We've unlocked a goodly store of timeless wisdom already, and we've only got through the first verse of Rig Veda 8.7! So, let's move on to the Rik's second line, which reads: yad aṅga taviṣīyavo yāmaṃ śubhrā acidhvam ni parvatā ahāsata.
Wilson's translation:
When, glorious and powerful (Maruts), you fit out your chariot, the mountains depart (from their places).My translation:
Strive to sound the sacred-syllable (Om/Aum), the song of the mind supplying Yama's Holy Circle of Wholeness within the Temple of the Spirit of Divine Truth.
My definitions worksheet:
yat (Strive to) aṅ-ga (sound the ga -- the sacred syllable or guru word, Om), ta-viṣīya-vo (the song of the mind supplying) yāmaṃ (Yama's) śu-bhrā (Holy Circle) acidhvam (Wholeness) ni (within) parvatā (the Temple) ahā-sat(y)a (of the Spirit of Divine Reality or Truth)My notes:
Let's start with the word or name yamam, which is typically translated as Yamaraja or Lord Yama, the presumed Hindu god of death. The word is also sometimes defined as "twin," "twin-born," or even "forgiveness." And when divided as ya-mam, the term can also mean "united Self." Interestingly, all of those definitions work interchangeably -- and also reveal different shades of the true character of Lord Yama.
While out surfing for information, I came across a description of Yama on, oddly enough, the website for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (my ego's old stomping grounds). That description reads as follows:In the mythology of India, Yama is revered as the god of the dead. The Vedas reportedly describe him as the first man who died, blazing the path of mortality down which all humans have since followed. He is also assigned guardianship of the south (the region of death) and presides over the resting place of the dead, which is located under the earth. In the Vedas, Yama was represented as a cheerful king of the departed ancestors, not as a punisher of sins, but in later mythology, he became known as the just judge (Dharmaraja) who weighs the good and evil deeds of the dead and determines retribution. He is described as majestic in appearance, green or black, with red eyes and red garments. He carries a noose and a mace, which may be ornamented with a skull, and rides a buffalo. His two four-eyed dogs guard the entrance to his kingdom, and the crow and the pigeon act as his messengers. Yama has also passed over into Buddhist mythology in Tibet, China, and Japan, where he occupies a similar but minor role as the guardian of the abode of the dead.
The first thing we need to understand is that Yama's characterization as the god of death is an interpretive error of monumental proportions. He does indeed preside over "the Resting Place," but not "the resting place of the dead." The resting place over which Yama presides is the Holy Meeting Place, which does indeed lie "beneath" the Ego Mind's external projection of mortal existence.
That he guards the southern direction or compass-point (on the Wheel of Samsara-Maya) also is correct, if we understand that is the location of the door into the Temple. His four-eyed dogs are, therefore, the double-wheeled chakras, through which we "see" either inwardly or outwardly at the four different levels of "ego-self" construction.
Rightly understood, Yama represents the part of us, to borrow from Psalms 23, that "walks through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil." Yama is, in essence, the "seed" of the Red Ray -- the divine "star" or "spark" residing within the Temple inside our minds. He is, therefore, the only part that's real, divine, and eternal -- and, consequently, the only part whose growth, well-being, and "success" matters in the least.
In the multi-round "game of forgiveness" worldly existence actually is, Yama is the marker we must advance toward the "home circle" (quite literally) to make progress toward "winning." When we retire our ego-jerseys at the end of each lifespan, Yama is the only part that remains. And where that marker sits on the board when we "step away" between rounds is where we start the next one. And yes, that marker can move backwards, as many did, apparently, in the war-torn and hate-bedeviled 20th Century.
(Hence, the need for the Celestial Speed-up of the Atonement Plan, which the Course facilitates -- and also the reason, I suspect, the spirit of the Rig Veda has waited until now to reveal its wisdom.)
To extend the "game" metaphor, the home circle at the center of the board is the "Resting Place" over which Yama presides. That Resting Place is BOTH the Holy Circle of Wholeness referenced in this verse, the Wellspring of the Bible, AND the Meeting Place, Golden Circle, and Circle of Atonement discussed in the Course. And that sacred wellspring, place, pasture, circle, or citadel is, in point of fact, the focus of this Sukta (as you'll see) -- and not (to repeat) an army of non-existent storm gods.
As this Sukta also explains, that Holy Circle of Wholeness is where we exchange, as Souls, Stars, or Yamas, the Living Water that IS the separation-healing yajna and/or miracle-working "ritual-practice." And, as this verse makes clear, the source of that lustrating water, miracle, or grace is the mind sounding the Song of Heaven or Om/Aum vibration. And it is through the exchange of that "unstruck sound" that we ready ourselves (and each other) to enter the Holy Instant of Eternity that awaits just above and beneath that separation-dissolving Circle of Wholeness.
Until we choose "salvation" or "enlightenment" as the sole purpose of earthly existence, Yama -- the "seed" of the "vine" of the Christ Self -- remains dormant in the second chakra or mansion. To germinate and sprout, that little "seed" requires the Living Water supplied by the healed and whole Christ Mind. And, once Yama starts to grow, his maturing tendrils require regular "pruning" -- i.e., removal of the egoic thoughts and beliefs that bear no spiritual "fruit."
Bible-Jesus explains all of this in John 15, wherein he says:
I [the Christ Self] am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the Word [the guru word, OM] which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
In this verse from John, Jesus describes the process by which our false ego-body identity is gently and gradually stripped away by the Christ Self and its atonement-restoring agents. In the Middle World, those agents bring the Living Water WE produce for each other's salvation down the three branches on the right-hand side of the Menorah. As that water gently "washes away" Yama's sin-perceiving shell-mind, he rises vine-like up the lampstand's central channel. As he rises, his light grows brighter. And it is that brightening inner-radiance, I believe, that lights up, in succession, the three lamps on the Menorah's left-hand side.
Not exactly sure how this all works, but I believe the three Blood Ray lamps serve as markers of Yama's progress. Perhaps they represent "initiation," "discipleship," and "mastery" -- or something to that effect. I can't really say at this point. What I can say is this: The more Living Water we gather together at the Wellspring to produce, the faster the dream of separation ends for everyone.
Or, as the old adage rightly communicates:
Stated sans metaphors: The more time we spend meditating on the Om/Aum with the miracle-minded intention of sharing its lustrating power with everyone, the quicker the dream the Evil One spun to imprison the Son of God will evaporate.
When Course-Jesus says "no one goes to Heaven alone," this is mainly what he means. As stated before, WE produce the Living Water for each other's salvation, which the Holy Spirit's "graces" then send down (into the desert) through the channels, branches, or "sacred rivers" of the Temple Menorah.
In the Course, Jesus explains the same idea thusly:
The power of the Sons of God is present all the time, because they were created as creators. Their influence on each other is without limit, and must be used for their joint salvation. Each one must learn to teach that all forms of rejection are meaningless. The separation is the notion of rejection. As long as you teach this you will believe it. This is not as God thinks, and you must think as He thinks if you are to know Him again.
Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Communication Link between God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen to His Voice [the Om] you will know that you cannot either hurt or be hurt, and that many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves. When you perceive only this need in them, and do not respond to any other, you will have learned of me and will be as eager to share your learning as I am.
