Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.19

c9.19

**'Tapas' as Method of Learning.** Thus the Rigveda Saṁhitā, the form in which the Rigveda is accessible to us, reveals two stages and types of education, and educational method. The matter of the Rigveda, its hymns, are the outcome of the first, the method of the pursuit of the highest Truth and of its direct realization on the basis of ascetic austerities and concentrated contemplation called *Tapas* which marks out the Ṛishi or "Seer". In Rigveda, x, 109, 4, there is mention of seven Ṛishis absorbed in *tapas* (*tapase ye nisheduḥ*) and of the power of *tapas* in raising the lowest to the highest. In x. 154, 2, there is a reference to Tapas of various forms as explained by Sāyaṇa, such as (1) austerities like *kṛichchhra-chāndrāyaṇa* whereby the ascetic is rendered invincible (*anādhṛishya*), (2) sacrifices whereby he attains heaven, and (3) penances of the highest order (*mahat*), e.g. Rājasūya, Aśvamedha, forms of *Upāsanā* (*yoga*) *like Hiranyagarbha*. X, 167, 1 refers to the conquest of heaven by *tapas* (*tapaḥ paritapya ajayaḥ*). X, 136, 2 refers to *Munis* (defined by Sāyaṇa as "the seers of Truths beyond the senses") "clad in barks of trees (*piśaṅgā vasate malā*), shining with the glow of *tapas*, attaining godly forms, and the free movement of the wind". The next verse describes the *Munis* as living in a state of divine afflatus, ecstasy, or supreme bliss (*Unmaditāḥ*) (due to renunciation of the world, as explained by Sāyaṇa), with their souls detached from their bodies which alone are seen by mortals, which means that they lived in a state of *Samādhi*, living in the spirit and not in the body. They are also described as assuming the subtle body resembling the wind (*Vātān ā tasthimā*). The following verse further extols the Muni who becomes all-pervading like the Vāyu, and all-seeing like the sun (by worshipping them), and the equal of the gods (*deva-sakhā*) by *sukṛiti*, pious deeds. The next verse again describes him as attaining to the forms of the gods (Vāyu or Sūrya) or as one whom the gods themselves wish to attain (*deveshita*). I, 55, 4 refers to Ṛishis dwelling in forests (*vane*) in contemplation of God. There is a reference to *Sannyāsa* in viii, 24, 26. The Ṛishi of x, 117 is named Bhikshu and the whole *Sūkta* is in praise of charity and gifts to one who begs in need. X, 190, 1 rises to the culminating conception of *Ṛita* and *Satya*, truth of thought and speech, as the fruit of *Tapas*, and of the whole creation