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by Jayaram V
The Importance of Rituals
The early vedic texts contain invocations addressed
to various individual gods but hardly any reference to an absolute and infinite
being as the
transcendental universal self and dweller of all. We find references to
such a being in the Upanishads and later vedic schools of thought. As the vedic seers turned their attention
inwardly and began searching for permanent answers to the transient problems of suffering, sickness, aging and
death, they experienced the universal presence of the Supreme Self
hidden in every aspect of creation and within themselves. This
realization added a new perspective to their understanding and
interpretation of rituals. They saw the entire creation both as an act
of ritual and product of ritual in which the Supreme Self acted as the
priest, offering Himself to Himself and emerging out of it in
innumerable forms and enveloping Himself in the mortal worlds in a thick smoke of ignorance
and illusion.
The Mechanics of Ritual
The Vedic people performed rituals for material gains and protection
against natural calamities. Knowledge of rituals enabled the priests to
enjoy a special status in society. Their reputation and material success
depended very much upon the efficacy of the rituals they performed. The rituals demanded a
high degree of precision, perfection and purity on the part of the
participants and the priests. The rituals were elaborate ceremonies
whose efficacy depended upon several critical factors including selection of
an auspicious time and place, preparation of the ritual place, knowledge
of the vedic hymns and the experience and expertise of
the priests who conducted them. During the performance of the rituals the priests poured
as offerings several
animal and plant products such as rice, barley, clarified butter, curd,
milk etc. into the sacred fire of the altar, chanting vedic hymns. The fire symbolized Agni, the fire god,
who acting as intermediary received the oblations and distributed them equally among
other gods. For the vedic people, the rituals provided an opportunity to
establish contact with the immortal gods and communicate with them in
their own language of Sanskrit through the sacred
chants. The ritual place
was the meeting ground where the higher beings joined forces with the
mortals and participated in the human drama for the welfare of the world.
Symbolism of Inner Ritual
As the Vedic seers turned their attention
from the outward performance of the rituals to an inner life of
meditation and contemplation, the imagery and the processes of rituals assumed symbolic significance
and
the vedic thought developed in a language and medium that was familiar
to the practitioners of rituals. In the earlier schools of vedic
thought, the ritual symbolized man's ability to reach out to gods through
systematic acts of sacrifice both outwardly and inwardly. Inwardly, the ritual stage
represented the human body.
The altar stood for the human head. Fire represented the human mind and
the senses gods. Indra, the leader of the gods was represented by the
higher mind or buddhi. The offerings in the form of sense objects were first received by the mind (agni) and
then through the mind reached the various senses (gods).
The emergence of the concept of Brahman as the highest and absolute
God and his presence in creation as the inmost self of all beings and
objects, elevated vedic religion into a
higher spiritual dimension. The internal ritual became more important than the external. In this reorientation of vedic thought, the gods
were recognized as subtle energies and sense organs, who, residing in the human body,
fed upon the sense objects and acted more as obstacles rather than
facilitators, providing transient joy and limited knowledge and
distracting men from the higher purpose of knowing themselves. Brahman
was now identified as everything, the
ritual place, the altar, the priest who performed the rituals, the
offerings, the offered and the very act of offering. All human
actions, thoughts and objects with which the sense organs interacted
were to be now offered not to the gods but to the all pervading and absolute
Brahman as sacrificial offerings in a
grand ritual called life. The supreme Self enveloped
the whole creation, inhabited it as its true dweller and sustained it
through various powers. The gods occupied a much lower status and remained mostly
ignorant of Brahman, whose world was far superior to that of gods and of
ancestors and which could be reached only by human beings through
self-realization. The internalization of ritual in the later vedic
thought is well evident in the conversation between Yajnavalkya and
Asvala as recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
3. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'everything here (connected with the sacrifice) is reached by death, everything is overcome by death. By what means then is the sacrificer freed beyond the reach of death?'
Yagnavalkya said: 'By the Hotri priest, who is Agni (fire), who is speech. For speech is the Hotri of the sacrifice (or the sacrificer), and speech is Agni, and he is the Hotri. This constitutes freedom, and perfect freedom (from death).'
4. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'everything here is reached by day and night, everything is overcome by day and night. By what means then is the sacrificer freed beyond the reach of day and night?'
Yagnavalkya said: 'By the Adhvaryu priest, who is the eye, who is Aditya (the sun)'. For the eye is the Adhvaryu of the sacrifice, and the eye is the sun, and he is the Adhvaryu. This constitutes freedom, and perfect freedom.'
5. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'everything here is reached by the waxing and waning of the moon, everything is overcome by the waxing and waning of the moon. By what means then is the sacrificer freed beyond the reach of the waxing and waning of the moon?'
Yagnavalkya said: 'By the Udgatri priest, who is vayu (the wind), who is the breath. For the breath is the Udgatri of the sacrifice, and the breath is the wind, and he is the Udgatri. This constitutes freedom, and perfect freedom.'
6. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'this sky is, as it were, without an ascent (staircase.) By what approach does the sacrificer approach the Svarga world?'
