Showing posts with label NASADIYA SUKTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASADIYA SUKTA. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Bhagwat Gita and third law of thermodynamics about creation decoded Nasadiya Sukta of Rigveda


In the field of particle physics, it has been established by many scientific experiments that the universe had a beginning in the remote past and it will have an eventual collapse in some remote future. In this context, the Second Law of Thermodynamics asserts that the processes occur in a certain direction but not in the reverse direction. A cup of hot coffee left on a table in an office, for example, eventually cools, but a cup of cold coffee on the same table never gets hot by itself, that is, the heat can only flow from hot to cold bodies. The science of thermodynamics deals with “equilibrium states” and it declares that a system, which is in equilibrium, experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings. For example, a system is in thermal equilibrium if the temperature is same throughout the entire system. And in this state there are no unbalanced driving forces within the system. A reservoir that supplies energy in the form of heat is called a source and one that absorbs energy in the form of heat is called a sink. When source and the sink are both at the same temperature, there is no flow of energy and, therefore, there is no movement. In the same way we find that life is an effort to climb the slope that ‘matter’ descends. Matter moves increasingly toward a state of disorganization or of increasing randomness, and Consciousness or Life moves towards increasingly complex forms of purposeful organization or decreasing randomness. These are known as what the Bhagavad-Gita calls as the two cosmic tides of pravritti and nivritti, symbolically known as the ‘path of night’ and the ‘path of light’ or the ‘path of action’ and the ‘path of reflection’ respectively.

And, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the universe is slowly moving towards a state known as "heat death", that is, a state of existence when all the stars and galaxies will have dissipated their energy in the form of heat and radiation and the whole universe will attain one uniform temperature. This concept of Heat Death is very similar to the Hindu concept of pralaya or dissolution of the universe, and Lincoln Barnett describes it with rare clarity. In this state, the existence of the universe can be described as follows: “All space will be at the same temperature. No energy can be used because all of it will be uniformly distributed through the cosmos. There will be no light, no life, no warmth- nothing but perpetual and irrevocable stagnation. Time itself will come to an end. For entropy is a measure of randomness. When all system and order in the universe have vanished, when randomness is at its maximum, and entropy cannot be increased, where there no longer is any sequence of cause and effect- in short, when the universe has run down, there will be no direction to time, there will be no time. And there is no way of avoiding this destiny.”

Hymn of Creation

This very phenomenon is explained in the Rig Veda (verse X.129) in a famous hymn known as “Naasdeeya Sooktam” or the Hymn of Creation. This verse in Sanskrit describes the vision of the universe, as it existed before its creation. Many scholars and sages have translated the Naasdeeya Sooktam into English; however, I have selected the translation of Prof. Juan Mascaro.

Naas_daaseenno sadaa_seett-daanee
naaseedra_jo no vyomaa paro yat
kimaa_vareevah ? Kuh ? kasya sharmann ?
ambhah kimaaseed_gahnam gabheeram ?

na mrityu_raasee_damritam na taarhi
na raatya ahna aaseet_praketah
aaneedavaatam svadhayaa tad_ekam
tasmaa_ddhanyan_na parah kim chanaas .....

...iyam visrishTiryat aab_bhoova
yadim vaa dadhe yadi vaa na
yo asyaadhyakshah parame vyoman   
so aNga ved yadi vaa na ved.

(In the beginning…)
There was neither existence nor non-existence.
There was not then what is not, what is not.
There was neither sky nor any heaven beyond the sky.
 What power was there? Where 
Who was that power?
Was there an abyss of fathomless water?

There was neither death nor immortality then
No signs were there of night or day.
The One was breathing with its own power,
in deep space.
Only the One was:
And there was nothing beyond.

The darkness was hidden in darkness.
And all was fluid and formless.
Therein, in the void,
By the fire of fervor arose One.
And in the One arose love.
Love the first seed of the soul.

The truth of this the sages found in their hearts:
Seeking in their hearts with wisdom,
The sages found that bond of union
Between being and non-being
Between the manifest and the unmanifest

Who knows this truth?
Who can tell, when and how arose this universe?
The gods came after its creation.
Whether this universe was created or uncreated
Only the God who sees in the highest heaven:
He only knows, when came this universe
 And, whether it was created or uncreated
He only knows or perhaps He knows not?


In this poem an attempt is made by the poet to describe the nature of the Ultimate Reality, and it is beautifully explained by Yogi Krishna prem. It says that in the beginning, the One without a second polarized itself or expanded itself to become Many. While it is absolutely absurd to attempt to explain how the polarization of parbrahman, the One without a second, occurs, it may be useful to make a few suggestions as to how we may conceive it as occurring. The manifestation of a Cosmos depends on the polarization of the One, the parbrahman, into the transcendental Subject, the shaant atman, and the transcendental Object, the mool prakriti. So, far beyond all thought or imagination is that One, Parbrahman, the causeless Cause or the First Cause of the Western thought. Since it cannot be known as an object of knowledge, therefore, “It” is only to be conceived as Darkness. Since it is unknown, therefore, it is called darkness and in that darkness was buried the potentiality of all existence and by the power of tapas, literally, heat or self-limitation arose the Atman or the Unitary Consciousness.

