The Inner Revelation-Fire
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
Why do we appreciate the teachings of the Vedas? We appreciate the teachings of the Vedas because they inspire us to rise and go beyond the body-consciousness. The Rig Veda inspires us to make the world great and perfect. The Sama Veda inspires us to become one with the divine Melody and cosmic Rhythm. The Yajur Veda tells us, “May our lives be successful through self-sacrifice. May our life-breath thrive through self-sacrifice.” The Atharva Veda inspires us to go forward along the path of continuous progress. It tells us that Brihaspati, Guru of the cosmic gods, is leading and guiding us.
The Vedic seers saw fear in the outer world. They felt freedom in the inner world. They wanted to bring to the fore the freedom of the inner world through aspiration. In the Atharva Veda, the seers have offered us a significant prayer: “May we be fearless of those we know not, and of those we know.”
Fear of darkness is fear of the unknown.
Fear of Light is fear of the known.
Fear of the unknown is stupidity.
Fear of the known is absurdity.What we need is the soul-will. Soul-will is God-Freedom.
Uru nastanve tan
Uru ksayaya naskridhi
Uru no yandhi jivaseThe Rig Veda’s fiery utterance means: “Freedom for our body. Freedom for our home. Freedom for our life.”
The Vedic way of life cannot be separated from ritual. In Vedic times, rituals were an integral part of life. In performing rituals seekers in the Vedic era made remarkable progress. In the Rig Veda, however, we see more emphasis on mental and inner philosophy than on ritual. This combination of ritual and philosophical wisdom is the wealth of the Vedic culture. Devotion and dedication loom large in ritual. Aspiration and meditation loom large in philosophical wisdom. In those days ritual disciplined and regulated life. Inner philosophy illumined and liberated life. In the heart of philosophy the Light was discovered. In the body of ritual the Light was manifested.
The Vedas specifically speak of three worlds: /Prithivi,/ the earth; Antariksha, the sky; Dyaus, the celestial region. On earth, matter is all. In the sky, divine activity is all. In Heaven, sentience is all.
Poetry and philosophy run abreast in the Vedas. Philosophy illumined the minds of the Vedic seers. Poetry immortalised their hearts. The philosopher is a poet in the mind. The poet is a philosopher in the heart. The philosopher likes outer religion and inner science. The poet likes outer art and inner literature. The philosopher says to the poet, “I give to you my precious wealth: wisdom, which is the constant and conscious instrument of intuition.” The poet says to the philosopher, “I give to you my precious wealth: my devoted oneness with the life of Light.”
Many seers have seen the Truth, but when they reveal the Truth, quite often their revelations are not identical. What is really deplorable is that on different occasions, under different circumstances, their own revelations of the same Truth are found to be anything but identical. Here we must know that the differences exist only in the realisation and revelation of the Truth. There can be no difference in the Truth itself. Why do the differences occur? The differences occur because human individuality and personality do not see the Truth the way it has to be seen. When the human personality and individuality are dissolved, the Truth remains one in realisation and one in revelation. Needless to say, the Vedas are the direct revelation of the seers’ illumination, and not gifts from the unknown skies above.
There are people who think that the Vedas deal only with spirituality, and not with science. They are mistaken. Advanced seekers and spiritual Masters are of the opinion that in the Yajur Veda there are many scientific truths which modern science has not yet discovered or acknowledged. The scientific knowledge of the Atharva Veda cannot be looked down upon either. The Vedic seers were aware of the process of cloud formation. They were fully aware of the different seasons. They knew the science of arithmetic, and worked with figures in the millions, billions and trillions. In the Yajur Veda there is something even more striking. There we see evidence of the existence of airplanes. The Vedic seers used to make actual non-stop flights for hundreds of miles. They also knew the secrets of geology, medicine and other sciences. All this, four thousand years ago!
The Vedas have been translated into many languages and admired and appreciated by many foreigners. The great German philosopher Schopenhauer considered the Upanishads to be the consolation and illumination of his life. We know that the Upanishads are the most powerful and most illumining children of the Vedas. But there is much truth in the saying that a translation cannot do full justice to the original. In the case of the Vedas this is certainly true. Many people have translated the Vedas, but no matter how sincerely or devotedly they worked, a considerable amount of the Vedic beauty was lost.
