|
The sophistication of the Vedic thinkers can be seen in
their handling of this topic. As Sri Aurobindo states, “the crude
conception of sin as a result of natural wickedness of man found
no place in the thought of these deep thinkers”. RV has no concept
like hell into which all the evil doers are cast. The RV has
several words for sin like agha, enam and so on, but does
not rigidly divide actions into the two categories of good and
evil. The only actions it condemns are, non-giving and the
non-recognition of the role of devās or nature in all
actions, ayajvanaĥ; “He is in a state of sin who eats alone
(10.117.6)”. The RV recognises the existence of evil forces and the existence
of persons who come under their sway. The evil forces are
intimately connected with ignorance or unconsciousness achitti
(3.18.2, 4.12.4, 4.2.11 and 10.87.11). In Veda, satyam
stands for the Truth and ritam stands for the cosmic law of
manifestation in accordance with the Truth or Truth to be
manifested in an ideal environment. Evil or falsehood is opposed
to this cosmic law ritam and opposed to the progress of the
human beings towards all-round perfection. Some of the phrases
associated with these evil persons are: causing stumbling or
calamities, durita, ill-lit house, duroka, those
with evil movements, durevaĥ, doers of wickedness,
dushkŗt, evil-minded, durmanma, evil in speech,
aghashamsa, untrue, asataĥ, full of falsehood,
asatyah, unreal, asata, those with no faith,
ashraddhan, or bringer of evil, aghāyata, crookedness,
vŗjina or hvara as distinguished from the
straightness of the followers of the good etc.
Veda states in many places that the influences of evil can be
overcome by the force of goodness bhadra, a power bestowed
by the devās. Usually the deities Agni or Varuņa are
appealed for purification.
According to RV, all sin arises from an attachment to narrowness.
It is the non-perception of Right and Truth in mind and in the
will or it is the inability in the life of energies to follow the
path of Truth or sheer inefficiency of the physical being to rise
to the greatness of the Divine Law. Varuņa is the master of all
oceans, the deva of vastness, vastness in the physical. The
pressure exerted by Varuņa to release us from our narrowness can
be often painful. There are many verses in which the rişhi
pleads with Varuņa not to give him pain. “From poverty of will, we
have gone contrary to thee. By ignorance, we have put away thy
laws, smite us not (7.89.3,5)”. Varuņa is called upon “to remove
Nirriti, the demon of sin and death, liberate us from the sin
enah we have committed (1.24.9)”. The same verse suggests that
purification is done not by ritual, but prayer and the power of
mantra, “May thy gracious thought sumati flow wide and
deep, liberate us from the sin we may have committed”. The
rişhi prays to Varuņa in (1.24.15) to release him from the
three psychological bonds, the bond above (the limitations of
mind), the bond middle (the limitations of life-energy and
emotion) and the bond below (the limitations posed by the physical
body). Rigveda prefers the concrete phrase falsehood to the
abstract phrase ignorance in describing evil. It is only by
removing the mental and moral infirmities that we secure a
foundation in Varuņa's wide and deep thought-mindedness.
Hence Varuņa is described as directing many physicians (1.24.9).
Varuņa of hallowed understanding,
Holds aloft a mass of life-giving radiance, which streams down;
May these rays sink deep and set within us. (1.24.7)
Similarly purification, pāvaka, occurs more than a hundred
times in RV. Again there is no mention of the so- called ritual
purification either by means of a bath or by avoiding foods of
certain type or other customary actions. Purification is basically
psychological.
There is an entire hymn (1.97) of 8 verses dedicated to Agni, the
purifier. Each verse here ends with the refrain, “May our sin
agham wither in lament”. It is given in several different
ways. The first verse states “Agni, by shining your felicities may
the sin wither”. Second verse states “we worship thee for
obtaining the safe path of progress, for happy field and for
felicities. When these powers come to us, sin leaves us
automatically”.
Again in (1.23.22), Waters, the Universal Divine energies of Truth
and Light, are called to take away whatever sin, betrayal
abhidudroha, falsehood anŗtam duritam is present. The
next verse declares that “I have become one with the essence of
these energies, rasena.”
Veda
recognises the cosmic forces of evil and sin typified by the
demons and dasyus, the chief of whom are Vŗtra and Vāla, with
associates like Shambara and Shushņa. Vŗtra is the
demon who holds up the benevolent cosmic energies and prevents
them from reaching the humans. The character of Vŗtra is
described in (4.19.3).
Indra the lord of Divine Mind wages a battle along with the other
devās, kills Vŗtra and allows the cosmic energies denoted
as Waters āpah to reach the human. The demon Vāla
hides the spiritual knowledge signified by go, the
Vedic cow, in the inner regions of our being indicated by the
cave guha. Bŗhaspati, the Lord of the potent Word
and Indra destroy Vāla and allow the hidden spiritual
knowledge to be accessible to the humans. Suşhņa is the
demon who dries up all our subtle energies. The fight with Vŗtra
and Vāla are mentioned in numerous verses. The battle takes
place in the mid-world antariksha which governs our life
energies and emotions, the place where the demons get access to
us. Just as Indra fights with Vŗtra and Vāla at the cosmic
level, the power of Indra, manifested in us, fights the forces of
ignorance and evil within our subtle body.
A careful inspection of the verses dealing with these foes reveals
that the foe cannot be the cloud or human beings. In (4.19.3), the
psychological nature of the foes is clear by the phrases, “that
cannot be known or waked”, abudhyam and “which waketh not
to knowledge”, abudhyamānam.
RV has some verses regarding the origin or identity of these
demons. (5.12.4) poses the question “O Agni, who are the
binders who keep the foundation of falsehood, guardians of
the untrue words?” The reply is in the next verse (5.12.5). “They
are thy (Agni's) comrades who have turned away from thee, they who
were benignant shivāsah have become ashiva. They
speak crooked things to the seer of straightness”.
According to the RV sages, there is no such thing as primordial
evil. These demons have a purpose in the vast scheme of this
manifestation and when that purpose is over, they are absorbed
back into the infinite. RV reiterates again and again that the
world is pervaded by the Supreme One implying that even in the
evil, there is a core of goodness. The supreme consciousness
present in the core of the evil is termed by the phrase “the Sun
lying in darkness” in many verses such as (1.117.5), (3.39.5).
(3.39.5) states that “Indra with his friends the ten dashagvās
found the Truth, even the Sun dwelling in darkness”.
The knowledge so hidden in the darkness can be released as
indicated in the poetic phrase “Indra milked the cows from out of
the darkness (1.33.10)” or “release the honey covered by rock”
(2.24.4).
|