The modern day astronomers call this “darkness” as the dark matter and dark energy of the universe, and of which they have very little knowledge. As recently as February 2003, scientists using NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), during a sweeping 12-month observation of the entire sky, have captured the new cosmic portrait, capturing the afterglow of the big bang, called cosmic microwave background. The WMAP team found that the universe is 13.7 billion years old and the contents of the universe include 4 percent atoms or the ordinary visible matter, 23 percent of an unknown dark matter and 73 percent of the mysterious dark energy. The measurements even shed light on the nature of the dark energy, which acts as a sort of an anti-gravity. This is what the Rig Veda means when it says: “The darkness is hidden in Darkness.”

The actual first impulse to creation, according to the Hindu scriptures, is forever hidden in that Darkness, and that is why even Buddha, the Enlightened One, when queried on this subject, remained silent and refused to go beyond desire. According to the Rig Veda, the gods who were in the levels of manifested consciousness came into being later. In other words, consciousness cannot penetrate to its own root. The first impulse to creation, therefore, can only be called the Lila the ‘divine spectacle’ or ‘divine sport’ of the Supreme. The ultimate root is, however, even beyond atman. Nor even for atman can Brahman be an object of knowledge, for to know It is to merge in It and in that merging the separate “knower” comes to an end. In this essay, only a few paragraphs of this hymn are tackled, as a full explanation of this cryptic hymn is beyond its scope.

Cosmos and the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali

On further analysis, one might ask how could the Vedic sages know the nature of the universe at the time of its origin, when they, themselves did not exist? The late Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer of Cornell University posed the same question during one of the episodes of the TV series “Cosmos” which was broadcast in the US during late Seventy’s. He once took his show to South India and showed how the Vedic seers accurately calculated the age of the universe without any radio-astronomy available to them. They discovered the cosmological truth not by scientific observations but through intuitive insight gained through the process of yoga, as explained in Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, that is, 1) through the process of pratyaahaar, 2) through dhyaan-yoga and finally 3) through samaadhi. Now, let us ask ourselves a question: what is Samaadhi? In the yoga-sutra, we are told that Samaadhi is the process of withdrawing the senses into mind, the mind into intellect, and the intellect into Sat or atman the pure consciousness, the substratum of the universe. In other words, Samaadhi is a state of reversal of creation, a return to the primordial or the “un-created” state. In this state the difference between ‘this’ and ‘that’ disappears and what remains is only the Absolute, the One without a second. The best description of Samaadhi is given us in the Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, verse VI.v.15, and it says that in the state of Samaadhi, there is no duality, and this concept is beautifully explained in the following poem translated by Prof. H. B. Phillips:


When everything has become the very Self, then
What should one see and through what? Then
What should one smell and through what? Then
What should one taste and through what? Then
What should one speak and through what? Then
What should one hear and through what? Then
What should one think and through what? Then
What should one touch and through what? Then
What should one know and through what? Then
Through what one should know “That”
By means of which all this is known?


It is difficult for anyone to write about cosmos without invoking the name of a famous immigrant, the lateDr.S.Chandrashekhar of the University of Chicago who received Nobel Prize in 1983 for his contribution to the knowledge of the collapse and the death of stars. He has shown that the stars collapse as a result of their gravitational force and the collapse in-turn, triggers thermonuclear explosion inside them. In that process hydrogen is converted into helium, and in case of heavy stars, even helium is converted into carbon and oxygen and eventually to iron, an element, which releases no energy and the nuclear reaction, stops there. Thus, this process of creation, from the Avaykta, the undifferentiated, or the unmanifest, the nirgun brahman and of destruction, or of srishti and pralaya, continues forever ...and without end. To honor Dr.Chandrashekhar, NASA has named its new observatory as Chandra X-ray observatory, which is simply known as Chandra which was put in the elliptical earth orbit, varying in distance from 9,200 miles to 82,000 miles, in July 1999 to observe X-rays from high-energy regions of the universe. It can also be said about samaadhi that in that state the consciousness goes beyond the dominion of space and time. To express it in the manner of the physicists, it is like saying that in this state a person can go beyond the event horizon of an astronomical black hole and return from it at will. We are also told that in his quest for perfection, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa, the 19th century yogi and the monk of Dakshineshwar, used to go in and out of samaadhi at his own free will.

