In the previous parts, Sri Ram Swarup deals with the origin of words and their evolution, finally leading to the highest spiritual truths. In this concluding part, he deals with the names of the post-Vedic Gods, as typically seen in the various sahasranamas. He shows that by meditating on these names or even by simple repetition, a human being reaches the highest purpose of birth and the driving ideal of the culture, which is moksha. This is a state beyond birth and death characterised by an eternal and pure Existence, Awareness, and Bliss.
Names of Gods: Post-Vedic
The Vedic conception of Godhead, neither primitive nor an aberration, represented a fundamental sensibility of the psyche that influenced all subsequent developments. Over time, the idioms and the mentality of the people change. Some of the old Gods become either forgotten, less important, or remembered under different names. But continuity in the spirit of the approach persists. Newer Gods push some old Gods like Surya and Agni into the background, but they still hold significant importance. Millions of people still invoke Surya daily through the Gayatri mantra. Agni, too, is worshipped daily. Millions of people, when they first light a lamp every evening or even put on the electric light, salute it.
New Gods share the characteristics of their Vedic predecessors: plurality in form and names but unitary in essence; and interchanging psychic or physical forms. Even today, when the modes of worship have considerably changed, the names of Gods remain very important. In the Yoga of Devotion, names like Aum, Rama, Krsna, and Siva are as big as the whole reality, encompassing all the worlds and all the levels of existence.
Every God has a thousand names, whether Visnu, Siva, Ganesa, Rama, Krsna, Ganga (the Ganges), Gayatri, Sita, Kali, Durga, or Sarasvati. The author chooses by way of illustration only four deities and shows how the various names interpenetrate and embody man’s psychic truths and meanings. Of these four deities, Visnu and Siva are psychic in origin, but Surya and Ganga also have physical coordinates. Surya has a peculiar universality. He is considered non-Aryan, Aryan, Vedic, and post-Vedic. The Red Indians, the Incas, and the Mexicans, who all developed their religious cultures independently, also worshipped him. He is also a visible God, pratyaksa devata.
Whatever symbol the soul chooses, it seeks to worship through it its highest image of perfection, light, and truth. These names make each God supreme and have supreme attributes. He is the creator of the world as well as its supporting principle; therefore, the names of all the elements are His names. He is beyond time, but He is also the measure of all times; therefore, the names of the yugas, the months, and the days are His names. He is the object of all knowledge; He is also the means by which we know Him. So, in a way, all names are His names. Light and illumination are necessary attributes of a deity, and all nations and races have names of God or Gods that prominently showcase this attribute. The Scandinavians referred to their Gods as ‘Tivar’, a term that translates to ‘shining ones’ and is associated with the Sanskrit devas.
The Names of the four deities have certain unique features. Only a few examples have been cited.
1) Each God is also the other.
- Siva is Visnu, Krsna, Hari (names for Visnu).
- Siva is Ravi and Bhanu, (names for Surya).
- Visnu is Siva, Aditya, Surya
- Surya is Visnu, Rudra, Skanda, Siva.
- Ganga is Vaisnavi, Parvati (consort of Siva), Durga, Laksmi (consort of Visnu).
2) Each has the attributes of the supreme Godhead.
- Siva is Aja (Beginningless), Ananta (without End), Amara (Immortal)
- Visnu is Aja (Beginningless), Ananta (Endless), Atula (Peerless), Acyuta (Steadfast)
- Ganga is Visoka (without Grief), Asoka (beyond Grief), Ananda (Bliss)
- Surya is Aja (Beginningless), Ananta (Endless).
3) Each one is also the first and the highest one, and also the most esteemed.
- Siva is Adi (the Prime Source), Devadeva (Lord of Gods), Pita (Father)
- Visnu is Puratana (Ancient), Sanatana (Eternal)
- Ganga is Mata (Mother), Jyestha (the Eldest).
- Surya is Adideva (the First God), Devadeva (Lord of Gods), Mata (Mother)
4) Each combines all the opposites.
