hRd in vedas

Another current of thought also is associated with the notion of hrd. A study of certain words in Gk, Lat, etc., possessing psychological significance, such as phren, phrénes, kérdos, vecors, recordari, proves that the human faculties of feeling, willing, etc, were connected by the people speaking those languages more parti cularly with the heart. The same feature is to be noticed in the Veda also, It is obviously on account of certain distinctive features of hrd, such as its being the innermost as well as the most vital and the most sensitive organ in the human body, that certain primary psychological functions have come to be connected with it. Primi tive thinking does not seem to have countenanced any abstract conceptions. Whatever is real must be, according to the primitive thought, concrete and substantial. So the psychological experi ences also were associated by the primitive man with concrete physical organs And the bodily organ, which was particularly .affected by such experiences as fear, anger, hatred, longing, love, etc.,,was evidently the heart in this manner the heart became the starting point of early psychological speculations. In what may be called the pre-analytical stage of Vedic psychology, side by side with hrd, manas also played a similar role and that too in a more or less material form 3 Several psychological ex. -periences and functions had come to be related to manas. 1 would, however, seem that, when manas was later conceived as the human faculty connected with certain specific psychological (functions, such as sankalpa, the Vedic poet began to lay greater stress upon the original association of hrd and the primary psy ichological experiences. In such cases hrd may be said to have been regarded rather as a psychological faculty than as a mere physical organ. The association of hrd and hurdaya with manas (RV, VII, 98. 2; VIII, 100.5), dhi and manisi (RV. I. 61.21 would confirm this assumption It is from this point of view that a few characteristics of hrd as constituting an element of the human personality will be described in this paper. For, the role of hrd in human life as represented in the Veda is, as is perhaps 3 See “Somatism of Vedic psychology” published elsewhere in this Volume. “ARD IN THE VEDA 255 quite natural, essentially psychological. But,’ for the sake of a clear understanding of this entire conception, the significant deve lopment in the notion of hrd, broadly outlined above, should not be lost sight of In the so-called analytical stage of Vedic psychology híd seems to have been distinguished from manas in that it then camc to be regarded as the basis of all spontaneous psychological ex periences. All such psychological phenomena as do not require any sort of positive effort for their manifestation are normally connected with hrd. ‘Fear’, for instance, is said to enter into the heart (RV I. 32. 14); elsewhere it is spoken of as being placed in the heart (RV X. 84.7; AV IV. 31.7). Similarly one finds that desire is spoken of as having its roots in the heart (RV X. 40. 12). A Vedic poet says that Agni knows their hearts : asmaddhirdo blūrijanmā yi casļe (RIX. 5.1). Siyana, in his commentary, explains lidah as hrdayāni, that is to say, abhilaṣitāni : asmakam hrdayāni abhilasilani jānālt. Incidentally, we clearly observe here a peculiarity of the Veda, pamely that a human faculty itself is made to represent its own function. The “longing’ on the part of a person is manifested in his heart (RV X. 123. 6). The feelings of pleasure’ and satisfaction spring from the heart (RV I.43.1; VIII.43.31; AV XX, 87.2). Soka, in the same manger, burns the heart (RV X. 103. 12; AV VI. 18. 1; XIX 28.2), or the heart is said to be free from, torment’ (AV XVI. 3. 6) The Vedic poet refers to himself, in another sepse, as invoking Indra with a burning heart : yar tvà hrda focatā johanim (AV 11. 12. 3). The words, Liriñã hrdā (RV V.4 10), suggest, according to GRASSMANN, the feeling of grati tude. It will be thus seen that, in all these cases, the sponta neity of the psychological phenomena is suggested through their association with hrd. Besides spontaneity’, the association of the psychological phenomena with hrd also signifies their sincere,’’ spiritual,’ and inspired character ( AV I. 60.3; 116. 17). It should be noted 4. GRASSMANN, Rig Veda, erster Theil, $ 358, p. 165. 256 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY in this connection that, in the Veda, lird is often considered to be the proper fountain of song. The Vedic mantra springs directly from the heart of the poet (RV 1. 60.3). In one Vedic passage, Indra is implored to accept such a song, which goes up to bim, in all exuberance of sincere and spontaneous feelings and emotions, like a beloved to her lover (RV III. 39, 1). In another passage, the streams of poetry are described as flowing out of the ocean of the heart : etā arsanti hrdyāt samudrät (RV IV. 58, 5). The heart is the ocean from out of which the genuine feelings of a Soma-inspired poet flow forth. According to the Vedic poet, the seat of genuine poetical inspiration is the heart. Indeed, in RV III. 26. 