In an effort to realize the Absolute through the process of Yoga, it is observed that these yoga disciplines, as described in the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, are also given us in the Bhagavad-Gita. Out of the eight yoga disciplines, only three are listed here and are described as: 1) pratyaahaar in verse 2.58, 2) dhyaan in verse 8:8 and 3) samaadhi in verse 6:20-6:23 of the Bhagavad-Gita, and these are7:

1) Pratyahaar: Bhagavad-Gita, verse’ 2:58, says: “yadaa sanharte chaayam koormo-angaaneeve sarvashah…He who is unattached and when like a tortoise, which draws in its limbs from all directions, he withdraws his senses from the sense objects, he is a man of stable wisdom.”

2) Dhyaan: Bhagavad-Gita, verse’ 8:8, says: “abhyaasyo-yukten chetasaa naanya-gaaminaa…He who with his mind disciplined through yoga in the form of practice of meditation and thinking nothing else, is constantly engaged in contemplation of the Supreme attains the supremely effulgent Divine Being.”

3) Samaadhi: Bhagavad-Gita, verses’ 6:20-6:23 declare: “yatroparmate chittam nirudham yog sevayaa… When the mind, absolutely restrained by the practice of concentration, attains quietness, and when seeing the Self by the self, that Yogi beholding Atman by Atman, is satisfied in the Atman itself; when he feels that infinite bliss-which is perceived by the purified intellect and which transcends the senses and thus established therein he never departs from the Real state.”

The purified state, in these cryptic verses is described as that state of cognition when the purified intellect can grasp independent of the senses. When in meditation, the mind is deeply concentrated, the senses do not function and are resolved into their cause- that is, the mind; and when the later is steady, so that there, only the intellect is functioning, or in other words, cognition only exists; and the indescribable Self or the Atman  realizes itself. And this is known as Samadhi.


Coming back to the theme of this essay, the question arises: “How do we know this knower?” This question is asked, over and over, in almost all the scriptures. “Who knows this truth? He only knows or perhaps He knows not?” This is how the Rig-Veda ends its poem, which was one of the favorite poems of another famous traveler from India during the last century, namely, Swami Vivekanand. This shows that the seer of the Rig-Veda even questions the highest knower or his knowledge. Thus the Vedic system of thought is not based on some blind faith or some sectarian dogma taught by a teacher but on scientific basis developed and known by what we call the dhyaan yoga or the knowledge developed through meditation or by the intuitive understanding of the seer. When that knowledge dawns, then the Great Being shines forth through every pore of our being as the blissful or the immortal. Thus, in the Rig Veda, began the scientific inquiry not only for the outer worlds of prakriti but also for the inner worlds of atman, the unchanging substratum of the universe, or the universal constant as we may call It. This Universal Constant proved too illusive even for Einstein when he declared: ‘God does not throw dice’ but after a lifetime of groping, he finally gave up trying to find the universal constant for his “too- too static” a view of the universe of names and forms, which the Hindu mystics had already figured out thousands of years before him, that this cosmos was nothing but a passing phantom show which veils from sight the true and the unchanging Eternal Reality that is forever unmanifest. However, the Bhagavad-Gita gives us the nature of this Universal Constant in verse 2:24 when it says:


The self can never be cleft,
Nor can one dry or make him wet,
He is never combustible,
Present everywhere but stable

Is eternal and changes never,
Remains always the same forever



Maya and the Uncertainty Principle

Then came along Werner Heisenberg, a young German Physicist with his idea of the ‘uncertainty principle’ and with this ‘new understanding’ he stumbled onto the ancient vedantic truth that ‘the subjective decides the nature of the object’, that is, in a mystical sense, “the purity of the soul or consciousness of the scientist or that of the seer determines his outlook.” The same theme is expressed in the words of Vishnu Puraan, where it is stated: “As is God, so is His creation and as you are, so is your creation.” Thus, Werner Heisenberg found out about the maya of the electrons and in the same spirit, Stephen Hawking, the famous astro-physicist from Cambridge University, while intuitively realizing the deeper uncertainty of the nature of the Black Holes realized the Maya relating to the Cosmos and declared that: “God not only plays dice but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen”. Thus Hawking also intuitively stumbled onto the ancient Hindu concept of Maya, in the same way as Heisenberg had figured it out earlier. In this context Bhagavad-Gita verse’ 2:16 says: “naasto vidyate bhaavo, na bhaavo vidyate satah…the unreal has no existence and the real never ceases to be.” Now that the word maya has some how crept up in this essay, let us find out what Saint Kabir, the 15th century mystic poet of Northern India says in one of his poems about maya which was translated by Gurudeva Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore (1861-1941) and it goes as follows:

Maya Taji Na Jaay

“Tell me, Friend, how can I renounce Maya?
When I gave up the tying of ribbons,
Still I tied my garments about me:
When I gave up tying my garment,
I still covered my body in its folds

So, when I gave up passion
I see that anger remains;
And when I renounce anger,
Greed is with me still;

And when greed is vanquished,
Pride and vainglory remain;
When the mind is detached and
Casts Maya away, still it
Clings to the letter

Kabir says, “Listen to me dear friend!
Yogis and Sanyaasis are disputing each other,
But the true path is rarely found.”