- Siva is Sat-Asat (Being: Non-being), Ksara-Aksara (Perishable: Imperishable)
- Visnu is Sat-Asat (Being: Non-being), Suksma-Sthula (Intangible: Tangible)
- Surya is Jivana-Mrtyu (Life: Death), Srasta-Samvartaka (Creator: Destroyer)
5) Each is also the source, the embodiment and the secret Self or truth of everything.
- Siva is Sarva (All), Bhava (Being, Source)
- Visnu is Prabhava (Source), Bhava (Reality), Paramatma (the Highest Self)
- Surya is Bhutasraya (the Refuge of all Beings), Suksmatma (the Subtle Self)
- Ganga is Bhava (Creator), Jagadatma (Self of the World)
6) Each is also the Gods and the Elements of Nature.
- Siva is Anila (Wind), Anala (Fire), Akasa (Sky)
- Visnu is Anila (Wind), Ravi (Sun), Anala (Fire)
- Surya is Sagara (Sea), Apa (Water), Teja (Fire)
7) Each is beyond time, yet it gives names to all the planets and all the measures of time.
- Siva is Ksana (Moment), Kala (Time), Candra (Moon), Ketu (Ketu), Rtu (Season), Kali (Kaliyuga).
- Surya is Ksapa (Night), Yama (A period of 3 hours), Ksana (Moment), Krta (Satya- yuga)
8) Each one is full of valour, vigour, and beauty.
- Siva is Ajita (Unconquered), Vijaya (Victory), Mahesvasa (Great Archer), Manovega (travelling with the Speed of the Mind)
- Visnu is Ugra (Impetuous), Jeta (Victor), Jaya (Victory), Durjaya (Unconquered)
- Ganga is Jaya (Victory), Vijaya (Victory), Taporupa (the Embodiment of Austerity), Abhirama (Pleasing)
- Surya is Jaya (Victory), Visala (the Vast)
9) They also have other qualities of knowledge, light, askesis, joy, and truthful resolve.
- Siva is Sarvajna (All-Knowing), Satyavrata (of True Resolve), Kanta (Resplendent)
- Visnu is Suci (Pure), Satyadharma (of true Law), Saha (Forbearing)
- Ganga is Vratarupa (Embodiment of Resolve), Punyagarbha (Source of Righteousness), Santa (Tranquil)
- Surya is Maitreya (Friend), Karunanvita (endowed with Compassion).
10) Each is everywhere.
- Siva is Sarvatomukha (facing All), Sarvadvara (the Universal Gate)
- Visnu is also Sarvatomukha (Facing All)
- Surya is Vigvatomukha (facing All Sides), Sarvatomukha (facing All)
- Ganga too is Visvatomukhi (facing All), Visva (All-pervading).
11) Each is also the great goal, the wide gate, the way, and the knowledge that leads to the destination.
- Siva is Nirvana (the Great Ceasing-to-be), Santi (the Great Peace), Purusa (the Spirit)
- Visnu is Sunya (the Great Void), Santi (the Great Peace), Brahma (the Highest Knowledge), Nirvana (Ceasing to-be), Veda (the Vedas), Vedanga (limbs of Vedic knowledge), Vedavit (Knower of the Vedas).
- Ganga is Yogini (Perfect in Yoga), Yogayoni (Source of Yoga), Vedavati (of the Form of the Vedas)
- Surya is Moksadvara (the Gate to Liberation), Yogin (Perfect in Yoga)
12) Each is a great teacher, protector, and saviour.
- Siva is Gati (Resort), Paragati (the Supreme Resort)
- Visnu is Nistha (Perfection), Parayanam (the Last Resort), Saranam (Shelter), Niyama (Vows)
13) They are also the great healers and bearers of all gifts to their worshippers. Therefore, they are loved.
