-09_Hymn to the Pillar

(Skambha)

 

ATHARVAVEDA

Kanda X: Sukta 7

 

[The ritualistic or the naturalistic symbolism. of the Veda is at its minimum in this hymn of the Atharvaveda, trans­lated almost literally. The Pillar, it is explicitly said, is the Brahman, the Supreme Reality. It is sarvadhara, the contain­er of all, the total or integral existence. It upholds the crea­tion, it has entered into the creation and it has become the creation. It is the tree, the Aswattha tree as the Upanishad also describes, with its branches spreading out, i.e. all the multiple aspects of the creation. Even the gods, all of them, find shelter here in one form or other. All gods it is: Agni the Divine Force, Indra the Divine Mind, Soma the Divine Delight. It is Tapas, the upward urge in the Universe, it is Satyam the Truth and Ritam the Truth-action, Vak the Truth-word.

Day and Night also are its dual aspects, Light and Dark­ness - evolution and involution, expression and withdrawal, Being and Non-Being, Knowledge and Ignorance. The image of twin sisters (rivers) refers also to this double move­ment of consciousness, everywhere in Nature: ascent and descent, inward and outward, the two wings of the Cosmic Bird flying through eternity and infinity. To mark the pro­gress of Time or in Time, cycles of duration (months, half months, seasons etc.) are also noted here as limbs of this Supreme total Reality. To this double movement there is to be added a third movement: if the double movement means

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thesis and antithesis, there is a movement of synthesis also. To the movement sideways there is to be a movement beyond. We know of this threefold movement in the mystery of the Kundalini Force: the two currents ida and pingala on either side of the spinal cord and in between the mounts the susumna heading towards the beyond, to the Crown of the head. The Beyond is of course the Transcendent, the supreme status of Brahman, the All Container.

The conclusion of this Hymn gives succinctly another image of this triplicity of Energy at work in the universal loom of Nature – the warp, the woof and the resultant weft stretching endlessly – to the Beyond.]

 

(I)

 

IN which limb of That does Tapas¹ lie? In which limb is Ritam² deposited? Wherein lies the Work? Wherein the Faith? In which limb is the Truth established?

 

(2)

 

From which limb does Agni³ blaze forth? And from which limb does Matarisvan4 blow? On which limb does the Moon repose as it moves out measuring the limb of the mighty Pillar?

 

(3)

 

On which limb of That does the Earth dwell and on which limb does the Mid-sphere dwell and in which limb is the heaven placed and has its dwelling and in which limb reposes the higher heaven?

 

1 Energy, Energisation, Will, Divine Energy-will often identified with Agni.

 2 Truth in action.

3 Divine Force or Will.

4 Life-force, 'Mother Breath'.

(4)

 

Whither does Agni yearn to reach and blaze up and whither does the Mother-Breath yearn to reach and blow forward? There where they yearn to reach and round which they circuit, speak of that Pillar – which one indeed is it?

 

(5)

 

Whither do the half-months go? And whither the months in consonance with the whole year? Where the seasons go and the seasonals, speak of that Pillar – which one indeed is it?

 

(6)

 

Whither impelled are they, the twin damsels of different hue, Day and Night, there they rush moving in consonance with each other. There they go impelled, the waters; speak of that Pillar – which one indeed is it?

 

(7)

 

Wherein the Lord of creatures upholds all these worlds firmly lodged, of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(8)

 

That is the highest, that is the lowest, that is the midmost, that is the world-figure the Lord of creatures has created. How much the Pillar has entered therein? How much it did not enter – and how much it has become that?

 

(9)

 

How much did the Pillar enter into the past? How much into the future? How much of the future stretched into that?

 

Its single limb it has made thousandfold, therein how much did the Pillar enter?

 

(10)

 

There the worlds are and there cells and the waters and Brahman, so the people have known: Where there is the Non-Being and also the Being, of that Pillar speak - which one indeed is That?

 

(11)

 

Tapas is there in its overwhelming force upholding the Higher Law, Truth-in-action is there and Faith and the Waters and the Brahman firmly established. Of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is That?

 

(12)

 

Therein the Earth, the Heaven and the Mid-sphere are settled, there the fire, the moon, the sun and the winds dwell as offerings. Of that Pillar speak - which one in­deed is it?

 

(13)

 

In whose lap the three and thirty-three Gods, all of them, are established - of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(14)

 

Wherein there are the first born Seers and the Riks and the Samas and the Great Goddess. In that is reposed the Sun, sole Seer. Of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it? 

(I5)

 

Thereupon the Person is laid, Immortality and Death also; upon the Person the sea also is placed as nerves and sinews of the Pillar; of That speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(16)

 

There lay the four Quarters and the prime nerves and sinews, therein the sacrifice moves inviolate; of that Pillar ­speak – which one indeed is it? 

(17)

The Man who knows Brahman knows also the very Supreme and he who knows the Supreme knows also the Waters and the peoples. They who know Brahman, the most ancient One, have always been knowing the Pillar.

