Rgveda-Darsana – Volume Seven (Development of Rgvedic Thought: Part One)

The Kalpatharu Research Academy, Bangalore is an Institution running with the benign blessings of His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamiji under the auspicious of Dakshnamnaya Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Established in 1981. Kalpatharu Research Academy has strided across the horizon of Indological Research and Publications with giant steps, and today stands as an Institution known for its unique quality of Research work.

Kalpatharu Research Academy is dedicated to the cause of preservation of ancient heritage of India; it has encouraged Research in the fields of Agama, Veda, Tantra, Jyoutisha, Mantra Sastra, Vastu, Yoga, Silpa, Ayurveda etc.

Among its prestigious publications (numbering more than seventy till now), are Six Vol’s. of Pratima-Kosha, Twelve Vol’s of Agama-Kosha, Three Vol’s of the Art & Architecture of Indian Temples, and several Koshas like Ganesha-Kosha, Lalita-Kosha and Navagraha-Kosha, Oshadhi-Kosha, Salagrama-Kosha etc.

The Academy has plans of undertaking intensive Research in the field of Veda and Vedanga, and intends publishing “Bharatiya-Samskriti-Sarvasva-Kosha” an encyclopedic work in several volumes dealing with all aspects of Indian Tradition & Culture. It seeks to promote Education. Culture, and Science, Art and learning in all its branches. The approach will be broad based and multi disciplinary.

An extensive, comprehensive and specialist reference library has been built up to assist the Research Workers in the Indological disciplines. A valuable collection of Palm Leaf manuscripts relating to Veda, Vedanta, Vedanga and allied subjects has already been made; the collection work is continuing.

Dakshinamnaya Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham has been running a Guru-Kula type of Institution on traditional lines to impart Vedic Education at several places. Some of these Institutions are over 100 years old. It is the intention of Kalpatharu Research Academy to take an active part in continuing this age old tradition and act as the Research & Publication wing for these Institutions.

Our ambition is to develop as a National Centre for higher learning in Veda, Vedanga and Shastras and facilitate the propagation of unique Sanskrit and Vedic texts in the National and International arena. This Publication is the seventy-fourth of its achievement in this field.

Vidyalankara, Sastra-Chudamani. Sangita-Kalaratna. Professor Saligrama Krishna Ramachandra Rao is a well- known scholar who combines traditional learning with modern research. Well-versed ii Sanskrit, Pali Ardhamagadhi and several modern Indian languages and acquainted with Tibetan and some European languages, he has written extensively on Vedanta, Buddhism, Jainism, Indian Culture, Art and Literature.

In his professional career, however, he was a Professor of Psychology. He has headed the Department of Clinical Psychology in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore. and the Department of Indian Culture in the Callison College Study Centre of the University of the Pacific (USA). He is the Senior Associate of National Institute of Advanced Studies (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, and Guest Faculty. Management, Bangalore and member of the Governing Council of TTD (SVCL Research Centre) Tirupati. He is at present the Visiting Professor, Vivekananda Chair. University of Mysore.

He has been Member of Karnataka State Lalitha Kala Academi and Sangita Nritya Academi; he has served on the Agama Board (Govt. of Karnataka). He is President of silpa-Kala Pratishtana. The Govt of Karnataka has honoured him with the 1986 Rajyotsava Award. He has received awards from Lalita-Kala Academi and Academi and Sahitya Academi.

He has been the recipient of Veda Sanman (for 2000 by the Maharshi Sandipani Veda-Vidya Pratishthan Ujjaini (Govt of India, Ministry of HRD).

Among his numerous English publications are three vol’s of Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine, (Popular Prakashan. Mumbai), Tibetan Tantrik Tradition and Tibetan Meditation (Arnold Heinemann, Delhi), Consciousness in Advaita, and a series of six books on Indian Temples (IBH Prakashana, Bangalore) and Origins Of Indian Thought (Bangalore University); Kalpatharu Research Academy has published his Pratimi-Kosha in six vols. Agama-Kosha in twelve vol’s. Art and Architecture of Indian Temples in three vol’s. He has also authored books in Kannada and Sanskrit.

