Directions and Deities, the Gestures of the Universal Consciousness.

(Words in italics are the ‘Itrans’ versions of Sanskrit words (refer http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-

koeln.de/monier/).

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The directions are our inclinations. When you incline toward something you incline in your consciousness. Thus your trends are determined by directions. Every direction or trend in you is a form of your consciousness. If you are running after money, it is in your consciousness where the whole thing happens.

Universally, there is a deity, i.e., an aspect or a personality of Universal Consciousness, who represents a particular direction or in control of that direction in every entity.

We look forward in expectation, we look up toward the heaven, we look down in despondency, we look back to bridge a link. We have gestures and orientations. We are now looking at the orientations and gestures of the Universal Consciousness who is represented by each of us.

The physicality is an extension of consciousness or more correctly the physical aspect or physical form of consciousness. When we describe something that is inert or physical we describe our consciousness or feelings or the way we know that.

Thus our every action in physical frame can be traced to subtlety, to transcendental realm.

When we look forward (an action of eyes), we put our steps, we walk (an action of feet), and it is toward front, toward east (the direction of the sun or where we first find the sun).

The eye or our vision and the sun are established in each other. The movement, movement toward what we desire is in the eastern direction. We move toward what is in front. Time or motion of time is the movement generating from the Sun. The vision and movement happen together, because we move toward what we desire and we look at what we desire. The time moves forward, toward the east, where the desired event will rise. What is desired is called ‘’iShTa’’ in Sanskrit and is the root of the word ‘east’.

It is the time, whose visible centre is the Sun; time that changes everything; it is the time that moves and that makes everything to move. So there is no error in saying that the Sun moves, that the Sun moves across the sky.

Like the radiant sun, the eyes are flagrant with all your feelings.

The sun, called ‘aaditya’, is the son of ‘aditi’. ‘aditi’ is the goddess without duality. The word ‘aditi’ is also from the word ‘adana’ meaning ‘act of eating’. Sun, ‘aaditya’ is the centre of creation (of time, dimensions, shapes) and the joy (eating, assimilation, integration). Time eats everything, assimilates everything and thus we evolve and find our identity in the Universal one. Thus we get amalgamated, assimilated in the Oneness.

(The active centre of assimilation is the Moon which is inside the realm of the Sun, the whole creation is radiated, refracted from the Sun and in the return mode the Sun, the Soul, is embracing every one, which is the inner shine, internal shine, the reflection, the Lunar centre. Sun---to know, to become-- this is refraction, revelation; moon---to feel what is known or what is formed---this is absorption, inner shine, reflection.)

The sun has been also termed as ‘mitra’ meaning friend because we look forward or toward the east (iShTa) for what we desire or for the desired event. He brings forth the events to us. We always desire

for the next day to come, we always desire to see the next sunrise, we always desire to continue the living. So he, the sun, is ‘mitra’ or the friend. Every fulfillment brings the light, brings the day!

Thus, the Sun is the god who controls over the direction called ‘east’ and is the ‘’eye’ in us.

A quote from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is like this (questions are asked by the priest ‘shakalya’ and answers are given by the great seer ‘yaj~navalka’):

‘(Question): Kim devatoh (To which deity) asyam(this) prachyam(eastern) dishi(direction) asi(belongs)?

(Answer): aditya(aaditya-the sun) devatoh(god) iti .

Question: sah (That) aadityoh (aaditya— sun) kasmin (where) pratisthitoh (is founded)?

Answer: chakshushi (In the eye) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) chakshuh (the eye) pratisthitam (is foundeded)?

Answer: rUpeshu (In the visions/ in the colours and shapes) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) rUpaNi (the visions, the colours and shapes) pratishthitani (are established)?

Answer: hridaye (In the heart) iti ha ubacha (thus he said); hridayena hi (certainly by the heart)

rUpaNi(the visions, the colours and shapes) janati(one knows);

Heart is the centre of all the feelings. The colours, shapes, dimensions, visions are part of knowing or feeling. Physical heart is the outer cover of this centre (hRidaya) and part of it. There is a saying, ‘hRidayastitha lochanam’ (eyes are located in the heart).

In the Vedas, there are certain paired deities, certain personalities of universal consciousness described in pair. ‘mitra’ makes one such pair with ‘varuNa’. ‘varuNa’ is the deity or that aspect of consciousness, who covers everything; when anything is not active it remains shrouded by ‘varuNa’. As the day does not exist without the veil of night behind, so the two deities, ‘mitra’ and ‘varuNa’ always co-exist.

