the Golden Egg. If I had to guess, I'd say the two sets of "gods" are partners who, in actuality, are two different poles on the same scale. Indra, the Blood Ray, is the "realized" partner of Varuna, the Water Ray, while Kubera, the "god of wealth," represents the "realized" state of Yama, the divine spark.
Understood this way, their positions on the Wheel make sense. Yama guards the "door" into the first quadrant because we have to germinate the "seed of the True Vine" he represents in order to enter the Temple. Varuna guards the door into the second quadrant, because we have to hear the Om before we can begin that leg of the journey. Kubera guards the door into the third quadrant, because we have to reclaim our Holy Inheritance -- and overcome the ego -- before we can enter the Upper World. And Indra guards the door into the fourth quadrant because we have to remember the Truth of our Oneness of Being before we can fulfill our higher function in the Atonement Crusade.
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This little diagram shows the positions of the eight "guardian" powers on the Wheel. Apart from Nirriti in the Southwest, which makes no sense, it matches my model. |
Nirriti's position as guardian of the Southwest confounds me -- unless he represents what the Soul must overcome in the first quadrant. But that wouldn't make him much of a guardian, would it? In Hinduism, Nirriti or Nirrita is the "god" of misery, suffering, poverty, disease, and death. So, it seems more logical that s/he would govern the Lower World -- the dark void of nothingness and chaos OUTSIDE the Temple of the Soul's Journey. And perhaps that's what the Southwest quadrant of the Wheel is presumed to represent in some schools of thought. That's not how I see it, but what do I know? Except that Prithvi makes much more sense as the guardian of the Southwest quadrant. She is, in fact, the "protector" of the whole shebang, as I'm about to explain.
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Prithvi |
An important goddess in Vedic Hinduism, Prithvi is presumed to be the archetypal "mother" of the Earth -- the Hindu equivalent of "Mother Earth," more or less. And rightly so, in many respects, but not for the reasons her worshippers think. In the literature, she is described as a nurturing, generous goddess who provides sustenance to all living beings on earth. This makes sense, as does her close association in the Rig Veda with Dyaus Pita, the Heavenly Father. In latter-day Hinduism, she has been supplanted by Bhumi, who is no more an "earth goddess" (in the usual sense) than is Prithvi.
Prithvi may be known as "the Vast One," but that is not the meaning of her name. Her name is a compound of "pri" (love or beloved) and "thvi" (light), making her the Vedic personification not of Planet Earth, but of the Light of Love that sustains all divinely created life. Hence her close association with Dyaus Pita.
Let me take this opportunity to share one of my absolute favorite songs -- "In the Light of Love," performed as a duet by Deva Premal and Miten. If you've never heard it, you're in for a real treat.
Love is what we are, what God is, and what sustains us, even in the dream, as Jesus explains in Workbook Lesson 50: I am sustained by the Love of God. In the Text, he uses the specific phrase "Light of Love" at least half a dozen times. In one place, he says:
Release from guilt as you would be released. ²There is no other way to look within and see the light of love, shining as steadily and as surely as God Himself has always loved His Son. AND AS HIS SON LOVES HIM. There is no fear in love, for love is guiltless. You who have always loved your Father can have no fear, for any reason, to look within and see your holiness. You cannot be as you believed you were. Your guilt is without reason because it is not in the Mind of God, where you are. And this is reason, which the Holy Spirit would restore to you. He would remove only illusions. All else He would have you see. And in Christ’s vision He would show you the perfect purity that is forever within God’s Son. (ACIM, T-13.X.10:1-11)
Keeping all that in mind, let's move on to the next verse -- Rv 1.9.6 -- which reads: sutatra codayendra raye rabhasvatah tuvidyumna yasasvatah sam gomad indra.
The holy sound in that place (the Highest Heaven) stimulates the Majesty streaming the rays of light bringing forward the underlying Power and Glory of the eternal Word of God, the light illuminating Indra.
(Wilson's nonsensical and completely wrong-minded translation: Opulent Indra, encourage us in this rite for the acquirement of wealth, for we are diligent and renowned.)
