Monday, June 06, 2005
The Rig Veda and the Origins of Sacred Speech
Those of us who love language will also be moved by the hymn included in the Rig Veda which is dedicated to the "Lord of Sacred Speech."
Here are a few excerpts:
"When they set in motion the first beginning of speech, giving names, their most pure and perfectly guarded secret was revealed through love...
"Through the sacrifice they traced the path of speech and found it inside the sages. They held it and portioned it out to many; together the seven singers praised it...
"One who looked did not see speech, and another who listens does not hear it. It reveals itself to someone as a loving wife, beautifully dressed, reveals her body to her husband...
"One person, they said, has grown awkward and heavy in this friendship; they no longer urge him forward in the contests. He lives with falsehood like a milkless cow, for the speech he has heard has no fruit, no flower...
"One sits bringing the flower, the blossom of the verses. Another sings a song in the Sakvari metre. One, the Brahman, proclaims the knowledge of the ancient ways. Another lays out the measure of the sacrifice."
These brief quotations reveal the awe and sanctity with which the followers approached the sacred verses. The hymns were integral to the holy ritual. The fires were carefully laid for the sacrifice. The singers invoked the gods, who then made their presence known by inspiring the speakers to utter their divinely given verses.
Surely our current fascination with sacred poetry comes from a similar desire to be united with the transcendent through speech (language), to reconnect with the ancient source. Contemporary poetry often seems to have strayed far from its beginnings. Indeed, the transpersonal realm seems to be off limits for many writers of the modern era. They seem dead to the divine, like those who looked and did not see, listened and did not hear. Often our world seems to be divided into just such camps, those who see that which is imperceptible to others, or hear what many do not detect.
One wonders what energies would have been awakened in these early ceremonies. No doubt, Mother Kundalini was present in all her glory, part and parcel of the total experience.
Here are a few excerpts:
"When they set in motion the first beginning of speech, giving names, their most pure and perfectly guarded secret was revealed through love...
"Through the sacrifice they traced the path of speech and found it inside the sages. They held it and portioned it out to many; together the seven singers praised it...
"One who looked did not see speech, and another who listens does not hear it. It reveals itself to someone as a loving wife, beautifully dressed, reveals her body to her husband...
"One person, they said, has grown awkward and heavy in this friendship; they no longer urge him forward in the contests. He lives with falsehood like a milkless cow, for the speech he has heard has no fruit, no flower...
"One sits bringing the flower, the blossom of the verses. Another sings a song in the Sakvari metre. One, the Brahman, proclaims the knowledge of the ancient ways. Another lays out the measure of the sacrifice."
These brief quotations reveal the awe and sanctity with which the followers approached the sacred verses. The hymns were integral to the holy ritual. The fires were carefully laid for the sacrifice. The singers invoked the gods, who then made their presence known by inspiring the speakers to utter their divinely given verses.
Surely our current fascination with sacred poetry comes from a similar desire to be united with the transcendent through speech (language), to reconnect with the ancient source. Contemporary poetry often seems to have strayed far from its beginnings. Indeed, the transpersonal realm seems to be off limits for many writers of the modern era. They seem dead to the divine, like those who looked and did not see, listened and did not hear. Often our world seems to be divided into just such camps, those who see that which is imperceptible to others, or hear what many do not detect.
One wonders what energies would have been awakened in these early ceremonies. No doubt, Mother Kundalini was present in all her glory, part and parcel of the total experience.