Got it? Good. Let's now explore yamam's alternative meaning as "twin" or "twin-born." Rightly understood, the indwelling "seed" is a twin -- a conjoined "mini-me" of the Blood and Water Rays. Yama is the Blood Ray's "spark" or "star," while his twin sister, Yami, is the Water Ray's smaller reflection. Yama is, therefore, the equivalent of Adam -- the part of us God created by extending the first Red Ray of Creation, whereas Yami was born of the Holy Spirit to wake Adam up from the dream of exile from Eden. As explained in my post on Genesis, the Hebrew word adam originally meant "red," while eve is Hebrew for "spirit."
The Rig Veda and other early Hindu texts rightly associate Yama with the Sun or Greater Light, as well as the "underworld" (the lightless realm of "death" below the Menorah's first set of branches). As the "seed" awaiting germination in the lowest chamber of the Temple, Yama also is accurately described as the guardian of immortality and Satya -- the Law of the Highest Truth of our Being. Rightly understood, the Highest Truth of our Being is the Perfect Love or Agape the Father extended to create the Sonship "in His own image." The Red Ray is, therefore, the First, Last, and Only Ray of God's Perfect Love, as well as the everlasting love or presence of the Father (and His Creative Will) within every part of the Sonship.
The Isha Upanishad, one of the Vedantic texts, also correctly identifies Yama as one of the "twin children of the wide-shining Lord of Truth."
Yami, meanwhile, is generally downplayed in the Hindu lore as a river goddess whose other names are Yamuna and Kalinda. Yami is, of course, much more than a river-spirit, as I'll explain in more detail at another time. For now just know that the Hindu scriptures rightly identify Yami and Yama as the offspring of Surya (the Hindu sun-god personifying the Greater Light) and Saranyu, who is typically (and erroneously) written off as an inconsequential cloud goddess.
Saranyu, with her husband Surya, on his chariot-throne drawn by seven white horses. Those seven white horses represent the Spirits or Lamps of the Menorah.
Saranyu's mythological genealogy tells the real story. As the daughter of Tvashta (the divine artisan) and the mother of Yama, Yami, the twin Ashvins, the first man, the current "manu" or race of humans, and the horse-master Revanta, she almost certainly personifies the Moon or Soma, the "mother spirit" of the Water Ray -- the Ray of God's Grace, which we empower through the practice of True Forgiveness.
The Hindu lore surrounding Yama and Yami makes a lot of sense to me symbolically. To share more of it would, however, take more time and space than I care to devote to them at present. So, just know that they sleep together in the lowest chakra until we ask the Holy Spirit to open our minds to the spiritual purpose of earthly existence.
Let's proceed to Rv 8.7.3, which reads: ud īrayanta vāyubhir vāśrāsaḥ pṛśnimātaraḥ dhukṣanta pipyuṣīm iṣam.
Wilson's translation:
The loud-sounding sons of Prsni drive with their breezes (the clouds), they milk forth nutritious sustenance.My translation:
Sink below the earthly artifice of separation, lifespans, and fear to the Resting Place of the infinite Prisni-producing Star kindling the peace, wholeness, fullness, and joyfulness of the Supreme Spirit.
ut (Sink below) īra-yanta (the earthly artifice) v-āyu-bhir (of separation, lifespans, and fear) vāśrā-saḥ (to the Resting Place of the infinite) pṛiśni-ma-taraḥ (Prisni-producing Star) dhuk-santa (kindling the peace) pipyuṣīm (wholeness [pi], fullness [py], and joyfulness [usi]) iṣam (of the Supreme Spirit)
My notes:
This verse echoes everything I just explained about Yama -- not that you'd ever know this from Wilson's nonsensical translation. His first mistake is reducing prsni-matarah to the singular name "Prisni," when it actually means "the Prisni-producing star" or, alternatively, "the Prisni-producing sacred-syllable."
Before we can fully understand either translation, we need to know who or what Prisni represents. I didn't know, so I looked it up. What I found was a thorny thicket of ego-inspired mistranslation and misinterpretation obscuring this Holy Power's true identity. Hacking through the light-blocking bramble, I ascertained that Prisni, in point of fact, personifies the Living Water.
Allow me to present my evidentiary argument.
Firstly, Prisni is believed to be white in color, a supposition based on early Vedic scholar Sayana's translation of the word subhravarvam as "bright white" or "pure white." In actually, the word combines "su" (holy or sacred), "bhra" (circle or ring) and "varvam," which means "syllable" or "song." And, as the Living Water, Prisni is indeed produced by the sacred-syllable or vibratory "song" emanating from the Red Ray.
Secondly, Prisni is described in various myths as the rain-producing Aditya (celestial power of the Greater Light), who bestows the Peace of God that will ultimately bring about universal enlightenment. And these are indeed attributes of the Living Water.
Thirdly, Prisni is erroneously believed to be the mother of the Maruts, based on two major misnomers. The first of these stems from dividing the Vedic phrase prsni-matrn-maruto to mean "Prisni, the mother of the Maruts." The components should, in fact, be divided as prsni-ma-trn-maruto. The key that unlocks its true meaning is the right definition for "trn." If it's "trin" (as generally presumed), it supposedly means either "grass," "three," or "trinity." That the missing vowel is an "i" is, however, rather presumptive. More likely, the word is an abbreviated form of "tran" or "trana," which means "shelter," "protector," "preserver," or "savior" with regard to the embodied Soul. "Trana" is, in fact, a Sanskrit word meaning "salvation."
Thus, Prisni-ma-tran-maruto tells us Prisni is either the protector and savior of the first Red Ray of Creation or the salvation-granting arm of the same.
What's the second error? The widespread belief that the Maruts are a deific unit discussed at length in the Vedas and other Hindu texts, when that is, in fact, a complete fallacy (as I intend to prove).
Fourthly, Prisni is associated with cows -- or believed to be a cow -- because she's described in the Vedas as identical to "gau" -- the Sanskrit word for cow. But Prisni isn't a reflection of "gau," she mirrors the "ga-u" -- the sacred syllable "ga," which is Om/Aum -- the Holy Name or essence of the first Red Ray of Creation. As the Living Water, she is, in other words, identical to the Om/Aum, which is dead-accurate.
Thanks to Brahma's treachery, this all got twisted over time in the Hindu consciousness until Prisni became gau-mata, the sacred milk-giving Mother Cow, as well as Kamadenhu, the miracle-cow. Right-mindedly understood, the "milk" these two symbolic cows supply to humans is the deception-dissolving Living Water of God's Grace -- and NOT earth-body nourishment or good-fortune. The desire for worldly good-fortune, in fact, blocks the flow of grace -- the reason Bible-Jesus declares that a rich man stands a snowball's chance in Judea of entering the Kingdom of Heaven (or words to that effect).
Curiously, I could locate no images depicting Prisni as Prisni on the Web. I did, however, find images I believe to be Prisni in some of the forms she assumes in modern-day Hinduism.
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Narayani, the consort of Nara, is almost certainly Prisni, the Living Water. And Nara is, in fact, mentioned more than once in this Rik. |
Kamadhenu, the miracle cow, sporting the head of a woman, the wings of a swan, and the tail of a peacock. All three of these attributes also are associated with Savasvati, who brings the Living Water down to the Middle World through the music of her veena. Prisni and Sarasvati both represent the Living Water in slightly different ways. In the image above, notice the golden rings around the fetlocks of the cow, as well as the lingam-yoni figure under her udder, because these are further clues to her real identity and function.
