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(Horse Head Nebula-photo published by NASA) The Vedic god of air-vaayu, the Expanding universe and ashvamedha and

some related Sanskrit English words. (Part-1) (The non-English words typed in italics are those Sanskrit words which are traceable in (Sir) Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary available in the Internet at the address http://www.sanskritlexicon.uni-koeln.de/monier/ You can find the meaning and root of such word by entering the word [which is in italics in this article] in the citation box of the dictionary. You need to select Itrans for the Input box. To know the Sanskrit form, you need to select Devanagari Unicode in the Output box. I could not address all the characteristics of the Air God or Universal Air as I could see in the texts. I wish to complete this in the Part-2. An earlier article on vital airs published can be read in the article at http://www.scribd.com/doc/31040105/Five-Vital-Air-Five-Aspects-of-Praana )

Whenever we think of air certainly we feel the life giving air we breathe, the life we inhale and the touch it gives through the breeze. Universal consciousness is in us as our consciousness or knowledge. This means we are formed or created in Universal consciousness. Any activity in consciousness is the process of knowing. As the Consciousness knows, so the Consciousness becomes. Thus Consciousness creates every entity. To know means to feel or see, and to feel means to become. This process is also continuously happening in us, we are also knowing or feeling something every moment; in our inside whatever we feel we become that. We do not know anything without becoming that in our consciousness. We are too engrossed in the physical level (or physical level of consciousness) and we remain unaware of our real states. As the Consciousness creates the universe, in those steps of creation, Consciousness becomes the centre of revelation of each aspect of the creation. Such a conscious revealing centre or personality revealing an aspect of Universal Consciousness is called deity. These deities are revealing personalities, they reveal, they create, they have their own illumination. They exist in an unhindered and unabated manner `

throughout the space and time. Thus the deity Air is the one who is the flowing life, who is the touch in every being, who is the thread or connection throughout the universe. Air is thus a conscious personality and his universal form is called vaayu in the Vedas. vaayu, who is life in us, must be represented by the word bio. Consciousness flows in us as the streams of life and is the air in us. In each of us Consciousness is flowing and the flow pattern in each of us is unique. When thus He flows in us we call Him Air and in Sanskrit this aspect is termed as aayu---i.e. vaayu in us. Thus specific mood is also called air and corresponding word is vaata in Sanskrit. The words flow of air, flow of life, flowing praaNa or flowing time, all of them, almost carry the same sense. This flow of life in us is also called savana. savana also means the act of pressing the soma leaves, extracting the intoxicating juice. Thus it is; we are being pressed and our life is churning out, frothing and oozing from the Consciousness; we are intoxicated. savana means su(flow) + ana(life). Flowing in is an inherent property of air or praaNa (principal animation, flowing or active Soul or Consciousness). Any flow is associated with conduits and orifices or entries. Conduit is called nala in Sanskrit. The word nala in Sanskrit means conduit as well as the etymological meaning is na( no) + laya (annihilation), i.e. eternal life. The sensory organs, the eyes, ears, nose etc. are all conduits or canals through which the consciousness flows in or out. Conversely and more accurately we can say that the in and out, to and fro motion of Consciousness creates the paths or conduits. The sensory organs and also other organs are called indriya and are also known as dvaara or door. They (indriya) are also called praaNa as praaNa flows through them or they are the conduits. Also, the hair follicles which are there all over the skin (touch/air) represent the orifices or the junction of in and out. Skin (touch) is called tvach in Sanskrit. One of the references to orifice (Chidra) is in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where it is told that the air god vaayu made an orifice to transport the community named parikShIta to a place where the performers of the ashamedha yaj~na (horse sacrificesee below) also had reached. Chidra (orifice) implies the characteristic of permeation or that aspect of Consciousness that makes you to permeate through anything and everything. There will be an orifice or Chidra when we move from one plane or state to another. Thus there is a connecting word called Cheda meaning separation, section, incision. The air god vaayu is not only a conduit, He is also the strings or the webs those have kept the universe connected. The Vedas have described this universe as made of webs woven by the creator like a spider, the net is spread and the net is withdrawn in cycles like a spider does the both. An extract of the hymn is like this: yatha urNanavih sRijatey gRinhatey cha (Like the spider who creates/spreads and withdraws the webs) ..tatha akSharat sambavati iha vishvam `

