Theme 12: One Journey, One Calendar
Part One: Introduction
OM
bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt
Rigveda 3.62.10
The Gayatri Mantra:
‘We choose the Supreme Light of the divine Sun;
we aspire that it may impel our minds.”
(translation, Sri Aurobindo)
Sri Aurobindo calls the Gayatri Mantra, ‘the chosen formula of the ancient Vedic religion’ and adds, ‘may we, with Gayatri, open our thoughts to the supreme Godhead, may we be impelled to move with the gods toward the solar world where resides the ‘supreme vision of man’ (The Secret of the Veda, Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 15, p. 480).
All the people throughout the earth who daily recite the glorious Gayatri mantra (above) aspire to join the ‘Guardians of the Light’, as Sri Aurobindo calls them, as they ascend toward the ‘luminous supramental heaven of Swar’. And what and where is Swar? And why was this ‘light’ of Swar to be protected?
Thea’s ‘applied cosmology’ takes up where Sri Aurobindo leaves off. She supports his concept that the Vedic Rishis had a highly developed sense of oneness of the Earth that is hardly known today. She refutes the ideas presented in a published article (D Chakrabarti, The Hindu, 6.2.2001) in which the author attempts to ‘drive a wedge between ancient Indian culture and the contemporary’. Thea indicates there may appear to be a severance from that ‘original seed’ of the Veda at a certain point in the evolution of consciousness. With the rise of Buddhism and the emphasis on ‘other-worldliness’, that consciousness of unity the Rishis enjoyed no longer permeated the civilisation. This was a necessary deviation and no doubt a painful one; the myths of the Puranic Age were the result of a nation under siege, and the Vedic seed took refuge in these ‘profound and delightful collections’ (Thea, the Sanctity of Materialism, 2001).
But in actual fact, she concludes, there was and is no schism between the most ancient Veda and the Hinduism of today. The ‘original seed’ made its way through the Ages, and reveals a connected process; it remains ever faithful to that seed experience.
Rather, what is happening today is a confusion – a result of the split between the sacred and the scientific. Cosmology suffered a blow when the Sayana (Tropical) Zodiac was replaced by the Nirayana (Constellational) Zodiac. Instead of the Earth’s own measure prevailing as in the Vedic Age, with primary importance given to the seasons and the calculation of the shortest and longest days of the year, the scientist stepped in and replaced the wisdom of the Seer. (ibid)
Part One:
The Vedic Journey
Sri Aurobindo describes ‘Swar’ as a state of Truth-Consciousness, hidden on the supramental plane, characterized by a wideness of higher being, a divine existence free and large. (The Secret of the Veda, op cit). To find or ascend to this consciousness located in the home of the gods, in the solar world, is both a battle and a journey. He associates it specifically with time, the Year (as in RV X, 62: ‘by the truth, in the revolution of the year, they broke Vala’).
He also refers to a specific duration of time in the journey, the ninth month through the tenth month (of the year), when the Aryan Warriors can overcome obstacles in the way and find and release the hidden rays of Sun/Light from the caves of the Panis.
It is false to think the Ancient Ones were ignorant of the ’motion of the spheres’ because they had no scientific knowledge, Thea affirms. They honored the annual revolution of the earth round the Sun and used the zodiac as a guide for their yearly journey (Symbols and the Question of Unity, 2nd ed. 2020, pp. 18-19). In fact, the Vedic civilization was so familiar with the cosmic script, they organized the entire society, their worship and festivals, around what they called, ‘the sacrifice’ of the year.
They saw the correspondence between the Earth’s revolution around our Sun, through the ecliptic, as the same inner journey of the soul to discover the Divine Truth-Consciousness or Swar. The fact that the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, not a circle, helps us to see this correspondence between the physical and the psychological, as well (image right). Thea explains her graphic:
‘Thus, mid-point in the ellipse is Aries, Cosmic Dawn, about March 21st. From there it swings away from the Sun and at its farthest point we are in the sign Cancer, in July, Cosmic Midnight, which represents in fact the plunge into inconscience, the “fall”, the movement farthest away from the Divine (Sun), the birth of the ego.