I haven't yet "rested my case," because Prisni also is known as "devagopa," which, again, has nothing to do with cowherds or cattle. Rather, deva-gopa (like Trasu) means "protector of the holiness or wholeness" (of the Son of God), and that is indeed the role the Living Water plays in the at-one-ment process.
And, finally, the legends tell us Varuna presented the dakshina to Prisni. Confusingly, dakshina can refer to either a fee paid to a priest after performing a ceremony or to the right-hand side of something -- so go figure. In this case, the word definitely means "right-hand side," because that is indeed the side of the Menorah through which the Living Water flows to the central channel housing Yama/Yami. So, Varuna, the "senior" Water Ray in the Upper World, gifted the right-hand side of the Menorah to Prisni, the down-flowing Living Water or "milk of truth" granting corrective miracles in the Middle World through the three sacred rivers of the Menorah.
As my evidence suggests, prisni is, in fact, one of the most misunderstood words in the Vedas (alongside "ga-u," which does NOT mean "cows"). Most commonly, prisni is translated as "speckled," "spotted," or "dappled" in the context of cows, antelope, or deer. The word also is sometimes defined as "starry sky," which is, in fact, the evolutionary root of the speckles, spots, and dapples. Understanding this explains why the antelopes or gazelles pulling Soma's chariot have spotted hides (or should, anyway, when accurately rendered). The antelopes or gazelles represent the twin anointing oils, while their spotted coats symbolize the "stars" of the Great Rays (in us) singing together to produce and disperse those "oils" within the Temple.
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Soma or Chandra's one-wheeled chariot represents the Temple or Inner-Instrument of the Holy Spirit, while the twin antelopes pulling that chariot symbolize the anointing oils of atonement produced by the Great Rays and their "stars," "sparks," or "seeds" in all living creatures. |
If we study the range of meanings attached to prisni, a clearer picture emerges. As the Living Water's lustrating miracles dissolve the thought-errors obstructing Christ's Vision, the material illusion gradually fades, until we "see" only the stars underneath the forms. Hence, the "starry sky" definition of prisni. Eventually, the perceived spaces between the stars also fade away -- leaving only a continuous field of brilliant light, extending into infinity.
In the Course, Jesus says essentially the same thing in slightly different language:
In many only the spark remains, for the Great Rays are obscured. Yet God has kept the spark alive so that the Rays can never be completely forgotten. If you but see the little spark you will learn of the Greater Light, for the Rays are there unseen. Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the light will create. Yet in the returning the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the remaining call of creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you. (ACIM, T-10.IV.8:1-7)
He means that we learn to perceive the little light (the spark in everything), which heals, through our Golden Circle miracle-exchanges or yajnas. Those exchanges of grace between equals, in turn, prepare us for the Holy Instant, wherein we perceive the Rays and return to Heaven -- the realm of Perfect Creation. So, salvation is really a progressive, three-step process leading to the fourth and final step, which God undertakes when we're "revelation-ready" (to borrow from Course-Jesus). In very simple terms, the three preparatory steps are these:
- Choose salvation over worldly concerns (move into the Temple)
- Once inside the Temple, do the ego-undoing work necessary to hear the Living Water or Om/Aum
- Once you hear the Om/Aum, imagine yourself in the Golden Circle, giving and receiving separation-dissolving peace, love, light, joy, and grace to everyone equally and without exception, as often as possible. Then, just concentrate on listening to the Holy Name, whilst striving to merge with it.
Or, as Course-Jesus explains along similar lines:
As the ego would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so would the Holy Spirit release your vision and let you see the Great Rays shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to God. It is this shift to vision that is accomplished in the Holy Instant. Yet it is needful for you to learn just what this shift entails, so you will become willing to make it permanent. Given this willingness it will not leave you, for it IS permanent. Once you have accepted it as the only perception you want, it is translated into knowledge by the part that God Himself plays in the Atonement, for it is the only step in it He understands. Therefore, in this there will be no delay when you are ready for it. God is ready now, but you are not. (ACIM, T-15.IX.1:1–2:1)
A little further on, he says:
In the Holy Instant, where the Great Rays replace the body in awareness, the recognition of relationships without limits is given you. But in order to see this, it is necessary to give up every use the ego has for the body, and to accept the fact that the ego has no purpose you would share with it. For the ego would limit everyone to a body for its own purposes, and while you think it has a purpose, you will choose to utilize the means by which it tries to turn its purpose into accomplishment. This will never be accomplished. Yet you have surely recognized that the ego, whose goals are altogether unattainable, will strive for them with all its might, and will do so with the strength that you have given it. (ACIM, T-15.IX.3:1-5)
In the Text's next chapter, Jesus drives the point home and also busts one of the biggest myths the Evil One contrived to lead us astray: the complete fallacy that family and friends are our greatest sources of happiness in the world. Family and friends are, in absolute honesty, the biggest generators of the guilt and fear chaining our Souls to the millstone of earthly existence. Are, therefore, "family values" -- whatever that vaporous phrase is supposed to mean -- also "Christian values"? Not even remotely, as Jesus makes as plain in the New Testament, as he does in the Course.
In Luke 14:26, for example, he says:
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And, yes -- the author of Luke did indeed write HATE, as hard as that is to believe. Because I checked -- and the original Greek word transcribed as "hate" by the KJV translators was misew, which translates as "hate," "detest," or "abhor."
"But wait," you might be thinking, "doesn't Jesus implore us elsewhere to love one another?" He does indeed, but he doesn't mean to love each other's UNREAL ego-body personas. Right-mindedly perceived, those ego-body personas were manufactured by the Evil One to shackle our Souls, naked and afraid, to "asat" -- a Hindu term describing the illusory state of non-being experienced in the demon-infested dream world.
If we want to break the fetters binding us to the dream of hell, we have to deny the reality of those body-dwelling personas and our "special relationships" with them. We must, in other words, strive to perceive ONLY the God-authored Self in everyone and the "holy relationship" we share with the "stars" or "Souls" in those projected parts of our own Higher Self. Jesus explains this time and again in the Course AND the Bible, yet nobody seems to get it -- including me, until the difference was spelled out for me recently through a difficult and rather painful test of faith and obedience.
So, let me spare you that distress and spell it out for you just as clearly:
- Special relationships are forged between bodies and egos in the external and, therefore, UNREAL world. All relationships between bodies are "special" and/or "unholy," including those with our parents, siblings, spouses, children, and friends. Special relationships are visible, worldly, and "personal" -- i.e., they exist between two ego-authored personas in bodies who are using each other to "get" something they perceive as lacking in themselves.
- Holy relationships are forged between Souls in the Golden Circle. Holy relationships are invisible, otherworldly, and "impersonal" -- i.e., they exist between an unspecified number of Souls gathered together "in the name of Christ" at the Wellspring.
- Only through the ONE Holy Relationship we all SHARE can we practice True Forgiveness, genuinely help others, or change the world for the better. It must, however, be said that trying to change the world for the better is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. So, what we really should concentrate on is getting our butts into the lifeboat -- and bringing all the dreaming parts of our Self to safety with us.