My definitions:
sutatra (the holy sound there or in that place) coday-endra (stimulates the majesty) rāye (streaming) ra-bhas-va-taḥ (the rays of light bringing forward the underlying)| tuvi-dyumna (power and glory) ya-śasvataḥ (of the eternal) saṃ (Word of God) gomad (the ray of light illuminating) indra (Indra)
My notes:
In the Course, Jesus uses the particular phrase "power and glory" more than a dozen times. In one place in the Text, he says:
Power and glory belong to God alone. So do you. God gives whatever belongs to Him because He gives of Himself, and everything belongs to Him. Giving of yourself is the function He gave you. Fulfilling it perfectly will let you remember what you HAVE of Him, and by this you will remember also what you ARE in Him. You cannot be powerless to do this, because this is your power. Glory is God’s gift to you, because that is what He is. See this glory everywhere to remember what you are. (ACIM, T-8.III.8:1-8)
And guess what? The rishis tell us more or less the same thing in the next two lines. From here on, I'll dispense with Wilson's translations, because they really are utterly useless. Rv 1.9.7 reads: vajavad asme prthu sravo brhat visvayur dhehy aksitam, which translates as follows:
To strengthen that voice in us, Prithu sounds Brahspati (the Lord of the Song of Prayer), the vital power of universal wholeness to be meditated upon with the Spiritual Eye.
My definitions:
vājavad (to strengthen that voice) asme (in us) pṛthu (Prithu, [a rather mysterious incarnation of Vishnu]) śravo (sounds) bṛhat (shorthand for Brahspati, the Lord of the Song of Prayer) viśvāyur (the vital power of universal wholeness) dhehy (to be meditated upon) akṣi-tam (with the Spiritual Eye)
My notes:
Prithu is a bit of a curiosity, as he's believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu, even though he isn't listed among the standard ten. His name is a compound of "prith" (extending or spreading) and "u" (the Cosmic Vibration, Holy Word, or Holy Name). And that vibration, Word, or Name is, of course, Perfect Love. So Prithu is the disperser of Prithvi, the Light of Love, in the dream of earthly existence.
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Prithu chasing the goddess Prithvi, from an illustrated manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana Indian, Pahari, about 1740. |
In the Puranic lore, Prithu is best known for chasing Prithvi in the form of a cow (as pictured above). Eventually, he catches her and persuades her to give up her "milk" to sustain the world's food supply and end the long-time famine. All metaphors, of course, for the sustenance Prithvi, the Light of Love, supplies to our dreaming Souls.
Our revised understanding of Prithvi's identity also clarifies what the cow and her milk truly represent in India. Most Indians sort-of get this, but generally view the cow (I believe) as a God-given provider of (mortal) life-sustaining milk, rather than as a symbol for the divine supplier of the (immortal) life-sustaining "milk" of God's Love and Grace.
In the Mahabharata epic and the Vishnu and Bhagavata puranas, Prithu is described as a "part-avatar" of Vishnu. Born "ayonija" (without the yoni), he is untouched by ego desires and can thus control his senses to "rule his kingdom" in accordance with Dharma. To be born "ayonija" is a symbolic reference having nothing to do with the female reproductive organs. Mystically speaking, The yoni symbolizes the upside-down triangle of Prakriti consciousness -- the unreal physical existence into which our reincarnating Souls are born to make the circle-journey. That upside-down triangle is, in fact, "the Wheel," which we must turn right-side up again to restore our memories of Divine Reality. When right-side-up, the triangle is the "Shiva Lingam" signifying Purusha or Christ consciousness.
I explained all this in earlier posts, but it bears repeating.So, to say Prithu was born "ayonija" means he was born in Purusha consciousness -- and that's almost certainly what Jesus's "virgin birth" also signified. In fact, the more I learn about Prithu, the more I believe he is Jesus. And the reason he's described as a "part avatar" is that he has to "come again" -- within our hearts and minds -- before he becomes a full-fledged avatar. He is, in fact, Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu who has yet to fully manifest on earth.
