|
Rigveda has a wealth of knowledge about human psychology. But like
everything else in the Veda, this knowledge is intimately related
to the knowledge of cosmology, devās etc. The seers of RV
viewed a human being as a symbol of the Supreme Divine. This is
the natural meaning of the famous Puruşha hymn (10.90) in
RV. It is a grotesque interpretation to claim that this hymn
portrays the Supreme Person as having a physical form of the human
being, the so called anthropomorphic conception of God. The word
puruşha is used in the Veda both for the Supreme Divine as
well as for the human. This word literally means a dweller in the
city puri or one who pervades everything.
Every human being has a complex inner structure of which the
physical body is only one aspect, the other aspects being those
beyond the pale of the senses. In modern language used by the
tāntriks, every human being is endowed with several bodies
which are termed as subtle to distinguish them from the gross
physical body. The subtle body is indicated by the word sadana,
sadma, yoni, etc., in many verses. Each body is associated
with a distinct psychological principle. There is an intimate
connection between the subtle bodies associated with a human being
and the various worlds of the cosmos of Rigveda. Thus a key idea
of the RV is that every human being's structure mirrors that of
the cosmos. This connection between the individual human and the
cosmos also affirms the connection between the corresponding
bodies of all the different human beings. For instance, the
individual mind of each human being is derived from the cosmic
mind and thus all the individual human minds are in touch with one
another. This feature explains many of the well known facts such
as thought-reading, i.e., the reading of one person's thought by
another, the possibility of simultaneous discoveries in the
scientific arena and so on. As mentioned earlier, the structure of human being replicates that
of the macrocosm. Each person has several different sheaths or
bodies, one corresponding to each principle of consciousness
mentioned above. The same names are used for the sheaths also.
However, in most humans only the outer three sheaths associated
with the worlds of earth, antarikşha and dyau have
developed; the fourth sheath termed as mahas in Upanishads
is not developed in most humans.
The outermost sheath is the sheath of matter, derived from the
world of matter. Next s/he has the sheath of life-energy which
deals with ambitions, emotions, higher levels, feelings, both
noble and petty, goals, urge to dominate, drives, desires to
possess, anger, urge for progression, the power of love, faith,
sincerity, humility, aspirations, equality, peace, generosity,
goodness, emotion, passion and love. The mental sheath deals with
our thoughts, understanding, control of senses, intelligence,
reason, intuition, ability to make decisions and implement them,
control of the organs of actions like speech, hands, legs etc.,
and the powers of meditation, contemplation and concentration.
Typically in an advanced person the sheath of prāņa or the
vital should be under the control of the mind. Often it is the
reverse, the vital overpowers the mental and orders the power of
reasoning to come up with reasons for doing the action, which may
have no support of our secret inner being.
So, when a human is reasoning, he is communing with the mental
world. When s/he is involved with emotions like love and the
powers of the higher vital s/he is communing with the vital world,
antariksha. Those who are deemed intellectual, commune
mainly with the vital and mental worlds.
In an ordinary human being, martya or marta, these
different bodies are still in a nascent state. All the associated
energies are blocked as it were and the symbolic doors of the
respective rooms are closed or almost closed. When the doors are
at least slightly open, a person, while thinking, will be in touch
with the world of dyau; while dealing with life energies is
in touch with the mid-world etc.
The key difference between the human being and the Divine is that
the cosmic worlds associated with the Divine are perfect. There is
a sheath in human being corresponding to every world. But these
are in a process of evolution in different stages of development.
This is the reason for the distinctness of each human being. Each
human being is at a different stage of development. The rişhis
of RV reached a sufficiently high stage of development in all the
four sheaths. In most human beings even the third or mental sheath
is not well developed, leave alone the fourth sheath. All the
psychological problems faced by the humans are derived from the
fact that these sheaths are not fully developed.
The Veda distinguishes between the ordinary mortal marta or
martya and the wise person, vipra, rişhi or kavi,
one who has the vision of entities beyond the range of senses. It
tells how one can attain these states of consciousness and other
states of mind.
Recall that the goal stated in the Rigveda is the attainment of
immortality or perfection in all aspects. This aim is stated in
various places such as (9.113). Immortality is not mere freedom
from death and living in the aging body for ever. The decay of our
physical and mental powers is the characteristic of mortality. The
devās help the eager aspirants in attaining the many sided
perfection. When the human beings express their aspiration by
means of practices like meditation and chanting, the devās
reveal themselves and manifest their powers in that human being.
They are said to be literally born in the rişhi. Hence the
devās are said to be ŗşhikŗt, makers of rişhis
(1.31.16). Agni is the god hymned first because he represents the
power of aspiration. Even when the outer human being is completely
ignorant, Agni puts pressure and makes the human being become
aware of the inner body. When the aspirant realises the necessity
for understanding the world inside, he intensifies his practices
of meditation and chanting. Then the Agni power becomes
firmly established. Then Agni himself carries them further. He
calls all other devās to come and manifest in the aspirant.
In the symbolic language of the deva, Agni himself is
called upon to perform the yajňa.
The progress achieved in the humans is indicated in several
verses. For illustration, consider the action of ŗbhus, the
divine artisans who prepare the subtle bodies of the human beings.
One of their actions is indicated by the enigmatic phrase, “They
make four bowls out of the One”, (1.20.6). Sri Aurobindo explains
the symbolism. In an ordinary human being, our physical, vital and
mental aspects are all mixed up. Each aspect wants to act
independent of the other. The physical body has its needs. The
vital body forces its desires and ambitions on both the physical
body and mental body to the harm of the latter. The ŗbhus
isolate the warring factions and restore order. Thus they form the
physical body, vital body, mental body and the body of light from
the amorphous single one, the single bowl. |