When any specific event happens, when consciousness takes a specific form, i.e. when any particular thing you know or feel, then that feeling takes the prominence and rest all is kept aside or remains at the back or remains shrouded. Thus the sun rises in the background of darkness. One event sets and the next rises. We get through a series or sequence, called ‘krama’. We take one by one, the events happen sequentially. Thus, there is a phrase in the Vedas, ‘ahoratomoy puruSha’, i.e. the entity controlled by the sequences of ‘day and night’.

Suppose you are writing and you suddenly see a colourful butterfly, your writing immediately gets covered and the butterfly takes the prominence; not only that in the back ground your instincts with respect to butterfly become active.

What is present now is setting in the west and what is future now is rising in the east. When it rises, it takes you in it, and all the past is shrouded to make the present as present. The deity who controls the ‘west’, the ‘back’, the ‘posterior’ is ‘varuNa’. What goes back, sets in the west, makes basis of the future. The way we lived, we passed the days, we lived the past life, decides how the future days will be. We achieve, we acquire the events from the time, from the universal consciousness in every moment. Every feeling, every moment in our consciousness is our formation in the way we feel or we live that moment. We feel a flower means in our inside we become the flower. This is an acquirement, achievement. This is really getting the flower in the way you feel it, know it. This is called ‘ap’ in Sanskrit which commonly means water. ‘ap’ actually means ‘aapti’ or acquirement. It is water because when you get something you desire, it quenches your thirst, cools you. So, whatever you

desire, you get in the realm of ‘mitra’, when you achieve it, you feel it, you get it, you are cool, it settles in you, and subsequently you are in the next event, in the next rise of sun, in the next moment. It settles means it creates a print an impression. This is also the realm of memory, water, varUna.

Thus the word ‘east’ is connected to the Sanskrit word ‘iShTa’ meaning ‘desired or wished’ and corresponds to the word ‘’mitra’’ meaning friend; and the word west is connected with the word ‘asta’ meaning ‘setting’, ‘end’ etc.

Thus what gets settled in you, remains covered by varuNa, and you are in the next event. varuNa is the god of water, ocean. In Sanskrit, ocean is called ‘samudra’, meaning the ‘perfect impression’.

The text (Vedas---Brihadaranyaka Upanishad) says that varuNa who is the deity of the west is established in ‘ap’ or water. They are corresponding. And the water is established in the semen or virility (‘reta’) and semen is established in the heart. Water, semen, means from whom something as before is generated! Something alike is generated. This is vitality, the power of creating. The ONE creates ONE from the ONE and the created ONE is different from the ONE and also is the same as the ONE. Like your children who resembles you. This is called ‘pratirUpa’ or corresponding image or replica.

When we see a flower, we do recall the flowers which we saw in the past and which are now covered in the past, covered under the water, covered by varuNa! It is for this reason the re-creation happens from water, re-creation happens with semen. That we are born again and again, we come back from water! (May be the water bag and the fish like embryo convey a significance to this! May be the vast oceans surrounding the lands signify this!).This water, this divine water, is also called ‘kaaraNa(cause) vaari(water)’, meaning water of ‘cause’, or the cause behind everything. A quote from Brihadranyaka on the direction west or posterior (pratIchI) is like this (questions are asked by the priest ‘shakalya’ and answers are given by the great seer ‘yaj~navalka’):

“Question: Kim devatoh (To which deity) asyam(this) pratIchyam(western) dishi(direction) asi(belongs)?

Answer: varuNa (varuNa-the deity who covers) devatoh(god) iti .

Question: sah (That) varuNah (varuNa) kasmin (where) pratisthitoh (is founded)?

Answer: apsu (In the water) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) apah (the water) pratisthitam (is founded)?

Answer: retasi (In the semen,virility) iti.

Question: : kasmin nu (Where) retah (the semen,virility) pratisthitoam (is founded)?

Answer: hridaye (In the heart) iti ;

tasmat api (that’s why) pratirupam (similar one---a child looking very similar to its parent) jatam(when is born) ahuh(everyone says) hRidayat ib (as if from the heart) sRiptah(it has come out), hridayat ib (as if of the heart) nirmitah(it is made); hridaye hi eba (thus

in the heart) retah(the semen, the virility) pratisthitam vabati (remains established) iti.

