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    Perception - of - The - Vedas Ananda Coomaraswami

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    Yoga Himalaya

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    Perception of THE VEDAS Edited by Vidya Nivas Misra Thug 5 the tweikh volume on the seres of tne Covlected Works of Ananda K Coomaraswamy in the IGNCA's publication programme in 1933, Coomaraswamy pubiished ‘A New Approach to the Vedas, and thereafter be reguiatly brought out fonger and shorter studies of the Vedas and Upanisads tl the year 1947. These works were published in a variety of Amencan, European ang Indian journals His essays have been arranged in this volume in relation to some aspect or the other of Vedic text as one integrated perception. Coomaraswamy's writings are an exposition of Vedic ideas by means of a ‘transiation and commentary in which the resources cf other forms of the universal tradition are taken for granted. He has used the resources of Vedic and Chnstian scriptures side by side He has tned to make accurate, evocative transiabons of Vedic and Upanisadic texts through the use of scholastic language and archaic or composite words, He has employed the technical terms of scholastic philosophy in their proper context, for he maintained that the content of Indian religions or philosophical texts cannot be conveyed im any other way. These translations are followed by copious notes coverng related passages from other texts and ‘translations in order to bring out a fuller meaning of the process of creation, or more exactly, the process of emanation of manifest from the unmaniest, it is hoped that this volume wi oper: up a new vista of interpreting the Vecic fore so that we can reintegrate cur own fuller being with the fuller manifestation of the cosmic order in which resides the Truth of Truths: PERCEPTION OF THE VEDAS ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY Perception of THE VEDAS Edited by VIDYA NIVAS MISRA Ma INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE ARTS NEW DELHI AN MANOHAR 2000 First published 2000 © Rama P. Coomaraswamy, 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the editor and the publisher ISBN 81-7304-254-8 Published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Janpath, New Delhi 110001 in association with Ajay Kumar Jain for Manohar Publishers & Distributors 4758/28, Ansari Road, Daryaganj New Delhi 110002 Typed by AJ Software Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, 305 Durga Chambers 1333 D.B. Gupta Road Karol Bagh, New Delhi 110005, Printed at Rajkamal Electric Press B35/9G T Karnal Road Indl. Area Delhi 110083 Contents Acknowledgements Preamble by V.N. Misra 1. The Vedas—Essays in Translation and Exegesis: Preface by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy A New Approach to the Vedas The Rgveda as Land-Nama-Bok . Notes on the Katha Upanisad . The Darker Side of Dawn . Recollection, Indian and Platonic . The Vedic Doctrine of ‘Silence’ . The Tantric Doctrine of Divine Biunity . Kha and Other Words Denoting ‘Zero’, in Connection with the Indian Metaphysics of Space IPR PED ~ . On the One and Only Transmigrant . Vedic ‘Monotheism’ 2 10. Bhakta Aspects of the Auman Doctrine 11. Maha Purusa: ‘Supreme Identity’ 12, Nirukta = Hermeneia 13, The Flood in Hindu Tradition 14. The Vedanta and Western Tradition 15. Vedic Exemplarism 16. Atmayajfia: Self-Sacrifice 17. Manas List of Abbreviations and Short Titles Index Lyd 19 21 105 137 pelt 205 223 235 247 259 281 293 305 315 325 335 375 413 425 437 Acknowledgements I take pleasure to express my sense of gratitude to Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Academic Director, IGNGA, for her continuous support, inspiration and encouragement. Cordial thanks are credited to Shri M.C. Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA, for his administrative support. I am equally indebted to Dr. LM. Gujral, Hony. Advisor, IGNCA, for looking after the matter of typesetting and printing of this book. Finally it remains for me to acknowledge the young scholars of IGNCA, Varanasi office: Dr. Sukumar Chattopadhyaya, Dr. Narasingha Charan Panda and Dr. Pranati Ghosal who have assisted me in various stages of editing, proofreading and preparation of index, etc., of this painstakingly scholarly endeavour. Vipya Nrvas Misra. Preamble Ananda K. Coomaraswamy was a rare phenomenon. He was brought up in the West, butwhile he was covering the Indian peninsula for his firstresearch in the area of Geology he was transformed into a researcher into the roots of the Indian tradition, Later he toured widely throughout the peninsula for a deeper understanding of Indian arts, artefacts and crafts. Hisin-depth studies led him to research into the inner meaning of all art and that inner meaning lay in the reality of realities which he found in the Vedic expression, satyasya satyam, He was an erudite scholar and was never satisfied with secondary sources. So he delved deep into the Vedic texts, medieval Christian texts, Islamic texts, Chinese texts, Pali texts and even later texts in modern Indian languages. From his deep contemplation and study he could find the wavelength on which the different mystic experiences meet. His perception of the unity in the different manifestations was indeed unique. He did notjust oppose the East and West as spiritual and material as he has indicated in his letter to Stanley Nott. The problem of the ‘Spiritual East’ versus the ‘Material West’ is very easily mistaken. I have repeatedly emphasized that it is only accidentally a geographic or racial problem. The real clash is of traditional with antitraditional concepts and cultures; ... think it undeniable that the modern world (which happens to be still a Western world, however fast the East is being Westernized) is one of impoverished reality. He developed a reconstructed concept of traditional metaphysics which according to him is a doctrine about possibilities: possibilities of being and non-being, of finite and infinite which are embodied mostly in what one calls ontology and cosmology. The traditional metaphysics (philosophy perennis or Sandtanadharma) is not an omnium

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