‘The movement continues around to the sign of Yoga, Libra, the other mid-way point opposite Aries. This is Cosmic Sunset, the sign of the awakening of consciousness; it occurs at the end of September. And from here we are brought to the fullest light in Cosmic Midday (Capricorn), the beginning of January, when the Earth is at its closest physical distance from the Sun. It is, in fact, the sign of the Golden Age, the Divine Mother in her most perfect manifestation.’ (ibid, p. 18)
The ancients’ journey through the year was fully in tune with the perfection of the Earth and how it worked. In Thea’s words, ‘they looked to the heavens and saw only a mirror of themselves’ (ibid). The Earth year was ‘a time-axis’ around which all citizens of that ancient civilization found their place. The Makar Sankranti, as the ‘gateway’ of the Sun’s entry into Capricorn marked the starting point of the Festival of Light – the most important time of the journey. On this day the entire civilization gathered to pay homage and to ‘seek the light’.
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A shift occurred in the Vedic Dharma, about 2500 years ago, that produced a deep wound ‘in the heart and soul of the civilisation’ (Thea, The Evolutionary Avatar in the Cosmic Harmony and in Contemporary Vedic Culture, The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 8, no. 1). The realisation of Nirvana or dissolution was a part of that undermining; Thea writes that ‘the Vedic civilisation was shaken to the core’ (p. 25).
In fact, this was part of a wave that swept across the entire world as science emerged as separate from the sacred, imposing its secular character upon the Earth. The seers who were entrusted with preserving the knowledge, traditionally the Brahmin caste, were forced underground and divested of their unique mission. All castes lost their distinct cosmic credentials. Finally secularization of society left only empty forms of worship and celebration (see Theme Four – Chaturvarna in the Veda).
And of course, since the Time Axis of the year – or the Calendar – integrated Vedic society, and because Makar Sankranti was their main festival, this was the element that became undermined first and foremost. Doubts were created about the legitimacy of measuring the date and timing for the celebration of the festival where none should have arisen. After all, it was very easy to determine the shortest day of the year; that was all that was needed.
The festival of Makar Sankranti began to be celebrated after the shortest day of the Northern Hemisphere – and in India, in 2021, it is celebrated on 15 January, 23 days after the true date. Year after year this mis-measurement has taken its toll; this single act of undermining was to have far reaching consequences. The Vedic civilization which was totally linked to the fourfold cosmic harmony of the Equinoxes and Solstices became dislodged from its sacred moorings and succumbed to forces of inertia (End Note3). Now, 2000 years later it is experiencing a confusion that is affecting the whole of society.
Part Two:
The Vedic Journey and The New Way
Our journey today through The Gnostic Circle (image left) takes the same path as that followed by the Vedic civilization: it is based on the fourfold structure and harmonies of our Earth and balanced on her four Cardinal Pillars, the Equinoxes and Solstices.
And central to both stands the Earth, because ‘the transformation of humankind into a divine species was intuited by the Rishis to be on this Earth and not elsewhere.’ (Thea, The New Way 3, Ch. 18, ‘Power of the One’, p. 254)
The Rishis used images we are all familiar with to show the Divine Light struggling to evolve from the darkness at the core of matter. ‘Light’ and ‘dark’ are the symbols found in their hymns to describe the process of the Divine One emerging in human evolution. In Thea’s words, their hymns describe and proclaim ‘the Eye of Consciousness in a progressive state of awakening’ (ibid).
Today, our collective journey, like the Vedic Journey, opens with the Vernal Equinox, at the first Cardinal Pillar of the Earth on 20/21 March, with Agni, as leader. His very powers assure victory, i.e., the evolutionary drive to the summit will be completed. Thea calls this first stage or quarter Cosmic Dawn. Our opening experience is the Dawn Goddess Usha and her white steeds coming with the reddening rays of the rising morning Sun. These rays are coveted by the powers of Darkness, the ‘obstructors’; and the Rig Vedic myth soon centres on the struggle to possess these precious ‘offspring of the Sun’.
Our first breath at the moment of birth into material creation, can be symbolized as ‘the rising cosmic Dawn’: we become a ‘riotous burst of solar essence, like the great dance of Shiva’… and out of this, we must make a cosmos. (ibid, p 258)
The Earth swings away from the Sun as it approaches the June Solstice, the second stage of the journey, at the zodiacal sign Cancer (image right). Thea calls this quarter of time, Cosmic Midnight, (rather than Midday) because the Earth is in fact physically the farthest away it will ever be from the Light of the Sun. Cosmic Midnight corresponds to the inner struggle now taking place as the journey gets underway; the travelers through the Gnostic Circle, like the Aryan warriors, must find their way through the ‘path of crookedness’ and retrieve from the caves of the Panis, the ‘precious rays of sunlight’, stolen by these ‘hoarders of the light’.