 

(18)

 

The Universal fire is its head, the flames of the fire are its eyes, the sorcerer spirits are its limbs; of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(19)

 

Brahman is its mouth, they say, a very scourge of sweetness is its tongue and they say, the Vast¹ is its breast; of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(20)

 

Out of that they carved out the Riks, out of that they fa­shioned the Yajur: the Samas are its hair. The line of the

 

¹ Stainless.

 

Atharvas and the line of the Angirasa are its mouth. Of that Pillar speak – which one indeed is it?

 

(21)

 

Men established the line of Non-Being and knew it the Sup­reme. Others, on the contrary, recognise the Being and follow that line of theirs.

 

(22)

 

There all the Adityas¹, all the Rudras² and all those born of Indra³ are lodged. There what was, what will be and all the worlds are established. Of the Great Pillar speak ­which one indeed is it?

 

(23)

 

It is one whose wealth is always guarded by the three and thirty Gods – who knows today of this wealth protected all around by the Gods?

 

(24)

 

There where the Gods who know of the Brahman; worship the Brahman the most Ancient. He who knows them through direct sight' becomes indeed the Knower, Brahman itself.

 

(25)

 

Great is the Name of the Gods5 who are born upon the Non­

 

1 Children of the sun.

2 Children of the Violent One, the Lord of Might.

3 The Lord of Mind or the Divine Mind.

4 Who has thus the immediate vision of all these gods.

5 Great indeed are the Gods. 

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Being; that become one limb of the Pillar, thus said the the ancient peoples.

 

(26)

 

There the Pillar gave birth to the ancient One and turned it round1; that is one ancient limb of the Pillar. This they have been knowing always,

 

(27)

 

From the body of That the thirty-three gods cut out each his respective limb – a few only who know of the Brahman know of the thirty-three gods.

 

(28)

 

People knew of Hiranyagarbha² as the Supreme, the Insuper­able³ but the Pillar was there existent before and sprayed the gold into the bosom of the creation.

 

(29)

 

In the Pillar lie the worlds, in the Pillar lies Tapas, in the Pillar lies Ritam firmly held; the Pillar thou knowest directly. In Indra all is firmly established.

 

(30)

 

In Indra lie the worlds, in Indra the Divine Energy, in Indra lies the Truth-in-action firmly held. Indra thou know­est by direct sight; in the Pillar all is firmly established.

 

1 Rolled it out.

2 The Golden Womb.

3 Unsurpassable.

 

(31)

 

He calls the Name by the Name in front of the Sun, in front of the Dawn when the Unborn first came into being; in­deed he moved into self-empire than1 which no other sup­reme exists, none existent.

 

(32)

 

The Vast Earth measures out That, the mid realm is its great belly, the heaven it created as its head. We bow to the most Ancient, the Brahman.

 

(33)

 

The Sun and the ever-renewing Moon are the eyes of That. Agni is its mouth. We bow to this most Ancient, the Brah­man.

 

(34)

 

The Winds are its higher and lower breath, the Angiras² became its eyes, That created the directions as openings to knowledge. To That the most Ancient, the Brahman we bow down.

 

(35)

 

The Pillar upholds here both Earth and Heaven. The Pillar upholds the vast Mid-Sphere, the Pillar upholds the six quarters; thus the Pillar has entered this wide creation.

 

(36)

 

That is born from Labour, That is born from the Supreme Energy. All the worlds it has encompassed. It created

 

1 Beyond.

2 Fire-adept Rishis.

 

Soma,¹  the sole reality.. To That the most Ancient, Brahman I bow. ­

 

(37)

 

How is it that the wind does not move? How is it that the mind does not take delight? How is it that the waters impelled towards the Truth move no more?

 

(38)

 

A mighty Spirit within the creation, upon the waters is engaged in tapas – in That the gods, one and all, take re­fuge as the branches assemble around the trunk of the tree.

 

(39)

 

To That through the hands and feet, through speech and hearing and sight, all the gods make their offering, to That, the Measureless in the measured. Of this Pillar speak ­which one indeed is it?

 

(40)

 

The darkness slipped from him, He turns round from Evil, all Lights are in Him; threefold³ are they in the Lord of Creation.

 

(41)

 

He knows the golden reed lying in the waters. He is the secret Lord of Creation.

 

(42)

 

Two young maids, of different hue, weave assiduously a

 

1 Divine Delight.

2 Has lost taste.

3 Sat-Chit-Ananda, body-life-mind.

 

six-pronged web: One draws out the thread, the other holds it. They do not stop nor do they go to the end.

 

(43)

 

They are dancing about me, as it were, and I do not know which one belongs to the beyond.

 

(44)

 

A human it is who weaves, and also one who receives, a human it is who carries towards the other world. These radiances held firm the Heaven, created the Sarna Songs for realising their extensions.