As their name indicates, the Maruts are gods associated both with intense energy and mental movements. They are powers of both action and knowledge. In the esoteric interpretations Maruts are imaged as powers of wind, storm and rain, particularly of the tempest. They are always hymned in their collectivity, gaņās the hosts, never individually. Next to Agni and Indra, the Maruts have the largest number of hymns dedicated to them in the Rigveda, clearly indicating their importance in the spiritual evolution of the individual aspirant and the humanity at large. Because of their impetuousness, they are called as the children of the fierce and terrible God Rudra [rudraha, RV. 1.39.7; rudrasah, 1.39.4]. Because they have more hymns dedicated to them than Rudra does not imply that in the vedic hierarchy they have a higher place than the great god Rudra. Their importance comes from the help offered by them to the beginning spiritual aspirant because of their proximity to the earth plane.

The Maruts also give a divine motion to the activities of the intelligence illumined by the light and strength of Indra, the Lord of the divine mind. Hence they are called as brothers of Indra (Indrajyestha, 1.23.8; Marutvantam Indra, 1.23.7]. This aspect of aiding the work of Indra, the divine mind, gives them the appellation, thought-Gods. We should realize that their functions are not limited to the control and origination of thoughts.

Since Maruts have been as thought-Gods, it is appropriate for us to delineate the distinction between thoughts and mind in the psychology of the sages of the vedic periods and the later periods. The viewpoint is best expressed in the following quotation: "Mind is an instrument of formation, of organization and action, and it is in these functions that it attains its full value and real usefulness." The mind collects the information given by the five senses and the information stored in the memory about earlier sense contacts. Thoughts are mental entities formed and released by the mind. Each one of us forms these thoughts and releases them. Once they are released, their life is independent of the mind that formed them and they travel around according to their own laws. Each thought has an idea in it. When the thought travels, it is caught by the minds of all persons who offer a welcome to it and the thought spreads the idea it contains to the mind of the recipient. The power of thought depends on the power given to it by the originator. As Sri Aurobindo says elsewhere, the thought containing the ideas of equality, fraternity and liberty were originated by some sage on the peak of Himalayas endowed with immense power, but they were welcomed, as it were, only in France, causing the great French Revolution which popularized the three words. These thoughts have a life of their own. A thought released by a person joins together with similar thoughts released by others and they form a group or a flock like the flock of birds. A flock of birds in the Rigveda is a common symbol for Maruts [1.37.9]. They travel together, acquire more and more power, and finally return to the originators with their power augmented by the power of the kindred thoughts. Thus a person who radiates a thought of love and harmony receives in turn the thoughts of love and harmony and thus this tendency in him/her becomes stronger. Similarly, a person who is always critical of others is radiating continuously thoughts of criticisms and recriminations and he/she continuously receives these kindred thoughts. Mind organizes the thoughts, analyses the situation and takes appropriate action. The action may be on the physical plane like travel from one place to another, or the action may be on the mental plane like preferring one intellectual viewpoint to another. When the mind makes up its decision, it gives the appropriate instruction to the organs of action to carry out the task and at the same time the mind releases the relevant thought when it has formed.

The originators of thoughts, which are mental movements or carriers of ideas, need not be human beings on earth. In vedic psychology, we have the three lower worlds of matter (anna), life-energy (prāņa) and the mind (manas). The beings on these worlds - who are called as typal beings since they are not subject to evolution as the beings on the earth - also radiate thoughts or mental movements which will impact on the minds of earthly beings. There are typal beings, called as Gods, who are the source of wisdom, harmony, beauty, strength, perfection in all aspects and who help the humans to develop these qualities. There are also the typal beings called as demons, rākşhasās, who encourage and foster the opposite qualities in man and retard the march of evolution. These demonic forces can be classified roughly into three categories - those which encourage the mind in its feeling of self sufficiency and in its doubting and disputing every influence at enlightenment and change; these which encourage the vital in man in its refractory and petty desires and its ill-will toward every divine influence, and these that encourage "the power of incapacity, inertia and tamas in man's physical consciousness which obstructs and clings to its pleasure in smallness and darkness and cries out against every touch which disturbs its dull sloth or torpid slumber." These demonic forces go by the names of Vrtra, Vala, Paņis and Dasyus in the Rigveda.

Only the Divine mind signified by Indra can battle and vanquish these forces using the weapons of the powers of the potent word; the vajra.

Maruts, the thought-Gods, are the helpers of Indra in his battle against the demonic forces. They are called as the younger brothers of Indra (Indrajyesthaĥ, 1.23.8). The Maruts begin the work of Indra in introducing the harmonious thoughts and mental movements in man.