(similarly this universe is created from the Immutable One)(Mundak Upanishad1/1/7) vaayu has been addressed as sUtraatmaa in the Vedas. sUtra( = thread) + aatma(n) (soul). So, it means that aspect of the Soul or Consciousness (the One from whom everything originates) by which Consciousness/ Soul maintains the thread with every entity created. This aspect is also termed as vyaana. The five vital air or five aspects of praaNa are described in the Vedas. vyaana is one of them. The network of nerves, the network of gravitation, the radio network etc. are all physical examples of this character or aspect of Consciousness. The countless activities happening in our body in unison and correspondence are due to this. The body is taut and not slackened because the strings of life, the threads of air hold all the members of the body connected to each other in perfect understanding. When we leave this body the strings are no longer stretched, they disappear. These actions are conscious, out of love, out of heart of the One who has created Oneself as different and has become all of us and has held all of us in Oneness! An extract from the Veda is like this: (Question): vethha nu Kapya (do you know Kapya) tat(that) sUtram (thread) yena (by which) ayam cha lokah (this world) parah cha lokah (the other world), sarvaaNi cha vUtani (all the entities) samdribdhani vabanti (remain closely held or connected)? (Kapya, do you know that thread by which this world, the other world and all the entities remain closely held and connected?) (Answeranswers were given by the seer Yajnavalkya.) sah ha ubacha (He said like this)---vaayuh bai Gautama (vaayu, air is, Gautam) tat(that) sUtram (thread); vaayuna vai Gautama sUtreNa (Gautam! by the thread called air) ayam cha lokah (this world) sarvaaNi cha vUtani (all the entities) samdribdhani vabanti (are closely held). tasmat vai(thats why) Gautama(Gautama) puruSham preytam(when someone departs, dies) aahuh vai(it is said) vi asrangsiShta(slack) asya angani iti (are these limbs). vaayuna hi Gautama! (by the air Gautama!) sUtreNa (by this thread) samdribdhani vabanti iti (are kept properly connected or taut) (vaayu/air is that thread; by this thread called air/vaayu this world and every entity are closely held or connected; that is why when someone departs(dies) it is told--- the limbs have become slack; by this thread called air/vaayu everything is kept connected or closely held.) (Quoted from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Third chapter, Seventh Brahmin). So, Air, vaayu is the one who joins and is the personality of yajur veda. yajur veda is thus in the middle position of the triad----Rik, yajur, saama. Joining, bridging, connecting, conducting, flowing are some of

the aspects of this Veda or this knowing or this action of Consciousness. In Consciousness, every action is knowing, seeing (vision) or vedana. Thus the first hymn of yajur veda addresses vaayu. Below is an extract from a hymn in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (5th chapter, 13th Brahmin, 2nd hymn): yajuh--- praano bai yajuh (praaNa is yaju or yajur veda) praaney hImani sarvani vUtani yujyantey (certainly in praaNa all entities are joined/ connected) Thus in this Air we can read the genealogy. The thread/ conduit/ connection convey the touch, the feeling of one end to the other end. Touch cannot happen without duality. The word touch has the root or the relation with the Sanskrit word tvach meaning skin. What is air outside is touch in us. As the Air flows, as the One differentiates, as the dualities are created, still One(1) remains one and beholds the dualities in Oneness (1/2) -----this flow pattern is unique and has been referred as one and half in the Vedas as below: Question: katamah(who, which deity or god) adhyarya (in excess by half)?{Who is the deity in excess by half? (Which deity is counted as one and half?)} Answer: ya ayam (here is the one) pavatey (who flows) (Here is the one who flows.) Question: tat(that) aahuh(it is said) yat(as) ayam (this deity, god) eka iba (remaining as single) pavatey (flows) atha (then) katham(how) adhyarya (in excess by half)? (However, it is said that as this deity remaining as single flows, then how the deity is one and half or exceeds one by half?) Answer: yat(since) asmin(in this deity, in this god) idam(these) sarvam(all) adhi ardhanat(grow, multiply , inflate or become one and half) tena (by this reason) adhyarya (is called excess by half). (Since in this deity all these grow and multiply (exceeds the selves by halves), this is why the deity is called excess (of One) by half.) Question: `

