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Yoga and the Rg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn (RV 10, 136)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Karel Werner
Karel Werner
Affiliation:
School of Oriental Studies, University of Durham
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Extract

The mystical experiences of the ṛṣis, the spiritual giants of the early Vedic times, led to the creation of the Vedic hymns and eventually to the formation of the whole elaborate structure of the Vedic religion, as upheld by the Indian priesthood. But there were obviously others who pursued mystical experiences without themselves engaging, like the ancient ṛṣis, in attempts to transmit their experiences through mythological poetry and religious leadership. They adopted mystical ecstasy as their way of life. Mysticism as a conscious way of life is, in India, called Yoga. Being outside the trend of Vedic mythological creativity and the Brāhmanic religious orthodoxy, the Yogis of Vedic times left little evidence of their existence, practices and achievements. And such evidence as has survived in the Vedas is scanty and indirect.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 1977 , pp. 289 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

page 289 note 1 Two types of ‘cultural strands’ in ancient India are advocated by Rahurkar, V. G., The Seers of the Ṛgveda (Poona, 1964), pp. xv–xvi: the ṛṣi-culture and the muni-cultureGoogle Scholar. The ṣịis maintained the tradition of prayers and worship while living within the community. They ‘generally manifested a kind of hieratic attitude’. The munis ‘practised yoga, austerities and orgiastic rites…glorified life of renunciation, isolation and wandering mendicancy’. Recently Wayman, A. wrote an article on ‘Two traditions of India - truth and silence’ (Philosophy East and West, XXIV, no. 4, Oct. 1974, pp. 389–403)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. He traces the two traditions in the older Upanisads and later literature, taking into account also Buddhism. Silence is represented by the muni tradition as shown in RV 10, 136 as well as by the ‘great muni’ Buddha. Also the Buddhist notion of pratyekabuddhas (silent buddhas) refers to the muni tradition. Of course, the Buddha himself ‘moved to the other side’, the tradition of truth (satya), when he began to teach. Wayman does not refer to the rsis of the Vedas as representing the truth tradition, but they fit well into it as those who had seen the truth and expressed it then or others in their hymns.

page 290 note 1 ‘Keśin bears fire, keśin bears water, keśin bears heaven and earth. The word visam is a synonym of water from the verb vi-smā = to purify…Keśin is called this sun. With the words the seer describes the sun.’ Nirukta 12, 26. See Yāska, Nighanta and Nirukta by Sarup, Lakshman (Oxford, 1921), vol. 6, p. 192.Google Scholar

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