The Secret Of The Veda Aurobindo - HolyBooks.com

The Herds of the Dawn 127
gāva us.asa ˙m vāva´santa. And in the very next verse she is asked
to confirm or establish for the sacrificers gomad ratnam a´svāvat
purubhojah. , a state of bliss full of the light (cows), of the horses
(vital force) and of many enjoyments. The herds which Usha
gives are therefore the shining troops of the Light recovered by
the gods and the Angiras Rishis from the strong places of Vala
and the Panis and the wealth of cows (and horses) for which the
Rishis constantly pray can be no other than a wealth of this same
Light; for it is impossible to suppose that the cows which Usha
is said to give in the seventh verse of the hymn are different from
the cows which are prayed for in the eighth, — that the word
in the former verse means light and in the next physical cows
and that the Rishi has forgotten the image he was using the very
moment it has fallen from his tongue.
Sometimes the prayer is not for luminous delight or luminous
plenitude, but for a luminous impulsion or force; “Bring
to us, O daughter of Heaven, luminous impulsions along with
the rays of the Sun,” gomatīr is.a ā vahā duhitar divah. ,sāka ˙m
sūryasya ra´smibhih. , V.79.8. Sayana explains that this means
“shining foods”, but it is obviously nonsense to talk of radiant
foods being brought by Dawn with the rays of the Sun. If is.
means food, then we have to understand by the phrase “food
of cow’s flesh”, but, although the eating of cow’s flesh was not
forbidden in the early times, as is apparent from the Brahmanas,
still that this sense which Sayana avoids as shocking to the later
Hindu sentiment, is not intended — it would be quite as absurd
as the other, — is proved by another verse of the Rig Veda in
which the Ashwins are invoked to give the luminous impulsion
that carries us through to the other side of the darkness, yā nah.
pīparad a´svinā jyotis.matī tamas tirah. ,tām asme rāsāthām is.am
(I.46.6).
We can perceive from these typical examples how pervading
is this image of the Cow of Light and how inevitably it points to a
psychological sense for the Veda. A doubt, however, intervenes.
Why should we not, even accepting this inevitable conclusion
that the cow is an image for Light, understand it to mean simply
the light of day as the language of the Veda seems to intend?