Katomoh(who) eka iti(is one) (Who is the One?) Answer: praaNah iti(it is praaNa); sah(He is) brahma (the absolute); tat iti(thats how) aachakShatey(He is addressed). (The One is praaNa; the One is the absolute and thats how the One is addressed.) ( Quoted from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Third chapter, Ninth Brahmin). The One and half, 1-1/2, is One who has split One into duality (2) and holds the duality in One! This is how the Creator and the Creation. It is like the crescent moon, the manifested One or the illuminated part is held in the whole. We also split in us in the same way. In the plane of consciousness, whatever we feel we become that and at the same time we remain One in our core with the Soul who is the soul of every entity and whose assertive form is our self. We feel the soul as assertion less self named as aatma or aatman or nija in us; always same, unchanged, unruffled and as the base or source behind every feeling or every moment of existence in us. This is why in Upanishad has said pratibodha viditam matam.. (know in each of your feelings or senses------see your immutable part in each of your feeling, in every moment).(Keno Upanishad, Second Chapter.) One is soul. When Soul is active, creation starts. One becomes an, praaNa or animation. Atmosphere, the spread of soul, the inflating universe. This spread of life, multiplication is also revealed as inflation. The inflation has also been termed as one of the aspects of the air-god in the Vedas. The word sphere is connected with the Sanskrit word sphar meaning become expanded or manifest; similarly the word sphIta means swollen or blown out. Another connected word sphUraNa means vibrating, emanating, revealing, expanding. Thus the word atmosphere means atmo + sphere-----aatman (self, soul) + sphere (from the root word sphar). That is, atmosphere is the sphere or inflation of the soul. aatman is One or solo and spread of aatman is an or animation or praaNa or the active soul or active consciousness. There are at least two references of inflation by air or vaayu or praaNa have been mentioned in Brihadranyaka Upanishad. One as the inflation of the Universal soul and the other as our own expansion in the air at the time when we leave the body. It is said like this for the departing soul: Question: yajnavalkya! iti ha ubacha (He asked, hi Yajnavalkya)---yatra(when) ayam(this) puruShah(entity, person) mRiyatey(dies), ut(up from) asmat(the person) praaNah(praaNa) kramanti(move)? Aaho na? (Or, no?)

(He asked, hi Yajnavalkya! When this person dies do the praaNa (five forms of praaNa or five vital airs) move up leaving the body (immediately)? Or no?) Answer: na iti (No) ha uvacha( replied) yajnavalkyah(Yajnavalkya). atra(here, in this body) eba (only) sam ava nIyantey(the five forms of praaNa or the five vital airs assemble), sah(the person) ut shvyati(is inflated), aadhNayati(is filled with air), aadhnaatah(after being filled or aired) mRitah(the dead) shete (lies or floats in that state) (for some time). (Yajnavalkya replied: No. Here, in this body, in the person, the (five) praaNa, (the five vital airs) assemble; the dying person is inflated and filled with the air; after being filled the person remains lying (floating) for sometimes.) This means that during the process of dying we are transferred to a body or vehicle of air before the departure. However, before we further discuss on the inflating universe we would like to clarify the much misunderstood word ashva. The galloping horse, the moving time. ashva, shva, shvaasa shvaasa means breath or respiration. shvaasa also has a meaning conveying the sense of time. Similarly, another connected word shva (also shvan) means dog as well as time. In one of the earlier publications we clarified this. A dog is the sincere follower of the master or ruling. This aspect of the rule of time is implanted very specially in this animal called dog. In this context, or with this meaning of dog, it is interesting to note the similarity of the words dog and dogma. The word breath is also used in the sense of time, like he talked in the same breath. Similar are the corresponding words of Sanskrit. This is illustrated as below. The word day after tomorrow is called parashva= para(after) + shva (tomorrow). The word shva conveys the sense of time and usual meaning is tomorrow. Thus the action of praaNa or the action of Consciousness is the time and the ruling or regulations (shaasana) which is the life flowing in us; this is reflected as the act of inhaling and exhaling, the to and fro motion of the pendulum of the biological clock. (We should realize action of praaNa or action of Consciousness means action of knowing, action of feeling. In this knowing, Consciousness knows Himself /Herself as One and as everything.) It is for this the praaNa is termed and addressed as ashva in the texts, in the Vedas. The common meaning of ashva is horse and unfortunately many scholars could not discern that ashva actually means praana who is running through the universe as time, running as His ruling and not just a four footed horse. A horse as an animal is characterized by running, always on feet, with very less sleep and the vitality; horse represents/personifies kinetic praaNa in the animal plane. ashva = a + shva;

(i) (ii)

a=who is first, who is the soul, or who is the absolute One; a is the first vowel in Sanskrit alphabet. shva means the flow of time, , flow of consciousness as regulation from the One; this is praaNa; flowing, regulating, revealing as periods and sequences, extending into duality; differentiating as well as integrating; this is done by knowing, because any action of consciousness means to know.

