Apocalypse as a Sacrifice: An Interpretation of Raimon Panikkar’s Arguments on Yajña
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. The Hindu Sacrifice: Yajña
The word yajna is derived from the root ‘yaj’ which means to ‘worship’, to ‘sacrifice’, to ‘bestow’. The worship can be in the form of oblations, a sacrifice unto gods. Yajna is also defined as the ‘Tyaga’ which means ‘giving up’, ‘renunciation’ or offering of a ‘dravya’ a specialized material to a (devata), a specific deity.
यत्पुरुषेण हविषा देवा यज्ञमतन्वत । वसन्तो अस्यासीदाज्यं ग्रीष्म इध्मः शरद्धविः ॥६॥ | Using the Man as their oblation, the Gods performed the sacrifice. Spring served them for the clarified butter, Summer for the fuel, and Autumn for the offering. |
तं यज्ञं बर्हिषि प्रौक्षन्पुरुषं जातमग्रतः । तेन देवा अयजन्त साध्या ऋषयश्च ये ॥७॥ | This evolved Man, then first born, they besprinkled on the sacred grass. With him the Gods performed the sacrifice, as did also the heavenly beings and seers. |
तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुतः सम्भृतं पृषदाज्यम् । पशून्ताँश्चक्रे वायव्यानारण्यान् ग्राम्याश्च ये ॥८॥ | From this sacrifice, fully accomplished, was gathered curd mixed with butter. Thence came the creatures of the air, beasts of the forest and those of the village. |
तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुत ऋचः सामानि जज्ञिरे । छन्दांसि जज्ञिरे तस्माद्यजुस्तस्मादजायत ॥९॥ | From this sacrifice, fully accomplished, were born the hymns and the melodies; from this were born the various meters; from this were born the sacrificial formulas. |
तस्मादश्वा अजायन्त ये के चोभयादतः । गावोः ह जज्ञिरे तस्मात् तस्माज्जाता अजावयः ॥१०॥ | From this were horses born, all creatures such as have teeth in either jaw; from this were born the breeds of cattle; from this were born sheep and goats. |
यत्पुरुषं व्यदधुः कतिधा व्यकल्पयन् । मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू का ऊरू पादा उच्येते ॥११॥ | When they divided up the Man, into how many parts did they divide him? What did his mouth become? What his arms? What are his legs called? What his feet? |
ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीद् बाहू राजन्यः कृतः । ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥१२॥ | His mouth became the brahmin; his arms the warrior-prince, his legs the common man who plies his trade. The lowly serf was born from his feet. |
चन्द्रमा मनसो जातश्चक्षोः सूर्यो अजायत । मुखादिन्द्रश्चाग्निश्च प्राणाद्वायुरजायत ॥१३॥ | The Moon was born from his mind; the Sun came into being from his eye; from his mouth came Indra and Agni, while from his breath the Wind was born. |
नाभ्या आसीदन्तरिक्षं शीर्ष्णो द्यौः समवर्तत । पद्भ्यां भूमिर्दिशः श्रोत्रात्तथा लोकाँ अकल्पयन् ॥१४॥ | From his navel issues the Air; from his head unfurled the Sky, the Earth from his feet, from his ear the four directions. Thus have the worlds been organized. (Panikkar 2019, pp. 22–23)18 |
The cosmotheandric principle could be formulated by saying that the divine, human and the earthly—however we may prefer to call them—are the three irreducible dimensions which constitute the real, i.e., any reality inasmuch as it is real. It does not deny that the abstracting capacity of our mind can, for particular and limited purposes, consider parts of reality independently; it does not deny the complexity of the real and its many degrees. But this principle reminds us that the parts are parts and that they are not just accidentally juxtaposed, but essentially related to the whole. In other words, the parts are real participations and are to be understood not according to a merely spatial model, as books are part of a library or a carburetor and a differential gear are parts of an automobile, but rather according to an organic unity, as body and soul, or mind and will belong to a human being: they are parts because they are not the whole, but they are not parts which can be “parted” from the whole without thereby ceasing to exist.