 The philosophy taught by Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita about the creation of the universe is the same as the concepts given us in the Hymn of Creation in the Rig-Veda. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the verse’ 2:20 says: “ajo nitya shaashvato ayam puraano, na hanyate hanya maane shareere” in which Sri Krishna declares that Parbrahman, Parmatman or Atman is the substratum of the universe and it is neither born and nor does it ever die. The poetic rendition of this verse goes as follows:

 

No soul is ever born nor does he ever,
Once coming to being he ceases never;
Permanent, eternal, ancient and unborn,
This dies not even when the body is gone.

 

 nasadiya.pdf

Essence Of Parbrahman

 According to the Bhagavad-Gita, verses’ 9:7 and 9:8, Parmaatman or the atman remained in a state of quiet throughout the duration of time known as the Night of Brahma, also known as the kalpa-antaya, with no objects, because as yet there is no modification. But resolving to create, or rather to emanate the universe, It formed a picture of what should be, and this at once was a modification willingly brought about in the previously wholly unmodified spirit; thereupon the Divine Idea was gradually expanded, coming forth into objectivity while the essence of parbrahman, the presiding deity or the essence of atman remained unmodified and became the perceiver of its own expanded idea. The essential nature or the svabhaav of the One as transcendent Subject, here called adhyaatma and declared in Bhagavad-Gita verse’ 8:3, separates out as it were, leaving the other aspect of Brahman, to stand as the eternal Object, the mool-prakriti. This mool-prakriti, the unmanifest basis of all the objectivity, is, from its very nature, the source of all the manifested Many. Reflecting as it does the Light of the One Atman; It is the root of all objectivity and all plurality. If the Brahman is to appear as an object at all, it is only as the mool-prakriti that it can so appear. This is how the One without a second, at the commencement of a kalpa known as kalpa-praarambh, chose to become Many.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद- Origin of universe, Nasadiya Sukta

'VED : THE ORIGIN OF ADVAITA   

=========== Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद) ===========
 
 In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna himself says that those who are devoid of proper knowledge of the real purport of the Ved and the proper method of propitiating the Almighty, are deluded by ignorance. They think that they themselves are capable of performing Vedic sacrifices, even without the help or grace of God. 

~ (Sri Ramanuja's Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 15.15)   

The literal meaning of Advaita has been explained by Madhusudana Saraswati as "That in which there is no two-foldness". 

Shankara’s Advaita Siddhanta is not only the climax of all spiritual philosophies and the highest philosophy of ethics, but also a way of life. As the culmination of man’s metaphysical contemplation and spiritual evolution it is the natural final goal of our spiritual Sadhanas. 

In fact, some of the most beautiful Upanishadic verses which Shankara has interpreted in the light of Advaita occur in the Samhita portion of the Rig Ved.   
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The Nasadiya Sukta :

The famous ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.129) contains the most sublime depiction of Advaitic idea that was later elaborated upon in the Upanishads and expounded by the great Shankaracharya. 

In this hymn all phenomena are traced to the one Principle which is beyond opposites like life and death, existence and non-existence, being and non-being, day and night, and so on. The one Reality is neither existence nor non-existence; it is beyond name and definition. The concept of maya, which explains why the perfect Reality appears as this imperfect world, has its roots in the ‘Nasadiya Sukta’.    

The Brahman without attributes, the ultimate Truth, is neither Void (Shunya, as the Buddhists proclaim) characterized by Non-existence, nor the phenomenal universe (the empirical reality) characterized by Existence. 

It is beyond Space-Time-Causation (देश-काल-निमित्त). The following mantra shows that there was no Space (sky) prior to creation :

नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत |   

......... Rig Ved 10.129.1  

" Existence was not then, nor non-existence ; The world was not, the sky beyond was neither. "  

(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)   

The following mantra also shows that Space-Time is a part of the universe. When there was no creation, Space-Time did not exist.   

This mantra negates separate ' day and night ' prior to creation. It is basically a negation of the concept of Time prior to creation : 

न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः |
आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास ||  

......... Rig Ved 10.129.2

" Death was not then, no immortality, The night was neither separate from day, But motionless did That vibrate alone, with Its own glory one— Beyond That nothing did exist. "  

(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)     

The term 'That vibrate alone' is an implication that Brahman is not just an insentient material cause of the universe like a lump of clay is of pots etc., but it is Pure Consciousness in nature (शुद्ध चैतन्य स्वरुप).

The One Homogeneous Existence as a whole beyond all Names and Forms (नाम-रूप भेद ), i.e. without any differentiating attributes is proclaimed :  

तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम |    

......... Rig Ved 10.129.3

"At first in darkness hidden darkness lay ; Undistinguished as one mass of water."  

