"The Rishis - Spiritual Scientists at the Dawn of Time": Ones who gave us heritage, culture, and way of life, the Sanatana Dharma, for whom time is a continuous river, so they pass from Satya Yuga to other yugas with ease as if floating on cloud of time

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured in India only. ~ MARK TWAIN

अधा॑ मा॒तुरु॒षस॑: स॒प्त विप्रा॒ जाये॑महि प्रथ॒मा वे॒धसो॒ नॄन् । दि॒वस्पु॒त्रा अङ्गि॑रसो भवे॒माद्रिं॑ रुजेम ध॒निनं॑ शु॒चन्त॑: ॥
अधा मातुरुषसः सप्त विप्रा जायेमहि प्रथमा वेधसो नॄन् । दिवस्पुत्रा अङ्गिरसो भवेमाद्रिं रुजेम धनिनं शुचन्तः ॥

From our Mother, the Dawn, may we be born as the seven seers, the original men of wisdom. May we become the sons of Heaven, the Angirasa seers. May we break open the mountain and illumine the Reality.

अधा॒ यथा॑ नः पि॒तर॒: परा॑सः प्र॒त्नासो॑ अग्न ऋ॒तमा॑शुषा॒णाः । शुचीद॑य॒न्दीधि॑तिमुक्थ॒शास॒: क्षामा॑ भि॒न्दन्तो॑ अरु॒णीरप॑ व्रन् ॥
अधा यथा नः पितरः परासः प्रत्नासो अग्न ऋतमाशुषाणाः । शुचीदयन्दीधितिमुक्थशासः क्षामा भिन्दन्तो अरुणीरप व्रन् ॥

Just as our ancient and supreme Fathers, O sacred Fire, seeking the Truth, following the clear insight sustaining the chant, broke through Heaven and Earth and received the radiant Spirit. ~ RIG VEDA 4.2.15–16

The rishis are the ones who gave us our heritage, our culture, and our way of life, known as the Sanatana Dharma. The word rishi is derived from an obscure Sanskrit root meaning “to see,” for they were the seers or the hearers of the Vedic hymns that came from the mouth of Brahma. The word also designates “a singer of sacred hymns, an inspired poet or sage, any person who can invoke the deities in rhythmical speech or song of a sacred character.” 

The four holy books known as the Vedas are considered to be anadi or “without beginning” and apaurusheya or “not the work of man.” The modern mind, hemmed with notions of time and space, can hardly accept such statements. So Western scholars say that the rishis or sages wrote the Vedic hymns. However, the rishis would be the first to deny this statement. The rishis called themselves mantra drashtas or the “seers of the mantras,” not the composers of the mantras. When we say that Newton discovered the law of gravity, it does not mean that he actually created it but that he brought an existing fact to the notice of the world. Likewise, the rishis cognized the mantras already in existence in etheric space and made them known to us. These mantras, like the laws of Nature, have always existed. As the rishis were the ones who brought the already existing mantras to our conscious knowledge, we always bow to their memory when repeating the mantras.

According to modern methods of calculating time, the Vedas must have been cognized by the rishis at the dawn of time, before the creation of language as we know it. At that time the world was still in its infancy, and the human being was only another animal, hunting for food and digging for roots and fruits. Those were the days when humans existed without proper food, clothing, or housing, and certainly not much vocabulary. They had no names for the sun, moon, or any of the natural phenomena, even though they could see them. They were sitting, eating, talking, and so on, but had no names for any of these functions. In that inconceivable past, the divine knowledge of the Vedas was revealed to a set of superhuman beings with high receptivity, extraordinary memory, and an understanding far beyond that of even the most intelligent of modern human beings. Psychologists say that even a most intelligent human being like Einstein uses only 10 percent of his brain capacity, and the rest of us far less. From this, we can guess that these beings were using 100 percent of their brain power. We can imagine that it was only with the revelation of the Vedas that the concept of communication was manifested in the world, by which the human being could not only converse with his fellow beings but also forge a link with posterity.