8 a Vedic poet seems to have succinctly set forth the whole process of the origin of a truly inspired song. First of all there flashes a light (jyotih: inspiration ). It touches the poet’s heart. The seed of the song thus sown begins to sprout with all the spontaneity, sincerity, and spirituality associated with hrd (hrdā anu prajānan). The words in which that song (arka) is to be formulated are then made to pass through the threefold sieve of inner thought (tribhih pavitraih apupot) so that they may ultimately spring forth as a properly refined, well thought out, and well wrought prayer (mati).? It is directly from hrd that the poet addresses the divinity: hrdā hūyanta ukthinah ( RV VIII, 76,8). Not only does the Vedic song originate from hrd but its appeal too is directed towards hrd. It is in this sense that the Vedic song is often said to be hrdısprś (RV I. 16.7; X. 47. 7). It ought to go directly to the heart of the divinity (RV VII. 101,5). It must also lie within the heart : hrdi stoma upaśrilas cid astu (RV VIII. 86,8). The Vedic song, indeed, forms the 5. In this connection one may recall the Wordsworthian conception of poetry as the spontancous overflow of powerful feelings. Such poetry may ba distinguished from the vaco mali (RV I. 143 1) type of poetry, in which a cons cious effort is made, as by a laksa’ a carpenter’, to put the best words in the best order and thus to make the prayer a sunku, a well wrought song. 6. Cf. RV X 71.2 : saklum 100 Itauna punanlah. 7. Cf. RVI, 143. 1 ; t4co matt,HRD IN THE VEDA 1 257 bridge between the heart of the poet and the heart of the divinity and thus brings about the true communion between the two. It should be noted that an interesting commingling of ideas on the part of the Vedic poet occurs in this connection. Like stoma, Soma also is called hrdisprś (RV X, 25, 2),for, it is said to enter into the depths of hrd ( RV III, 42. 8, IX. 60. 3; 108. 16). It is not only in this respect that Soma is similar to stoma, the Vedic song. Just as the Soma-juice is pressed out and purified three times ( RV IX. 73. 8), so too is the Vedic song purified and perfected through the functioning of hrd and manas : samyak sravanti sarito na dhenā antar hrda manasā pūyamānah (RV IV. 58.6: also cf. III. 26 8) Soma is often referred to as pouring into and reposiog in the heart (RV I. 91. 13; 168, 3; 179.5; VIII. 2. 12; 48. 12) From out of the heart spring forth the in spired songs of the Vedic poet. These two notions seem to have merged into one another. The Vedic poet, therefore, represents the origin of the song in terms of the stream of Soma (ghrta. dhārāk) flowing out of the ocean of the heart (RV IV. 58. 5; also cf. IV. 58 11; X 5.1; 89.4). This conception of Vedic poetry originating from the heart of the poet and having a direct appeal to the heart of the divinity would clear up a common mis understanding about its nature, namely, that Vedic poetry is often purely conventional in form and content. According to the early Indian thinkers, true comprehension lies not in indirectly knowing’ a thing, but in directly feeling’ it. The Vedic poet seems to express this idea when he suggests that true comprehension appears in hrd Through the light’ of hrd, there dawned upon Sunahấepa the true knowledge of the nature and function of Varuṇa : 1ad ayam keto hrda ā vi coste (RY 1.24.12). In another passage (RV V. 31.9), darkness is said to have been driven away from the heart. Another striking passage (RV VII. 8 hrdısprfah, in this context, 13 understood by Sayapa and GELDNER as Nom. Pl. referring to the priests. 9. Here there seems to be an obvious commingling of the two DOLIODS regarding hid-rd as a physical organ, perhaps belly ‘, and hyd as a psychologi. cal faculty. 33— 258 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY 33 9) tells us that through the lights of the heart’ (hrdayasya praketaih), Vasistha was enabled to comprehend the great secret of the phenomenal world 10 Elsewhere (RVX 129 4) we are told that the secret of how, in the beginning of the universe, the non existent was related to the existent and of how indeed the existent arose was first revealed to the seers in their heart sato bandhum asatı niravindan hrdı pratisya kayayo manisa The role of hrd in the Vedic religion is, again by no means unimportant When the Vedic seers intuitively discover the divinity, dhirasah padam kajajo nayantı, they seek, by means of every effort, each to hold that divinity in the heart nana hrda raksamānā ajuryam (RVI 146 4 ) This alone would facilitate an eternal direct com munion with the divinity An AV-poet expresses the same idea when he says yo no agnih pitaro hrtsv antar aviveśa amrto mar tyesu mayy aham tam parigrhnāmı devam (XII 2 33) ‘what Agni hath entered into our hearts, an immortal among the mortals, that god do I inclose within me’ It will be seen from the foregoing brief statement regarding the salient features of hrd and its functions that the original notion about hrd was greatly influenced in the Veda by other psychologi cal concepts, particularly by the manas concept It would, there fore, be interesting to note in this connection the main features which characterise the relation between hrd and manas in the Veda To begin with, it appears that the word hrd is connected with manas, in certain passages, more or less as an adjective Thus the word hrd seems to qualify, to a certain extent, the functions of manas The phrase hrda manasa occurs more than once in RV in one