There are four Vedas: the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda deals mainly with the forms of prayer. The Yajur Veda deals with sacrificial formulas. The Sama Veda deals with music. The Atharva Veda deals with medicine, science and magic formulas. In the Rig Veda the message of human evolution begins. The Rig Veda tells us the meaning of existence, and of man’s contribution to the world. The Yajur Veda teaches us how to perform the sacrifices correctly, and how to control the universe. This Veda gives more importance to the mechanical side of sacrifices than to their spiritual aspect. The Sama Veda teaches us how divine music can elevate our aspiring consciousness into the highest realm of Bliss and make us conscious channels of God the Supreme Musician for the transformation of human darkness into divine Light, human imperfection into divine Perfection, human impossibilities into divine Inevitabilities and human dreams into divine Realities. The Atharva Veda teaches us how to control the spirits and lesser deities, and how to protect ourselves from evil spirits and destructive beings.
Published in The Vedas: Immortality's First Call
Publishing Marathon
51 of Sri Chinmoy’s books are published in 15 days (1-15 November) in Jamaica, Queens, New York
1. Aspiration-Flames
2. Astral Journey, The
3. At the Doors of Time and Delight Opportunity Knocks
4. Canada Aspires, Canada Receives, Canada Achieves Part I
5. Canada Aspires, Canada Receives, Canada Achieves Part II
6. Consciousness: God-Journey to Man, Man-Journey to God
7. Cry Within, Yours Is the Goal
8. Dance of the Cosmic Gods, The
9. Eternity’s Soul-Bird Part I
10. Eternity’s Soul-Bird Part II
11. Galaxy of Saints, A
12. God the Supreme Humourist
13. God the Supreme Musician
14. God-Life: Is It a Far Cry?
15. God-Lover’s Earth-Heaven-Life, A
16. Height of Silence and the Might of Sound, The
17. Hunger of Darkness and the Feast of Light Part I, The
18. Hunger of Darkness and the Feast of Light Part II, The
19. I am Telling You a Great Secret: You Are a Fantastic Dream of God: Children’s Questions on
God
20. Illumination of Life-Clouds Part I, The
21. Illumination of Life-Clouds Part II, The
22. Is God Really Partial?
23. Life-Tree Leaves
24. Master’s Self-Appointed Emissary, The
25. Meditation: God Speaks and I Listen Part I
26. Meditation: God Speaks and I Listen Part II
27. Meditation: God’s Blessing-Assurance
28. Meditation: God’s Duty and Man’s Beauty
29. Meditation: Humanity’s Race and Divinity’s Grace Part I
30. Meditation: Humanity's Race and Divinity's Grace Part II
31. Meditation: Man’s Choice and God’s Voice Part I
32. Meditation: Man’s Choice and God’s Voice Part II
33. My Rose Petals Part 4
34. My Self-Giving Is My God-Becoming
35. Prayer-World, Mantra-World and Japa-World
36. Problems! Problems! Are They Really Problems? Part I
37. Problems! Problems! Are They Really Problems? Part II
38. Purity: Divinity’s Little Sister
39. Purity-River Wins
40. Realisation-Soul and Manifestation-Goal
41. Service-Boat and Love-Boatman Part I
42. Service-Boat and Love-Boatman Part II
43. Sleep: Death’s Little Sister
44. Surrender’s Unlimited Power
45. Three Strangling Sisters: Fear, Jealousy and Insecurity
46. Two Devouring Brothers: Doubt and Ego
47. Vision of God’s Dawn, The
48. Golden Boat Part 17, The
49. Golden Boat Part 18, The
50. Golden Boat Part 19, The
51. Golden Boat Part 20, The
Published online by Sri Chinmoy Library
Cosmic gods and goddesses
Sri Chinmoy answers a question
during a bus trip from Cardiff to London
Question: We learn about the Greek gods in school and I was wondering if they exist in some realm the way the Indian gods and goddesses do? And also I was wondering if new gods and goddesses are created or if there is only just one set of them.