This is the running horse. The first chapter of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes the Universal horse. The flow of duality ceases, the duality vanishes in Oneness in the Universal soul a, whose activity is shva or time, regulation, praaNa. This cessation of variation or cessation of time in Oneness is the slaughter of the sacrificial horse and known as ashvamedha( in the Vedas. medhya means marrow, saps, wisdom. medhya also means full of sap or fit for sacrifice. (A description of ashvamedha is available in Wikipedia at the following location < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvamedha> ) Thus we run here and there all the time out of need, out of the desire to feel or know or to get what we desire. We are always craving for the sound, touch, vision, taste and smell. We do not know that the consciousness who is our origin, by whom we are made, is the source of all the senses and knowing whom we get everything in us, inside us. When we start looking at the source, the running horse who takes us through our evolution, slows down and stops as we identify ourselves with the Universal consciousness. This is ashvamedha yaj~na. We no longer run out of want; if we run it is out of fulfillment, out of joy. It is interesting to note that ashvamedha yaj~na is described in yajur veda. Like the root word shva, there is a similar root word shvi meaning to swell! The word ashvat derived from this root word shvi means inflated. The word shvaitum derived from the root word shvi means becoming inflated. In the texts where the creation from the origin has been described, there are references to this inflation or expansion as we know from the modern physics that the universe is expanding like the surface of an inflating balloon; also in the same context ashvamedha, the sacrifice of the horse or collapse of the expanding universe is mentioned. Collapse does not mean destruction; it means conscious, blissful return to the origin. Thus the quotes in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (First Chapter, Second Brahmin) are as below on the inflating universe: sa(he-the creator) akamyata (desired) (The creator desired thus:) vUyasa(by multiplying) yajnena(deeds, sacrifice) vUya (will multiply) yajeya (deeds, sacrifices) (By sacrificing me in multiplication I will multiply further.) sah(he-the creator) ashramayat (labored) (The creator labored.) sa(he) tapah(radiation) atapat (radiated) `

(The creator radiated radiation.) tasya(from that) shrantasya(tired, who is at the end of labour) taptasya(radiant) yashah(the wealth wealth or power by which one rules) vIryam(vigour, power of reproduction, or power of splitting) ut akraamat (came out in sequence). (From the tired and radiant creator the wealth that bears power and the vigour that enables multiplication came out in sequences.) praaNah(the streams of praaNa, the streams of universal life, the streaming time) vai (are certainly) yashah (the wealth) vIryam(the vigour) tat praaNeshu utkranteshu(due to the streams of praNah coming out) sharIram (the body) shvaitum(inflated) adhriyata (and maintained) tasya(in his) sharIrey(body) eba manah (mind) asIt (existed) (The streams of praaNa are certainly the wealth and the vigour; due to the streams coming out, the body is inflated and maintained; the mind remained in the body.) sa(he-the creator) akamyata (desired) (The Creator desired-) medhyam(sap or sacrificial) mey(my) imam sat iti (this-body, expansion, multiplication) (Let my body, my multiplication or multiplied me also become sacrificial)(Creator sacrifices himself as creation because creation is His/Her own formation. The creation sacrifices i.e. every creature one day identifies itself as the Creator and merges in the universal consciousness.) atmanvI(expanded soul) anena syaam iti( I achieve by this) (Thus I become the expanded soul by this multiplication, by my expanded body) tatah (thus) asvah(the horse) sam avabat(was created), yat (as the body) ashvat (was inflated) (Thus the horse {running life, time, universe} was created as the body was inflated or expanded) tat(that-that expanding universe) medhyam avut (became sacrificial) (The expanding universe, the creation became sacrificial). tat (thus) aetat(this is) ashwamedhasya (Thus this is the essence of ashvamedha) tam (that;horse) anavarudhya(untethered) eba amanyata(Creator decided) (The Creator decided to untether the horse) tam (it) samvatsarasya( a cycle of evolution or nourishment) parastat(after) atmaney(in the Soul) aalavata(will get back, will realize) ` ashwamedhatwam (the essence or sap of ashvamedha)

( and to get the horse back to His soul after a complete cycle of evolution) pashun (animals) devatavya prati (to the deities) ouhat( slaughtered, sacrificed)

