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The riks are the
mantra-perceptions of the rişhis cast in metrical mould.
The object or meaning on which the rişhis meditated, the
purpose for which they led the bodily life, the goal they fixed
and established as the aim for the well-being of their followers
and posterity, that object or aim the text of the Rig Vedic
hymns. They may be what are called poetical compositions but they
are certainly not the kind of literary compositions we are
familiar with as described in the section 6 of this chapter. Nor
is it Right to look upon these poets as composers such as are
quite common everywhere in all ages and countries, even in our own
day. This is no mere tradition. The riks themselves
proclaim that the hymns are packed with truths perceivable only by
the subtle intellect, related to subtler worlds, not visible to
the outer eye, the presiding Gods or devāĥ and their subtle
laws. It is a mystic tradition that if one acquires competence for
entry into the occult path, he could have direct access, even
while living in the body, to these subtler worlds organized in a
hierarchic order and their Gods. These mantrās are renowned as
the seeings - mantra-dŗşhţi, and the rişhi is
the seer of the mantra. The rişhi not merely
sees; he also hears. He finds too the Right word to
express the truth he has perceived. Therefore the rişhi in
the Veda is known as the kavi, the seer of what transcends
the senses or understanding. This seer of the Beyond is also the
hearer of the truth; therefore that the poet-seers are
truth-hearers, kavayaĥsatya-shrutaĥ is famous in the Veda,
RV (5.57.8, 5.58.8, 6.49.6 etc).
This seeing and hearing of the
rişhis is not of the ordinary kind. The eye and ear of the
rişhi are of an uncommon kind and so is the poetry manifested
through them. The hymnal poetry is unusual, different from other
poetry - even from the most superb specimen full of power, of
delectable sense and delightful phrase and aesthetic appeal. It is
not permissible, for this reason, to class Vedic hymns with
poetry of a literary and aesthetic kind. There is reason for the
special excellence of the hymnal poetry which lies in its mantra
character. The power of the mantra is special. The meaning
of the mantra may not be very high to our ordinary view, the
language of the mantra may not be of a very high splendour, the
idea suggested may not be very deep and its metrical diction may
not be strikingly rhythmic. Still the power of the mantra does not
suffer. That this faith in the power of the mantra has taken deep
roots in the Indian peoples, God-believing and orthodox, from the
Vedic times to our own days, is a fact that of no doubt
whatever. This tradition of the mantrās was guarded by later
teachers and their followers. Such is the established faith in the
greatness of the mantra-power that some even consider that there
is no necessity of enquiring into the meaning of the mantra
since the manifestation of its potency is not dependent on the
understanding of its import. It is an ancient belief that the
mantra is an extraordinary meaning of achieving all the ends of
life. It is said that the 'Veda is an uncommon means of
realizing what is desired and warding off what is undesirable'.
Here the word Veda signifies primarily the mantra. Why is
the greatness of the mantra described thus? The Vedic rişhis,
though mainly devoted to spiritual discipline, were also well
versed in the practice of occult knowledge and secret sciences.
They believed that outer results could be produced by inner means
and that thought and word could be so used as to bring about the
realizations of every kind. That is why while most of the mantrās
are used for sacrificial purposes, there are many that are used,
for the attainment of results not connected with yajňa.
Thus it is that the mantrās are sacred not because of their mere
antiquity but of their intrinsic power and also of their being the
seeings of the rişhi. Again some hold that the
sacredness and power of the mantrās is due to their
sound-substance being the body of Gods. This too is possible.
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