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Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu = "the second coming" of Christ |
Allow me to present the evidence supporting my supposition that Prithu represents Jesus. First and foremost, Prithu was born the "first consecrated king" -- the King of Kings, in other words. On his right palm was the "mark" of Vishnu's Sudarshana -- the "chakra" representing the Spiritual Eye and the sixth plane of consciousness, where the eye is fully open. He was born with Christ's Vision, in other words. His birth was treated as a yajna -- a sacred offering from the Creator -- not a sacrifice! He was crowned immediately, after which "sutas" -- the royal heralds of the Om -- sang his glories.Implored (at some point) by his subjects to end the famine on earth, he pursued Prithvi (who wasn't yet called Prithvi) in the form of a cow with his bow and arrows (his pinpointed "Samadhi" meditative focus). After cornering her, Prithu agreed to spare her in exchange for her "milk" -- the Light of Love he would "bring down to earth" to end the drought and increase the greater (spiritual) food supply.
He milked her using a calf representing Swayambhuva Manu -- the Hindu equivalent of Adam (the spark of the Red Ray that is the human Soul). In so doing, Prithu gave "life" to Love's Light and also became its "father" and "protector" in the world.
Before Prithu's reign, there was "no cultivation, no pasture, no agriculture, and no highway for merchants." There were no spiritual fruits to be gained by sharing thoughts or interests and no way out, in other words, because the shared Christ Mind channel was blocked until Jesus did his thing. And so, the Atonement Plan existed only in principle hitherto.
Pretty interesting, right? Even more interesting is that this teaching was recorded long before Jesus walked the earth -- but so were the Biblical prophecies of the coming Messiah. If I'm right about Prithu's identity, the verse under discussion could be read thusly:
To strengthen that voice in us, Jesus sounds the Om, the vital power of universal wholeness to be meditated upon with the Spiritual Eye.
And it is indeed Jesus -- or what he represents -- that sends down the Living Water to our Souls. Never forget that the dream is over and what we're living through is the recorded memory of what already happened on earth and in the material universe. So, the Rig Veda might have been "revealed" thousands of years before Jesus came in our bogus linear perception of time, but on the Holy Spirit's clock, he'd already "been there, done that" (so to speak) many eons earlier.
Am I blowing your mind? Good. I hope I blow it wide open -- and mine along with it.
Let's move on to our next Vedic verse (Rv 1.9.8), which reads: asme dhehi sravo brhad dyumnam sahasrasatamam indra ta rathinir isah. By my calculations, those words translate more or less as follows:
In us, to be contemplated, is the streaming Om extending the Power and Glory of the mighty essence of Wholeness -- Indra in the form of the charioteer driving Isha (the Supreme Lord or formless divine).My definitions:
asme (In us) dhehi (to be contemplated) śrav-o (is the streaming Om) bṛhad (extending) dyumnaṃ (the Power and Glory) sahas-rasā-tamam (of the mighty essence of Wholeness) indra (Indra) tā (in the form of) rathin-īr (the charioteer driving) iṣaḥ (Isa, the Supreme Lord, formless divine, or universal Soul or Self)
My notes:
This may be a reference to Matali, the faithful, wise, and skillful servant who acts as Indra's charioteer in the legends; it may be a reference to Krishna, the charioteer who advises Arjuna (the spiritual warrior symbolizing the Soul), on the edge of the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita; or it may be a reference to Aruna, the charioteer for Surya, the Hindu God representing the Spiritual Sun that is the Greater Light of God. And Aruna is, in fact, another form of the Red Ray. So my money's on Aruna, whose name, in fact, means "the first red ray of dawn." In the lore, Aruna is the son of Kashyapa, the father of the Vasu, and the brother of Garuda, the primary vahana of Lord Vishnu. (At another time, we'll explore what Garuda represents.)
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Vishnu and Garuda |
Our second-to-last verse (Rv 1.9.9) reads: vasor indram vasupatim girbhir grnanta rgmiyam homa gantaram -- words that translate thusly:
Give forth the sound of Indra, the Lord of the Vasu and the Voice of Light. Seize the infinite praise-worthy offering to reach the place of rest and comfort.