Today’s Aryan Warrior is a representative of the human race, a pioneer of the new way; his/her dharma is to assure that the journey to the summit is not obstructed. ‘The Divine One at the heart of matter must be unveiled’. It is in this quarter of the journey that one must plunge into that darkness and find the ‘tiny particle of Light’, that luminous Ray coveted by titans and gods, which is our Soul.
‘When the individual experiences the tiny “seed” in the innermost core of his being, and when this has become an active ingredient in his evolution of consciousness… he/she becomes a whole and complete system…’ (ibid, p 258).
The movement continues toward the September 20/21 Equinox, at the zodiacal sign of Libra. At this third quarter of the yearly journey, called Cosmic Sunset, the yellowing rays of the sun are seen once again. However, at this critical juncture in the evolving consciousness, the soul is very far from ‘the light’, half way through the journey (or at the lower hemisphere in the circle – image left). A ‘reversal’ must be made in order to proceed toward higher dimensions.
Although the awakening soul desires to return to the Origin or union once again with the Divine, the Light, the rise upward demands a plunge into a deeper consciousness. And this is difficult, for humankind at this stage of evolution has an incomplete vision of the journey and the goal. For most people, Death reigns supreme and it is the end of the journey; it appears that there is no possibility of going beyond that.
The traveler of The New Way sees and acknowledges the new vision, that a final quarter is now open and the journey does not end in Scorpio, sign of Death and Degeneration (the 8th zodiacal sign). With the coming of the Evolutionary avatar of this 9th Manifestation, a new pathway has been opened and the goal is destined to go beyond the mental stage of the journey. It is completed only when they reach the fourth and final quarter – ‘Swar’, their Supramental ‘home’. Thea writes about the yoga of this stage:
‘Diti, queen of night, has lulled the eye of human awareness into so deep a sleep that man cannot see what is closest to him. He cannot see the light of his own planet. He cannot realise that what he searches for in nirvanic voids and transcendent heavens he must know and manifest here. Because as an Earth being, as a child of the Earth there is nowhere else for him to experience this heaven but here. The Aryan brings about the marriage of Heaven and Earth on his very own planetary home.’ (ibid, p. 257)
The Earth’s orbit moves round toward the sun once again, and from 21/22 December through March, the Earth is closest to the Light of the Sun, fully under the midday Sun. It is Cosmic Midday, the highest position of the Sun, ‘uttarayana’, that is, the sun’s rays cast no shadow. Today’s warrior, like the Aryan traveler, has successfully fought his/her own battles, through their own field of yoga, their very own Kurukshetra, and they are ready to enjoy the victory. They stand at the portals of Swar, and know this realm of light to be our own planet Earth.
‘It is a cosmological phenomenon we are living’, writes Thea; ‘the Aryan warrior, male and female, performs that magical alchemy for the Earth in his or her own consciousness being…’ (ibid).
‘Swar’ of the Veda covers the last segment of the zodiacal wheel, comprising the signs Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. The ‘Gateway’ to the final quarter is Capricorn. Any wonder, Thea asks, why the tenth sign of the Zodiac has been celebrated as the primary festival throughout India? Any wonder why the undermining by the falsehood attacked this festival and dislocated its timing from the December Solstice, shortest day of the year?
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Related Books: One Journey, One Calendar
References: One Journey, One Calendar
About Skambha
Aeon Centre of Cosmology (ACC), (situated on the land known as Skambha,) was established in 1986 near Perumalmalai in the Palani Hills of Tamil Nadu, South India, by Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea). The Centre ‒ 18 km below the tourist area of Kodaikanal ‒ stretches
Celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, 9th Evolutionary Avatar
A paper submitted by Aeon Centre of Cosmology, Kodaikanal Tamil Nadu Last December, Prime Minister Modi announced that 2022 would be dedicated to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s birth. He aptly referred to Sri
Cosmology in the Rig Veda
The recent articles of David Frawley and Michael Witzel concerning a possible historic content in the Rig Veda have opened up areas that need to be explored. It is an undeniable fact that the work of scholars such as Frawley has dealt a blow to the upholders of the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), the colonial-inspired speculations on the origins of Indian civilisation. It was simply the product of a mindset that had to justify colonisation and wholesale destruction of ancient cultures. Finally it is being laid to rest and other voices are heard.
