 gveda

1. gveda Power: Part IIJames SantucciDepartment of Comparative ReligionCalifornia State UniversityFullerton, CA

2. Vedic India • Universe is conceived from the standpoint of human experience • Interconnection of individual, society (community) and nature • There is a mutual sharing of the the powers in the universe. Therefore, • The human body is a manifestation of divine energy and substance

3. Connections: Power and Knowledge • The links between individuals, sacrifice or ritual, and cosmos are the powers that manifest themselves in both nature and the human realm • The knowledge about the powers was a means of controlling the powers

4. Vedic India • AV 11.8,32: All divinities have their abode in purua, as cows in a cow-pen. Therefore, one who knows man, thinks this is brahman.” • The body is the abode of all the manifestations of the creative principle and other powers.

5. POWER The Theme in the gveda is POWER, Or what might be termed MANA The efforts of the is were designed to obtain power in one form or another.

6. Power • In the Veda, it is both • Impersonal potency (Ger. Daseinsmacht) • Personal (as a divine person) • Every superhuman potency has these two aspects • There are sentient and rational beings possessing, supervising, and representing powers

7. Power-substances • The connecting link between the individual, sacrifice (ritual), and cosmos) • Cosmos was not only full of living beings and substances but also full of powers which manifested themselves in both nature and the human realm.

8. Power • The line between impersonal power-substances and personal power is not strict or divisive: • Innuit sila- ‘universe, weather, intelligence; Silap Inua ‘Lord of the Universe’ • V: Agni may be the sacrificial fire, or be the god of fire;rj- “vigor, strengthening power’’ may also be a person (V I.119,2: Goddess rjn).

9. Power • Other examples: • manyu ‘fury’; also personified as Agni, Kma, or as a Rudra. • Soma: as a god, plant, or purified (filtered juice).

10. Power as Authentic • To be ‘real’ power must always be authenticated or verified empirically • In this mode, power is concrete and specific, not abstract or non-specific • That which is concrete is capable of affecting the emotions and mind

11. Powers as ‘Reals’ • Reality does not underlie ‘powers’ • ‘Powers’ are ‘reals’ • In this context, there is an “I-Thou Relationship” • Everything is considered alive in the cosmos • Implicit in this viewpoint is an anthropomorphic view of the world

12. Manifestation of Powers • Manifestations of powers involves the presence of the numinous and the mysterious. • Often, powers as numinous are incomprehensible, but the interaction of human perceptions and interpretations lend an individuality, a name and form

13. ‘Powers’ as ‘Reals’ • What makes powers ‘real’ is its manifestation • Manifestation often assumes a mysterious, numinous quality or activity • Power is regarded as extraordinary, not supernatural • When persons or objects are endowed with this potency they are known as sacred.

14. Powers as Confronted • Powers are confronted not rationally, but from the emotional or reactive perspectives, i.e. from its numinous aspect

15. Powers as Specified • “Gods” are often viewed as little more than names for functions • An example is Net- ‘Leader’ (5.50), one who is invoked to lead the worshipers to wealth.

16. Examples of ‘Powers’ • Specific manifestations or exhibitions of power lead to specific identification: • the power that establishes everything (*dh)is personified as Dht- ‘The Establisher’, whose function is intimated through the aid of the root *dh • eyesight (cákur-) is possessed by humans (V 10.158,3). This is not a process, however, but a power

17. Power as nomen agentis • Tva- “The Builder” or “Workmaster” is the artisan or artist among the gods, who is himself omniform (vivarpa-). • He gives beings their shape, and as such he presides over generation and bestowing children (V 3.4,9) • Beasts belong to him (B 3.7.13,11; 8.3,11) • He produced and nourishes creatures

18. Aja Ekapd:“The One-footed Goat” • A numinous figure of whom the first may have originated in the whirlwind or tornado as a numinous event • Many theories on this figure • The storm (aja- = driver): Roth • The unborn mysterious deity of the isolated world: Bergaigne • Lightening the “goat” (alluding to its swiftness in the cloud-mountains), and the one foot to the single streak which strikes the earth: Macdonell.

19. Ahi Budhnya:The “Snake of the Deep” • A numinous being born in the waters, in the deep darkness • Sitting in the bottom (budhne) of the streams in the spaces (7.34,16); 10.93,5) suggests the atmospheric ocean. • Implored not to injure his worshipers • Perhaps a connection with Vtra, for he enclosed the waters and lies in them or at the bottom (budhna-) of the air (rajas-): 1.52,6

20. Function and Person • Often, the function of a god is more important or prominent than the person of the god. • The poet is more concerned with giving a description of the power, the functions, and the beneficial activities, not the attributes or description of the being.

21. The Name • The name is a condensation of a numinous feeling with regard to a divinity. • The name refers to the individual existence of that god • This is important because one must have an understanding of a power which is experiences • This is most effective and natural by deliminiting this power from other powers. • Assigning a name is the main means of delimitation.

22. The Name • The name describes a distinct picture of a man, animal, or theme. • The sound possess, a part of the whole • Names of divinities will be changed to fit the changing conditions • To have many names indicates great might

23. Name as Essence • The essence is hidden in the body of the bearer. Example • Anumati: “Agreement, Concurrence, Assent” (AV 7.20,4) gives wealth and saturates the ritual with her easily-invoked, approved, and generous name.

24. Name as Essence (2) • AV 7.20,1: Let Anumati assent (anu *man)today our sacrifice among the gods...; • Vs. 2: “May you, O Assent (Anumate) assent, and make fortune for us” • Vs. 3: “Let him, assenting, assent to wealth rich in progeny”

25. Name as Essence (3) • The name of a god often points to function. • Bhaga “Share, Good Fortune, Luck, Success in Love” • V 7.41,2: “We will call Bhaga, the mighty (ugra) conqueror in the morning (prtar-jit “winning early”

26. Bhaga • “Bhaga, the leader, Bhaga the true giver (satya-radha), the one possessing the true or real gift” (7.41,3) • Bhaga is what he does.

27. Powers Possessed by Beings • Divinities give powers that they possess and represent. • Demons of sickness are conceived as possessing the characteristic of torment or suffering • This same torment and suffering is brought to others (the afflicted), for it is their frightful characteristic.