Who were the Rishis?

Thousands of years have passed since this divine knowledge was first revealed to a small group of seers, traditionally named as Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angiras. Who exactly were these rishis? We know nothing about them but their names, but if we pause a moment to look at the amazing revelation of the Vedas, we will no doubt be struck with awe as to the nature of these seers. These spiritual giants lived in the Himalayas and strode across the Indo-Gangetic plains long before the dawn of historic time. They were the sublime expression of the perfect human being, the crown, and cream of Nature’s evolutionary cycle. These men were really suprahuman, multi-sensory beings who had the gift of inner vision and were able to see the past, present, and future as one huge canvas unrolling in front of them. 

Then came another group of rishis, or seers, with stupendous memory, who passed on this knowledge to successive generations. In India, these great beings seem to have taken birth again and again in every age to keep up the Sanatana Dharma, which they cognized at the beginning of the world! It was indeed miraculous that in that misty morn of the universe there existed such beings that appeared to have attained the fulfillment of all human life, which has not been attained by the majority of humankind even in this age. This has led to the supposition that the rishis had an extraterrestrial origin.

These truly ancient beings had the power to choose the hour of their arrival and departure from this world. The compassion and love they bore to the land of their choice or origin are inexhaustible. It is only due to the power of their tapasya (austerity) that the world continues to retain its integrity. It is said that some of them, like Markandeya, continue to live in the eternal snows of the Himalayas, unseen by any human eye. 

Western historians have declared that the “authors” of the Vedas were an Aryan tribe that came across the Himalayas from the plateau of Asia Minor. This is known as the “Aryan invasion.” The great German Indologist Max Muller was the first to think of this theory, which has no historical basis whatsoever. Indian historians have blindly accepted this concept and written it down in our history books; this is what is taught to Indian children today. How they came to form such a view is difficult to understand. The obvious place to get information about the rishis and the Vedic way of life is from the Vedas themselves. Nobody bothered to delve into this obvious source of information, perhaps because they were incapable of understanding it. But when we look into the Vedas, we see that there is no mention of such an invasion or exodus from Asia Minor across the mountains to the subcontinent of India. It is not possible that the Vedas would have neglected to mention such a stupendous venture.

According to the Vedas, the whole of the Vedic culture was developed along the banks of the great Sarasvati River, which was the great artery for the whole of north India, as the Ganga is today. However, Western historians claimed that the river was purely mythical. Why the rishis should have concocted such a fable of a mythical river is a mystery to anyone who reads the Vedas without prejudice. The Vedas clearly state all the geographical details of this river from its source to its end. It is only today that modern scientific research and satellite photos have verified the existence of this river, which was the very backbone of the Vedic scene and thus of the Hindu culture. Satellite pictures clearly show the river Sarasvati rising in the Himalayas and wending its way to the ocean. Remains of many settlements along the river have also been found. The river slowly dried up in 1900 BCE due to seismic movements and the gradual drying up of her tributaries, giving rise to the Thar Desert. Part of the river went underground and emerged in Allahabad, where it joined the other two great rivers of north India, the Ganga, and the Yamuna. This highly spiritual spot is known as Triveni.

We can safely conclude that the Aryan invasion was a myth created by people with vested interests, who were anxious to prove that this amazing knowledge was an implant from outside. In fact, now it has been proven that Hinduism has existed since long before the great Harappan culture. The seals found in the Harappan valley have many of the Vedic signs on them like the svastika and the peepul tree.

The truth is that the holy land of India has produced countless amazing souls who are steeped in the divine essence and who can actually be called walking gods. They appeared in the remote past and continue to come even up to the present age.

Seven Sages

The saptarishis are the “seven sages” who are sent by Brahma—the Creator in the Hindu trinity—in every age or manvantara in order to uncover the wisdom of the Vedas from the etheric spheres. The rishis about whom we know belonged to the seventh manvantara or age, which is the present one, for which the patriarch is known as Vaivasvata Manu. The work of the rishis is to decode and make available to the ordinary, five-sensory mortal the great knowledge of creation, which they could hear through their inner ears. The riks (hymns of the Vedas) and the samans (melodies or chants) were the sounds that came to them through the etheric sphere and they memorized them perfectly.