When he procreated all beings and run through the whole gamut of creation he fell into pieces […] when he was fallen into pieces, his breath departed from the midst of him, and when his breath had departed, the Gods abandoned him. He said to Agni, “Put me, I pray you, together again”.
जलने लगा निरन्तर उनका अग्निहोत्र सागर के तीर; मनु ने तप में जीवन अपना किया समर्पण हो कर धीर। | His yajna was set perpetually blazing, On the beach of the rolling sea. Patiently Manu dedicated his life, In austere penance of self-surrender. |
सजग हुई फिर से सुर संस्कृति देव यजन की वर माया; उन पर लगी डालने अपनी कर्ममयी शीतल छाया। | Again the culture of the gods reawakened, Performing yajnas for obtaining desires; Its alluring attachment started casting, The soothing shadows for worldly gains. |
उठे सव्स्थ मनु ज्यों उठता है क्षितिज बीज अरुणोदय कान्त; लगे देखने लुब्ध नयन से प्रकृति विभूति मनोहर शान्त। | Manu gleamed full of strength and vigour, Like the radiant sun, glowing in mid-horizon; He beheld around with enchanted looks The serene charm of Nature’s splendour. |
पाक यज्ञ करना निश्चित कर लगे शालियों को चुनने; उधर वहिन ज्वाला भी अपना लगी धूम पट थी बुनने। | Having resolved to perform ‘Pak-Yajna’, He started gathering the paddy-stalks, While the flaming fire was blazing, Weaving in textures of curling smoke. |
शुष्क डालियों से वृक्षों की अग्नी अर्चियाँ हुई समिद्ध; आहुति की नव धूम गन्ध से नभ कानन हो गया समृद्ध। | With the dry branches of the trees, Was enkindled the sacrificial fire; From smoky fragrance of new libation, Heaven and earth obtained prosperity. |
और सोचकर अपने मन में जैसे हम हैं बचे हुए; क्या आश्चर्य और कोइ हो जीवन लीला रचे हुए। | And he was musing within his mind; Just as he had been spared to live, It’s no surprise that some one also, May still be alive, and full of life. |
अग्निहोत्र अवशिष्ट अन्न कुछ कहीं दूर रख आते थे; होगी इससे तृप्त अपरिचित समझ सजह सुख पाते थे। | Some remnants of sacrificial offerings, He would place at a little distance, So that some stranger may be satiated. This gave him some consoling delight. (Prasad 2014, p. 43) |
A very special place is occupied by food, that life stuff that is material and spiritual at the same time, human, divine, and even cosmic, for everything in the universe “eats.” Furthermore, the law of eating is so central that not only does everything eat, but all things eat one another, eating being the symbol of the solidarity of the whole universe. We all grow together; we all eat one another.
In chronological terms, it may be helpful to keep in mind that, roughly speaking, the Vedic, pre-Hindu (1200?–800 BCE), religion ritualistically addressed first the gods, then the sacrificial fire itself, cosmologizing it; subsequently, the early Hindu (800–200 BCE) Upanishads and the ascetic movements (Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ones) internalized the ritual of sacrifice; eventually, the classical (150–0 BCE?) and medieval Mahābhārata epic and Bhagavadgītā devotionalized and both de-militarized and remilitarized the sacrifice.
देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु वः। परस्परं भावयन्तः श्रेयः परमवाप्स्यथ।। | You should nourish the gods with this so that the gods may nourish you; nourishing each other, you shall achieve the highest good. (Johnson 2008, p. 16) |
श्रेयान्द्रव्यमयाद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञःपरन्तप। सर्वं कर्माखिलं पार्थ ज्ञाने परिसमाप्यते।। | Thus many kinds of sacrifices are stretched out in the mouth of Brahman. Remember that they are all born of action; knowing that, you will be liberated. (Johnson 2008, p. 21) |
अहं क्रतुरहं यज्ञः स्वधाऽहमहमौषधम्। मंत्रोऽहमहमेवाज्यमहमग्निरहं हुतम्।। | I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the offering to the ancestors, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the clarified butter, I am the fire, I am the oblation. (Johnson 2008, p. 42) |
3. Apocalypse as a Sacrifice
- The end of a kalpa and the decline in dharma in successive yugas, leading to the arrival of Vishnu’s avatāra to eliminate evil and restore order;
- A journey from the cosmological brahman to the transcendental brahman, to merge with the Fullness;
- Creation being the food of sacrifice—everything eats and gets eaten up;
- Characteristic nature of apocalypse as that of a Hindu sacrifice.