- Siva is Vara (Boon), Varada (Giver of Boons), Dhanvantari (the Great Physician)
- Visnu is Jivana (Life), Prana (Breath), Tarana (the safe Passage)
- Ganga is Jivana (Life), Mahausadha (the Great Medicine), Dharmakamarthamoksada (Promoter of the Four Aims of Life—Dharma, Kama, Artha, Moksa)
- Surya is Jivana (Life), Dhanvantari (the Great Physician)
14) All are equally worshipful.
- Siva is Idya (Worthy of Worship), Saranya (Shelter)
- Visnu is Manya (Esteemed), Stavya (Worthy of Praise)
- Ganga is Kamya (to be Desired), Vedya (to be Known)
15) All have their seats in the secret cave of the heart and are difficult to realize.
- Siva is Guhavasi (dwelling in the Secret Cave of the Heart)
- Visnu is Durlabha (difficult to Attain), Durgama (difficult to Reach)
- Ganga is Guhavidya (Secret Science), Durlabha (difficult to Attain).
16) On the other hand, all of them are said to be easily attainable.
- Ganga is Dhyanagamyasvarupa (One who is reached through Meditation), Dharmalabhya (attainable through Dharma)
- Visnu is Sulabha (easily Attained)
- Siva is Prakasa (Manifest), Prasada (easily Pleased)
17) They are also the Great Questions, the Key to all Answers, the Great Exposition of everything.
- Siva and Visnu are Kim (Who? What? The Great Question to be pondered over), Yat (the Self-Proved, the Self-Evident)
Names of Gods: Their Attributes
One can easily see how the Names of Gods incarnate the truths of one’s own mind, heart, and soul. But in a sense, Gods are outsiders living in the region unreached by our ordinary interests, experiences, and meanings. Therefore, the truths conveyed by the names of Gods resonate only with those minds that possess an intuitive sense of the sublime.
The names given above are only samples. The Mahabharata says that Siva has ten thousand names, out of which it gives only 1,008. In fact, when the mind opens spiritually, all names become names of Gods. Even a partial list has its importance and purpose. It tells us—though only intellectually—something about the spiritual reality. It tells us about its unity, comprehensiveness, immanence, and transcendence.
One obvious thing that the list tells us is that the Deity that is worshipped under different names is the same. This Deity or Reality is both ‘One’ and ‘Many’. This Reality casts its shadow differently, and our mind also conceives it differently. The intellect, sky, sun, moon, and fire are all distinct shadows of the same Reality. Even an ordinary thing like water has multiple names in its various forms, such as ocean, river, cloud, and so on. The way the Hindus conceptualise higher life, the Gods do not stand apart. Each represents the same Reality.
In “Lights on the Vedas,” T.V. Kapali Sastry quotes Yaska to show that the Vedic Gods are characterized by mutuality of birth and nature, sharing the same names, and signifying one another. This is due to their creation from the same substance and their representation of the same principle. The post-Vedic Gods follow the Vedic pattern.
The list of God names reveals a deep inner unity, not only between one God and another but also between the names of the same God. These names signify not only a God’s amiability but also other attributes (like power, majesty, glory, authority, dexterity, skill, strength), and even his more destructive aspects. A latter-day sentimental spirituality fought shy of developing the destructive aspect of God. Hindu spirituality developed and gave names and forms to all destructive or constructive attributes. Therefore, the deity is not only Siva and Jivana, or Auspicious and Life; it is also Mrtyu, Sarva, and Rudra, or Death, Slaughter, and Terrible.
The Godhead exists fully and indivisibly in each name and symbol. God lives in each name and symbol equally, wholly, and indivisibly; yet, in a mystical manner, He also transcends all names. This stresses God’s transcendence and his essential unknowability. Not saying what God is but saying what He is not is also knowledge of God. Asamprajnana, or the negated knowledge of God, represents a fundamental insight within the mystic tradition. St. Paul saw in Athens an altar with the inscription, “To the Unknown God.” Rather than interpreting it spiritually, he assumed that the Athenians were “superstitious.”
