| In this next hymn the dew laying on the grass is associated with the maruts who, also rest on the grass. This is the source of rich gifts from heaven: (9) Let Hotrā pure, set among Gods, amid the Maruts Bhāratī, Iḷā, Sarasvatī, Mahī, rest on the grass, adorable. (10) May Tvaṣṭar send us genial dew abundant, wondrous, rich in gifts, For increase and for growth of wealth, Tvaṣṭar our kinsman and our Friend. (RV1) Hymn CXLII. Āprīs Once again, we read about divine grass being the altar upon which the sacrifice is laid down, along with the bedewing oil: (4) O Grass divine, increasing, rich in heroes, strewn for wealth's sake, well laid upon this altar, — On this bedewed with oil sit ye, O Vasus, sit all ye Gods, ye Holy, ye Ādityas. (RV2) Hymn III. Āprīs In the next hymn, the Dragon of the Deep is an ally along with Aja-Ekapad, another one of the one-legged Shiva’s names: (6) Your blessing as a boon for suppliants we desire: the Dragon of the Deep, and Aja-Ekapād, Trita, Ṛbhukṣan, Savitar shall joy in us, and the Floods’ swift Child in our worship and our prayer. (RV2) Hymn XXXI. Viśvedevas This next prayer hymn is asking for the gods to seat themselves on the sacred grass. This is a direct prayer for mushroom spores to land and start growing: (13) O all ye Gods, come hitherward: hear this mine invocation, seat Yourselves upon this sacred grass. (RV2) Hymn XLI. Various Deities The Asvins are closely associated with the Maruts and I suspect this has some greater meaning which I refer to later in the book. For now, let’s simply look at the healing physician aspect of the Asvins and how they protect the Maruts as their aids: (8) And may the Aśvins, the divine Pair of Physicians, send us health: May they remove iniquity and chase our foes. (20) The Maruts’ high protecting aid, the Aśvins, and the God who saves, Mitra and Varuṇa for weal we supplicate. (RV-8) Hymn XVIII. Ādityas The ancient cosmogonic myth that pervades the entire Rig Veda deals with the original creation as the result of a primeval sacrifice of a “cosmic kind.” A dismemberment and distribution of that body called Man (Parusa) torn from Chaos and thrown into Order. It was from this act that the stars and heavens, the constellations, the planets and earth were created as well as all forms of life. From the Rg Veda, Hymn 90, Parusa, we read: (1) A THOUSAND heads hath Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide. (2) This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be; The Lord of Immortality which waxes greater still by food. (5) From him Virāj was born; again Puruṣa from Virāj was born. As soon as he was born he spread eastward and westward o’er the earth. (6) When Gods prepared the sacrifice with Puruṣa as their offering, its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood. (7) They balmed as victim on the grass Puruṣa born in earliest time. With him the Deities and all Sādhyas and Ṛṣis sacrificed. (51) |
The mistake made over the centuries in understanding the ancient world has been the misinterpreting of major concepts, one of which claims that man must sacrifice to the gods; thanking god or making amends for the gift of life that was taken from earth, providing some first-born offering of child or fruits of labor in sacrifice, all of these ideas are without merit to me as I look back on ancient history. It does not make sense to me that goddess or god whatever you choose, would ever require man to provide anything back to them that was provided to mankind to begin with. I don’t think any human being has ever been required by the makers to construct some altar and offer up some bloody or vegetative sacrifice. I don’t even know if the ancient people themselves believed this. I think there has been a large misunderstanding, and it’s like the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. I will quote briefly from John Allegro to give a perfect example of what I am talking about: “Cultically, this state of indebtedness gave rise to the idea that man should make the god some token reimbursement, a sacrifice, a kind of atonement which might, in some small degree, restore the balance between benefactor and beneficiary. Since the first-born of men and beasts, and the first-reaped fruits of harvest, were considered to be more favorably endowed with the source of life than later progeny, and thus the more precious and strong, they were chosen for restoration to the deity.” (52) We will return to this subject of “sacrifice” throughout the book, ultimately taking a magnifying glass to the subject of “human sacrifice.” I considered the use of poisonous snake venom for hallucinating or psychoactive drug use but only found the minute trace of this practice in ancient civilizations. From The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs we read: “Hemp flowers are sometimes mixed with cobra venom. The crystalized cobra venom is mixed with the hashish and smoked in a chillum.” [Ossi Urchs] And also “Holy men in India are reported to smoke cobra venom for its psychoactive effects…. The dried venom glands or crystalized venom is often mixed with cannabis when smoked.” (53) (51) https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10090.htm (52) The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, p. 27; See W.R. Smith Religion of the Semites, 1927, pp. 458ff) (53) Richard Rudgley – Christian Ratsch’s Encyclopeadia of Psychoactive plants |