The authors of the Vedas were seven sages who were variously called “rishi” (seer), “kavi” (poet), “vipra” (the inspired one), “jaritri” (singer) and “karu” (the carpenter or artist in words). Vedic society recognised no difference between these many functions. If a man became inspired or filled with God, then it seemed that he simultaneously gained the gift of sacred speech. Intuitive knowledge was expressive knowledge. Thus the highest goal of the rishis was to be used as instruments of God, enunciating to all men and for all time the supreme truths – free from errors and imperfections, above the limitations of time and space. One poet says:
O God, sharpen my mind, like the edge of iron.
Whatever I now may utter, longing for Thee,
do Thou accept it; make me possessed of God!
The poet ventured no interpolation of self; he simply became the mouthpiece of God. Although he did not seek to please his hearers with beauteous forms of speech, the poet found that the voice of intuitive knowledge was intrinsically poetic. No matter how dense the poems may be with philosophical concepts, we inevitably discover that the lustre of this thought is clad in words of purest and most sublime poetry:
Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.
(Rig Veda)
In their magniloquence, the Vedic seers combined poetry and philosophy into a powerful literary expression. Through centuries of oral transmission, each word of the Vedas has been respected and preserved with utmost fidelity.
Because of the wide perspective of the Vedas, the seven sages became the great shapers or architects of Vedic society – not only “word-builders” but “world-builders”, articulating laws and formulae essential for maintaining order in the universe and for hastening the evolution of the soul. In a world where the sum of beliefs was held in common, these sages were representative of man’s universal aspiration.
Parallels between the Vedas and Ten Thousand Flower-Flames can be drawn on many levels. Although many centuries apart, both works revolve around the same central theme: the soul’s march on the path of Truth. “Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood” proclaims the Vedic poet, while Sri Chinmoy declares:
THE DEFEAT OF MY LIFE
There is a defeat
That is more glorious
Than victory.
And that defeat
Is the defeat
Of my entire life
By Truth.
(904)