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Sound familiar? If not, it should, because that's the REAL message of the story of Noah's Ark. The ark represents the arc formed by the upward reaching branches of the Menorah, while the flood symbolizes the rising tide of Living Water we produce together in wholeness at the Wellspring. |
This also is the message Bible-Jesus attempts to get across in Luke 14:26, and also explains below:
The special relationship is totally meaningless without a body. If you value it, you must also value the body. And what you value you will keep. The special relationship is a device for limiting your Self to a body, and for limiting your perception of others to theirs. The Great Rays would establish the total lack of value of the special relationship, if they were seen. For in seeing them the body would disappear, because its value would be lost. And so your whole investment in seeing it would be withdrawn from it. (ACIM, T-16.VI.4:1-7)
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, we free ourselves from the dream by perceiving ONLY the Divine Spark underneath the body, first in our fellow Souls in the Golden Circle, and then in our own Self-perception. And, when we've forgiven everyone for everything that never happened (because it's only a dream), we will perceive the Great Rays within the spark, reaching all the way back to God.
Let's move on to matarah, the word Wilson completely disregards. Generally, matarah is believed to refer to the seven "Divine Mothers" -- the spirits or lamps enflaming the Temple Menorah. That definition may indeed have merit, but the word can mean other things as well, depending on how it's divided. As ma-tarah, for example, it means "producing (ma) the sacred syllable or star (tarah)." And that definition works much better herein than does "Prisni's mothers" -- or "the sons of Prisni" in reference to the non-existent Maruts.
The word pipyusim was another big stumper. Finding no suitable definition for the whole word, I tried slicing and dicing its syllables every which way -- but (ironically) received "no joy." Eventually, I worked out that pi-py-usi(m) translates as "wholeness, fullness, and joyfulness" -- which ticks all the boxes. So, another Vedic mystery solved by this know-nothing nobody.
Let's now check my interpretation against the Course. Does Jesus say anything similar? He does indeed. Many times, in fact. The citation below is but one example.
We cannot sing redemption’s hymn alone. My task is not completed until I have lifted every voice with mine. And yet it is not mine, for as it is my gift to you, so was it the Father’s gift to me, given me through His Spirit. The sound of it will banish sorrow from the mind of God’s most holy Son, where it cannot abide. Healing in time is needed, for joy cannot establish its eternal reign where sorrow dwells. You dwell not here, but in eternity. You travel but in dreams, while safe at home. Give thanks to every part of you that you have taught how to remember you. Thus does the Son of God give thanks unto his Father for his purity. (ACIM, T-13.VII.17:1-9)
Inching onward, Rv 8.7.4 reads: vapanti maruto miham pra vepayanti parvatān yad yāmaṃ yānti vāyubhiḥ.
Wilson's translation:
The Maruts scatter the rain, they shake the mountains, when they mount their chariot, with the winds.
My translation:
This sower of the fruits of the first Red Ray of Creation is the Great I Am forwarding the vibratory presence within the Temple that is Yama's defense against separation, lifespans, and fear.
My definitions worksheet:
Vapanti (This sower of the fruits of) maruto (the first Red Ray of Creation) miham (is the Great I Am) pra (advancing) vep-ayanti (the vibratory answer or gift) parvatān (within the Temple) yad (that is) yāmaṃ (Yama's) yānti (defense against) v-āyu-bhiḥ (separation, lifespans, and fear).
My notes:
In the Varaha Purana, Vapanti is the name of a sacred river flowing down from Pariyatra, a holy mountain or kulaparvata in the mythical land of Bharata. In this teaching allegory, the Arya and Mleccha tribes dwell in settlements (janapada) along the banks of that sacred river, so they can easily drink its waters.
As with most allegories, the names reveal the story's underlying meaning. Vapanti translates as "sower of fruits," while Pari-yatra means "circle-journey." More precisely, pari means "to circle on foot, especially ceremoniously." The mountain's name, therefore, describes the circle meetings "hearers" of the Om/Aum convene at the Holy Meeting Place. Those hearers or "desert-waterers" form the kulaparvata -- the community of Temple-dwelling disciples the word describes.
Those same disciples are, incidentally, the parvatas or "mountaineers" mentioned in the Mahabharata epic. In the Hindu pantheon, the level of advancement those disciples have achieved is personified in Hinduism as Parvati, the spiritually disciplined consort of Shiva (the savior aspect of the Christ Self or Bridegroom) and the "mother" of Ganesh (the elephant-headed personification of the Om/Aum vibration).
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Maa Parvati, the second wife of Shiva (reincarnated from the first), is almost always depicted in a red sari. |
Let's proceed to Rv 8.7.5, which reads: ni yad yāmāya vo girir ni sindhavo vidharmaṇe mahe śuṣmāya yemire.
Wilson's translation:
The mountains are curbed, the rivers are restrained at your coming, for the upholding of your great strength.
My translation:
Within that maya-traveling vehicle, the song arises from the Wholeness (of the Bridegroom) whose Spirit uplifts the mind of joy beneath the illusion of life on earth.
My definition worksheet:
ni (within) yad (that) yā-māya (illusion-travelling) vah (vehicle) girir or gir-ih (the song arising from) ni (the inner) sindhavah (wholeness [of the Bridegroom]) vi-dhar-maṇe (whose Spirit uplifts the mind) mahe (of joy) śuṣ-māya (beneath the illusion) yem-ire (of life on earth).
Notes:
Like matarah, yamaya can be divided different ways to shift its meaning. As yama-ya, for example, it means "Yama-like"; as yam-aya, it means "twin-teaching"; and as ya-maya, it means "maya-journey" or "illusion-journey." All three variations, in fact, convey the same general idea in nuanced ways.
Despite the Sanskrit word yemire appearing several times in the Vedas, suitable definitions are thin on the ground. What kept coming up in my searches was Ymir, a character from Norse mythology whose blood was used to create the world. This tells me, at least, that Ymir represents the Red or Blood Ray in the ancient Norse Edda. And it is indeed that Red Ray that God extended into the dream through the Christ Self to wake us up.
But there is no character of that name in the Hindu lore. So, after hours of spinning my wheels, I finally settled on yemire being a probable compound of "yem" (life) and "ire" (earth).
Moving on, Rv 8.7.6 reads yuṣmām̐ um iti naktam ūtaye yuṣmān divā havāmahe yuṣmān prayaty adhvare.
We invoke you for protection by night, (we invoke) you by day, (we invoke) you when the sacrifice is in progress.
My translation:
Unite in the sacred song of the Name of Christ coming from Nara's will to awaken. Unite in the sacred song of Heaven's Call of Joy. Unite in the sacred song advancing the guiding spirit shared equally among the parts of one's own Self.
My definitions worksheet:
yu-ṣ(a)mān (Unite in the sacred song of) u (the Name of Christ) iti (coming from) na-ktam (Nara's "ketam" = desire or will). utaye (to arise or awaken) yu-s(a)man (Unite in the sacred song of) diva (Heaven's) hava-mahe (Call of Joy). yu-ṣmān (Unite in the sacred song) pra-yati (advancing the guiding spirit) adha-vare (shared equally among the parts of one's own Self).
