Isha Upanishad 9
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'vidyāmupāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṃ ratāḥ ||
Those who worship ignorance enter into darkness. Those who worship knowledge enter into greater darkness.
Usha, goddess of dawn, mentioned numerous times in the Rig Veda about 30 hymns dedicated to her, is visualized in the higher consciousness of the poet-sage as a beautiful maiden whose captivating smile infuses hope in all those who await her arrival. She makes a dramatic appearance drawn by 108 chariots and possesses ‘gau’ and ‘ashva’ which mean cow and horse in common parlance but metaphorically, they mean light and power respectively. Hence Usha is also known as Gomati and Ashvavati.
Usha’s sister Ratri or Night, is the cosmic energy of night, whose darkness engulfs our consciousness and enforces a repose which heals and revives by a temporary hibernation of mind and senses. Usha follows Ratri as surely as spring follows winter, in an unfailing rhythm called ‘Rta’ in Sanskrit.
Rta maintains universal occurrences in a precise order, protecting the cosmos from sheer chaos. Dawn is the ‘rtavari’ mother, keeper of moral and social order, ensuring integrity of the complex cosmos.
Usha, another form of Aditi, mother of gods, is the cosmic energy which immediately precedes the start of each earthly day. Usha gently steals into the atmosphere of earth just before her consort Surya, Sun, suffusing the skies with golden-orange luminosity.
Dawn fulfils a dual role, as mother of auspicious tidings and devourer of lives. As the latter, she collaborates with the primordial Mother Nature to measure out eternity into small slices known as nights and days. Her relentless march continues and gnaws away at man’s ayuh, lifespan, slowly and surely leading him to death – only to be followed by another birth and dawn.
Usha thus holds the individual soul in the vortex of Kaala as he reaps karma, ripens wisdom and evolves to perfection. Each dawn is subconsciously reminiscent of the stupendous event of Shrishti, Creation itself. Dawn is therefore the ideal time to be silent and meditate on a higher reality, Brahmn, the ‘Brahmn muhurta’.
In meditation when you Unify Krishna and Radha, you stare into complete deeper darkness. You stare at it. Imagine it like early morning darkness. You see little light in the east. Slowly you see sun rays, but not sun. Few minutes later you see bright yellow sun called USHA. Which we can see with our naked eyes. This sun slowly raises to brightest levels till mid day and then slowly sets in the evening giving you beautiful sunset.
In meditation, complete darkness, you see a tiny light and yellowish glow. This is called Usha. Now the Sanathana Dharma knowledge starts flowing into you like Usha. She comes on 100 cows and horses. Now you are experiencing ADITI the pure primordial Conscience which you are craving for as a seeker. Aditi glows like 108 bright suns and then sets like a sunset.
As you keep meditating, the cycle repeats, you are experiencing more and more of Sanathana Dharma and Eternal Secrets.
Ushas is an exalted goddess in the Rig Veda. She is often spoken of in the plural, "the Dawns." She is portrayed as warding off evil spirits of the night, and as a beautifully adorned young woman riding in a golden chariot on her path across the sky. Due to her color she is often identified with the reddish cows, and both are released by Indra from the Vala cave at the beginning of time.
Usha-Ushas, Sanskrit for "dawn", is a Vedic deity. She is the chief goddess (sometimes imagined as several goddesses, Dawns) exalted in the Rig Veda. She is portrayed as a beautifully adorned, sexually attractive young woman riding in a chariot. She is the daughter of Dyaus "Heaven" and the sister of Ratri, the goddes of night. Twenty out of 1028 hymns in the Rig Veda are dedicated to the goddes of Dawn:
Ushas is invoked as follows:
- The radiant Dawns have risen up for glory, in their white splendor like the waves of waters.She maketh paths all easy, fair to travel, and, rich, hath shown herself benign and friendly.
- We see that thou art good: far shines thy luster; thy beams, thy splendors have flown up to heaven.
Decking thyself, thou makest bare thy bosom, shining in majesty, thou Goddess Morning.
In the "family books" of the Rig Veda (e.g. RV 6.64.5), Ushas is the divine daughter—a divó duhitâ —of Dyaus Pita ("Sky Father"). Sri Aurobindo in his Secret of the Veda, described Ushas as "the medium of the awakening, the activity and the growth of the other gods; she is the first condition of the Vedic realization. By her increasing illumination the whole nature of man is clarified; through her [mankind] arrives at the Truth, through her he enjoys [Truth's] beatitude."