In Hindu astronomy, the stars of the Big Dipper are named after the saptarishis. Metaphorically, they stand for the seven senses or the seven vital airs of the body. Their association with the stars gives more support to the theory that they might have been extraterrestrial beings. That is perhaps why we know very little of their lives, parents, or lineage. We know them only through their colossal revelations called the Vedas.

Many different lists of the names of the seven sages are given. Probably this differs from age to age. The rishis of the first manvantara are supposed to be Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vasishta. There are other lists in the other manvantaras or eons. But most lists include Vasishta, Atri, Gautama, Bharadwaja, Vishvamitra, Jamadagni, Kashyapa, and Agastya.

The Rishis through the Ages

The chronological age of the first rishis is impossible to gauge. In Hinduism time is divided into four yugas or eons, which are cyclical and keep repeating endlessly. These yugas are known as Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga. We are now living in the Kali Yuga. The lives of the rishis seem to have spanned across the first three yugas or eons. Thousands of years passed before the Satya Yuga gave place to the Treta Yuga and to Dwapara. However, to the rishis, time was a continuous river, so they passed from the Satya Yuga and entered the other yugas with ease as if effortlessly floating on the cloud of time.

When we take a closer look at the Vedas in the next chapter, we will learn that the first portions of each are called the Samhitas (hymns). They are ecstatic tributes to natural creations, which are all supreme examples of the glory of the Divine, called devas or “the shining ones.” The Samhita portion was obviously cognized when the rishis were living in the holy Himalayan Mountains. They lived in caves and derived their food from the ether and communed with the Divine. At that time it is possible that they did not have much to do with any other human beings, though it is obvious that they did communicate with each other. Perhaps this type of life existed for the whole of the Satya Yuga, when everything existed in truth (satya) alone. Perhaps at the end of this yuga, they had gleaned as much as possible from the etheric sphere. They knew that the time was ripe to pass on this transcendental knowledge to the rest of humanity.

Therefore, they descended from the heights of the Himalayas and stepped into the great plain of north India. The next two portions of the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and Aranyakas, were obviously authored and not cognized by the rishis as were the Samhitas. In these two portions, the rishis did their best to inculcate the Vedic form of life, lived according to the high doctrines of the cosmic dharma. They established their modest ashramas or abodes all along the river. They married and had progeny to whom they taught the esoteric secrets of the Samhita portions. Many hamlets and soon towns and cities in which this type of communal living was taught grew up along the riverbanks.

During the next eon or yuga, known as Treta, some of the rishis left their ashramas and took up residence in the palaces of the kings. They knew that it was of utmost importance that those in power should follow the laws of dharma so that the land could flourish according to the ethical rules they had laid down. Moreover, only the kings had the power to conduct great yajnas (sacrifices) like the Somaveda, Ashvamedha, Rajasuya, and so on, which were essential to the wellbeing of the land. The rishis taught the kings all the esoteric secrets of government, weaponry, and the art of ruling. Some of them were even given the great nuclear weapon known as the Brahmastra. But this was an esoteric secret given only to those who were morally capable of using it at the right time for the good of the world and not for personal gratification. To the farmers, the rishis gave the knowledge of agriculture, while many secrets of medicinal plants were imparted to the physicians.

Lord Rama was one of the great kings of the Treta Yuga. The guru of his dynasty—the solar race—was the famous rishi Vasishta. To Rama, he not only imparted the esoteric secrets of statecraft but also the great message of the Upanishads known as the Yoga Vasishta, by mastering which Rama became a truly evolved soul.

This yuga gave way to the next called Dwapara. Here again, we meet the rishis and realize how much they must have affected and influenced life both in the courts and elsewhere. All the vast scientific knowledge they had amassed was passed on to the people of the land. That is why India had such a glorious civilization while Europeans were still living like barbarians.