The cause that makes us to come back again and again, to repeat ourselves is ‘water’. That’s why water is behind the physical dimensions. That’s why water dissolves solid and solid remains within it by losing its shape. That’s why we see our image in water. Laws of reflections are true but reflection from water conveys more than the laws of reflection.

This water is divine, created in consciousness and physical water is part of it. Water or any liquid takes the shape of the receptacle. It is true that the receptacle holds the water and but what is more true is that the receptive power, power to assume and hold a particular shape is within the water or in the liquid.

Water also dissolves. It dissolves the shapes and they remain within it without the shape. The salts get ionized when dissolved. These ions, electricity, indicate the inner radiance in water, in ‘ap’.

The seers have said that the solid crust of the earth was formed from water (liquid). There are these quotes in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which are significant:

‘apah (the water) vai (certainly) arka(is the core of the radiance); tat yat (that in it) sharah asIt (was the upper creamy layer) tat (that) samhanyata(became perfectly solid);sa (that/ she) pRithivI avabat (became the earth)’.

Water, liquid, is the phase after radiance. Vedas have mentioned the sequence as ‘teja (radiance)’, ‘ap’ / ‘jala’ (water), ‘anna’ (food, fragments of ‘an’ or fragments of animation or fragments of ‘praaNa’; ‘the earth’ or ‘formed and dimensional universe’). First it radiates, the soul splits, which is a form of Consciousness; form of consciousness means a word; then it condenses and then takes the dimensions. This is how the words are forming in you in every moment. This is action of Time (kaala) in you. This active form of Consciousness from whom all actions, animations are generated is called praaNa. Deep in you, it is radiation. The soul splits, which is a word, which is a fragment of the soul, and whose outer cover is your ‘self’ at that point of time. Then it condenses, starts denser like the clouds in the space —this is the emotional sphere in you----then it becomes more formed, here it gets the shape of an articulated word, formed, crystallized, positive idea---this is mind, where you are active in a more defined way and immediately outward of mind is the physicality. The whole physicality is being held in the mind of the Universal Soul or Universal consciousness.

{Thus, these are the three universal centres, three centres of fire, three centres of animation or revelation by Consciousness-----Solar centre (aahavanIya agni), Lunar centre (dakShiNa-agni), Terrestrial centre (gRihapati agni).}

The Universal consciousness, the living personality, whose one form is the sense of ‘achievement, fulfillment’ in us, who fills us with the feeling of cool and cleanliness, who takes the shape and holds the shapes, dimensions and solids, who dissolves the shapes and in whom the entity exists but without the physical dimensions, who covers the earth, is the divine water ‘ap’; and ‘varuNa’ is a personality or an aspect of this divine water. In this divine water, we remain without dimension. ‘Water’ is the outermost part (or the body) of ‘dakShiNa agni’ (the southern fire, the Fire, the ‘praaNa’ who controls our life and death and controls the processing of us through the repeat journey of life and death), i.e. controls our evolution. Thus when we return to the earth ‘water’ remains behind us like the ocean in the back ground of the land.

In Chandogya Upanishad the bodies or parts of ‘dakShiNa agni’ are stated as ‘ap’(water), ‘dik’(directions), ‘nakShatra’(stars) and ‘chandramaa’(moon). By this ‘agni’(‘dakShiNa agni’) or southern animation or by this activity of Consciousness (Universal Soul), we are evolving and that means our birth and death and rebirth and so on. The deity who is in control of the south is mentioned as ‘yama’, the deity of death.

(Brihadaranyaka )Upanishads have described the directions in clockwise manner. Starting from the east the sequence is like this----east, south, west and north. A fifth direction called ‘dhruva’ meaning constant or unchangeable has been mentioned at the end.

South is an extension. It connects the east with the west, beginning with the end. South is that inclination of ‘praaNa’ which is directly related to our activities or work. It is for this reason the south or the right hand is the principle organ to discharge work. Whichever hand it may be, left or right, the direction by which the work is controlled is the south or the right. In Sanskrit, there is a word ‘dakShiNaa’ which means donation to the priest and has the same root as that of the word ‘dakShiNa ’

(meaning south; probably the word ‘dexter’ has a bearing to the word ‘dakShiNa’ meaning ‘south’ as well as ‘right’ and to the Sanskrit word ‘dakSha’ meaning ‘dexterous’).