Refutation of Shri Avtar Krishen Kaul’s
There was no time earlier to reply to Avtar Krishen Kaul’s (AKK hereinafter for brevity’s sake) recent paper, though we are all familiar with his basic premise: there are no symbols and signs of the zodiac (Rashis) in the Veda. Since these are widely found throughout the later texts such as the Puranas and works on Jyotish, his contention is that they are of Babylonian/Greek origin. They were then imported into India and widely adopted. This follows orthodox scholarship entirely and does not seek to probe deeper. In fact, no one really knows where and when these symbols arose.
Movement for the Restoration of Vedic Wisdom – Message 1 from Thea 8 November 2006
Friends, we have been drawn together for a common purpose and with a common goal: concern for the fate of the Sanatan Dharma. There has been a deterioration setting in over the centuries, and its pace increases now. This must now be arrested. The time has come.
Why ‘Vedic Astrology’ Should NOT be Taught in Universities
The question of including ‘Vedic Astrology’ in the curriculum of certain universities has become a ranging topic. The reasons are not difficult to comprehend. Given this fact, perhaps it is time to clear away some cobwebs for the benefit of both astology’s detractors and its adherents. After this, whether or not ‘Vedic Astrology’ should be included in university curricula can perhaps be dealt with in a more impartial manner. For the problem lies in the fact that both scientist and astrologer harbour serious misconceptions about the subject.
The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 8, Number 1, April 1993
‘…we are able to appreciate that something occurred right at the time I have pinpointed… This period was the time of Gautam the Buddha, as well as the rise of Jainism. But it was also the beginning of the Age of Pisces, or 234 BC. It is important to note for our study that this is considered to be the period, covering perhaps half a millennium…that the shift from the Earth-oriented measure of the solstice to the constellational sphere took place, in exclusion of all the rest. Thus, in the 6th century Varahamihira corrected the Hindu calendar, according to scholars, so that the precessional point would be more ‘accurate’.
(At that time) true and higher Knowledge … become the property of the Cosmic Ignorance – i.e., the undivine Maya, or the lower Prakriti divorced from Purush, or Form devoid of sense; and this ‘empty space’ is then usurped and becomes the habitat of the Cosmic Lie. This separation, this divide is what characterises the Cosmic Ignorance.’
The Vishaal Newsletter, volume 7, number 4, October 1992
‘…in order to dissolve the consciousness we call Vritra (covered in shadows), it is simply a question of introducing a different alignment, one closer to the Capricorn midday position, and all that this signifies. In other words, a shift from the binary to the unitary system. With this accomplished, Vritra dissolves simply because that off-centre condensation can no longer take place…’
Reflections on Sri Aurobindo’s contribution to the evolution of consciousness on his 143rd birth anniversary, 15 August 2015
‘Some believe he (Sri Aurobindo) never stated he was an avatar. Well, if not him who then? Who else had even conceived of the supramental Truth-Consciousness? In his published Letters on Yoga, Section VII entitled ‘The Purpose of Avatarhood’, he explains not only avatarhood in general, but his own role, while clarifying many misgivings. And this draws me back to my seeing on August 11th. For the first time I really understood the imperative necessity of the Avatar heading the rest of his Line, and to bring about the conclusive victory all four stages have to have yogic representations with Earth time correspondences…’
2 Comments
You have done a great injustice by wrongly quoiting the reference to the hymn in Rig Veda. Repeatedly in this and in various other articles, the verse has been referred to as “Rig Veda 01.154.48”. The face is Hymn 154 only has 6 verses and is to Vishnu. The correct reference is most likely to be to Hymn 164 to Vishvadevas. I wanted to look at the original in Sanskrit and after a bit of search identified as Hymn 164 and not 154.
Please correct it. Thank you.
Now I need to search in Atharvaveda text to see if the reference is correct!
PS: It is always prudent to check and recheck especially when one quotes a scripture.
Thank you for the correction. We have updated the website.