After bringing forth in this manner this whole world and me, that One of inconceivable prowess once again disappeared into his own body, striking down time with time.
When that god is awake, then this creation is astir; but when he is asleep in deep repose, then the whole world lies dormant.
When he is soundly asleep, embodied beings, whose nature is to act, withdraw from their respective activities, and their minds become languid.
When they dissolve together into that One of immense body, then he, whose body contains all beings, sleeps tranquil and at ease.
Plunging himself into darkness, he lingers there for a long time together with his sense organs and ceases to perform his own activities. Then he emerges from that bodily frame.
When, after becoming a minute particle, he enters, cojoined, the seminal form of mobile and immobile beings, then he discharges the bodily frame.
In this manner, by waking and sleeping, that Imperishable One incessantly brings to life and tears down this whole world, both the mobile and the immobile.
showed the decline running through them to follow a parallel course in the three interdependent spheres of society, nature and religion. It began to appear as if the decline was from a state of order, marked by properly maintained distinctions and boundaries, to a state of chaotic undifferentiation.
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्। प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय संभवाम्यात्ममायया।। यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत। अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदाऽऽत्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।। परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्। धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे।। | Although I am unborn and have a self that is eternal, although I am lord of beings, by controlling my own material nature I come into being by means of my own incomprehensible power./ Whenever there is a falling away from the true law and an upsurge of unlawfulness, then, Bharata, I emit myself./ I come into being age after age, to protect the virtuous and to destroy evil-doers, to establish a firm basis for the true law. (Johnson 2008, p. 19) |
His incarnation could be understood as the intervention of a self-absorbed sacrifice but not as a form of divine self-sacrifice. Through total war, he is sacrificing the current universe for the sake of a new universe; he neither sacrifices himself nor identifies with the victim; on the contrary, as a yogi he dissociates himself from his sacrificial performance.
Sacrifice involves both immolation and new life, and so it is with Man also. He is born, dies, and is reborn.
Each sacrifice is a sacrifice of the whole of mankind and effects the regeneration of mankind. Each sacrifice is a salvation from the flood and is relevant for the fate of the whole human race.
The Maitri Upanishad endeavors to build a bridge and speaks of two kinds of Brahman, of two aspects of ultimate reality, one temporal and the other nontemporal. The former is cosmological, it is thus related to the sun and to the year and belongs to that famous one fourth of reality that is manifest and graspable. The latter is that which remains when all else falls into ruin, the Brahman without qualities, pure apophatic transcendence.
All things dissolve and come again into being because there is a point, the One, that is outside this dynamism. It is indeed this One that brings about the circular movement of the universe.
अक्षराणामकारोऽस्मि द्वन्द्वः सामासिकस्य च। अहमेवाक्षयः कालो धाताऽहं विश्वतोमुखः।। | Of letters I am the letter a, and of grammatical compounds I am the conjunctive one; I am indeed undecaying Time, the arranger facing in every direction. (Johnson 2008, p. 47) |
Coomaraswamy summarizes this two step cosmogonic process and the role of sacrifice in it when he writes, “And what is the essential in the Sacrifice? In the first place, to divide, and in the second to reunite. He being One, becomes or is made into Many, and being Many becomes again or is put together again as One”.40
We have come into existence by a “jumping outside”, by a movement or “transgression” away from the undifferentiated whole, and it is specifically by sacrifice that we reintegrate ourselves into the total reality.
- From food, indeed, are creatures born.