(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)   

Then the 'Sankalpa' (divine will, the desire) of creation arose in Brahman and Non-existence (the attributeless Brahman) became Existence (the phenomenal universe) :   

कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||    

......... Rig Ved 10.129.4

" First desire rose, the primal seed of mind ; The sages have seen all this in their hearts, Shifting existence from non-existence. "  

(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)   

But how can it happen ? 

This is being answered in the next mantra. Creation is the play of the ' Maya Shakti ', the inexplicable creative energy. 

Brahman (the Self-sustaining principle) is the substratum (अधिष्ठान) of This creative energy : 

तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत |
रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात ||  

......... Rig Ved 10.129.5   

" Creative then became the glory ; With self-sustaining principle below. And Creative Energy above. "

(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)     

Here we may very well remember that Advaita is, after all, a matter of inner experience (" Anubhavaikavedyam" ; 'known through experience alone’, in the language of Shankaracharya) and not a subject for philosophical speculation.

The ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ is perhaps the most scientific description of the ultimate Reality as well as of the projection of the phenomenal world. It makes the relative and the Absolute, nature and Spirit, the twin aspects of that one Reality and shows that men of wisdom (Kavayah), who had controlled their senses, found out the ultimate cause of this world (which appears to be real) in their own hearts (Hridi) through concentrated intellects (Manisha).   
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The concept of Maya : 

रूपं-रूपं परतिरूपो बभूव तदस्य रूपं परतिचक्षणाय |
इन्द्रो मायाभिः पुरुरूप ईयते युक्ता हयस्य हरयःशता दश ||   

............. Rig Ved 6.47.18

भावार्थ : 

इन्द्रदेव मायाशक्तियों द्वारा अनेक रूप बनाकर यजमान के पास प्रकट होते हैं | इन्द्रदेव के रथ में उनकी अनेक शक्तियों के रूप में सहस्रों घोड़े युक्त हैं |   

English : 

" Indra, has assumed various forms, and such is his form as that which (he adopts) for his manifestation ; Indra through Maya appears as of many forms (to his many worshippers), for his horses, yoked to his chariot are a thousand. "    

Indra has been identified here with the Supreme Lord, the Brahman associated with (aggregate of) Maya. Here ' Maya ' denotes the projecting power (विक्षेप शक्ति) of the Supreme Lord.' Maya ', although one, but its powers to cover the true nature of Brahman are manifold according to different Jivatmas (individual selves).  

As a forest, from the standpoint of the units that compose it, may be designated as a number of trees, and as a reservoir from the same point of view may be spoken of as quantities of water, so also ignorance when denoting separate units is spoken of as many.  
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The Realisation of Brahman : 

The well-known ‘Devi Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.125) is another striking example of a Samhita mantra depicting Advaitic experience. 

The word  " चिकितुषी " in the third mantra of this sukta is explained by Sayana as : 

"cikitushi yatsakshat kartavyam param barhma tajnatavati svatmatya sakshat krtavati "

" She (the rishi) had known or realized as her own Self the supreme Brahman, that which must be realized. "   

In this sukta, realising her identity with Brahman, Vaak who is the daughter of Rishi Ambhrina, says :

अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुतविश्वदेवैः | 
अहं मित्रावरुणोभा बिभर्म्यहमिन्द्राग्नीहमश्विनोभा || 

............. Rig Ved 10.125.1

" I move with Rudras and Vasus, I walk with the Sun and other deities, I esteem mithra, varuna And Indra, fire and the Aswini devas. "  

अहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चाहं कक्षीवाँ ऋषिरस्मि विप्रः।
अहं कुत्समार्जुनेयं न्यृञ्जेऽहं कविरुशना पश्यता मा॥ 

............... Rig Ved 4:26:1

" I was Manu and I was Surya; I am the wise rishi Kaksivan ; I have befriended Kutsha, the son of Arjuni ; I am the far-seeing Usana ; behold me. " 

This mantra attributed to sage Vamdev : the sage uttered the verse and the following two verses, while yet in the womb, knowledge of Brahman being generated in him, and enabling him to identify himself with universal existence; through the eye of supreme truth I am everything. 

Innumerable mantras of the Rig Ved Samhita have been explained by Sayanacharya in an exclusively Advaitic sense.    
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The Identity of Jiva and Brahman :

Some mantras of the ‘Purusha Sukta’ (which occurs in the Shukla Yajur Ved as well) are interpreted even by Sayanacharya in Advaitic terms. 

Sayana commenting on the mantra beginning with : 

परि द्यावापृथिवी यन्ति सद्यः परि लोकान् परि दिशः परि सुवः  

~ Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12 

" Having gone swiftly round the earth and heaven, around the worlds, around the sky, around the quarters", 

Acharya Sayana states : 

"Here the nature of jiva is Brahman." 