Donation actually means expansion of the self, to spread oneself along with the ‘praaNa’ or the flowing life god. You expand, spread yourself by donating. Such donation or ‘dakShNiaa’ is given to the priest in ‘yaj~na’, i.e. the rite in which oblation is offered to the sacred fire. The word ‘ya’ means to go and the word ‘j~na’ means ‘knowing’ or ‘one who knows’ or the ‘knower’.

The English word south may be connected with the word ‘saatha’ which in Indian language means ‘together with’ and derived from the Sanskrit word ‘saha (together ) sthita (staying or existing)’.

In Chandogya, the direction south (‘dakShiNa’) is also named as ‘sahamaanaa’ meaning ‘who remains with’.(saha=with + maanaa= measure). This is ‘Shakti (shakti )’. Consciousness, is mingled in us as our ‘self’, as our vision, as our touch, as our abilities. This is ‘Shakti’ (shakti) and with ‘shakti’ or with her, or with this mingling, we are active and evolving. How we are and what we are doing now that decide how we will be and what we will be doing later.

The word ‘ya’ means ‘to go’ or ‘to move’. The word ‘j~na’ means ‘knowing’ or ‘one who knows’. (In fact the word ‘know’ is connected to the word ‘j~na’; there is a good similarity in the way these two words are pronounced.)

So, the word ‘yaj~na’ (which normally means the act of oblation in sacred fire) means the action or motion of the knower or Consciousness or the action of knowing. You laugh, but actually Consciousness laughs. You and your laugh or ‘laughing you’ is a part of Consciousness. In the act of ‘laughing’, which is an action of consciousness in whom the entire knowledge of ‘laughing’ or ‘act of laughing’ is contained. Whomsoever has /had laughed in whatsoever way and wherever, all those actions or events and the process of laughing are here in the Universal Consciousness. It is the Consciousness who laughed/has laughed in all the ‘laughs’. That action is behind everybody’s laughing in all the dimensions of time and space. So, this is the universal meaning of ’yaj~na’. Every work, every actions of us is ‘yaj~na’. In every activity there is ‘ya’ or action or motion or control and ‘j~na’, the knower. The knower is the one who knows and his knowing (act of Consciousness) is the whole action and its control. Though the Knower knows, still the Knower remains unchanged, uninvolved, and immutable. By knowing Consciousness changes, still remains unchanged. By knowing Consciousness gets involved but still consciousness remains uninvolved. This unchanged, uninvolved aspect is called ‘asa~Nga’. Knowledge is ‘j~naana’ in Sanskrit. If this word is broken it is ‘j~na + ana’ , i.e. knower + animation. Knowing means the flow of ‘praaNa’. Activities of ‘j~na’ (activities of knower, activities of immutable or unchangeable soul) is ‘ana’ or ‘an’(animation); ‘an’ means ‘praaNa’---who is all animation. Our knowing is only a portion of the knowing or action of Consciousness. When Consciousness sees, in that action there is ‘seer’, there is the process of seeing or vision, there is the sight or the view that is seen----all are part of Consciousness. Thus our vision is just a part of this. But in oneness, there is only one, the viewer, the viewing and the vision---all same!

Where there is only oneness, there the one is immaculate, because there is no one to touch, none to taint, none to smear. Oneness and duality are in One here. We get smeared, coloured, tainted, changed, decayed at one end and in the core we are unchanged, immaculate, immutable, always the same. It is the One ever old (chira puraatana) and always new (nitya navIna)!

Now the quotes from Brihadranyaka on the direction south are as below(questions are asked by the priest ‘shakalya’ and answers are given by the great seer ‘yaj~navalka’):

“Question: Kim devatoh (To which deity) asyam(this) dakShinaayam (southern) dishi(direction) asi(belongs)?

Answer: yama devatoh (yama-the god of death) iti .

Question: sah (That) yama (yama) kasmin (where) pratisthitoh (is founded)? iti

Answer: yaj~ney (in the yaj~na---in the action of Consciousness) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) yaj~nah (yaj~na) pratisthitoh (is established) iti?

Answer: dakShinayam iti (In the offering; in the sacrifice;) iti.

Question: : kasmin nu (Where) dakShinaya (the offering; the expansion) pratisthita (is established

)? Iti.