(animals were sacrificed to the deities; {thus as long as we do not know the source, origin, we remain subjugate to the deities or under their control; animal also means creatures with animal instincts}) tasmat (thats why) sarvadevatam(to all the deities) prokShitam(given; given for sacrifice) prajapatyam(the animals; the beings of creation) aalavantey (are realized back or returned) (This is why all the animals/creatures scarified to the deities are realized back or they return to the Soul). aeShah(this) ha vai (is) ashvamedhah(ashvamedaha) ya(who) aeSha(like this) tapatey(is warming/radiating)! (This is the one who is ashvamedha who is thus radiating {the life; warmth}). It is worthy to note the word samvatsara used in the above text is to state the period or cycle of time and at the end of which the creation returns to the creator. I have translated the word as a cycle of evolution or nourishment. samvatsara = sama + vatsara. sama conveys the meaning of right measure or full or complete. vatsara means year and a similar word vatsa means year as well as child, offspring. So, samvatsara means the time period required to perfectly nourish or develop an offspring or an entity that is created. Thus at the end of the period, after the complete nourishment, the Creature identifies itself with the Creator and thus returns. Thus the meaning of Creator will get the horse back to His soul after a complete cycle of evolution is that every grain of creation will identify itself with the origin one day after the cycle is complete. This is the collapse of the expanding universe; this is the slaughter of the sacrificial horse. It is also noteworthy that mukhya (principal) praaNa (universal life god/goddess or universal animation) has been described as the deity (goddess) called dUr (meaning distance) in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (First Chapter, Third Brahmin). It is quoted like this-----sa vai aeSha devata (that this deity) dUr namoh (is named as dUr), dUram hi asya mrityu (death remains away from her); dUram (distant) vai asmat (from the one) mrityu bhavati(the death remains), ya(when the one) aevam(like this) veda(knows). (This deity is called dUr as death remains away from her; the death remains at a distance from the one who knows like this.) The word dUr( also dur) means distance and also difficult. The deity named dUr is the goddess durgaa (also dUrgaa) and she belongs to yajur veda. praaNa, who is the active consciousness, whose activity is revealed as the universal regulations, periods, cycles of time, creation, existence and annihilation, whose presence in us is our life, is called durgaa because death stays away from praaNa. As death is an activity of praaNa, a form of consciousness, so death is also a deity, a conscious universal personality. When we see duality or feel distance, we feel it inside us, not anywhere else! Thus when we know praaNa, when we know Consciousness is everything, death is no longer death. As long as we do not know, we see duality we see distance. The universe is expanding. Everyone is getting away from the other; the further is moving away quicker! This is when we live in inertness, we do not know consciousness. Otherwise in praaNa, in consciousness all duality is held, all distance is held in a singularity. The goddess durgaa kills the demon called mahiShaasura. mahiShasura= mahiSha `

+asura. mahiSha = (mahi= greatness;) + Sha(dissected). asura= asu(praaNa) + ra(ra~njana---hue; ra~njto paint; ra~njan- colouring)----the colour or shine of praaNa hides praaNa , the completeness or Oneness gets covered, only the dissected part or the creation becomes prominent; the shine takes the prominence----such a personality is called mahiShaasura whose personality is shining but it hides the ONE or the source behind. This is required to make the duality perfect; thus the One remains covered and the duality or dissection prevails to realize the creation. This is killed or this duality is removed by durgaa when the cycle of evolution is going to be complete. The goddess durgaa is celebrated all over in India but in the rituals of her worship there is no direct reference to ashvamedha though the worship of the goddess durgaa is same as ashvamedha yaj~na Idol worship, arrival of Universal life in a specified dimension. The word aaya means arrival. It is the arrival of the Universal life in every entity or arrival as every entity. This is air, the mood, life in every individual. There is a major part in idol worship called praaNa pratiShThaa. It has principally three steps, aavaahana (i.e inviting the Universal praaNa), then pratiShThaa (settlement or dwelling of praaNa in the idol or in the desired dimension, visarjana(immersion ceremony or return to the universal form). It is interesting to note the Sanskrit word er= aa + Ir, means to bring near. May be the word air is related to er. The etymological meaning of er = aa +Ir, could be like this----aa----arrival, approach; Ir= to go, to move, to bring to life. So the Universal life, air, flows in you as active or flowing you; as your life. It means, your life (aayu) is the way the universal air (vaayu) is flowing in you. {Written by the vision whatever received from the Seer (Shri) Bijoykrishna Chattopadhaya(1875-1945) of Howrah, West Bengal and his principal disciple (Shri) Tridibnath Bnaerjee(1923-1994.--- This article was earlier published in Scribd.------Debkumar Lahiri} (you may write to the author at dkldk@rediffmail.com or debkumar.lahiri@gmail.com for any comments or query)

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