Contents

The Brāhmaņa passages cover the following topics:

(i)  Some details about performing of the rites and their benefits
(ii)  Explanation of some mantras in TS and TB

(iii) Legends, their symbolism and their connection with the rites.
 

Even though Sāyaņa Achārya declares that the whole purpose of the Veda is to achieve our desires and to avoid the inimical or undesirable, this purpose is really the subject matter of the Brāhmaņa passages both in this book and in other Brāhmaņa books. The desires may be getting prosperity, wealth, land, cows, health, honour, fame through public speech, children, successors, rejuvenation of body etc. Also, kings may have desires for kingdom or extending the existing kingdom with the adjoining villages, establishing peace among their citizens etc. Also the desire for rain is common to everyone. The undesirable things are illness, especially long-illness, death, poverty and lack of fame or public recognition.

The Brāhmaņa passages name the specific rites (or yajna) required for achieving specific desires and give a few details regarding the performance of the rites, limited to the type of the offerings to the Gods in special vessels called kapāla (potsherds) and the specific offerings or gifts to the concerned human priests in the rite. The details of the rites are in Bodhāyana Sūtrās, Apastambha Sūtrās and other Shrauta Sūtra texts.

On the surface, the Brāhmaņa passages deal with outer rituals. But we have shown in detail elsewhere in kāņda 1 that the outer rituals give clues to the inner yajna happening in our subtle bodies. This is done sometimes by the use of several epithets which forces us to doubt their physical status. For instance, consider pashu with its outward meaning of cow or animal. If we examine the epithets that occur for pashu, it is clear that in many cases it is not a mere animal, but a ray of knowledge. Recall pashu is connected to pash which means 'to see' as noted by the ancient commentator Yaska. So we translate pashu as Ray-Cow following Sri Aurobindo; the use of the word Ray-Cow indicates that the word in the text could be either a ray of light or an animal cow.

Similarly milk and curds which are products of cow are rendered as knowledge in a fluid (plastic) form. Ghrta is always clarity or mental clarity. Aja duha is usually rendered by S as goat's milk. But aja has also the meaning of unborn; thus aja-duha means the knowledge of immortality. We will have more to say on symbolism later.

Many Brāhmaņa passages have ritualist explanations of the mantrās occurring in TS. Taittirīya Brāhmaņa and Araņyaka books have several mantrās in them unlike Brāhmaņa books of other Vedās. Several brāhmaņa passages in kāņda 2 give a ritualist explanation of the mantrās occurring in the Taittirīya brāhmaņa. For instance, TS (2.5.7), TS (2.5.8), and TS (2.5.9) explain some of the mantras occurring in TB (3.5) [aşhţaka 3, prapāţhaka 5]. TS (2.5.9) gives a detailed phrase by phrase explanation of two mantrās occurring in TB, namely (3.5.3.1 and 3.5.4.1). We have already seen that mantrās in kāņda 1 do not specifically mention any rite or ritual, but the translators render it as if each mantra was describing an aspect of the ritual. The brāhmaņa passages in kāņda 6 give the ritualistic explanation of the mantrās in kāņda 1.

Legends and symbolism

The Brāhmaņa passages contain several legends dealing with Prajapati, the original creator, deva-asura conflict, the misunderstandings between the Gods, the slaying of Tvaşhţa' s son Vishvarūpa, origin of tittiri, the origin and killing of Vŗtra, giving sight to the blind, etc. Several versions of the same legend like the slaying of Tvaşhţa' s son occur in different Prapāţhakās and anuvākās. The legend of "sun not rising" or "sun not shining" is in several anuvākās. Each legend deals with a particular type of difficulty or shortcoming experienced by the concerned beings which was resolved by appropriate gifts to the concerned beings or persons. Then the legend declares that a human, confronted with a similar problem, can resolve it by performing an appropriate yajna involving specific offerings and gifts.

All these legends make sense only if we try to understand the symbols behind them. A literal reading of the legend can lead us to serious misconceptions of the text. For instance, consider the legend of 'sun not shining' or 'sunrise not occurring' mentioned in several anuvākās. Based on a literal reading of this legend, Max Muller states that the Vedic poets were so ignorant that they were not sure that the sun will rise everyday. The phrase 'sun not rising' signifies that the poet feels surrounded by darkness (tamas) and he does not feel the dawn or onset of the light within.