Answer: shraddhayam (In the veneration) iti ;yadahi(when) shryat dahttey (they revere) dakShiNam dadati (they donate or they sacrifice to whom they revere or they donate or they sacrifice when they revere.)

Question: : kasmin nu (Where) shraddhaa ( veneration) pratisthita (is established)? Iti.

Answer: HRidaye (in the heart). iti ha ubacha(thus he answered). hirdayena (by the heart) shraddhaayam (the reverence) janati(is felt).’

‘yama ’ = ‘ya’ + ‘ma’. ‘ ma’/ ‘maa’= ‘maatraa’ or measure. ‘ya’=motion, action, control. ‘yama’ controls the processing. How a particular event will result in me is decided by ‘yama’, by the corresponding inclination (direction) of ‘praaNa’ toward the south. Each of us feel cold, but there is difference in the way in which each of us feels it. Each of us tastes sweet, but the taste of each is unique. This is determined by how you are embraced by the consciousness, how are your instincts, how you are developed in consciousness. This is the realm of the ‘southern’ direction.

‘yama’ , who is the deity of death, the personality of the Consciousness, who gives us the feeling of annihilation, is responsible for every change. Any change is a combination of ‘death’ of the previous ‘state’ and ‘birth’ of the next ‘state’. This is happening universally.

‘yama’, is the celebrated preacher of the eternal, immortal soul and taught Nachiketa as narrated in the part of the Vedas called ‘Kathopanishada’. ‘yama’ is the deity and is the cover of the Immortal soul. That there is change, that there is death, also shows that there is a state of immortality, immutable state.

Our every action is the result of the control exercised by the Consciousness, who is absolutely calm, without any action and is immutable soul in the core. Thus along with every action, change, there is unchangeable, immutable, omniscience state. Thus in every action there is ‘yama’, there is ‘ yaj~na’.

The word ‘shraddhaa’ is from the root word ‘shri’ meaning ‘resort or have recourse to’. Probably ‘shri’ is also the origin of the word ‘shelter’ (corresponding Sanskrit word is ‘aashraya’).

We cannot sacrifice ourselves, give ourselves to the One whom we do not trust. We work; we activate ourselves for something, for someone, out of a trust. We will not run after a goal unless we have the trust. Thus all our ‘dakShiNaa’ , all our spread, all our donation/oblation/offering /sacrifice, our work our commitment are resting on trust. Consciousness is the ultimate centre of trust, because everything has its foundation in Consciousness. The fire in which the deities offered the first oblation is known as ‘shraddhaa’. More you know someone closely, and find the one alike you, more you trust the one, more you can depend on the one. The One here is our root, we are made by Consciousness, we are made of Consciousness, and we are Consciousness, always ‘knowing’.

As we realize that the Consciousness is our source, the element of which we are made of, controlling us and is controlling the entire universe then for everything and anything we look at the Consciousness. We take recourse to Consciousness in every moment like an infant dependent on the mother.

There are a few more Vedic words which are notable in the current context (in the context of ‘yama, yaj~na and j~na’ as mentioned above).

They are:

‘yaj’ meaning ‘to consecrate’, ‘to sacrifice’ etc.

‘yajur-veda’ meaning the Veda containing the mantras called ‘yajus’. This is related to ‘yaj’. ‘yajur veda’ also means those aspects of ‘vedana’(=feelings) or consciousness which join the inside to outside and vice-versa. It is for this reason our sensory organs like eyes, ears are part of ‘yajur veda’(joining veda), as we travel inward and outward through these organs or doors (‘dwara’).

‘yoga’ meaning ‘the act of joining, yoking’.

‘yajamaana’--- the one who hosts a worship or oblation; one who is sacrificing or worshipping; one hosting a ‘yaj~na’ or worship.

Real sacrifice is joining, getting attached or extended to the divinity. Unless we know how divinity is functional in us in every moment and in our every activity we will not be a real ‘yajamaana’, we will not know how we are getting joined, churned and evolved. As long as we do not know this we are still in the process of evolving, but it is ‘kRiShNa (dark) yajur veda’, i.e. evolving without knowing or evolving in darkness. As we know, we start seeing this ‘sacrifice’, action of Consciousness’, it is called ‘shukla(white, illuminated) yajur veda’.