If you catch the light just before the sun appears, early in the morning, be sure to greet her. Her name is Ushas. The Goddess of Dawn.
The night is dark and deep when Ushas rises and her mother, the sky, begins to adorn her. She uses hope to cloth her, life to anoint her with and light for her ornaments. Her sister, the night, lends her the magic while retaining the mystery. Ushas has the magic of looking at everybody at the same time.
It is then that the sun catches sight of her. Resplendent is golden hue, the sun falls in love with this young maiden born anew everyday, keeper of time and youth. As Ushas appears above the sky, riding a hundred chariots, the sun, madly in love with this beautiful maiden, chases her. She spreads her love and his light across the sky bringing a new day for mankind smiling to herself for she knows well that the sun is racing her.
The romance of the day makes the birds chatter, the streams gurgle, the lotus blossom and the bee gets more intoxicated with the nectar he sucks in.
She dances and sings and spreads cheer all around. Darkness runs away and bad dreams die at the opening of the day. Evil spirits rush to hide for all is visible now.
And suddenly the sun catches up with her and holds her in embrace as the day is all light and sunlight to finally surrender once again to the night.
Ushas is a Rig Vedic deity who is the most beautiful maiden personifying the charm of dawn. Since she precedes light, she is also called the Mother Goddess. In the Rig Veda the description of the break of dawn, of the emergence of Ushas, is perhaps the most beautiful passage. She is described as the one who untiringly rises every morning as though born anew to bring life to mankind, to satisfy all their longings and give new strength to every spirit.
The changing colors at dawn are likened to the different robes of a dancing girl while the golden tipped clouds that appear just before sunrise are like bridal jewelry. Ushas is portrayed as a shy maiden, conscious of her beauty but modest and entering society under the protection of her mother. Even mythology is fascinated by the chauvinist model and over thousands of years the readers of the Vedas have drawn great pleasure in imagining the shy maiden being followed by the macho sun and finally her surrender. The story of this romance which all of us see everyday, but often fail to heave that deep sigh of longing, caught as we were in the nitty gritty affairs of the sunlit day, brings gifts for all mankind; wealth for those who seek it, education for those others, contentment to some and salvation to yet others.
In the Rig Veda the goddess Usha is consistently associated with and often identified with the dawn. She reveals herself in the daily coming of light to the world. She has been described in the Rig Veda as a young maiden drawn by one hundred horses. She brings forth light and is followed by the sun who urges her onwards. She is praised for driving away, or is petitioned to drive away, the oppressive darkness. She is asked to chase away evil demons. As the dawn she is said to rouse all life, to set all things in motion and to send people off to do their duties. She sends the curled-up sleepers on their way to offer their sacrifices and thus render service to the other gods.
Usha gives strength and fame. She is that which impels life and is associated with the breath and life of all living creatures. She is associated with, or moves with cosmic, social and moral order. As the regularly recurring dawn she reveals and participates in cosmic order and is the foe of chaotic forces that threaten the world. Usha is generally held as an auspicious goddess associated with light and wealth, and is often likened to a cow.
In the Rig Veda she is also called 'the mother of cows' and like a cow that yields its udder for the benefit of people, so Usha bares her breasts to bring light for the benefit of human kind. Although she is usually described as a young and beautiful maiden, she is also called 'the mother of the gods and the ashwins'. Considered as mother by her petitioners she tends to all things like a good matron and goddess of the earth. She is said to be 'the eye of the gods' and is referred to as 'she who sees all', but is rarely invoked to forgive human transgressions. It is more typical to invoke her in times of need to drive away or punish one's enemies.
Usha is known as the goddess, reality or presence that bears away youth. She is described as 'a skilled huntress who wastes away the lives of people'. In accordance with the ways of Rita she wakes all living things but does not disturb the person who sleeps in death. As the recurring dawn, Usha is not only celebrated for bringing light from darkness, she is also petitioned to grant long life, as she is a constant reminder of peoples' limited time on earth. She is the mistress or marker of time.