- All living things that dwell on the earth,
- by food in truth do they live
- and into it they finally pass.
Understand that this is the source of all living beings; I am the origin and dissolution of this whole universe.
The efficacy of a sacrifice depended greatly on the “correct pronunciation of the mantra and the exact execution of the prescribed ceremony.” The Vedic sacrifices had to be performed meticulously without any mistake. In Vedic idea the sacrifices were more powerful than the gods themselves. “The utterance of the chanting of hymns, with prescribed accents and modulations, poring of the melted butter in the sacrificial fire with exactness is the sacrifice”.
Chanting mantras produces vibrations, which have stimulating and soothing effects on human beings and animals. Such vibrations reverberate and spread specific energy waves in the surrounding atmosphere. In Yajñas, the oblations are offered, accompanied by specific mantra chants (Sri Aurobindo 1972). They too will produce similar vibratory effects.
4. Conclusions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
1 | Raimon Panikkar (2 November 1918–26 August 2010), also called Raymond Panikkar or Raimundo Panikkar, was a proponent of interfaith dialogue, scholar of comparative religion, and a Spanish Roman Catholic priest. Born to a Spanish Roman Catholic mother and a Hindu Indian father, Panikkar had three doctorates: doctorates in Philosophy and Chemistry from the University of Madrid and a doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University. He wrote extensively on inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, and all his works are documented in 18 books in 12 volumes of Opera Omnia. | ||||
2 | The term apocalypse is used throughout the article in the context of Hindu scriptures, denoting the destruction of the world in terms of the end of a kalpa, which is 1000 mahayugas, i.e., 1000 cycles of the four yuga. There are four yugas, namely Krta, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali, as mentioned in the Hindu texts, such as the Mahābhārata, Manusmriti, and so on. | ||||
3 | Śruti can be translated as “that which is heard”. Śruti are also considered divine revelations. Most of the ancient religious texts in Hinduism are called śruti, such as the Vedas. Smriti refers to “that which is remembered”. These texts are believed not to be delivered by divine powers, in contrast to śruti, and were verbally transmitted from one generation to another. For instance, Manusmriti, Ramayana, and Mahābhārata. | ||||
4 | The term comes from Old French sacrifise, from Latin sacrificium, from sacrificus, from sacer, referring to sacred or holy. Sacrifice is known as yajña (यज्ञ) in Sanskrit. The title mentions “a Sacrifice” to emphasize the multiple meanings the term has across same and different traditions. For instance, a holy act, renunciation, and so on. | ||||
5 | The Vedas are referred to as the primary revelations in Hinduism, also known as śruti श्रुति (that which is heard). There are four parts of the Vedas, generally described as belonging to four different schools: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda contains the highest number of hymns, also called samhitas, that are based on sacrificial rituals. Both Sama Veda and Yajur Veda contain some hymns from the Rig Veda and include chants and melodies, and hymns on sacrificial formula, respectively. The Atharva Veda is entirely different from the other three Vedas as it revolves around prayers related to diseases, incantations, spells, and so on. | ||||
6 | |||||
7 | Puja refers to the daily worship ceremony performed by Hindus. | ||||
8 | The regeneration of the world can be explained through the concept of four yugas (ages) in Hinduism, as mentioned in The Mahābhārata and explained later in the article. | ||||
9 | Moksha in Hinduism refers to the liberation from the samsara, the cycle of life and death. | ||||
10 | Refer to footnote 5, where Panikkar describes the etymology of rita. He writes, “The root word is r-, ar-, to put in motion, to move; the Indo-European root ar- means to fit, to arrange (the spokes in the wheel), so that rta would be that which is well arranged, the established norm, “truth”, order, etc., always with a dynamic connotation”. | ||||
11 | Panikkar uses the term “Man” to denote human beings, both male and female, to distinguish them from the Gods. He writes, “Since the English language has not (yet?) introduced an utrum, as an androgynous gender, the pronoun will have to be the morphologically masculine.” See Panikkar (2019), A Vedic Experience, p. xxix. I intend to use “human beings” in place of “Man” to incorporate a gender-neutral language. | ||||