This must have come as a shock to the first Westerners who came to India! So they took great pains to suppress this fact. They declared that India had no historical records and whatever was said in the Vedas and Puranas was pure invention, with no basis in fact. In one fell swoop, our glorious culture was declared to be a myth and fable! Unfortunately, Indian historians aped all this nonsense. The fact is that the early Western historians had vested interests and knew that the only way to impose their religion on the Indians was to belittle their culture and cast scorn on their gods. So the rishis have also chosen to incarnate themselves in this Kali Yuga—the age of decadence—in order to preserve the eternal dharma.

Apart from the four Vedas (Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda), the principles of Hindu dharma are to be found in the texts of ten other disciplines. These are the six Vedangas, or auxiliaries to the Vedas—Shiksha, which teaches the correct pronunciation of the Vedic hymns, Vyakarna or grammar, Chandas or meter, Nirukta or etymology, Jyotisha or astronomy, and Kalpa or procedure. To these are added Mimamsa, the interpretation of the Vedic texts, Nyaya or logic, Purana or mythology, and the Dharma Shastras, which contain codes of conduct for all human beings. All knowledge and wisdom are enshrined in these fourteen fields. Normally four more books are added to these, which are known as Upangas or appendices to the Vedangas. They are Ayurveda, the science of life and health, Arthashastra, the science of wealth or economics, Dhanur Veda, the science of weapons, missiles, and warfare, and Gaandharva Veda, or treatises on fine arts like music, art, dance, drama, sculpture, and so on. The Vedangas and the Upangas are all derived from the Vedas and should be studied along with the Vedas so that their meaning becomes clearer.

Living in Brahman

A brahmarishi is one who is constantly in communion with Brahman, the Supreme Godhead. That is to say, these rishis are always in a state of cosmic consciousness in which they are immediately in touch with everything in the cosmos. They can be called the highest class of rishis, who have attained divine knowledge (brahmajnana) or unity with Brahman. This knowledge of the Supreme is attained after years of austerity, meditation, study, and selfless service to the Supreme, resulting in total self-purification. It is a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual exertion. In the Vedas, a rishi is strictly defined as one to whom the Vedic hymns were originally revealed. They are the ones who have mantra drashta or the ability to “see” the mantras. Other sages can never be called rishis, maharishis, or brahmarishis, whatever their merits. Since the order was created by Lord Brahma, it is impossible for Hindu priests and scholars, or contemporary saints, to anoint rishis, maharishis, or brahmarishis, although many persons use such epithets for themselves or for their gurus.

Actually, the Vedic term for the saptarishis was braahmanas, since they were the ones who were created by Brahma and knew Brahman. They came to be known as brahmarishis later, during the post Vedic period when the term braahmana came to be used for a person who was born in the brahmin caste, which meant that they were born in the gotra or clan of one of these brahmarishis. Thus, we find another list of saptarishis who are also gotra pravartakas, that is, founders of the brahmanical clans. This second list appeared at a later period in history, but they are still very ancient. It is an amazing thing that these families have existed to the present age. Hence, the present-day brahmins or braahmanas claim to have an unbroken lineage coming down from the Vedic rishis of more than ten thousand years ago. To this very day all brahmins claim to have been born in the gotra of one of these incredibly ancient sages, such as Vasishta. This is another unique feature of Hindu culture. No other culture can claim to have people who can trace their lineage to such antiquity.

Let us take a peep into the life of these great beings. Nature itself was only a backdrop for their minds. Everything that happens, happens within the mind. During the early hours of the morning and when the sun was at its zenith and again when it set in the western sky, the rishis would sit for meditation. These are the times of the day known as sandhyas, when the sun’s rays have the greatest power to evoke thoughts of the Supreme in the minds of mortals. They are particularly conducive for meditation. At these times the rishis could most clearly cognize the divine hymns, feeling them as vibrations in their hearts.