~ (Sayanacharya's commentary on Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12)

Similarly, the Krishna Yajur Ved Samhita too is full of mantras which have an Advaitic content. The Tandya Brahmana and the Samavidhana of the Sama Ved are equally rich in Advaitic ideas. So also the Atharva Ved.

For example, the following mantra traditionally associated with the Mundak Upanishad (3.1.1) is found in the Rig Ved as well : 

दवा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वर्क्षं परि षस्वजाते | 
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं सवाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभि चाकशीति || 

........... Rig Ved 1.164.20

" Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, cling to the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruits of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating. " 

The mantra brings out the essence of Advaita philosophy and the identity of jiva and Brahman. The bird on the lower branch is the jiva and the one sitting on the upper branch of the tree as witness, without eating fruits, is God Himself.This mantra shows that though its philosophical and logical perfection is reached in Upanishadic literature, the origin of Advaita philosophy is, in fact, to be found in the Rig Ved Samhita itself.     
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The Conditioned and Supreme Brahman : 

One of the most striking depictions of the relation between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the absolute and the relative, the ultimate cause and its effect : Karana Brahman and Karya Brahman (कार्य ब्रह्म एवं कारण ब्रह्म) and the assertion that both are, in reality, infinite, full and perfect, occurs towards the end of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita in the Shanti mantra for the Ishavasya Upanishad beginning with : 

‘ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं .....‘ 

" That (supreme Brahman) is infinite, and this (conditioned Brahman) is infinite. "   

The above mantra occurs also in Brihadaranyak Upanishad 5.1.1.(see Shankaracharya's commentary).

Several portions of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita (for instance, the ‘Rudradhyaya’) contain ideas that are strikingly Advaitic in content and form. 

The Rig Ved gives a great message in the first mantra of the thirteenth Sukta of the tenth mandala. This is perhaps the most forceful expression of man’s divinity and immortality found in the whole of Vedic literature. It runs as follows: 

युजे वां बरह्म पूर्व्यं नमोभिर्वि शलोक एतु पथ्येवसूरेः | 
शर्ण्वन्तु विश्वे अम्र्तस्य पुत्रा आ ये धामानिदिव्यानि तस्थुः || 

........... Rig Ved 10.13.1

" O my sense organs and their presiding deities, I salute you (that is, I merge you all with the eternal Brahman through meditation). May this hymn of praise spread everywhere through the medium of the wise. May you all, children of immortal Bliss, and all those living in the bright (divine) worlds, listen to me ! "   
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The word Brahman or Brāhmaņa occurs more than a hundred times in the Rig-Ved. In only one place, the Purusha Sūkta occurring in the tenth mandala, uses the term Brāhmaņa to signify an order.

Again, Brahman of the Rig-Ved is not the Brahman, Para Brahman of the Upanishads, the highest principle of Existence. Rig-Ved uses the words "tad ekam", "That one," param (beyond), "Ekam Sat" (one reality) to signify the principle of Para Brahman or “The one without a second" of the Upanishads.

Brahman is used in the Rig Ved as term for a high divinity or as another name for Agni : 

असादि वर्तो वह्निराजगन्वानग्निर्ब्रह्मा नर्षदने विधर्ता |
दयौश्च यं पर्थिवी वाव्र्धाते आ यं होता यजति विश्ववारम || 

......... Rig Ved 7.7.5

“He has come, chosen bearer, and is seated in man's home, Brahman, Agni, the Supporter, He whom both Heaven and Earth exalt and strengthen whom, Giver of all boons, the Hotar worships ." 

The term Brahman is also used to represent the spoken word. Brahman acquires the meaning of unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality in the Upanishads.   

" Om Shanti Shanti Shanti "'=Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद)====
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna himself says that those who are devoid of proper knowledge of the real purport of the Ved and the proper method of propitiating the Almighty, are deluded by ignorance. They think that they themselves are capable of performing Vedic sacrifices, even without the help or grace of God.
~ (Sri Ramanuja's Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 15.15)
The literal meaning of Advaita has been explained by Madhusudana Saraswati as "That in which there is no two-foldness".
Shankara’s Advaita Siddhanta is not only the climax of all spiritual philosophies and the highest philosophy of ethics, but also a way of life. As the culmination of man’s metaphysical contemplation and spiritual evolution it is the natural final goal of our spiritual Sadhanas.
In fact, some of the most beautiful Upanishadic verses which Shankara has interpreted in the light of Advaita occur in the Samhita portion of the Rig Ved.

