Thread by @Sampadananda

Welcome to the 2nd session of #vedaprabodha

This session is on Rishis

Since time immemorial India has been the land of the Rishis. It is the tradition of Rishis that has always shaped and enriched the mind, heart and imagination of the people of India. 2/1

"A Rishi is one who sees or discovers an inner truth and puts it into self-effective language—the mantra. Either new truth or old truth made new by expression and intuitive realization.” -Sri Aurobindo

A Rishi has the inner vision to see the Truth. So he is darṣṭā or seer. 2/2

A Rishi not only sees but also hears the the Truth directly. He has the supernatural faculty of hearing. He is therefore called the mantraśrotā. The Divine words come vibrating out of the infinite to the inner hearing of the Rishi. Therefore the Veda is called śruti. 2/3

A Rishi lives in the fullness of life and experiences the truth of himself and the universe. His life is a life of truth and he is not limited by time and space. He has the knowledge of the past, present and the future and is a man of wisdom. 2/4

A Rishi transcends all limitations of consciousness and thereby has direct access to superior modes of knowledge and action. It because of this that a Rishi is not a mere transmitter of tradition, but he has the power to break the tradition and establish a new if necessary. 2/5

A Rishi was always, recognized, as the real teacher, the guru. He is all-powerful to intervene between the seeker and the highest object of seeking. He himself is the living example of the ideal that he places before the seeker. He is one with the seeker. 2/6

The contributions of the Rishis can be seen through the content of the four Vedas, of which the Rig Veda is considered the oldest.

The Rigveda has ten mandalas or sections. Out of the ten sections, the first and the last were the contributions of various Rishis. 2/7

From second to the ninth mandala of Rigveda each section is the contribution of the Rishis of a particular family:
2 - Bhrigu
3 - Vishvamitra
4 - Gautama
5- Atri
6 - Bharadvaja
7 - Vasishtha
8 - Kanva
9 - Angirasas
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"The rishis of the Veda were great mystics whose first concern was spiritual- not the spiritual as divorced from the temporal and the secular, but as both the high point and sustaining base of all that is in the universe." - Sri Aurobindo
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The Rishis of the Vedic age were of two types: 1 - who perceived the Mantras directly (sākṣātkṛtadharmā); 2- those who had no direct perception but had an intense aspiration to go deep into the Mantras perceived by the superior (asākṣātkṛtadharmā). 2/10

We come across several types of Rishis mentioned in our Shastras: śrutarṣi, kāṇḍarṣi, taparṣi, satyarṣi, devarṣi, maharṣi, paramarṣi, brahmarṣi, rājarṣi, janarṣi etc. 2/11

When we look at the lives of these Rishis, we find that the majority of them were householders. They lived in their hermitages with their families, chanted Vedic hymns, imparted sacred knowledge to the disciples, practiced tapas, performed daily rituals and other sacrifices. 2/12

In the Vedas as well as in the other Vedic scriptures we find mention about several women seers. These women seers or Rishikās were mostly the family members of the Rishis, either wives or daughters. In the Rigveda we find mention of about twenty-one Rishikās. 2/13

There has always been a continuity of this tradition of Rishis and there has not been any time when they have not taken birth in this land. If India had a glorious past, it was because of the seers and sages and saints of this land. 2/14

That's all for today. The next session will be on the Mantra. For more details on Rishis please read my write up here: pragyata.com/mag/the-greatn…

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