Animal sacrifice has a meaning if the ‘animal’ is elevated to a creature of higher plane or evolution by the sacrifice. If the priest who performs the rite on behalf of the ‘yajamaana’ can elevate the beast to a creature of higher plane then that sacrifice is a success. Sacrifice narrated in the Vedas is not a kind of black cult or killing of animals for feasting after the rite.

Sacrifice, oblation is also termed as ‘bali’ in Sanskrit and connected to the word ‘bala’ meaning strength. Our preachers have told us ‘balaya balih uchattey’ i.e. ‘because one gets strength or “bala” so it is called “bali” or sacrifice’. It is the divine strength that we get from sacrifice, by seeing divinity in all our actions. (Actually, ‘bala’ or strength means the ability or vigour to create, create by speaking the words and this also means the ability to split like the Universal soul who has spilt and created the universe by splitting.)

Principle in Vedas that says to kill an animal or to sacrifice an animal must be saying to kill one’s own animal instincts; to get rid of the animal instincts and enter into divinity.

An extract from mantras used in the rites for sacrificing is :

“ Om, yajnarthey(for the sake of ‘yaj~na’ or sacrifice to divinity) pashovo(the animals) sriShta (are created)

yajnarthey(for the sake of ‘yaj~na’ or sacrifice to divinity) pashu(the animals) ghatanam(are slaughtered)

atoh stam ghatayashami (so now I will slaughter you) tasmad (since) yajney ( in the oblation) badho(slaughter) abadho(does not result in killing).”

That’s why somewhere in the Vedas it is stated that in the oblation arranged by the deities, the beasts voluntarily offered themselves as the sacrificial animals.

By the ‘yaj~na’, by the motion of the Consciousness, by the flow of knowledge coming out of One knower in every entity, we are all active and restless, flowing and changing with time, getting evolved, getting above the darkness, getting rid of the animal instincts, entering into divinity.

Now the quote from Brihadranyaka on the direction north (questions are asked by the priest ‘shakalya’ and answers are given by the great seer ‘yaj~navalka’):

“Question: Kim devatoh (To which deity) asyam(this) udIchyam(northern) dishi(direction) asi(belongs)?

Answer: soma (soma-the moon, the divine nectar) devatoh(god) iti .

Question: sah (That) somah (soma) kasmin (where) pratisthitoh (is established)? iti

Answer: dIkShaayam iti (In the divine vision ) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) dIkShaayam (divine vision) pratisthitaa (is established)? iti

Answer: Satyae (In the truth) iti. tasmat api (that’s why) dIkShItam (to the one initiated with divine vision) ahuh{one(the preacher) says}—stayam vada(speak the truth).

Question: kasmin nu (Where) satyam (the truth) pratisthitam (is established)? Iti.

Answer: hRidaye(In the heart) iti ha ubacha(thus he answered); hRidayena(by the heart) hi (certainly) satyam (the truth) janati(is known); hridaye hi (certainly in the heart) satyam (the truth) pratisthitam vabati (is established) iti;

North is the direction that points to the divinity. North is called ‘udIchI ’. This word may be considered as ‘ud’(up or north) + ‘archi’(rays). The rays those go up, away from the mortality, are the rays toward north. Thus as we evolve while under the direction of the south god, as we evolve by the southern activities of the Consciousness, we shift toward the north. In the process of evolution we transit from the lower form of existence to higher and higher forms, we become human beings and further we enter into divinity. This divinity, natural ability to see divinity in everything is ‘dIkShaa’ (divine vision) mentioned in the quote from Brihadranyaka Upanishad above. { dIkShaa = the act of providing divine vision--divya (divine) + IkShaNa(vision)}. The north belongs to the deity ‘soma’. soma=saha(along with) + umaa. umaa=u(up,above) + maa(maatraa=measure). The measure of Consciousness that reveals divinity or brings divinity is ‘umaa’. Anything which is mortal, which belongs to the earth becomes divine if we can see that as the form of Consciousness. The more we see, more we shift to north, more we get ‘soma’. The first feel of seeing anything as form of Consciousness, as form of your consciousness, is that you realize that you are seeing or feeling it in you, inside you. This leads to the realm of ‘inner shine’, ‘antarIkSha’, or the realm of ‘moon’, the realm of ‘reflection’.