My notes:
Let's start with havamahe, an enigmatic term found several times in the Vedas, as well as in a popular mantra honoring Lord Ganesh. The mantra, which allegedly comes from the Vedas, begins with these words: Om Gananam Tva Ganapatim Havamahe. I say allegedly because I haven't yet discovered where in the Vedas this mantra occurs. What I have found is a wide range of translations, none of which hit the mark. Typically, they read something akin to this:
We invoke you, O Lord Ganesha, the leader of the Ganas, the supreme poet, whose fame is unparalleled.
The Ganas are identified in Hinduism as the attendants of Shiva living alongside their master on Mt. Kailash. But the word can also mean "song" and/or "multitudes." So, the "ganas" referenced herein are actually the Souls gathered in the Holy Resting Place to give and receive the vibratory Song of Heaven, Call to Joy, or Om/Aum. And Ganapati or Lord Ganesha personifies that ego-dissolving vibration. He is, therefore, rightly perceived in Hinduism as the "remover of obstacles." The obstacles he removes, however, are those blocking the Peace of God, as opposed to those interfering with our ego goals and desires. In Chapter 19 of the Course's Text, Jesus identifies the FOUR main "obstacles to peace" we must remove with the Holy Spirit's help.
By my calculations, the Ganesha Mantra's opening line should translate more along these lines:
Om, sacred syllable of the divine knowledge belonging to Ganapati's Call of Joy.
Since I'm in the process of setting up an altar to Lord Ganesh above my workspace, I decided to go ahead and translate the whole mantra. Here's what I came up with, line by line:
Kavim Ka-vi-nam-Upama-Shravas-Tamam = Seer of Truth; Spirit of the Great Purusha's Name exemplifying equality and wholeness;
Jyes-s(a)t-tha-ra-ajam Brahman-nam Brahman-aspata (aspada) = Star of the sun and moon; unborn radiance of Brahman's Name in Brahman's abode;
Aa Nah Shrn-van-Nuuti-bhih-Si-ida-Saad-a-nam = Bringer of the wholeness bestowing the desire to break away from the split-mind of fear binding Ida (the channel through which the Living Water flows) by sinking into the Name of God
Om Mahaa-Ganna-Adhipa-taye Namah = Om, great song of the Lord and Provider, I offer respectful obeisance.
This is actually a really beautiful tribute to Lord Ganesh, which I plan to use when my artisan-made Ganapati statue arrives from India.
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| This is the hand-carved, hand-painted Ganesha figure I ordered from an artist in Jaipur. Isn't he beautiful? |
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| Update: Ganapati arrived from India today (8/12/24) and here he is sitting in his mandir on my new pooja altar. I love him so much!! The little scroll under his chowki is a print-out of my translation of the Ganapati Mantra. |
Let's move on to prayati adhvare, a phrase used SEVEN times in the Rig Veda. Not unlike havamahe, the correct definition eludes. So, it took some doing to come up with "the offering shared equally among the parts of one's own Self."
The offering of which the rishis speak is the Miracle of the Course -- a fact verified in the excerpt below:
The power of God, and not of you, engenders miracles. The miracle itself is but the witness that you have the power of God in you. That is the reason why the miracle gives equal blessing to all who share in it, and that is also why everyone shares in it. The power of God is limitless. And being always maximal, it offers everything to every call from anyone. There is no order of difficulty here. A call for help is given help. (ACIM, T-14.X.6:9-15)
This brings us to naktam, a word typically defined as "at night" or "night-quarters." And those definitions semi-work, because "Night" is indeed scriptural code for the dream-realm into which Soma -- the Moon and/or Holy Spirit -- shines the Lesser Light to wake us up. I am, nevertheless, more inclined to believe the word herein is a compound of "na" (Nara's) and "k(e)tam" (will)
Sanskrit scholars tell us adding "kta" to the end of a word merely shifts the tense from present to past, but that rule doesn't apply to "nakta" or, for that matter, to "Sukta." I contend, therefore, that "kta" (in cases such as these, at least) may be an abbreviated form of "keta," which can mean "home," "abode," or "shelter," as well as "learned," "knowing," "will," "desire," "intention," "judgment," or even "invitation." As my translations demonstrate, the Suktas of the Rig Veda are not, in fact, "hymns." So, the word can't mean "hymns," as long supposed. It can, however, mean sacred or holy (su) lessons (kta). So, there it is.
I'm also finding that, when the rishis use "na" rather than "nah," they are referring to Nara, who is mentioned again in the next verse. Who is Nara? He's the Blood Ray, basically, as well as the partner of Prisni's aforementioned Narayani persona. In the Hindu lore, Nara is more often associated with Narayana, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. When correctly interpreted, the name Vishnu is a compound of "vi" (the pervader) and "shnu" (yielding the milk of higher knowing). So, Narayana and Vishnu both represent the Water Ray.
A quick read of the lore suggests that Nara and Narayana (the twins of Rudra mentioned in the next verse) embody the same basic idea as Yama and Yami and/or Adam and Eve. Thus, Nara is the eternal Light of God or "Blood of Christ" within all earthbound creatures, while Narayani or Narayana represents the Living Water or Saving Grace that "power-washes" Brahma's barnacles off Nara's illusion-encrusted holy hull, so to speak, in the manner akin to a shipyard power-blaster.
The hull of the Sonship is eternally perfect underneath the barnacle-crust of fear and guilt. To purify or lustrate that hull, Narayana gently power-washes those pesky parasites off her patner using a combination of Higher Reason, corrective Miracles of Grace, and the mind recalibrating Om vibration.
This circa-1740 illustration depicts the "twin sages" Nara (left) and Narayana (right) performing "tapas" or "atonements" together on the Sacred Grass inside the Temple (not in the mountains of India, as unilluminated interpreters suggest). Note that they are positioned on the side of the Menorah over which each force reigns.
Let's move on to Rv 8.7.7, which reads: udu iti tye aruṇa-psavaś citrā yāmebhir īrate vāśrā adhi ṣṇunā divaḥ.
Wilson's utterly absurd translation:
Truly these purple-hued, wonderful, clamorous Maruts proceed with their chariots in the height above the sky.
My translation:
The stars coming from the Greater Light's first Red Ray bind together to drive the radiant consciousness the twins of Rudra cause to rise in the Meeting Place to begin lustrating Nara's holiness.
My definitions worksheet:
Udu (the stars) iti (coming from) tye (the Greater Light's) aruṇa-pasavah (first Red Ray bind together to drive) citrā (the radiant consciousness) yām-ebhih (the twins of Rudra) īrate (cause to rise) vāśrā (in the Meeting Place) adhi (to begin) ṣṇu-nā (distilling, purifying, or lustrating Nara's) divaḥ (holiness)
My Notes:
Three names are encrypted in this verse, none of which are "Marut." Those three names are Aruna, Rudra, and Nara. We've already talked about Nara, so let's explore what the other two names represent, starting with Aruna -- a Sanskrit word meaning "dawn" or, more specifically, "the first red rays of the sun breaking through the darkness."