The ancient Vedic tradition has viewed Usha as the harbinger of light, awareness, activity. People divided time into the form of day and night. At night all creation rests and in the day the whole of creation is active. The transformation which takes place from night to day is known to be the attribute of Usha, the awareness that stirs up the activity of creation, the light that gives sight to the eyes, that gives power to the senses, that gives power to the mind and intellect, Usha has been regarded as the light, or the dawn of human consciousness.
Daughter of Dyaus Pita
Ushas is regarded as the daughter of Dyaus Pita, Father of the sky. She is the elder sister of Ratri, the Night. When Ushas rises, the night is dark and deep, and the sky begins to adorn her. Ushas’s sister Ratri is the cosmic energy of the night, whose darkness engulfs our consciousness. And enforces a repose which heals and revives by a temporary hibernation of mind and senses.
Ushas follows Ratri as surely as spring follows winter, in an unfailing rhythm called ‘Rta’ in Sanskrit. Ushas is the cosmic energy that immediately precedes the start of each earthly day. Ushas gently steals into the earth’s atmosphere just before her consort Surya, Sun, suffusing the skies with golden-orange luminosity.
Celestial Yogini
Ushas is ranked as a divinity in her own right. She is considered as a celestial Yogini, a form of Goddess, who is held as spiritual. Ushas is also a feminine divinity who stimulates the nobility from the innermost depths of the human soul. She is the force that propels even the Gods into action. As the mother of the Ashwins, she is also worshipped as the Shakti. She has the power that can heal and bless people with immense knowledge and grace.
Hymns to Ushas Rig Veda 6.64.1-2
1. THE radiant Dawns have risen up for glory,
in their white splendor like the waves of waters.
She maketh paths all easy, fair to travel, and, rich,
hath shown herself benign and friendly.
2. We see that thou art good: far shines thy luster; thy beams,
thy splendors have flown up to heaven.
Decking thyself, thou makest bare thy bosom,
shining in majesty, thou Goddess Morning.
3. Red are the kine and luminous that bear her
the Blessed One who spreadeth through the distance.
The foes she chaseth like a valiant archer,
like a swift warrior she repelleth darkness.
4. Thy ways are easy on the hills: thou passest Invincible!
Self-luminous! through waters.
So lofty Goddess with thine ample pathway,
Daughter of Heaven, bring wealth to give us comfort.
5. Dawn, bring me wealth: untroubled,
with thine oxen thou bearest riches at thy will and pleasure;
Thou who, a Goddess, Child of Heaven,
hast shown thee lovely through bounty when we called thee early.
6. As the birds fly forth from their restingplaces,
so men with store of food rise at thy dawning.
Yea, to the liberal mortal who rernaineth at home,
O Goddess Dawn, much good thou bringest.
7. SHEDDING her light on human habitations
this Child of Heaven hath called us from our slumber;
She who at night-time with her argent lustre
hath shown herself e'en through the shades of darkness.
8. All this with red-rayed steeds have they divided:
the Dawns on bright cars shine in wondrous fashion.
They, bringing near the stately rite's commencement,
drive far away the night's surrounding shadows.
9. Dawns, bringing hither, to the man who worships,
glory and power and might and food and vigour,
Opulent, with imperial sway like heroes,
favour your servant and this day enrich him.
10. Now is there treasure for the man who serves you,
now for the hero, Dawns! who brings oblation;
Now for the singer when he sings the praise-song.
Even to one like me ye brought aforetime.
11. O Dawn who standest on the mountain ridges,
Angirases now praise thy stalls of cattle.
With prayer and holy hymn they burst them open:
the heroes' calling on the Gods was fruitful.
12. Shine on us as of old, thou Child of Heaven,
on him, rich Maid! who serves like Bharadvaja.
Give to the singer wealth with noble heroes,
and upon us bestow wide-spreading glory.
Translation from the RigVeda
Upo ruruce yuvatirma yosa - visvam jivam prasuvanti carayau Like a youthful maiden, Usas shines brightly forth, Stirring to motion every living creature. |
Sending out her beams, she rose facing all, In brilliant robes, resplendent, radiating-- |
Blessed, bearing the sun, the eye of the Gods, Leading her white horse, magnificent to see, |
O fair one, banish the enemy with light! And prepare for us broad pastures free from fear! |
Illumine us with your glorious splendor, O divine Usas! Enrich and lengthen our lives, |
O Daughter of Heaven, Usas of noble birth, Whom the men of glory celebrate in hymns, |
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