In Hindu thinking, the unknown does not become known that easily. God does not reside in debates, nor does He reside in a preacher’s harangues. Some of the names of Gods are Durlabha (difficult to attain), Durgama (difficult to reach), Guhya (secret), and Gabhira (deep). However, we can know Him through yoga, meditation, purity, and sacrifice. He is Dhyanagamyasvarupa (who can be reached through meditation) and Dharmalabhya (attainable through Dharma).
These two paragraphs form the crux of the book:
God has two natures: transcendent and immanent. Correspondingly, there are two methods of spiritual practice. One is the well-known method of neti-neti. This method is based on the fact that God’s nature is transcendental. He goes beyond every symbol, name, form, conception, or image. It is the worship of the unknown in the known; it is the ‘unknown God’. The other is the method of etadvaitad, This also is That. Through this method, one finds God residing wholly and indivisibly in each symbol. The world is a theophany.
God’s Names bring out clearly the two natures of the Godhead. God transcends every one of His Names; He also lives fully and indivisibly in each of them. In one Name, we must be able to see all the Names; in one God, we must be able to see all the Gods; otherwise, our knowledge of a God and His Names is not sufficient. We must also be able to see that a God exceeds all his Forms and Names, individually and collectively.
Names of Gods: Their Transforming Power
An attribute of the Names of Gods is their shaping and transforming power, though the author says that a full discussion is beyond the scope of the book. The discussion of the names of Gods is intimately concerned with the higher meanings of life and is, therefore, deeply human. It has also an eminently practical side. Meditation on God’s Names not only reveals their deeper meanings but also shapes us in their image. We cannot know the higher meanings without, in some measure, becoming those meanings. Thus, the Name is revelatory, appropriatory, assimilatory, and transformatory.
Man does not merely seek an interpretation of the world; he seeks a change in his being to be Godlike. The Upanishads claim that humans tend to become what they worship, invoke, aspire to, dwell with, and meditate upon. In the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, Ajatashatru tells that he who worships the Person in the yonder Sun as preeminent, as the king of all beings, himself becomes preeminent and the king of all beings. Thus, by meditating on His Name, known as Vidya, we acquire knowledge. Each Name of God is a treasure that holds within it a whole universe. One can maximize its benefits through invocation, aspiration, meditation, devotion, works, sacrifice, and purity. Each Name is a veritable mantra that becomes a power when meditated upon.
If man knew how to invoke God’s Names properly, it could elevate him individually and also have important social bearing. For example, some of the Names of Ganga are Amala, Vimala, and Nirmala, meaning Spotless, Stainless, and Pure. If we had meditated on these Names, we could not have polluted this great river, nor, in fact, any other river. Similarly, if we had meditated on the different elements of nature—the sky, the air, the water, and the earth—they would have revealed many of their secret Names, revealing their beauty and purity. How could we, then, pollute our atmosphere? The world suffers from exploitation, cruelty, and pollution because the Gods and their Names have disappeared from our lives, and we forgot to invoke the power and knowledge residing in those Names. The Gods may have receded, yet the power of aspiration, askesis, and meditation has the potential to call them back.
Concluding Remarks
A word is a sound-form that points to an object and carries its meaning. However, a word also functions as an object, as it is a perceived entity. Some words point to objects, others to words themselves. The word ‘cow’ points to a cow; the word ‘word’ points to the word itself. Thus, the word ‘Veda’ points to a string of words in a definite order and not to objects in the world. The Vedas’ subject matter consists of the meanings, which form the knowledge within them.
As Chittaranjan Naik says in the Apaurusheyatva of the Vedas:
Every major religion in the world speaks of the Word as the instrument of the creation of the universe. The Vedic religion, with the Veda as its central scripture, does not rely on the revelation of a single prophet but rather on the Eternal Word as perceived by multiple sages, known as ‘rishis’. It is a religion built entirely around the Eternal Word; that has an immense body of diverse scriptures having their seat and ground in the Eternal Word; that has its grammar and etymology derived from the Eternal Word; that has different philosophies performing different roles and functions as laid out by the Eternal Word; that has human actions, stages of life, and religious laws determined by the Eternal Word; and that has a name, Eternal Religion—Santana Dharma.