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The Nasadiya Sukta :
The famous ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.129) contains the most sublime depiction of Advaitic idea that was later elaborated upon in the Upanishads and expounded by the great Shankaracharya.
In this hymn all phenomena are traced to the one Principle which is beyond opposites like life and death, existence and non-existence, being and non-being, day and night, and so on. The one Reality is neither existence nor non-existence; it is beyond name and definition. The concept of maya, which explains why the perfect Reality appears as this imperfect world, has its roots in the ‘Nasadiya Sukta’.
The Brahman without attributes, the ultimate Truth, is neither Void (Shunya, as the Buddhists proclaim) characterized by Non-existence, nor the phenomenal universe (the empirical reality) characterized by Existence.
It is beyond Space-Time-Causation (देश-काल-निमित्त). The following mantra shows that there was no Space (sky) prior to creation :
नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.1
" Existence was not then, nor non-existence ; The world was not, the sky beyond was neither. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The following mantra also shows that Space-Time is a part of the universe. When there was no creation, Space-Time did not exist.
This mantra negates separate ' day and night ' prior to creation. It is basically a negation of the concept of Time prior to creation :
न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः |
आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.2
" Death was not then, no immortality, The night was neither separate from day, But motionless did That vibrate alone, with Its own glory one— Beyond That nothing did exist. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The term 'That vibrate alone' is an implication that Brahman is not just an insentient material cause of the universe like a lump of clay is of pots etc., but it is Pure Consciousness in nature (शुद्ध चैतन्य स्वरुप).
The One Homogeneous Existence as a whole beyond all Names and Forms (नाम-रूप भेद ), i.e. without any differentiating attributes is proclaimed :
तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.3
"At first in darkness hidden darkness lay ; Undistinguished as one mass of water."
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Then the 'Sankalpa' (divine will, the desire) of creation arose in Brahman and Non-existence (the attributeless Brahman) became Existence (the phenomenal universe) :
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.4
" First desire rose, the primal seed of mind ; The sages have seen all this in their hearts, Shifting existence from non-existence. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
But how can it happen ?
This is being answered in the next mantra. Creation is the play of the ' Maya Shakti ', the inexplicable creative energy.
Brahman (the Self-sustaining principle) is the substratum (अधिष्ठान) of This creative energy :
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत |
रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.5
" Creative then became the glory ; With self-sustaining principle below. And Creative Energy above. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Here we may very well remember that Advaita is, after all, a matter of inner experience (" Anubhavaikavedyam" ; 'known through experience alone’, in the language of Shankaracharya) and not a subject for philosophical speculation.
The ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ is perhaps the most scientific description of the ultimate Reality as well as of the projection of the phenomenal world. It makes the relative and the Absolute, nature and Spirit, the twin aspects of that one Reality and shows that men of wisdom (Kavayah), who had controlled their senses, found out the ultimate cause of this world (which appears to be real) in their own hearts (Hridi) through concentrated intellects (Manisha).
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The concept of Maya :
रूपं-रूपं परतिरूपो बभूव तदस्य रूपं परतिचक्षणाय |
इन्द्रो मायाभिः पुरुरूप ईयते युक्ता हयस्य हरयःशता दश ||
............. Rig Ved 6.47.18
भावार्थ :
इन्द्रदेव मायाशक्तियों द्वारा अनेक रूप बनाकर यजमान के पास प्रकट होते हैं | इन्द्रदेव के रथ में उनकी अनेक शक्तियों के रूप में सहस्रों घोड़े युक्त हैं |
English :
" Indra, has assumed various forms, and such is his form as that which (he adopts) for his manifestation ; Indra through Maya appears as of many forms (to his many worshippers), for his horses, yoked to his chariot are a thousand. "
Indra has been identified here with the Supreme Lord, the Brahman associated with (aggregate of) Maya. Here ' Maya ' denotes the projecting power (विक्षेप शक्ति) of the Supreme Lord.' Maya ', although one, but its powers to cover the true nature of Brahman are manifold according to different Jivatmas (individual selves).
As a forest, from the standpoint of the units that compose it, may be designated as a number of trees, and as a reservoir from the same point of view may be spoken of as quantities of water, so also ignorance when denoting separate units is spoken of as many.
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The Realisation of Brahman :
The well-known ‘Devi Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.125) is another striking example of a Samhita mantra depicting Advaitic experience.
The word " चिकितुषी " in the third mantra of this sukta is explained by Sayana as :
"cikitushi yatsakshat kartavyam param barhma tajnatavati svatmatya sakshat krtavati "
" She (the rishi) had known or realized as her own Self the supreme Brahman, that which must be realized. "