context, RV X 177 1, Sayana rightly explains hrda manasā as antarmukhena manasa The ideas of spontaneity, sincerity, spirituality, introspection, true knowledge, etc, which are usually associated with hrd are thus brought into contact with the function of manas A specific type of think ing’ is here indicated by the addition of the word hird In another context (RV VI 28 5), Sayana again suggestively ex 10 See” The two births of Vas tha publ shed elsewhere in this Volume HRD IN THE VEDA 259 plains the phrase hrdā manasā as Sraddhāyuklena manasā. The distinction between the two concepts of hird and manas implied here is that manas represents the faculty of thinking-of reason, while hrd represents the faculty of feeling-of faith’. The real intellectual approach towards anything should be, according to the Vedic poet, one characterised both by reason and faith. A linguistic study of the words meaning ‘heart’ in the cognate IE languages would show that, properly speaking, the Vedic equi valent of the original IE word *kered, *kred, should have been Śrd. In its place, lird, which is merely a Iliyme-word, has actually been preserved. It seems, however, that śrd also has been re tained in Vedic in another form, viz , śrad. The Vcdic verb śrad v dha, which corresponds with IE kred dhē, literally means ’to put one’s heart’, that is, to believe, have faith’. The man Der, in which that verb is used in śrad asınai dhatta (RV II, 12,5) makes it clear that srad must have been used as an independent word, obviously in the same sense asi hrd 12 be 11 · The Vedic poet tries to express the distinction between the human faculties of hrd and manas and their respective functions in several ways. One passage (RV VIII, 100, 5) is particularly illuminating in this connection. Indra explains the reason for his sudden appearance on the earth. When he sat alone, upon the back of the much sought after (sky)’, there entered in him a feeling of urgent anxiety. He wondered why such a feeling should bave originated Thereupon an inner voice told him that his devoted singers were invoking him, and so he came down to the earth. This entire psychological process on the part of Indra has been very picturesquely described by the Vedic poet. The heart is, as we have seen so far, the human faculty which is usu ally the seat of “ feelings’. Manas, on the other hand, is the human faculty which is responsible for positive thinking’. In this particular psychological experience of Indra, his lid could 11. The Avestan zrazd (Skt {raddha ) is connected with zerd heart’. The connection between heart’ and ‘faith’ will be made clear by the study of the relevant words 10 other IE languages, such as Lat. credo, cor, etc 260 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY ‘feel’ something, but it was unable to find out the real cause of that feeling. As a matter of fact, the function of hrd ended with the feeling. Indra, therefore, brought into action his other psy chological faculty, pamely, manas. His manas investigated into the nature of the feeling which arose in his hrd and supplied, so to say, the answer to the query of hrd: manas cin me hrda a pratyavocad acıkradan chi sumantah sakhayah. It is manas which, on account of its main function of positive thinking, completes the whole psychological process by supplementing the psychologi cal experience of hrd. Thereafter follows the ‘doing’, namely, Indra’s appearance before his devotees. This passage is remark able also from another point of view. It throws considerable light on the Vedic thinker’s conception of the three most primary phases of human action, namely, feeling, knowing, and doing. A similar functional distinction between the two human faculties, hrd and manas, seems to be suggested in a passage from AV (VI. 73. 2), where the poet refers to hrdaya as the seat of vehement feelings in contrast to manas which is supposed to be the seat of conscious designs’:30 vah fusnio hrdayesy anlar akūtir jā jo manasi pravistā. The twofold conception of Vedic poetry, firstly as an outburst of the exuberance of feelings directly springing from hrd, and secondly as a conscious artistic effort, in the manner of a taksā, an artisan, to put the best words in the best order, often connected with manas, also make the distinc tion between the nature and functions of hard and manas quite clear. Such primary analysis of psychological functions is not an uncommon phenomenon in the Veda (cf. RV I. 61. 2; X. 10. 13; 123. 6). Finally, we fiad in the Veda the beginnings of the later view regarding the relation between hird and manas. In AV XIX. 9.5, hrd is clearly referred to as the abode of manas and other indriyas. The reference is important from two points of vicw. Firstly, it appears from this reference that in later Veda manas came to be regarded as one of the indriyas, though still the most essential, that is to say, mcrcly as one of the several constituents of the HRD İN THB VEDA 261 human personality;12 and, secondly, hrd gradually came to lose its essentially psychological import. [First published : Siddheshwar Varma Presentation Vol, 1950, 137–142.) 12. At one stage in the desclopment of the Vedic conception regarding the human personality, manas seemed to indicate almost the entire human personality. Scc DANDERAR, Der vedische Mensch, pp. 44 ff.