Even at other times, when they walked around, they were in the superconscious state known as samadhi. They did not have to work for their living since they needed nothing and were dependent on nothing. They gleaned their sustenance from the ether. They looked at everything but saw only Brahman. That alone pervaded everything. They were one with That and therefore they did not exist as separate personalities. Only That One existed. That Supreme Truth, which manifests itself all the time in everything, is an eternal, infinite, and absolute self-existence, self-awareness, and self-delight—sat-chit-ananda. It supports and pervades all things. It is present in the human being as the atman. It is not only the Absolute but also the omnipresent reality in which all that is relative exists as Its forms and movements.

Having submerged themselves in the ocean of existence, consciousness, and bliss, they had no trace of ego, even though they existed in a human body. They can be known only through their words in the Vedas. They have left nothing else. They left no chronicle of their achievements or images that might have survived the course of time.

All forms in the physical world are created by Supreme Consciousness through the shaping of light. The rishis who lived immersed in the Pure Consciousness of Brahman were quite capable of conjuring up any form they chose through the medium of light. This was a natural thing for them. But even though they could materialize anything they wished, they did not seek to carve in stone or wood or make effigies or temples or in any way try to immortalize themselves in this world even though they were perfectly competent to do so. They knew that this world was only as real as the morning mist and would melt with the rising of the sun. The sun of their consciousness was at its zenith and they did not desire the trifles of the world. They have taught us the truth that we will not gain universality unless we are prepared to lose our individuality.

These rishis had no desires. They were quite happy with the forms that existed in the world, which had been fashioned by that Supreme Consciousness. They were content with whatever Nature provided. They did not yearn to possess more for the simple reason that they possessed the wish-fulfilling cow of plenty in their own minds, which was capable of granting every desire they had. Having found the secret of all existence, they continued to live only with the one desire, lokasamgraham—“the good of the world.” They were the embodiments of compassion.

They chose to live their lives in little hermitages or ashramas situated in the middle of jungles, where wild animals roamed unafraid. Every day was a new day. They never stored or hoarded for the next day. The only thing they tended very carefully was fire or agni. Into that fire they poured their oblations to the gods. They kept a few cows, which supplied the butter and ghee necessary for these oblations. They cultivated the land only to the extent that they needed. They were the very embodiments of simplicity and contentment. They desired nothing from the world, for they had found the source of all happiness within themselves. Therefore, they could not be tempted by the baubles of a world that they knew to be ephemeral.

They needed no commandments to keep them to the right path, for they were the very embodiments of dharma, or the cosmic order. They have given humanity the idea of what dharma, or cosmic law, means through the example of their own lives. They did not wish to conquer or control, even though they had the power to control the whole world. They were conscious of their inner power and so they were unafraid of anyone or anything. Actually all of us possess this inner power but we do not know it and thus we think we have to depend on external powers to protect us. We are riddled with fears and we try to protect ourselves by maintaining police forces and accumulating weapons and armies.

Their amazing experience could not be communicated in ordinary language so they taught their disciples in the form of questions and answers. These dialogues are recorded in what are known as the Upanishads, which come at the end of every Veda. The Upanishads use terse and concise language to point out Reality. However, unlike the world of Western science, which is open only to a few intellectuals, the magic world of the rishis has benefited even the uneducated and children. They have shown us that if heaven exists, it has to be made on this very earth.

In the beginning, was the golden womb (Hiranyagarbha),
The seed of elemental existence,
The only Lord of all that was born,
He upheld the heaven and earth together,
To what God other than him should we dedicate our life? ~ ATHARVA VEDA 4.2.7

I am rta, the truth. I was born at the beginning of creation before the birth of the gods. The rishis call me amrita. ~ SAMA VEDA 5.9.4

I am satya, the truth. I manifest myself in the great epic. I appear as the truth through the jataveda fire. None is above me. I am the Ultimate. ~ ATHARVA VEDA 1.1.5

Loka Samasthath Sukhino Bhavantu!

Source: The Science of the Rishis - Vanamali