The centre in us, in all of us, inside us, from where our feelings or realization of feelings are controlled is Moon who is the centre of dakShiNa-agni. ‘soma’, the flow of divinity is effusing out of moon. But, as per the destiny or as per the destination, this divinity gets distributed with specific preference to each destination or to each entity. It gets divided and preferred through the different bodies or centres of ‘dakShiNa-agni’. These bodies (tanu) are chandramaa (moon), nakShatra (stars), dik-samUha(the group of directions) and ‘ap’(water). The root of astrology lies here.

The direction, the directive, under which the actions of the divinity is already defined and effective, is the south. North is the direction from where the divinity is descending toward south. This is called ‘Ishaana’( the One who controls). This is why the ‘soma’ form of ‘shiva’’ is ‘Ishaana’.

‘hum! Ishanaya somomurtaye shivaya namoha’ (I bow to the form soma of shiva the Ishana).

The moon, ‘soma’ is mentioned as the ‘door’ of the heaven in the Vedas. What is coming from north is transmitted through the moon, ‘soma’, controlling the south. After transmission, ‘soma’ gets phased, divided, among us by the stars (nakShatra), directions (dik), water (ap). Thus someone gets money, someone gets knowledge, someone suffers.....

North is the left. South is the right. North also called ‘uttara’= ut/ud(above) + tara (surpassing, going beyond). North means to go above the mortality, to ‘leave’ the mortality and go above to divinity. Thus it is ‘left’.

Thus now we see left and right, the two wings of ‘soma’ spread across, this is also the ‘fortnight’, the two weeks, the period over which the moon waxes and wanes, transits from purnima (full moon) to amavasya /amanava (new moon)’.The bird will now fly up, above, leaving the earth, up, up, toward

the north, toward ‘uttara’’. It is for all these reasons, in Sanskrit the word ‘pakSha’ means both ‘wing’ and ‘fortnight (one half of lunar month)’ and the word ‘pakShi’ means ‘bird’. In the Vedas, it has been mentioned that ‘indra’ became a bird and fetched the ‘soma’ for the gods.

The ‘dIkShaa’ (the divine vision) is founded in the ‘satya’ (the truth).

This reminds the Vedic hymn:

‘satyameba(only the truth) jayatey(wins), na (not) anritam(the untruth)

satyena (by the truth) pantha(path) vitato(strewn) devajano(the way to divinity)

jena(along which) akramya(stride) rishayoh (the seers) aptakama(having all desires fulfilled)

yatra (where) tat(that) satyasya(truth’s) paramam(supreme) nidhanam(abode)’’

(The truth only wins not the untruth

Way to the divinity is strewn by the truth

The way, along which the seers stride; seers are content with all desires fulfilled

It leads there, where the supreme abode of the Truth resides.) (Mundaka Upanishad)

Divinity is the plane of revelation. In any revelation the Truth is revealed. In all reality the Truth is realized. This is why when we perceive something by eye, which is the centre of revelation in us, we say, ‘it is true because we have seen it’.

Truth is established in the heart, because whatever we do genuinely we do it with heart. We are genuine in our heart.

The fifth direction is called ‘dhruva’ meaning ‘constant’ or ‘unchangeable’.

Now the quote from Brihadranyaka on the direction ‘dhruva’ (questions are asked by the priest ‘shakalya’ and answers are given by the great seer ‘yaj~navalka’):

“Question: Kim devatoh (To which deity) asyam(this) dhruvayam(unchangeable) dishyam(direction) asi(belongs)?

Answer: agni devatoh (fire, praaNa, the god animating every one) iti .

Question: sah (That) agnih (agni) kasmin (where) pratisthitoh (is founded)? iti

Answer: vaachi (In the word, in the voice ) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) vaak (word) pratisthitaa (is founded)? Iti

Answer: hRidaye(in the heart) iti.