In this sukta, realising her identity with Brahman, Vaak who is the daughter of Rishi Ambhrina, says :
अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुतविश्वदेवैः |
अहं मित्रावरुणोभा बिभर्म्यहमिन्द्राग्नीहमश्विनोभा ||
............. Rig Ved 10.125.1
" I move with Rudras and Vasus, I walk with the Sun and other deities, I esteem mithra, varuna And Indra, fire and the Aswini devas. "
अहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चाहं कक्षीवाँ ऋषिरस्मि विप्रः।
अहं कुत्समार्जुनेयं न्यृञ्जेऽहं कविरुशना पश्यता मा॥
............... Rig Ved 4:26:1
" I was Manu and I was Surya; I am the wise rishi Kaksivan ; I have befriended Kutsha, the son of Arjuni ; I am the far-seeing Usana ; behold me. "
This mantra attributed to sage Vamdev : the sage uttered the verse and the following two verses, while yet in the womb, knowledge of Brahman being generated in him, and enabling him to identify himself with universal existence; through the eye of supreme truth I am everything.
Innumerable mantras of the Rig Ved Samhita have been explained by Sayanacharya in an exclusively Advaitic sense.
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The Identity of Jiva and Brahman :
Some mantras of the ‘Purusha Sukta’ (which occurs in the Shukla Yajur Ved as well) are interpreted even by Sayanacharya in Advaitic terms.
Sayana commenting on the mantra beginning with :
परि द्यावापृथिवी यन्ति सद्यः परि लोकान् परि दिशः परि सुवः
~ Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12
" Having gone swiftly round the earth and heaven, around the worlds, around the sky, around the quarters",
Acharya Sayana states :
"Here the nature of jiva is Brahman."
~ (Sayanacharya's commentary on Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12)
Similarly, the Krishna Yajur Ved Samhita too is full of mantras which have an Advaitic content. The Tandya Brahmana and the Samavidhana of the Sama Ved are equally rich in Advaitic ideas. So also the Atharva Ved.
For example, the following mantra traditionally associated with the Mundak Upanishad (3.1.1) is found in the Rig Ved as well :
दवा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वर्क्षं परि षस्वजाते |
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं सवाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभि चाकशीति ||
........... Rig Ved 1.164.20
" Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, cling to the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruits of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating. "
The mantra brings out the essence of Advaita philosophy and the identity of jiva and Brahman. The bird on the lower branch is the jiva and the one sitting on the upper branch of the tree as witness, without eating fruits, is God Himself.This mantra shows that though its philosophical and logical perfection is reached in Upanishadic literature, the origin of Advaita philosophy is, in fact, to be found in the Rig Ved Samhita itself.
________________________________________________
The Conditioned and Supreme Brahman :
One of the most striking depictions of the relation between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the absolute and the relative, the ultimate cause and its effect : Karana Brahman and Karya Brahman (कार्य ब्रह्म एवं कारण ब्रह्म) and the assertion that both are, in reality, infinite, full and perfect, occurs towards the end of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita in the Shanti mantra for the Ishavasya Upanishad beginning with :
‘ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं .....‘
" That (supreme Brahman) is infinite, and this (conditioned Brahman) is infinite. "
The above mantra occurs also in Brihadaranyak Upanishad 5.1.1.(see Shankaracharya's commentary).
Several portions of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita (for instance, the ‘Rudradhyaya’) contain ideas that are strikingly Advaitic in content and form.
The Rig Ved gives a great message in the first mantra of the thirteenth Sukta of the tenth mandala. This is perhaps the most forceful expression of man’s divinity and immortality found in the whole of Vedic literature. It runs as follows:
युजे वां बरह्म पूर्व्यं नमोभिर्वि शलोक एतु पथ्येवसूरेः |
शर्ण्वन्तु विश्वे अम्र्तस्य पुत्रा आ ये धामानिदिव्यानि तस्थुः ||
........... Rig Ved 10.13.1
" O my sense organs and their presiding deities, I salute you (that is, I merge you all with the eternal Brahman through meditation). May this hymn of praise spread everywhere through the medium of the wise. May you all, children of immortal Bliss, and all those living in the bright (divine) worlds, listen to me ! "
________________________________________________
The word Brahman or Brāhmaņa occurs more than a hundred times in the Rig-Ved. In only one place, the Purusha Sūkta occurring in the tenth mandala, uses the term Brāhmaņa to signify an order.
Again, Brahman of the Rig-Ved is not the Brahman, Para Brahman of the Upanishads, the highest principle of Existence. Rig-Ved uses the words "tad ekam", "That one," param (beyond), "Ekam Sat" (one reality) to signify the principle of Para Brahman or “The one without a second" of the Upanishads.
Brahman is used in the Rig Ved as term for a high divinity or as another name for Agni :
असादि वर्तो वह्निराजगन्वानग्निर्ब्रह्मा नर्षदने विधर्ता |
दयौश्च यं पर्थिवी वाव्र्धाते आ यं होता यजति विश्ववारम ||
......... Rig Ved 7.7.5
“He has come, chosen bearer, and is seated in man's home, Brahman, Agni, the Supporter, He whom both Heaven and Earth exalt and strengthen whom, Giver of all boons, the Hotar worships ."
The term Brahman is also used to represent the spoken word. Brahman acquires the meaning of unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality in the Upanishads.
" Om Shanti Shanti Shanti