Cosmic Actions: The Source of Knowledge

Jyotiṣa as a device to the Knowledge about human future gathered from the perceptive activity of the cosmos is prevalent in the culture since the beginning period. The light forms in the nature anthropomorphized as the activities of the deities are observed regularly in the culture. The physical presence of the Sun and the Moon in the sky also being projected as the deities Sūrya and Soma were the chief light forms in terms of Jyotiṣa in the initial period which conveyed the time to perform activities in the culture as also they were the primary sources for the perceptive formulation of the ideology regarding the human life and its existence after bodily life. Sūrya is recorded as the Ātman in the Ṛgveda, its appearance and disappearance in the sky is connected with the concept of Ātman and its transmigration. The other gods representing the ordered activity in the cosmos were also the representations of the ideology regarding immortality of existence which the gods were beholders of on account of their performance of sacrificial actions. The path of light on which they visited the sacrifices of men was visualized by means of the order of the light bodies. The concept of Prajāpati is more humanized connecting desire to its timed representation reflected by the light forms and their order in the cosmos. He also reflects the metaphysical form of Varuṇa. While the perceptive activity in the named and formed world came to be considered as the activity of Brahman, the visible cosmic light forms gave the symbolic knowledge of the ultimate principle as also they are made a part of the body of Brahman.

Apart from the Perceptive Knowledge of Brahman, as an eye of the Veda, the activities of the cosmic light forms convey Knowledge about the Jīvātman and his past actions. The dream state also gives Knowledge about future providing vision of the intellect releasing the past actions. They also serve as visible means of the cosmic stations of the Jīvātman beyond body. More of, the cosmic activity is a source of Knowledge in the form of cosmic time. The ordered activity of the cosmic light forms constituting the concept of cosmic time is already prevalent in the culture in the form of Ṛta as a representation of the ordered activity of the gods. Creation proceeding from Kāla is an early observance (Atharvaveda XIX. 53,54). Kāla is declared as the creator of the deities which are no other than the ordered light forms and is also the creator of men which are believed to be the originations of nature. Cosmos is thereby made the means to study about human and his future and the ordered activity of the deities is followed for the understanding of future. Sun is observed in both the hemispheres and is related as to being in the gods or the fathers and such notions are coalesced for setting up the ritual activity in the culture evidently connected with human welfare. The sacrificial order setup on the order of cosmic times is already an establishment in the period of the Brāhmaṇas. Moreover, the concept of proper time is also a concept of connectivity of proper cosmic moment brought forth from the cosmic order and proper human activity in the form of ritual works. This connectivity demanded the Knowledge of cosmic activity as a whole and the Knowledge of cosmic time as to which specific moments were appropriate for human happiness, prosperity and good fortune. Equally it demanded the correctness and superiority while performing the sacrificial actions, the Knowledge of which was essential to fulfill the aim of the sacrifices and other ritual works. If this could be deemed a reason for the erection of Jyotiṣa as a Vedāṅga and the emergence of Karma as a doctrine in the culture it could also serve as a pointer to the role of cosmic time for the derivation of Knowledge in human structure and its future. The culture seems to be aware of such a role of time from the very beginning and is evident in the form of actions on the phases of Moon and the utility of the Nakṣatra system. Time working as a connecting unit of actions with its results is an accepted dogma in the sacrificial theory which relates ritual works with cosmic time for betterment of human future equally sacrifices were deemed to change the course of nature on their performance. If cosmic time was utilized for the performance of ritual actions in the Brāhmaṇas in the later period it is commonly projected as an efficient cause for the happening of any event. Kāla is connected with creation and sustenance of beings and is also equated with end or finish. Time without parts is a projection beyond the Sun where as time with divisions is connected with the rising of the Sun and the qualitative world. The agency of time as that from which the beings appear, grow and disappear is an established fact up to the Upaniṣads (Maitri Upniṣad VI. 14,15) and the study of Kāla as a Nimitta for the performance of actions is a regular practice in the later period consummating in the concept of Muhūrtas and Saṃskāras. The importance of ordered activity in the culture appear to be maintained by the concept of cosmic time, spontaneity in the cosmic activity remains an aspect of divination, its abrupt nature being treated as opposite or reverse of the natural order.