In the Hindu lore and iconography, Aruna drives the chariot of Surya, the sun-god personifying the Greater Light. He represents, therefore, the Holy Power driving the first Red Ray of Creation into the Temple. That first Red Ray is the "Logos," "Divine Idea," or "Thought of God" at the root of our existence. In the dream of separation, that Red Ray still abides within us, as pure and perfect as ever, but in need of "lustration" -- i.e., purification through removal by bathing, washing, or ablution. "Washing away the sins of the world" is another way of saying the same thing.
Or, as Course-Jesus explains so beautifully:
The Thoughts of God are far beyond all change, and shine forever. They await not birth. They wait for welcome and remembering. The Thought God holds of you is like a star, unchangeable in an eternal sky. So high in Heaven is it set that those outside of Heaven know not it is there. Yet still and white and lovely will it shine through all eternity. There was no time it was not there; no instant when its light grew dimmer or less perfect ever was.
Who knows the Father knows this light, for He is the eternal sky that holds it safe, forever lifted up and anchored sure. Its perfect purity does not depend on whether it is seen on earth or not. The sky embraces it and softly holds it in its perfect place, which is as far from earth as earth from Heaven. It is not the distance nor the time that keeps this star invisible to earth. But those who seek for idols cannot know the star is there.
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| Surya on his chariot-throne, powered by the seven "lamps" of the Great Rays driven by Aruna -- the first Red Ray of Creation. If we imagine these figures perched atop the Menorah, we get a pretty accurate picture of the trickle-down pecking-order of the at-one-ment powers. |
The image above depicts Surya, the Hindu sun-god, seated upon his chariot-throne (like Elohim in the Bible and Allah in the Qur'an). Aruna, his driver, holds the reins controlling seven horses drawing the chariot-throne into the lower chambers of the Temple. Symbolically speaking, Surya represents the Spiritual Sun -- the Greater Light of God willing the Sonship's return to wholeness and right-minded creating; Aruna represents the Red Ray of that Sacred Sun shining into the dream to accomplish God's Will; the reins Aruna holds are the "twins of Rudra" -- the chief at-one-ment powers through which the Holy Spirit enacts God's Will on earth; and the horses represent the seven beams, refractions, graces, lamps, or spirits of those twins working together through the Menorah or Lamp of God.
In this verse, the name or word Aruna is attached to pasa-vah -- a term not to be passed over lightly. Most Sanskrit dictionaries define pasavah rather dismissively as a rope or binding used to secure animals. And pasa or pasha does indeed translate as "bondage" or "fetter." That is, however, only part of the story.
In Shaivism, a Hindu sect devoted to Shiva, Pasa refers to the unbreakable "bond" or "fetter" connecting the Supreme Being (Pati) to the Atman or Soul (Pasu) in the eternally inseparable three-sided Wholeness of Creation. Vah, meanwhile, translates as "to carry, convey, transport, or drive." So, Aruna, the Red Ray's "driver," is the "fetter" binding our Souls (the Lesser Light or Divine Spark) to their Source (the Greater Light or Spiritual Sun). Aruna-pasavah describes, therefore, the Light, Life, Love, and Wholeness binding our Souls eternally to God. And it is by cranking up the radiant power of those inner-facets or "gems" that the Red Ray burns away (from within) the layers of maya blocking the holiness within us.
Jesus affirms this interpretation in Workbook Lesson 39: My holiness is my salvation, wherein he says (among other noteworthy things):
Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is being asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own. How could you to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? God does not know unholiness. Can it be He does not know His Son? (ACIM, W-39.4:1-6)
Are you keeping up? I hope so, coz we've still got a fair ways to go.
The other name this verse invokes is Rudra (by his code-name "ebhir"), whom the Vedas variously identify as "the Mighty One," "the mightiest of the Mighty," "the Lord of the universe," and "the heart of God." In other Hindu texts, Rudra is identified as Sadashiva, Mahadeva, the Supreme Being, and Paramashiva. All of these designations add up to Rudra being the Purusha, the eternal, indestructible, limitless, formless, all-powerful, and all-pervasive Christ Self running the REAL or spiritual universe underneath the illusion of time, space, and matter. The true definition of the name confirms this. Rudra does NOT mean "the howler," "the roarer," or "the most frightening one," as is often suggested. The name -- a compound of "rud" and "ra" -- more accurately translates as "the source of the radiant All in All." Rudra personifies, therefore, the Light, Presence, and/or Thought of God in everything.
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| Rudra, the head honcho of the spiritual universe, vibrating underneath the forms. |
Okay, so ... if Marut (not the Maruts) is indeed identified elsewhere in the Hindu literature as "the son" of Rudra, it's because the first Red Ray of Creation is indeed the "Logos," "Word," or "Son" of God. And, in similar fashion, if Hanuman is indeed identified as the son of Marut, it is because Hanuman represents the "Soul" or "Spark" of the Red Ray embedded within the body.
Makes sense, right?
Before we proceed, I want to say a few words about the Sanskrit word "divah," which should NOT be confused with "diva" (heaven or sky = the Upper World) or "deva" (divine being). Divah is, I'm fairly certain, the Sanskrit word for the holiness or innocence our Souls still possess underneath the false self the ego made.
Or, as Jesus says:
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)
We're making progress -- and still no sign of any storm-gods. Rv 8.7.8 reads: sṛjanti raśmim ojasā panthāṃ sūryāya yātave te bhān-ubhir vi tasthire.
Wilson's translation:
My translation:They, who by their might open a radiant path for the sun to travel, they pervade (the world) with lustre.
To manifest the presence of that first Ray of Light, vigorously follow the path of Surya's chariot (or Holy Riya's song) to liberation. Out of love for us, the Sacred Sun's Spirit (Soma) abides on earth.
My definitions worksheet:
My Notes:sṛj-anti (to manifest the presence) raśmim (of that first ray of light) ojasā (vigorously) panthāṃ (follow the path of) sūryā-ya (Surya's chariot or Holy Riya's song) yātave (to liberation) te (Out of love for thee/you) bhānubhir (the Sacred Sun) vi (in two parts) tasth-ire (abides on earth).
Let's start with suryaya, which appears to refer to Surya, the sun-god. And that may be so, but the word can also be divided as "su-r(i)ya-ya" to mean Holy Riya's wind, song, or vehicle. The word or name "Riya" has a few different meanings, including "riches," "gem," "graceful," or "singer." More importantly, Riya is a nickname for Lakshmi, the Holy Singer of the Name of God. And that Name, as Course-Jesus explains in Workbook Lesson 184, is the Holy Inheritance we must choose (over worldly treasures) to liberate our Souls from the dream. And this makes perfect sense, given that Lakshmi is indeed the keeper or preserver of that God-given inheritance or Holy Treasure, which can only be recovered inside the Temple.
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| Sri Maa Lakshmi is Riya, the Holy Singer of God's Name |
In Hindu iconography, Lakshmi is almost always depicted in a red sari (like Parvati), seated in a lotus, and pouring golden coins from a jug into a bowl or plate in the foreground. Above her on either side, two white elephants shower down Living Water. Together, these symbols suggest that our meditative lustrations bring Lakshmi forward in our consciousness. Those "miracle-showers," in other words, silence the ego chatter drowning out Lakshmi's song. Thus, the more ego noise we allow the Water Ray to mute, the louder we hear Lakshmi singing in our minds.