Persons who are staunch followers of the ritualist commentary of Sāyaņa Acharya (S) state that the commentary of S is superior because it gives the direct or literal meaning whereas the spiritual interpretation depends on the indirect meaning. The statement gives the impression that ritualists or S do not resort to symbolism. This statement is not true. Shabara, the authority for ritualists and Sayal:la use symbolism wherever it is convenient to them; for instance consider the passage in TS (2.1.1.4) which we will quote only briefly. The detailed text with translation is in the first anuvaka of this kāņda. "He (Prajāpati) took out (from his body) his omentum (vapa) and placed it in the fire. From that the hornless goat came into being ……….." Shabara Swamin, the great exponent of the ritualism (mīmāmsa) explains this verse in his mīmāmsa-darshana (1.1.10). He states that: "Prajāpati may refer to an eternal object such as (i) air, (ii) the sky, or (iii) the sun; the omentum (vapa) may mean (i) rain, (ii) wind, or (iii) the rays of sun; the fire implies (i) the fire of lightning, or (ii) fire of the rays (archişha) or (iii) the terrestrial fire; and the word aja (goat) signifies here (i) food, (ii) a seed, or (iii) a plant."

What is all this if not symbolism? But this symbolism serves no purpose other than stating aja is not an animal or vapa is not a part of body. See the text for an interesting interpretation based on prāņāyāma.

Sometimes the text itself indicates the symbolism. TS (2.3.2) states, "Honey is the body of man; in that he offers honey in the fire, certainly the sacrificer places his body in the fire." The text is obviously not stating that the sacrificer jumps into the fire; his entering into the fire is symbolic. TS (2.5.6) gives a variety of symbols for the new and full-moon rite. The Brāhmaņa passage in TS (1.6.7.4) declares that "yajna is the bolt - (vajra), hunger or want (kshudha) is the enemy of man. Indra smites the foe (hunger) with the bolt."

Sometimes the legend is related in such a silly way that it makes one to think that there should be a deeper meaning. For instance, Indra recovers the cows stolen and stored in a cave by Vala. Indra drags each cow one by one holding their neck; because of the pulling the (cows) became hunchbacked! Animals are not boxes to be plucked one by one.

Aja means both a goat and 'free from birth'. In many places the second meaning is more relevant. For instance consider TS (2.1.1.4) quoted earlier; the word ajastupara is translated as "hornless goat". Why is the poet adding the epithet 'hornless'? It is reasonable to assume that the poet by using the epithet 'hornless' wants us to focus on the second meaning of aja as 'free from birth'. Thus the verse states "the knowledge of the freedom from birth took birth". Clearly this rendering makes the verse TS (2.1.1.4) more interesting. Similarly ajaduha can be rendered as the "milk or knowledge of immortality". However no attempt has been made so far to understand the symbolism in all the anuvākās.

As mentioned earlier, the brāhmaņa text states that if a particular rite is done, the associated desire will be satisfied. There is no mention of devotion or meditation or tapas. The impression is that a mechanically 'correct' performance of the rite is sufficient. No additional qualifications or conditions are mentioned for the success.

The explanation of the so called abhichāra (magic) rites and the rites for causing disturbance or quarrels among persons is problematical. We have mentioned earlier that all these difficult passages and legends need to be explained symbolically. But the traditionalists prefer to read the text literally following the lead of the commentators Jaimini and Shabara.

Summing up we believe that the brāhmaņa passages were composed at a time which is much later than the age of the mantrās. The deeper meaning of the mantrās had receded into the background. The outward rites had become dominant. The outward rites became more and more complex. Still here and there the Brāhmaņa passages have interesting philosophical and symbolic statements clearly worthy of our serious study. We will quote the text of one such statement in TS (6.5.10): 

yadvai yajnasya sāmnā yajushā kriyate shitilam, tad yadŗchā tad dŗdham

Whatever is achieved in the sacrifice by yajus and sāman is unstable; what is done by the rk is firm and strong.

Mantra anuvākās

Every prapāţhaka has one anuvāka consisting only of mantrās, most of them from Rig Veda Samhitā. The prapāţhaka 6 has two such anuvākās.

There are also several anuvākās having interesting yajus mantras. TS (2.3.10) contains short and beautiful mantrās dealing with the life-energy (prāņa) and sāma chants. It also has interesting meanings for commonly misunderstood words like dakşhiņa. The mantrās in anuvāka (2.3.9) entitled, "Gods of affection" are also interesting.

We note also here the vast difference between both the contents and style of the mantra part of TS and the brāhmaņa part of TS. The mantra part is poetry. The mantrās repeatedly mention the idea of devotion and surrender (nama) to the deities. There are several verses in which the deities are adored as in the vibhūti yoga of the Bhagavad-Gita. Some are philosophical dealing with meditation and mental aspects.

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