Yagnavalkya said: 'By the Brahman priest, who is the mind (manas), who is the moon. For the mind is the Brahman of the sacrifice, and the mind is the moon, and he is the Brahman. This constitutes freedom, and perfect freedom. These are the complete deliverances (from death).'
Next follow the achievements.
7. 'Yagnavalkya,'he said,'how many Rik verses will the Hotri priest employ to-day at this sacrifice?'
'Three,' replied Yagnavalkya.
'And what are these three?'
'Those which are called Puronuvakya, Yagya, and, thirdly, Sasya.'
'What does he gain by them?'
'All whatsoever has breath.'
8. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'how many oblations (ahuti) will the Adhvaryu priest employ to-day at this sacrifice?'
'Three,'replied Yagnavalkya.
'And what are these three?'
'Those which,when offered, flame up; those which, when offered, make an excessive noise; and those which, when offered, sink down.'
'What does he gain by thern?'
'By those which, when offered, flame up, he gains the Deva (god) world, for the Deva world flames up, as it were. By those which, when offered, make an excessive noise, he gains the Pitri (father) world, for the Pitri world is excessively (noisy). By those which, when offered, sink down, he gains the Manushya (man) world, for the Manushya world is, as it were, down below.'
9. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'with how many deities does the Brahman priest on the right protect to-day this sacrifice?'
'By one,' replied Yagnavalkya.
'And which is it?'
'The mind alone; for the mind is endless, and the Visvedevas are endless, and he thereby gains the endless world.'
10. 'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'how many Stotriya hymns will the Udgatri priest employ to-day at this sacrifice?'
'Three,'replied Yagnavalkya.
'And what are these three?'
'Those which are called Puronuvakya, Yagya, and, thirdly, Sasya.'
'And what are these with regard to the body (adhyatmam)?'
'The Puronuvakya is Prana (up-breathing), the Yagya the Apana (down-breathing), the Sasya the Vyana (back-breathing).'
'What does he gain by them?'
'He gains the earth by the Puronuvakya, the sky by the Yagya, heaven by the Sasya.'
After that Asvala held his peace.
Brahman As Priest
Just as the concept of ritual became
internalized and the very existence of man was viewed as a symbolic act of
sacrifice in a much larger sacrificial act of creation,
the concept of Brahman as priest morphed into that of Brahman as an
absolute and infinite being. The brahman priest played an important role
in the performance of rituals and maintained the
continuity, integrity and purity of the rituals, helped by three other types of
priests, the hotri, udgathri and adharvayu. The hotr or hotri priest
initiated the rituals by inviting the gods to the ritual place with the chanting of the Rigvedic
hymns. The udgatri priest sang melodious hymns
of praise and invitation from the Samaveda and kept the ritual place
ready for
the descent of the gods. The adharvayu priest was responsible for the
performance of the ritual proper according to the established procedure. He chanted hymns from the Atharvaveda and with his
knowledge ensured that the offerings were made correctly to the
gods.
The brahman priest was responsible for the overall success of the ritual.
He carried out
supervisory and expiatory functions and acted as the binding thread
between the external and internal aspects of the ritual. As
an experienced and knowledgeable priest, he kept a watchful eye upon the
activities of other priests, remaining silent throughout. His silence
provided the continuity, during the official breaks when the priests
were not required to chant any hymns. Most
importantly he performed expiatory functions so that any mistakes on the part of
other priests in their performance of the ritual were neutralized. Thus
through his detached and silent presence the brahman priest played a
vital role in the performance of the ritual and its
success.
Brahman As The Absolute Being
The silent, watchful and observant seer, the healer and
expatiator who remained in the background in the performance of ritual but without whom the ritual could not be performed or completed
fitted the description of Brahman perfectly and helped
the seers to describe Him in familiar terms. As the silent
and ever watchful witness consciousness, Brahman made possible the
ritual of creation on a universal scale. He maintained its purity, continuity and integrity through the
laws (dharma) He created and enforced. He kept a watchful eye upon the gods who
acted as the priests in the heavenly realms and used Him in a sacrifice
to create the worlds and their beings.
In an individual being, Brahman remains hidden as the inmost self and participates silently in the
sacrificial act of living. Truly, Brahman is the most ancient priest and
the only true priest. Every cycle of creation is an act of sacrifice, a
grand ritual and every aspect of creation is either an aspect of ritual
or a ritual by itself. This idea is presented succinctly in the
following verses of the Bhagavadgita:
"He who is free from attachment,
who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, whose
actions are but actions of sacrifice only, his actions are completely
dissolved. (ch4.23)
"His offering is Brahman, his
oblation is Brahman, his sacrificial fire is Brahman, the sacrificer
is Brahman. He certainly attains Brahman who finds Brahman situated in
all activities. (ch4.24)
"Some offer sacrifices to gods by
performing yagnas, while the mystics worship the Supreme Brahman
perfectly by offering the self as sacrifice in the fire of Brahman.
(ch4.25)
"I am kratu (Vedic ritual), I am
yagna (sacrificial ceremony), I am svadha (an offering in the
sacrificial ceremony), I am medicine, I am the Mantra (the sacred
chant), I am adyam (fuel in the Yagna), I am Agni (fire) and I am
hutam (the burnt remains of an offering in the yagna). (ch9.16)
Suggested Further Reading
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