In the Course, Jesus confirms that the Holy Sprit's voice does indeed grow louder as we increasingly quiet the Ego Mind's chatter. In one place, for example, he says:
The Holy Spirit’s Voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. It cannot be louder without violating your freedom of choice, which the Holy Spirit seeks to restore, never to undermine. (ACIM, T-8.VIII.8:1-8),
All of this indicates that Lakshmi is, in fact, a Blood Ray devi, if not the personified Blood Ray itself, working in the Middle World through the Menorah. And this explains why she 1) always wears red, 2) is respectfully called "Shri," and 3) is often partnered with Narayana. Lakshmi is paired with Narayana, the Water Ray, because she represents Nara, the spark of the Blood Ray in all living things. In modern Hinduism, Vishnu is identified as Narayana because Vishnu is another form of Prisni and Kamdhenu. And this is why the Hindu pantheon is so bloody over-populated and confounding.
If Vishnu is indeed the Water Ray, then Sarasvati is his agent. And this explains 1) why Lakshmi and Sarasvati are so frequently pictured together and 2) why Vishnu is partnered with one or the other of these divine forces in different myths. They both work through Vishnu, just as they both work through Lord Ganesh (the Holy Name) in a dynamic and symbiotic three-way partnership.
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| The images above and below communicate the same IDEA in different forms. Both images also depict different representations of Rudra and his twins. |
Let's go back to that first Red Ray of Creation, whose presence we manifest through God's Light and/or Lakshmi's song. As briefly explained earlier, that Ray is the Logos, Word of God, or Divine Idea described in the preamble to the New Testament Gospel of John. That account of "the Creation" and related subsequent events is, in fact, spot-on -- apart from a few editorial manipulations introduced along the way by promoters of the ego's religion. So, let's go through that preamble line by line, so that we're super-clear on whose presence we must bring forward to obtain deliverance.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [presumed to be either John the Baptist or the author of this gospel, who was NOT John, the Apostle of Jesus].
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but he was sent to bear witness to that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Hold on. Did he just say, "the true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the world"? He did indeed -- and that True Light is the first Red Ray of the Greater Light of God, shining in our dreaming minds as the Lesser Light or Spark to preserve the Word, Name, or Sound of God's first Creative Thought.
He [that Red Ray of God's FIRST Creative Thought] was in the world, and the [real] world was made by him, and the [false] world knew him not.
He came into his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name, which was born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word [the Red Ray of God's Thought] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the ONLY begotten of the Father) full of Grace and Truth.
I've capped the word ONLY because it should have been ONE, as per the Latin of the Vulgate, the source of the King James translation. And in that Vulgate, the term was uni-genitus -- the one-begotten of the Father. That uni-genitus is the Word, Logos, or First Red Ray of Agape the God Mind extended to bring the Christ Mind/Creation into being. And, as this Bible verse makes abundantly clear, that Divine Ray, Word, Logos, and/or Holy Thought-vibration is the LIGHT IN ALL MEN (not only Jesus). And that LIGHT empowers all of us to become Sons of God (again, through the Wellspring of Remembrance), while still in the world.
The next line, I believe, was added to identify John as "the Baptist." The message of the preamble is, in fact, much stronger without that throw-away line, which reads: John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I spake; He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." I mean, honestly, who cares? John, by all accounts, was a rabble-rousing aesthetic extremist who got his head lopped off for spouting his vitriolic wrong-minded opinions.
And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
True enough -- and the Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ ARE the twin anointing oils of the atonement, which gained access to the Temple through the historical Jesus's resurrection and ascension.
To spell it out:
Truth = the radiant power of the Truth of our Being = the Blood Ray
Grace = the force of God's Will for our return to sanity = the Water Ray
Before we move on, I want to call attention to two particular lines in this verse. The first is the one reading, "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." Like most of the rest of this verse, this line refers to the Red Ray -- the Lifeblood God "breathed" into the Sonship -- rather than to Jesus specifically. We have all received the fullness of the Thought of God we truly are (that eternal Star shining down from Heaven) -- along with all the graces or heavenly treasures accompanying that Holy Thought. To receive that fullness and those many graces, however, we have to honor that version of our Self, rather than the imposter "I-am-ness" the Ego Mind manufactured to hide the Truth of our Being.
The other fragment I want to examine more closely reads, "even to them that believe on his Name, which was born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." More particularly, I want to explore the deeper meanings of three words within this fragment. Those three words are "believe," "his," and "Name."
In the original Greek, the word translated as "believe" was pisteuw, which means "have faith in," "trust in," or "commit to." Compared to these definitions, "believe" is rather passive, don't you think? I mean, to merely "believe" in something isn't quite the same as investing in or committing to that belief. You can, for example, "believe" Jesus Christ is your "savior" -- and pay lip-service to that belief -- without actually devoting your life to following his example and teachings.
Let's now examine the Greek word translated as "his." That word was autos, which means "Self," "one's own Self," or "the same Self." A bit more on-point than "his," wouldn't you say?
Finally, the Greek word translated as "Name" was onoma. Jesus, in fact, used the word onoma forty-seven times in the New Testament. The Greek word doesn't refer only to the "word-name" we were given by our parents or answer to in the world. Onoma much more broadly encompasses a person's full identity -- the full spectrum of ideas that name not only embodies, but also arouses when called to mind or spoken by anyone and everyone.
So, "believe in his Name" is, in fact, a very anemic way of conveying what the author of this gospel actually wrote, which is closer in sprit to this: Commit wholeheartedly to identifying with the Self shared by and embodying everything of God's creation in the universe.
As the scribe also tells us, that Name, Word, Self, or Ray was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the ONE-begotten of the Father -- the WHOLE SONSHIP, fettered together by the Red Ray) full of Grace and Truth. And that ONE shone fully from within the person of Jesus of Nazareth, to bear witness to or EXEMPLIFY what we all MUST come to believe and strive to BE to escape the dream of hell.
Or, as Jesus very importantly explains in the Course:
If you want to be like me I will help you, knowing that we are alike. If you want to be different, I will wait until you change your mind. I can teach you, but only you can choose to listen to my teaching. How else can it be, if God’s Kingdom is freedom? Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of any kind, and the perfect equality of all God’s Sons cannot be recognized through the dominion of one mind over another. God’s Sons are equal in will, all being the Will of their Father. This is the only lesson I came to teach. (ACIM, T-8.IV.6:1-9)
Let's proceed to Rv 8.7.9, which reads: imām me maruto giram imaṃ stomam ṛbhukṣaṇaḥ imam me vanatā havam.
Wilson's translation:
My translation:Accept, Maruts, this my praise, (accept), mighty ones, this my adoration, (accept) this my invocation.
These two (rays of the Greater Light) restore the first Red Ray of Creation's vibratory voice; these two assemble the multitudes in the shared interest of remembering the Holy Instant; these two restore the desire for the Supreme Lord's communications.
imām (These two) me (restore) maruto (the first Red Ray of Creation's) giram (vibratory voice); imaṃ (these two) stomam (assemble the multitudes in the shared interest of) ṛbhu-kṣaṇaḥ (remembering the auspicious moment or Holy Instant) imam (these two) me (restore) vanata (longing for) ha-vam (the Supreme Lord's communications)
My notes:
Before we wade into the grammatical minutia, let me share two things. The first is from the gospel of Matthew (4:4), wherein Jesus says: "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Because that is essentially what this verse attempts to communicate.