The Maruts make their appearance in the Rigveda very early (1.6.5, 1.6.6).

"The Maruts are particular gods who set a divine pace to the mental movements of fierce speed and brilliance." All the Gods have two births as it were. The first birth is in the collective creation for their own function. Their second birth is their birth in man when their faculties find expression in man. The rebirth of Maruts in man follow the birth of Indra in man. The first step in the manifestation of the divine mind of Indra is the birth of mental movements of fierce speed and brilliance which are needed to counter the influences put forth by the demonic forces.

One entire sūkta RV(1.19) is dedicated to Agni requesting him to come with the Maruts. The psychological meaning of this request is straightforward. Agni is the God of aspiration, the divine will manifesting in man. The work of this will can only be strengthened when there is an abundance of mental movements signified by Maruts who break down all petty impediments to the work of Agni. The adjectives to Maruts in this sūkta are revealing: "Maruts, who know the great mid world" (RV 1.19.3). "The brave Maruts unassailed by the might of others" (RV 1.19.4). "Maruts, who are radiant, awful in form or mighty and devourers of foes" (RV 1.19.5). "Maruts, the gods who are in the luminous world above the Heavens" (RV 1.19.6). "Maruts, who move mountains and scorn the ocean of waters" (RV 1.19.7).

The last epithet needs some explanation. Maruts, who are the sons of Vāyu, the life force, become powers of luminous intelligence. "They set in movement the inert body heaving with tamas (or gross knowledge gone inert) symbolized by the term mountain in whose womb lies the being of knowledge, power, etc. That brings about the blossoming of knowledge, power, etc. By the movement of the whole being, unmoving and difficult to cross, potent with all powers, the infinite substances symbolized by the term ocean, the manifestation of its parts, is effected."

Mountain in the veda specifies the heavy crust of materialism in whose womb lies the true knowledge symbolized by the cows. The Maruts along with Agni and Indra break down the tamas and the mountain of ignorance in man and allow the beneficent streams of higher consciousness to purify all the parts of being and raise them to a higher level of consciousness. Borne by spotted deer, with revealing weapons of speech. The Maruts are self luminous (RV 1.37.2). "ye prshatibhi rshtibiih sakam vashibhih anjibih ajayanta svabhanavah" (RV 1.37.2). The spotted deer are the vehicles of Maruts. Their triple hues indicate the physical, vital and mental. Often the deer are described as red (RV 1.39.6) which signifies the principle of life-force of action and enjoyment. As for all the other Gods, the word is their weapon. Words arising from their tempestuous movement bring out what is hidden.

The benefits of the mantras addressed to Maruts are described in the next mantra. na eheva shrnva esham kasha hasthesu yadvadan ni yaman chitram runjate. (RV 1.37.3). Words are their whip in hand, I hear instantly the moment it is uttered. Their speech works wonders in my journey. (RV 1.37.3) Just as a charioteer guides the vehicle with his whip, the words of the Maruts guide the aspirant. Their help is immediately apparent to the aspirant. Note that when the God utters the mantra, the Seer hears it and he repeats it himself. Word is the vehicle and force in all these transactions.

A brief word on Rudra is appropriate since Maruts are described as children of Rudra. The puranic trinity of brahma, Vişhņu and Shiva has its root in the Rigveda where the rough correspondences are Brahmaņaspati, Vişhņu and Rudra. Brahmaņaspati is the creator who fashions the light and the visible cosmos out of the darkness of the inconscient ocean and he does it by the Word. For the upward movement of Brahmaņaspati's formaliars, Rudra supplies the force. Rudra begins his work on this earth and supplies his force on all the planes of existence for evolution. He is the "violent one who leads the upward evolution of the conscious being; his force battles against all evil, smites the sinner and the enemy; intolerant of defect and stumbling, he is one God of whom alone the vedic rişhis have any fear." For the formation of Brahmaņaspati's word and for the actions of Rudra's force, Vişhņu supplies the necessary static elements.