He is at present engaged in the 30-volume project Rgveda-darsana (seven volumes of which have appeared). He is also a musicologist, sculptor and painter, ‘as held some one-man shows.

Kalpatharu Research Academy, Bangalore has made consistent contribution to Indian culture revival through its regular publications under the mega project on Bharatiya -Samskriti Sarvasva-Kosha. We had launched a secondary project on Rgveda-Darshana, six volumes of which had already been brought out, we have now pleasure in publishing the seventh volume, dealing with the development of the Rgvedic thoughts in later darsanas. This is a valuable compendium, which is at once comprehensive and authentic.

The Academy is happy with the regularity with which its publications are being brought out. There has been no year since the establishment of the Academy in which there was no publication; in fact, more than two volumes each year has been the general norm. The academy is indebted to Vidyalankara, Sastrachudamani, Sangitakala Ratna, and Vedantanidhi Prof. S.K. Ramachandra Rao for preparing these volumes, which are valuable contributions to the field of indological studies.

We are grateful to the munificent blessings of revered Jagadguru, His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Tritha Swamiji of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, who is our chief patron, This publication is reverentially dedicated to him on his fifty first vardhanti mahotsavam this year. We are also indebted to the administrator of Sri Sharada Peetham Shri V.R. Gowrishankar and also Chairman of the Academy, for his sustained interest in our work.

We also thank the authorities of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi and the authorities of Ministry of Education, Govt. of Karnataka and also the printers M/s. Omkar Offset Printers for printing this volume neatly and expeditiously.

The Rg-darsana, the vision of the Rgvedic corpus, is a proximate but comprehensive vision of truth: it is therefore called ‘tattva-darsana’ and ‘samyag-darsana’. It is like a huge tree with hundreds of branches. The branches are no doubt divided, different and distinct in their spread, outward. As long as your attention is focussed on the branches, there is multiplicity, disparateness, diversity. But when you move inward you will discover that all the branches without an exception, spring from the same trunk, the tree-trunk that is one and undivided. But to understand this unity amidst diversity, you should move down the branches through the trunk towards the root of the tree. It is from the root hidden inside the earth that the whole of the tree, the trunk and the branches, come out and spread into the sky. The one root not only supports the many branches; it also nourishes; it provides scope for multiplicity of branches retaining, however, its own unity amidst the obvious variety. This is an Upanishadic metaphor:

“Here this one is an undying, everlasting asvattha-tree (ficus), with its root above and branches below”. The root is above in the sense that it is hidden, and beyond our keen, and the branches spread in diverse forms and appearances. The seers of the Rgvedic corpus had direct and complete access to reality; hence their vision was called tattva-darsana and samyag-darsana. Their vision of reality was one and undivided (ekam sat): it was a clear and fine mirror to truth. And the reflection that was mirrored here assumed a variety of forms as it was projected on diverse screens in due course. This is how there came to be a multiplicity of philosophical and religious schools in India, seemingly irreconcilable and contradictory. Some aligned themselves to the Vedic tradition, nominally at any rate; and others distanced themselves from the Vedic tradition. Hence the distinction between the Vaidika and Avaidika darsanas. But all darsanas alike have branched out of the vision that is mirrored in the Rgvedic hymns. This is the theme of the present volume, in two parts. The darsanas that have developed on this soil from time to time are like branches with Rgveda as the root and the Upanishads as the trunk.

I am grateful, as in the previous volumes, to Sri Daivajna K.N. Somayaji, the Director of Kalpatharu Research Academy, Bangalore for the opportunity to prepare this volume, and chief patron of the Academy, Sri Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Swamiji of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, to Sri V.R. Gowrishankar, the chief Administrator of the Sringeri Samsthanam, and Chairman of the Academy, and to Shri Venkatesh Babu and Shri Nagendra of the Omkar Offset Printers.