(RV 3.18.1)
purudruho hi kshitayo janānām prati pratīchīr-dahatād-arātīĥ
These worlds of beings born are full of harm;
burn to ashes the hostile forces that come against us.
In this universe that we inhabit, what we see with our physical
eyes is not all. Behind and above the seen are things that are
unseen. And among these many unseen elements are forces for evil
and the beings that embody or preside over these are the hostiles
mentioned in occult science under different names. They are ranged
against the Divine and work against all that leads to or expresses
the Divine. These are the agents of Darkness combating the hosts
of Light. They operate either directly in the universe or through
the instrumentation of human beings who have some affinity to them
or due to some weakness are easily possessed and driven by them.
God Agni burns them to ashes when he is kindled ablaze. Even
physically, the lightning of incense or camphor drives away the
presence of these hostile spirits.
(R.V. 5.2.6)
. . .
. .arātayo
ni dadhur-martyeşhu,
brahmāņi-atrerava tam sŗjantu
ninditāro nindyāso bhavantu.
The hostile powers have veiled the king within mortals,
let the wisdom-words of Atri release him, let the binders
themselves become the bound.
These hostile forces are not swarming in the outside environments
alone. They enter and lodge themselves in the being of man as
well. Wrong thoughts, ugly feelings and tendencies, passions,
obscurities of nature—all these attract the corresponding forces,
act as windows through which they can enter and build themselves a
home in man. They crowd in and push behind the veil of their
activities the divine Guest, the true monarch of the nine-gated
city of the body of man. It is by the potent Word of Knowledge
that these veils are pierced and the enclosures are themselves
engulfed.
(RV
10.87.4)
yajnair-işhūĥ sam-namamāno agne
vāchā
shalyān ashanibhir-dihānaĥ,
tābhir-vidhya hŗdaye
yātudhānān pratīcho bāhūn prati bhangdhyeşhām.
Turning on them by our sacrifices thy arrows, O Fire, by our
speech thy javelins, plastering them with thy thunderbolts, pierce
with these in their hearts the Demon sorcerers who confront us;
break their arms.
There are evil spirits abroad on the look-out for victims. They
are opposed to the godward advance of man and always seek to
deprive him of the means by which he advances. They may act
directly or through accommodating human agencies. RV (10.87.16)
declares that they draw the physical energies and leave the body
exhausted and dry. They sap the vital force and strike at the
mental faculties making them dull. They rob man of the yield of
Aditi, the light of soul- forming knowledge in the mind. God Agni
is invoked to direct his burning wrath on this dangerous enemy.
In addition to his own irresistible strength, Agni uses the
striking force offered for his instrumentation by man. The
consecrated energies and delights offered by the best in the
sacrificer, the inspired words packed with the power of spiritual
askesis of the seer provide him with ready means. Note the
symbolism of the arrows and javelins of Agni.
Of course some moderns scoff at the belief in the existence of
these evil spirits. Our belief in the existence of powers that are
helpful to man implies the existence of these inimical spirits.
|