The ground for the existence of words is the all-pervading and eternal Consciousness. Consciousness holds these words as objects of knowledge, even when they do not appear as articulated speech. The existence of words is possible even without humans. Even when a person is sleeping, words continue to exist as objects of knowledge, and they do not need to manifest as sound to do so. This is like musical notes residing in the ‘unstruck’ strings of the Veena. The Brahadaranyaka Upanishad says that the entire universe is nama-rupa, or name and form. Names and forms lie in Brahman Itself, as the unmanifested and undifferentiated seeds from which manifest names and forms spring onto the stage of creation. The Upanishads emphasise that the relationship between names (words) and forms (objects) abides eternally since they exist in the field of consciousness in an undifferentiated stage even before manifestation.
It does not matter whether the words are Vedic words or are words adopted by convention. A prior relationship that abides eternally determines the relationship between the sign and the signified, even if one chooses words arbitrarily (small child language or animal language) to represent an object. The relationship between a word and its object is also independent of individuals or conventions. Understanding the eternal nature of a conventionally chosen word and its eternal relationship to its meaning is a challenging task. Only transcendental perspectives can comprehend this. As Chittaranjan Naik explains, when a specific group of people unites to form a language-speaking community, they create a convention. Creation proceeds out of the adrshta of jivas. This adrshta is the reason the unmanifest eternal word emerges into the created world as a ‘choice’ of the language-speaking community.
Western philosophy makes “consciousness” an outcome of matter. Indian darshanas view matter as a result of primary “Consciousness.” Western epistemology defines knowledge as Justified True Belief, which runs into many problems, as the Gettier problem demonstrates. Indian epistemology views the primary Consciousness (with a capital C) as the embodiment of knowledge. Western ontology (description of reality) is based on the representation and reconstruction of all objects in the brain as images, which leads to a division of the world into an “original but unknowable noumenon” and the “constructed but knowable phenomenon.” The original reality is forever beyond the realm of consciousness’s knowledge. Indian ontology starts with Consciousness (or the Self), and perception reveals the object of the world in its true form without any transformation. There is only one Consciousness everywhere. When the layer of ignorance surrounding the embodied Self clears, it directly contacts the object, also endowed with the same Consciousness.
Western philosophy looks at words as derived completely from the experiences in the material world, while Indian traditions hold words having their primary origin in the Self, or Brahman. Finally, Western theology does not question scientific materialism and maintains a dualistic conception of God as the creator who sits separate from the world. Indian traditions, especially Advaita, have a non-dualistic conception of a Reality (also known as Consciousness, Self, Purusha, and Brahman), which is both immanent and transcendental. The final ideal in western theology appears to be an eternal life or a state of eternal heaven, whereas in Indian traditions it is moksha, a state of no further births. Given these disparate frameworks, studying Indian traditions and their mantras by western cultures is bound to inflict intense epistemic violence on Indian culture.
What do mantras, words, and names of Gods mean? University courses and a vast amount of literature in Western academia debate whether mantras are prayers (appeals to God), spells (magical practices for benefits), or both (magico-religious); its frameworks completely ignore Indian traditions and its philosophies. Indian scholars and traditions remain silent in the face of such speculations, either out of ignorance, indifference, or they are unable to generate a cognitive response using the tools of western academia. Mantras and words are names of the divine, and they are a route to reach the final state of Consciousness. The sahasranamas (thousand names) of various Gods given by our ever-benevolent and kind rishis are intended for the entire humanity, with the sole purpose of achieving the individual and collective ideal of our great culture, known as moksha. All the names describe the entire universe in all its aspects of creation, sustenance and destruction, the purpose of human life, and the means to achieve that. This wonderful book by Shri Ram Swarup shows us precisely that.
Conclusion…
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