12 | Panikkar describes Reality in terms of cosmotheandric nature, which means that Reality has three dimensions: divine, human, and earthly. Refer to footnote 30 for detailed information on Panikkar’s argument on the cosmotheandric. | ||||
13 | Also known as the Vedanta, translated as the end of the Vedas. Upanishads are understood as containing the nectar of the Vedas, disseminated in the form of conversations between great masters and students. (Olivelle 2008) | ||||
14 | Brahmanas are collections of samhitas on the performance of sacrifices and rituals. | ||||
15 | Manusmriti, also known as Manava Dharmashastra or The Law Code of Manu, is among the most known legal authoritative texts of Hinduism. According to many scholars, the text was composed between the second century BCE and the second century CE. | ||||
16 | The Bhagavad Gita, part of the famous Sanskrit Epic, The Mahābhārata, written by the seer, Vyaasa, is one of the most widely read Hindu religious texts in the Western world. The text is a conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna that takes place in the middle of Kurukshetra field before the war between the Kauravas and Pandavas is about to begin. The Bhagavad Gita has been understood as a philosophical text due to the large number of questions on life that it answers. | ||||
17 | This article will use the translation of the Vedic hymns as translated by Panikkar and included in Opera Omnia, Vol IV, Part 1 on Hinduism. | ||||
18 | This article only includes verses 6–14 of the Purusha Sukta to elaborate on the creation of all that exists through the sacrifice of the primordial human being. | ||||
19 | Panikkar describes the purusha as “not simply another name for a heteronomous God, nor a mere euphemism for an autonomic individual Man, but the living expression of the ontonomic Man, that total reality of which we are a reflection, a reflection that contains the whole, indeed, but in a rather limited and all too often narrow way, God is not totally other than Man”. | ||||
20 | This is the first line of verse 16 of the Purusha Sukta as translated by Panikkar. | ||||
21 | Shatapatha Brahmana is believed to be composed by Yajnavalkya, the father of Indian philosophy. It is a part of the Shukla Yajurveda. Shatapatha can be translated as “having a hundred paths”, and Brahmana is a “description of sacred knowledge”; hence, Shatapatha Brahmana is a Brahmana of a hundred paths. This text is primarily known for introducing the myth of deluge in Hinduism and expanding on the creation myth. It elaborates on the sacrifices, rituals, and myths by providing scientific explanations for them. | ||||
22 | Brian K. Smith was a professor emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of California-Riverside. He wrote extensively on Hindu and Sanskrit texts. Some of his major works include Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion (1989) and Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian Varna System and the Origins of Caste (1994). | ||||
23 | This statement is issued by Smith on the basis of Vedic ritualistic texts. | ||||
24 | Shatapatha Brahmana, III.6.2.26: “All this, whatever exists, is made to share in the sacrifice”. | ||||
25 | Lynn Thomas is a senior lecturer in Religious Studies at Roehampton University. Her writings primarily concern the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. She is the co-editor of the book Playing for Real: Hindu Role Models, Religion, and Gender (2004), published by Oxford University Press. | ||||
26 | Chhayavad movement (1918–1937), also known as a romantic movement in Hindi literature and poetry. This movement is remembered for the four pillars of Hindi literature: Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi “Nirala”, Sumitranandan Pant, and Mahadevi Varma. | ||||
27 | Lourens Minnema is an associate professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy of Religion and Comparative Study of Religions at VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Some of his major publications include Tragic Views of the Human Condition (2013). | ||||
28 | W. J. Johnson (2008), The Bhagavad Gita, p. 16.
“Beings exist through food, the origin of food is rain, rain comes from sacrifice, sacrifice derives from action”. | ||||
29 | ibid, p. 15.
“The entire world is bound by actions; the only exception is action undertaken for sacrificial purposes. Therefore, Son of Kunti, free from attachment, you should perform that kind of action”. | ||||
30 | ibid, p. 16.