The second is from the Course's Text, wherein Jesus says:
I have said already that I can reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you, but I can bring Him to you only at your own invitation. The Holy Spirit is in your right mind, as He was in mine. The Bible says, “May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus,” and uses this as a blessing. It is the blessing of miracle-mindedness. It asks that you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ thinking. (ACIM, T-5.I.3:2-6)
As to the minutia ... nowhere could I find a credible definition for imam -- but it definitely doesn't mean "it," as most Sanskrit grammarians presume. So, I improvised with an "it-like" reference back to the subject of the previous verse. Ditto for stomam, which most linguists erroneously define as "songs of praise" or "eulogium."
The most interesting word in this verse is rbhuksanah, which is generally defined as "Indra's thunderbolt." And that may be accurate, if Indra's thunderbolt represents the Holy Instant discussed at length in the Course. And based on Helen Schucman's vision of meeting Jesus at the Inner-Altar, that seems more than plausible. As used herein, the word is a compound of rbhu and ksanah -- and ksanah does indeed mean "Holy Instant." Oh yes, the Rig Veda does mention the Holy Instant. In this Rik alone, that dream-ending now-moment of eternity is, in fact, referenced several times.
This brings us to rbhu, which I've translated as "remembering" because that is the definition that makes the most sense here. Rbhu also is the name of a demi-god appearing in the Hindu lore. He is one of three demi-gods, in fact, collectively called "the Rbhus." These three "brothers" are named Rbhu, Vibhu or Vibharan, and Vaja. According to the Puranic lore, it is they who "built" the atonement infrastructure. Related to Tvashta (the divine artisan who created Indra's Vajra, the twin axes of Brahspati wielded by Soma/Agni, and the chalice of redemption), the Rbhus were human beings who achieved or returned to immortality by completing the requirements of the at-one-ment curriculum (thereby "reaching God directly").
Based on my research into the lore and the meaning of their names, these three "builders" represent the nine chief at-one-ment powers. Rbhu, whose name means "the sound of becoming," is the Water Ray; Vibhu, "the all-pervading one," is the Blood Ray; and Vaja represents the seven graces of the Holy Spirit working through the Temple Menorah.
Apparently, the Rbhus are "lauded" in eleven different Rig Veda Suktas, and also mentioned in a few others dedicated to the Vishvedevas. This makes sense, given that the Vishvedevas are, in actuality, the "stars," "sparks," "Souls," or "devas" in all of us (rather than external "gods"). The verses devoted to the Rbhus typically extol the five-fold achievements that earned them immortality and, according to suspect translations, "the right to the Soma-libation."
The Soma-libation is, of course, the Miracle of the Course, while the five-fold feats of the Rbhus (followed by my seat-of-the-pants decryptions) are/were: 1) reviving a dying cow (enlivening the ego-muted Om vibration); 2) transforming their old and dying parents into persons full of youthful vigor and strength (creating reproduction and reincarnation to help Souls learn to parent and improve their Karmic records); 3) making two horses for Indra (bringing down the twin thought-forces of God's Will for our salvation); 4) building a complex chariot for the Asvins (building the Temple and its components for the Great Rays); and 5) making four camasas (drinking vessels for the atonement) out of one (making four levels or steps for undoing the Ego Mind's enthrallment).
The Rik's next line (Rv 8.7.10) reads: trīṇi sarāṃsi pṛśnayo duduhre vajriṇe madhu utsaṃ kavandham udriṇam.
Wilson's translation:
The kine have filled for the thunderer three lakes of the sweet (Soma) from the dripping water-bearing cloud
My translation (sans cattle):
To overcome guilt (or debt), come together to share in accomplishing the lustration drawing out the Vajra-holder's sweet wine of truth elevating the Wholeness the Kavandha identity split apart.
My definitions worksheet:
tr-rīṇi (to overcome guilt or Karmic debt) sar-āṃsi (come together to share in) pṛ-śnayo (accomplishing the lustration) duduh-re (drawing out) vajriṇe (the Vajra-holder's) madhu (sweet wine of truth) ut-saṃ (elevating the wholeness) kavandha-nam (the Kavandha-identity) udriṇam (split apart)
My notes:
Lots to decode here, so let's start with vajrine, which means "the Vajra holder" or "the one who bears the Vajra." In the Hindu lore, the Vajra is the thunderbolt-throwing weapon fashioned for Lord Indra, the king of the gods, by Tvashta, the artisan god. So, Vajrine probably refers to the one who grants the Holy Instant and/or "direct revelation" of God -- the final step in the reawakening process. If I'm right about this, the Vajrine referenced herein is the Holy Spirit.
The three reservoirs of water are, I believe the three right-hand branches of the Menorah, down which the Living Water flows into the central channel housing Yama and Yami. I'm still trying to understand exactly how the Menorah works, so I'll leave it there for now.
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| This temple painting shows Rama and Lakshmana seated on Kabandha's arms, about to sever them. Kabandha is depicted with a big mouth on his stomach and no head or neck; though depicted with two eyes, he is described in the Ramayana as one-eyed (suggesting ego-myopia, presumably). |
Let's turn now to Kavandha or Kabandha -- the demonic headless blue torso depicted in the temple painting above. The story of Kabandha is told in both the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics. According to those highly symbolic fables, Kabandha started out as an immortal Gandharva (a celestial musician) named Visvavasu before a curse turned him into a headless, gluttonous, greedy, and lustful demon. After happening upon Kabandha, Rama (the Om or Water Ray) and Lakshman (the Soul of Blood Ray) severed his arms before proceeding to burn his body. Once dead, Kabandha resumed his Gandharva form, after which he helped Rama rescue his wife from her demon captors.
Interestingly, the plot of Kabandha's story is remarkably similar to Hanuman's -- except that Hanuman becomes super-human, while Kabandha is destroyed. This tells me, at least, that Hanuman represents the Soul imprisoned in the body, while Kabandha represents the ego-body persona the Soul must overcome to escape the dream.
Both legends are, of course, the story of our fall from and restoration to the pure state of grace we enjoyed before our "demonization" by the Ego Mind. Before being cursed, Kabandha was an immortal Gandharva. He could, in other words, both hear and heal through the vibratory Word or Name of God. After being cursed, he lost his head -- i.e., his capacity for Higher Reason. Thereafter, he lived through his stomach -- the epicenter of egoic I-am-ness, creative willing, and physical appetites. Why did Rama and his brother sever the demon's arms? To prevent him, I suspect, from acquiring by grasping or taking on the physical plane -- the Ego Mind's method of getting or gaining possessions, grandiosity, and/or prosperity. And, once the twin Rays burned up his headless, armless demon body (i.e., burned away his ego-body identity), Kabandha resumed his previous status as an immortal celestial musician called, not insignificantly, Vi-sva-va-su, which translates (more or less) as "the Spirit of one's own Self radiating holiness."
Lots to absorb in these nine verses, so let's break here. I can't be certain my translations and interpretations are 100 percent accurate, but I'm doing my level best (and revising as new insights occur). This whole article, in fact, took several months to prepare -- and we've still got plenty more ahead. So, until we meet again outside the Golden Circle, Om Shanti Om, Namaste, and God Bless.