My definitions:
va-sor (give forth the sound) indraṃ (of Indra) vasu-patiṃ (the Lord or "Husband" of the Vasu) gīrbhir (the Voice of Light) gṛṇanta (seize the infinite) ṛgmiyam (laudable or praise-worthy)| homa (offering) gantāram (to reach the place of rest, comfort, or the garden = the Holy Resting Place)
My notes:
At first I thought: "Uh-oh. This refutes my earlier statement that Indra can't be one of the Vasu." Then, I reminded myself that "pati" means "lord" or "master" in the context of a husband's power over his wife, when and where wives are treated as servants and property. From this frame of reference, Indra being described herein as "Lord of the Vasu" makes perfect sense -- especially when we remember that Ezekiel described the four Living Beings he beheld as "wife-sisters." And our Souls -- not the Christian church -- are indeed the Brides of Christ preparing for the sacred marriage that is the "second coming" of the Bridegroom. So, Indra could definitely be "Lord of the Vasu" without being one of them per se.
In more general terms, this verse tells us that we must "give forth" the Om vibration to reach the Holy Resting Place -- the place where our Souls "find rest" in the dream. Jesus mentions this Holy Resting Place numerous times in the Course. My impression is that it's synonymous with the Holy Meeting Place, the Circle of Atonement, the Golden Circle, the Real World, and the Sacred Grass (just before the gates of Heaven). My impression also is that this "resting place" can be found in the fourth quadrant of the circle-journey, whose "gate" is guarded by King Indra, the Bridegroom of our Souls. Course-Jesus describes this "place" in halcyon terms in chapters 26 and 27 of the Text. In Chapter 29, he more succinctly says:
There is a place in you where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard. There is a resting place so still no sound except a hymn to Heaven rises up to gladden God the Father and the Son. Where Both abide are They remembered, Both. And where They are is Heaven and is peace. (ACIM, T-29.V.1:1-5)
The Sukta's tenth and final verse also concerns that "resting place." In Sanskrit, the line reads: utaye sutesute nyokase brhad brhata ed arih indraya susam arcati -- words that translate thusly:
To ascend to that sacred place, the eternal abode of the Great and Large, look upon the enemy in the Oneness of Indra, the Holy Word of God incarnate.
My definitions:
ūtaye (to ascend or rise up) sutesute (to that sacred place) nyokase (the eternal abode) bṛhad (of the Great) bṛhata (and Large) ed (look upon or perceive) ariḥ (the enemy) indrāya (in the oneness of Indra) śūṣam (the Holy Son/Word) arcati (of God incarnate)
My notes:
In Hinduism, "the Great and Large" refers to Brahman -- the Supreme and Absolute source, cause, or creator of the Divine Cosmos, which operates beyond the illusion of earthly existence, but is still present in all things, everywhere (and in which all things dwell eternally in omniscient Superconsciousness). So, God, basically -- but not as "personal" perhaps as the God worshipped in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
In this profound final verse, the rishis tell us exactly what Jesus tells us: to remember our eternal dwelling place within the God Mind, we must look upon our "enemies" as one with us in Indra, the Red Ray seated upon the Throne of God on the seventh plane of consciousness. We must, in other words, perceive everyone (and ourselves) as the Word of God incarnate.
Course-Jesus says the exact same thing in many different ways, over and over. He also says, in as many ways, that it is through forgiveness that we arrive at this heightened perception of the oneness of being. But through True Forgiveness -- which sees through the illusion to the Truth -- rather than the sort of forgiveness the Ego Mind would have us practice. If we see the stain of sin, fault, or separation anywhere, we have not yet TRULY forgiven our Self for believing the dream.
I'm going to close today's discussion by sharing the whole of Workbook Lesson 283: My True Identity abides in You, which expresses these ideas both beautifully and succinctly. The lesson starts with a prayer:
Father, I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God. Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. Let me not worship idols. I am he my Father loves. My holiness remains the light of Heaven and the Love of God. Is not what is beloved of You secure? Is not the light of Heaven infinite? Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?
To which Jesus adds:
Now are we one in shared Identity, with God our Father as our only Source, and everything created part of us. And so we offer blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world, which our forgiveness has made one with us.