The Maruts, the children of Rudra are not divinities superior to their mighty father; but there are more hymns addressed to them and they are more commonly mentioned because the function they fulfilled was of constant and immediate importance in the vedic discipline. During the initial period of the spiritual ascent of the aspirant, the hostile forces strive to block or undo the spiritual progress by causing doubts in the mind of the aspirant such as "Gods may not exist; even if they do, they are not relevant to man; even if they help, it may be very limited; their help may be useful in life after death, but they are irrelevant in this life." The rşshi repeatedly calls upon the Maruts to ward off such attacks. "The rākşhasās who rush to the attack in the birth of the Godheads (in the aspirant), O Maruts, him assail in your wheeless cars." (RV 5.42.10) Such attacks by the asuric forces are not products of our lurid imagination, but daily happenings noted in the diaries of spiritual aspirants. For instance, Sri Aurobindo in his record of yoga of January 9, 1917, quoted this mantra as indicative of his experience. There are many such prayers in the Rigveda. We will quote one more mantra: mo shu naĥ parapara nirriti dorhana vadheet padeeshta thrishnaya saha. (RV 1.38.6) May not the nirriti, sin-spirit, highly powerful difficult to overcome, strike me down; May she be consumed by her (own) thirst. Again, "O ye, who have the flashing strength of truth Manifest that by your might; Pierce with your lightening the rākşhasa. Conceal the concealing darkness, repel every devourer, Create the light for which we long (RV 1.86.9, 1.86.10).

The powers of Maruts is so strong that they create the rasa of life even in the physical sapless, inert, physical body. This power is imaged in the Rigveda as "causing windless rain in the desert" (RV 1.3.87). Just as the desert is a piece of land where nothing grows, similarly the body of the beginner aspirant is inert. Maruts pour the nectarous essence of on the desert like body of aspirant and in becomes supple and pliant. "Maruts represent the progressive illumination of human mentality, until from the first obscure movements of mind which only just emerge out of the darkness of the subconscient, they are transformed into an image of luminous consciousness. Twilight, half-lit or turned into misleading reflections they surmount these deficiencies and put on divine brilliance." (Sri Aurobindo, Secret of the Veda, p. 261). The Maruts are energies of the mentality, energies which make for knowledge. "They carry with them the sweetness of the ananda as their eternal offspring and play out their play, brilliant in the activities of knowledge." (RV 1.166.2). Maruts in later Indian literature.

Maruts play a very important role in the shaping of the spiritual life of the beginning aspirant. Only after the birth of Agni and Maruts in man have been stabilized, the other Gods can take birth in man manifesting their corresponding powers. When the age of the Rigveda in general and vedās in particular come to an end, the knowledge and powers of the vedic Gods were lost to mankind as it were.

The later purāņās have Gods by the name Maruts. They are also brothers of Indra. But there is a fundamental difference between the purāņic Gods and vedic Gods. The vedic Gods are pure, completely harmonious with one another, friends for man and urge the aspirants to move speedily on the roads of evaluation. The vedic Gods do not have any of the petty human qualities like jealousy and discordance. However, the Gods of purāņās appear to have many of the human qualities. Of course, there is a symbolism in the purāņic Gods. But it is difficult to unravel them.

The power of Maruts of Rigveda is again unravelled under the name of Maruti, Hanuman, the leader of the monkeys and the assistant and c collaborator of Sri Ramachandra in the epic Rāmāyaņa composed by Valmiki. Sri Ramachandra signifies the divine mind, Indra of the Rigveda and he is a personification of discrimination endowed with knowledge. In every situation, he always opts for the decision or action which upholds the high tenets of dharma, the principle that upholds the universe. The great battle between Sri Rama and the demon king Rāvaņa is reminiscent of the Indra-Vŗtra battles of the Rigveda. It is also one of the perpetual battles fought in different periods of time, between the forces of good and the forces of evil. Rāvaņa, the demon king, has ten heads. In the battle between Rama and Rāvaņa, when Rama cuts off one head by an arrow, another head automatically appears. This incident clearly indicates the symbolism of Rāvaņa as the storehouse of all evil mental movements. Destroying the evil mental movements one by one is not possible. They have to be destroyed together in one stroke. Sri Rāma gets this intuition, acts accordingly, and destroys the demon king.

Just as the Maruts help Indra in the Rigveda, Māruti helps Sri Rāma in the Rāmāyaņa. Māruti is the son of wind God Vāyu. His mother is anjani, reminiscent of Prishni, the mother of Maruts of Rigveda. The adjectives of Māruti in Rāmāyaņa are self explanatory: "speedy like the mud, unmatched in speed, one with perfectly controlled sense organs, superior among the ones endowed with intelligence," etc. Thus he is both a God of action and God of knowledge. In the tāntrik works associated with Sri Rāma, Māruti plays a role very akin to that of Gaņesha in the tāntrik works associated with Shiva. All the children pray for Māruti to grow them both physical and mental godly strength which is brilliant, harmonious and forceful. Māruti provides the foundations of spiritual life for all the youngsters and prepares their bodies for the manifestation of the powers of the other Gods.

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