“When he created creatures in the beginning, along with the sacrifice, Prajapati said: ‘May you be fruitful by this sacrifice, let this be the cow which produces all you desire’”. The usage of the term kamadhuk refers to the one who provides all that one desires. Here, referring to the wish-fulfilling cow, kamadhenu. | ||||
31 |
“Realizing that I am the consumer of sacrifices and austerities, the great lord of all the worlds, the companion of all creatures, he attain peace”. | ||||
32 |
“And those who know me in relation to beings and in relation to the divine, as well as in relation to the sacrifice, have disciplined minds, and know me even in the hour of death”. | ||||
33 |
“For I am the lord, and the recipient of all sacrifices, although they do not truly recognize me, and so they slide”. | ||||
34 |
| ||||
35 | Panikkar exclaims that “It is not only the cosmic purusha who performs the sacrifice and not only the primordial Man who can be termed as both sacrifice and sacrificer; the concrete human being also is said to be the sacrifice, and it is by sacrifice that he lives, because sacrifice links him with the whole of existence and enables him to perform all his duties as Man”. | ||||
36 | Refer to the Kalki Purana for Lord Kalki’s appearance. | ||||
37 | The Shvetashvatara Upanishad elucidates upon the intemporal existence of God. Time is a creature; hence, it comes to an end. | ||||
38 | Johnson (2008), The Bhagavad Gita, p. 38. Gita elaborates on the journey from the manifest to the unmanifest and vice-versa with reference to Brahma’s day and night. These can be referred to in Gita 8.16-21: “Up to Brahma’s realm, Arjuna, the worlds come round again and again; but once I have been reached, Son of Kunti, rebirth is finished./Those men know day and night who know that a day of Brahma lasts for a thousand ages, just as a Brahma night ends after a thousand ages./As day dawns everything manifest emerges from the unmanifest; as night falls it merges back into that same designated unmanifest./This troop of beings, having come into being again and again, ineluctably merges back at nightfall; and at dawn it merges again, Partha./But there is another state of being beyond this unmanifest, an eternal unmanifest which, when all creatures are destroyed, is not itself destroyed./The unmanifest called ‘imperishable’—that, they say, is the highest goal. Once attained, there is no coming back from it—that is my supreme domain”. | ||||
39 | Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947) was a historian and a philosopher of Indian art who was one of the first interpreters of Indian culture to the west. He contributed to Indian art in multiple ways. Some of his books include The Dance of Shiva (1918), Time and Eternity (1947), and The Transformation of Nature in Art (1934). | ||||
40 | B. K. Smith (1985), “Sacrifice and Being”, p. 77. This is mentioned by Coomaraswamy (1941) in A.K. Coomaraswamy, “Ātmayajña Self-Sacrifice”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 6, p. 396. | ||||
41 | Panikkar writes, “In the beginning was Fullness, and from this Fullness everything came, that is, be-came, and to it everything will return”. | ||||
42 | Klaus K. Klostermaier is a well-known German–Canadian scholar of Hindu and Sanskrit texts. His major books include A Survey of Hindusim (1989), A Concise Encyclopaedia of Hinduism (1998), and Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India (1984). | ||||
43 | S.N. Dasgupta, or Surendranath Dasgupta (1887–1952), was an Indian scholar of Indian philosophy and Sanskrit. His works include Hindu Mysticism (1927), A Study of Patanjali (1920), and A History of Indian Philosophy (1921). | ||||
44 | This quote is extracted from the Aitareya Brahmana, 111, 11 (XI, 11). |
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Dixit, S. Apocalypse as a Sacrifice: An Interpretation of Raimon Panikkar’s Arguments on Yajña. Religions 2024, 15, 658. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060658
Dixit S. Apocalypse as a Sacrifice: An Interpretation of Raimon Panikkar’s Arguments on Yajña. Religions. 2024; 15(6):658. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060658
Chicago/Turabian StyleDixit, Shruti. 2024. "Apocalypse as a Sacrifice: An Interpretation of Raimon Panikkar’s Arguments on Yajña" Religions 15, no. 6: 658. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060658