Lexicon of Rig Veda

Lexicon

of Rig Veda

The word “five” is associated with Five-Dimensional system, that supplements the concept of seven worlds placed within three regions (steps of Vishnu).

Some spoke of a five-legged Father with twelve forms living in the supreme region of the Heaven; whereas others talk about the All-seeing, placed on a seven-wheeled with six spokes. (1.164.12).

The main difference between these two concepts is that whereas in the scheme of the seven-dimensional Manifestation, the levels of consciousness and the corresponding worlds of existence are located“vertically”¹, in the five dimensional scheme, these five regions are placed “horizontally” as five parts (“directions”) of the same world of existence or as five types of consciousness, five types of creatures living in this world. The possibility of five types of consciousness in each world is exists due to the fact that all seven rivers flow through each world of existence, bearing seven laws of work, vrata-s, the modes of action of consciousness. Moreover, since the two main rivers (bearing sat-cit-tapas and mayas, i.e. consciousness-existence and bliss, the principles of Sachchidananda) are present in all five types of creatures, they are not included in the series of those five rivers, where each river determines the existence of one of these five types. Therefore, the two higher rivers appear in the figure of the Father of a given world, giving existence to this world itself and to everything that is in it, while the five legs of this Father are the other five rivers that determine the five types of creatures of this world.

In addition, since the supreme world, Sat-Chit-Tapas, does not imply the presence of different types of beings in it, being the world of the One, this world is not included in a number of worlds which contains five peoples:

– harnessed six times five (3.55.18)

where the six are six separate worlds under Sat Chit Tapas, and five are five out of seven rivers flowing in a given world, five types of creatures:

– Indra supported six separate spaces, vi-stiraḥ, and five that are visible together , sam-dṛśaḥ (2.13.10).

– In that five-spoke wheel, everywhere moving, all the worlds stood up; its axis does not split, heavily loaded, truly, never breaks, having the same bushing (1.164.13).

In several riks we can see quite clear that the five peoples are not inhabitants of the five worlds located one above the other (since the mentioned qualities cannot take place at all five levels, especially at the lower ones), but are the neighbors living in the same world.

– Indra brings the force and power that is in neighboring peoples, the light of the five abodes (6.46.7).

– Indra reigns over the riches of the seeing five peoples (1.7.9);

– in the hands of Indra is the wealth of all five adobes (1.176.3); those your Indrian forces, which are in the five peoples (3.37.9);

– above, our unbreakable light in five peoples, like Svar, shines in the heights (2.2.10);

– those five bulls stand in the middle of the great sky (1.105.10).

¹ The vertical order means, that there is the vital plane above the physical one, the mental above the vital, etc. (although, perhaps, the image of the spheres inputted one into another is better, when within the sphere of supreme ether,– sat-chit-tapas, Svar,– is the Airspace of the Overmind and within this Airspace inserted the upper level of the Earth, mental consciousness, etc). Sri Aurobindo extrapolated this “vertical” arrangement of the sevenfold system to the five-dimensional system, when he proposed its scheme in 1913 (CWSA.– Vol.14.–2016, p. 131), according to which the five dwellings are (1) Earth (physical consciousness), (2) the middle world (which Sri Aurobindo correlated with vital consciousness), (3) Heaven (taken as mental consciousness), (4) Mahas (supramental consciousness) and (5) Mayas (equated to Sachchidananda). Above we already discussed contradictions in the use of terms and in the correlation of levels of consciousness with worlds.

Back