Sri Chinmoy: Let us deal with the subject of Indian mythology and Greek mythology. My outer knowledge of Greek mythology is next to nothing. But Indian mythology I have studied and studied and studied. In my oneness-heart with God’s infinite Wisdom-Light, I wish to say that the Greek gods and goddesses, unfortunately or fortunately, are no match for the Indian gods and goddesses.
Indian gods and goddesses came into being from the Supreme’s supreme Height. The Supreme Himself wanted to create these cosmic gods and goddesses, in the same way that a tree needs branches, leaves, flowers and fruits.
Apart from our main cosmic gods and goddesses, for example, Maheswari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, there are many, many minor cosmic gods and goddesses whose names we may not know and perhaps do not need to know. A tree has countless leaves. If the owner of the tree wants to give a name to each leaf, he can, because he is at once omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. But for us to remember so many names will be impossible. We will become totally confused.
So, for our sake, we know that there are four cosmic goddesses whom I have just mentioned and, in addition to our trinity — Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva — we have Indra, Vayu, Agni and so forth. All of these Indian gods and goddesses have come right from the Supreme’s Transcendental Vision. They are descended from the Supreme Himself.
In the case of the Greek gods and goddesses, it is not like that. The consciousness of Greece and also the consciousness of the countries around Greece aspired and this aspiration ascended from the physical plane to the vital plane. The mental plane it did not reach so powerfully. This aspiration wanted to get something directly from Above. This aspiration was able to come up from the physical to the vital level, but from there it was unable to come up. But there was tremendous hunger to get power from Above. They cared mostly for power. Inside power, if there was light, wonderful, but they obeyed power more. Wisdom they did not care for. They wanted to separate wisdom from power. In their minds, the power aspect predominated. But it is not possible to separate them. Wisdom and power go together. While they were invoking power from Above, they were getting some wisdom as well.
So the Greek gods and goddesses are mostly formed from the aspiring vital, but we have to know that this vital is not the lower vital, or the lower elements, far from it. These are the dynamic, not aggressive, aspects of human aspiration. It went up and it went to the vital level — the vital that is dynamic, active and progressive.
At this point, the Supreme said, “My child, since you have taken so much labour to come up to this place, let Me come down and give you what you want.” So the Supreme brought down His Grace. Here, the aspiration which reached up to the height of the vital world, received the Blessings from Above, from the Supreme, and then this sublime aspiration took the form of gods and goddesses, or the form that was made eventually by the human mind into beings, which came to be called gods and goddesses.
But I wish to tell you that the Indian gods and goddesses are infinitely more tangible. You can talk to them infinitely more affectionately and lovingly. Although goddesses like Kali and Durga have tremendous power, you can deal with them more intimately than with the Greek gods and goddesses.
To be very frank with you, the stature or height of the Greek gods and goddesses and the Indian gods and goddesses is not the same. It is like comparing a hillock and Mt. Everest. I am saying this from my own realisation. Others may realise the truth in a different way. There will be people who will refute what I am saying, they may not accept it at all, but each one has to be satisfied with his own realisation.
To come to your second question. We cannot say that new gods and goddesses are being created. I see clearly that the new ones are only the old ones being manifested in new forms, new ways and with new light. The Supreme is not bringing into the world new gods and goddesses because these gods and goddesses do not believe in evolution. They do not participate in God’s Cosmic Game the way we participate in it. Their realisation, their capacity, everything, is fixed.
The cosmic gods and goddesses are like millionaires in terms of inner wealth, but they will remain millionaires. They are not going to become billionaires. Again, if they misuse their wealth, their power disappears. It is the same with human beings. If somebody has lots of wealth, we have to see whether he is misusing it or using it properly. If he uses it properly, he will get joy and gratitude from mankind.
But in the case of human beings, if they aspire only to become one with God’s Will, to please God in God’s own Way, then they will become the choicest instruments of God, the Supreme, and their earth-transformation-power will far exceed the powers of the cosmic gods and goddesses.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 34