A Commentary on The Fifth Sukta of The Rigveda

The present sukta also tells us that we are to conquer all the powers of the terrestrial life with the help of pure delight and establish in pure mind the foundation of Truth, the perfect manifestation of Force, Knowledge and Bliss, the manifold fulness and perfection of Indra.

The diversity in the creation is a profound and sublime Truth. So the sadhaka also has to manifest in his being and nature this immensely diverse play. The manifoldness of Form is revealed consciously through the mind. When the true mental being awakes, all the formations lose their petty and mortal nature and appear as cadences and expressions of the blissful immortal Truth. That is why the mental Purusha or Indra is called Purutaman Purunām. No other god has also many diversified forms as Indra. It is because he is at the root of all manifold diversities. Indra comes with plenitude; he conquers for the sadhaka Sahasrinam Vājam (a thousand-fold plenitude). Vājam is the fulness which is indivisible; it is the vessel of a thousand-fold movement of creation. Indra is the eldest of all, because the primal form of the external manifestation appears first in the heart of the mental being. Later on it becomes manifest in the outward nature. After his very birth Indra wants to be the eldest of all, i.e., as soon as the pure mental being awakes in the aspirant, it becomes the master and guide of his sadhana and his new spiritual creation. For this reason Indra is called Iśānam (Lord) and Sukratu (the all-accomplishing Power of action). It is in him that all the masculine powers of God are manifest. In accordance with the Will of the Purusha all the forms of Prakriti take shape. The vessel or the form which Indra is shaping newly in the aspirant is firmly established on supreme Truth and Knowledge.

Pure mental being is rich with pure knowledge. Pure mental knowledge is that which makes an object stand revealed to the knower. This knowledge of Indra is many-sided. The real function of Indra is to harmonise the truths of all objects and movements of the creation. Hence he is called Purandhi or Purudhi (a city full of intellect-power). Indra does not want dissolution in the One Existent, but he wants a diverse and many-sided manifestation. In unfolding or blossoming alone is his joy. He seeks for a vibrant cadence of the Truth. The Bliss of Indra is founded on Truth. That is why this Bliss is pure and tranquil and yet dynamic. The joy of sensuous pleasure of an ordinary man is emotional and fleeting. Man cannot hold it and an aspirant cannot build anything on it. That joy flows out and man spills it away in trying to hold it. That is the reason why this joy of the senses has to be purified and made noble with the light of pure mind, intelligence and knowledge. Then alone that joy will be beneficial, capable of doing works and yielding fruit. When the pure mental being, rich with the nectar of immortality and supported by the pure vital energy, marches forward driving his two luminous horses of knowledge and power to the battlefield to advance in spirituality, the dumb material forces of Ignorance fail to oppose them. Cutting asunder all limitations of the earthly consciousness and the powers of Death, Indra founds a full-fledged bliss of immortality in the aspirant. He enables the creative genius of the aspirant to blossom in the untrammelled expanse of the infinite consciousness.