MEDITATIONS THROUGH THE RG VEDA Antonio T. de Nicolas Four-Dimensional Mian Meditations Through the Rg Veda Nicolas Hays Ltd. Copyright (c) 1976by Nicolas Hays Ltd. Allrights reserved. No part ofthispublication may be reproduced or transmitted inany form or byany means, electronicor mechanical, includingphotocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,without permission inwriting from the publisher. NicolasHays Ltd. P. O. Box596 Stony Brook, N.Y. 11790 Library of CongressCatalog Card Number 76-39692 International Standard BookNumber 0-89254-004-4 Printed inthe United StatesofAmerica Contents Acknowledgements Vil Abbreviations 1X Pronunciation ofSanskrit Words X1 Foreword X111 Prologue XV Introduction: Cautionary Notes 1. Interpretation and the RgVeda 2. The Way of Critical Philosophy 17 Part I: Rg VedicLife 3. Culture and Meaning: The Hymns and The Sacrifice 49 Part II: TheRg VedicIntentional Life Introduction: TheProblemof Intentionality 77 4. The Language of Non-Existence (Asat) 89 5. The Language of Existence (Sat) 109 6. The Language of Images and Sacrifice(Yajfia) 139 7. The Language of Embodied (Rta) Vision (Dhih): 155 Appendix I: On Reading the RgVeda: The Formal Logical Structure of the Languages inthe Rg Veda 181 vi Contents Appendix II: SomeTerms, Definitions, Axiomsand Formulae 189 Textual Appendix III: SelectedChants from the RgVeda 193 Footnotes 235 Index 278 Acknowledgements All those I acknowledged and thanked in Four-Dimensional Man: The Philosophical Methodology of the Rg Vedaare hereby remembered and thanked again. Though the book in which they appeared is and will remain out of print, their names and their influencesare not forgotten. This version of Four-Dimensional Man: Meditations Through the Rg Vedahas been completely rewritten from cover to cover, and these are the people more directly responsible for it. My own students of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who with innocence and generosity, uncovered for me the raw flesh of these meditations. The only way I know to thank them is to continue journeying with them. Ernest McClain, who more than anyone else, forced me to travel the winding tunnels ofmyownthoughts into the musicgarden. Hecan sing this manuscript by heart, and had henot written a book inspired bymy early version of Four-Dimensional Man, I would have never sung this new song. Patrick A.Heelan, whoconsidered myeffortimportant enough to help it grow from childhood to maturity, and introduced it to the reader. Linda Wallace,who for four yearstyped everyword Iwrote, including this manuscript, and isrushing to finishtyping this page to moveforever under thesunofCalifornia. For herpatience,understanding anddedica­ tion, I am deeply grateful. My deep gratitude goes to the staff of Nicolas Hays Ltd., especially to those fearlessbody/souls whodirectlycontributed to this manuscript: Susan Greenleaf for easing the pain of proofreading and manuscript coordination; Rosemary B. Zeman, on whose weight and imagination the whole book’s production rested; and Neil Litt for his brilliant help in editing the manuscript. Thejourney and the blunders ofthesemeditations are allmine,I have no one to blame. ABORI Annalsofthe Bhandarkar ResearchInstitute Ait. Ar. Aitareya Aranyaka Ait. Br. Altareya Brahmana AO Acta Orientalia A. V. (or AV) Atharvaveda BEFEO Bulletin de Il’EcoleFrancaise d’Extreme Oriente BG BhagavadGita Br. Up. Brhadaranyaka Upanisad Comy. Commentary ERE Encyclopaedia of Religionand Ethics EVP Etudes Védiqueset Paninéennes HIP Historyof Indian Philosophy HOS Harvard Oriental Series THQ Indian HistoricalQuarterly IP Indian Philosophy JAOS Journal ofthe American Oriental Society JRAS Journal ofthe Royal Asiatic Society Kaus. Kausitaki Upanisad OUP Oxford University Press PU ThePrinciple Upanisads,ed. S.Radhakrishnan R. V. (or RV) Rg Veda(When no abbreviation precedes numbers in the text,theseshould beunderstood asbeingfrom the Rg Veda) SB Satapatha Brahmana SBE SacredBooks ofthe East Tait. Br. Taittirtya Brahmana ix