Question: kasmin nu (Where) hRidayam (the heart) pratisthitam (is founded)? Iti

Answer: ahallik (you ahallika); iti ha ubacha ya~jnabalka(thus the seer ya~jnabalka addressed him);

(ahallika-may mean who cannot see even in ‘aha’ or in broad day light; who cannot see something obvious; aha (day) + lI (to disappear)

yatra (Where) aetat(this heart) anyatra asmat (exists somewhere else) manyasai(you think);yat (if) hi aetat(this heart) anyatra asmat sat (would have been existing separately from us), shavno(by the dogs) ba aenat aduh (we would have been devoured), bayansi(birds) ba aenat bimratheen ( would have pierced the bodies into pieces).{You blind, you think that the heart exists somewhere else; if it

would have been elsewhere, the dogs would have eaten up us or the birds would have pierced us into pieces; i.e. if there is no heart, no life in you, nobody bothers much if your body is devoured by the curs or holed by the birds.}

Heart holds us. Heart holds everything. All your near and dear ones, all that you think you own are held by the heart. Heart is behind the sense of ‘ownership’, so we say, ‘my child’, ‘my life’, ‘my money’. We are being held lovingly by gravity which is heart of the mother Earth. We cannot be without heart.

This aspect of holding everything, every entity by ‘praaNa’ has the seat in ‘hRidaya’ or heart. This is the space (gravity) where all the directions end up!

There are three aspects: kaala (praaNa)-time, dik (directions or directives), desha (space, heart).

Thus behind anybody, behind any embodiment, behind any space there is gravitation. Thus there is this universal heart, universal love in every space, in every nook corner, in every dimension, in every direction.

Thus elsewhere in the Vedas the directions are termed as ‘madhu naDI’ (streams of sweetness; streams of honey). (Chandogya Upansihad, Madhu Vidya{Lessons on sweetness}).

All directions are orientations of Consciousness. Thus the Vedas have said ‘tasya praachI dik praancha praaNa (his eastern direction is the streams of ‘praaNa’ named east), pratIchI dik pratyancha praaNaa (his western direction is the streams of praaNa named west)……….sarvey disha sarvey praana (all the directions are all the streams of praaNa)’.Thus all directions point to ‘praaNa’, the principal animation, the Fire burning as life in every one, flowing as time and changing everything, all the activities, all the moments……; this ‘praaNa’ is called ‘agni’ meaning ‘ag (agram--in front) + ni (nayati-leads)’; who leads everything or rather who is in the beginning of anything and everything!

dhruba is unchangeable, immutable soul or Consciousness in ‘inactivity’. When Consciousness becomes active, ‘praaNa’ is the name. Thus ‘dhruba’ is established in ‘praaNa ’, ‘agni’, the animated fire.

‘agni’, fire is established in the word, in ‘vaak’---the fundamental word! Consciousness splits in two forms in the beginning; in the beginning of every moment; which are ‘praaNa’(male) and ‘vaak’(female). It is like this; ‘vaak’ and ‘praaNa’ are two different aspects of Consciousness; ‘vaak’ means word, shakti; ‘praaNa’ is the Consciousness in activity; ‘vaak’ the goddess of word, the fundamental word, casts ‘praaNa’ in all the forms; like the ‘female’ takes the ‘male’ in her and reproduces as a separate entity. ‘praaNa’ and ‘vaak’ are the eternal couple, each is established in the other. Thus the river flowing is a ‘word’; it is created by the copulation of ‘vaak’ and ‘praaNa’; ‘vaak’ cast the ‘praaNa’ as the ‘river’. Thus the river is a word of Consciousness. Thus is the sky, thus are the trees and the hills, thus is the sand and everything, every being……….Thus everything has a name, thus everything we feel can be described, can be listened, can be worded. So, ‘vaak’ is founded in all the formed words, in everything that is worded, in everything that has a dimension, has a name, has an existence. So the Vedas have said that the radiance or illumined form of ‘vaak’ is ‘agni’ and the body of ‘vaak’ is the earth (= ‘artha’=meaning=anything which is realized), i.e. everything that has materialized is ‘vaak’. Everything which is materialized is held by the heart. Thus ‘vaak’ is established in heart, ‘hridaya’. Heart holds everyone, all the directions end in heart and space is formed. Thus toward physicality, the directions end in heart, gravity, space, physicality. At the other end, the directions end in ‘praaNa’ the flowing consciousness also called ‘kaala’ i.e. Time.

(We bow to the Seers, who established the Glory of Consciousness in those golden ancient days and who again came to rekindle the knowledge.)

{This article is written from the teachings received from the Seers Shri. Bijoykrishna Chattopadhaya (1875-1945) and his principle disciple Shri Tridibnath Bandopadhaya(1923-1994). ------Debkumar Lahiri.}

(you may write to the author at dkldk@rediffmail.com or debkumar.lahiri@gmail.com for any comments or query)