Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 384

Apaḥ : Divine & Purifying Substance
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the atoms.of. Salila weecordisturbed. The same writer. Further axi t stateworthy that+-+ according to RV X 190 the creation of the universe started from the kindled heat." Bhagavaddatta 13 says that Pāvakas and Sucayas are the two kinds of atoms of the waters.
According to the Br", creation is brought about by the union of Prajāpati with waters, earth etc. In another Brāhmaṇa-text the term Apaḥ is etymologised from the root ap, to obtain : abravit (brahma) abhirva ahamidam sarvamāpsyami yadidam kiñceti tasmādāpo'bhavaṁstadapamaptvam. Brahman said, 'with these I will obtain all this'. Thence originated the waters and so are they called. It is also said that from heated water the worldly things one by one were produced.16 The cosmogonic accounts in the TS17 presuppose the priority of Prajapati to the Waters in the same manner. In one of the Sūtra texts,18 in the context of an optional animal sacrifice called Svargaḥ, it is enjoined that one who desires heaven should offer the subsidiary oblations of water with the Násadīya-sūkta. Here, presumably, the same cosmogonic significance of the waters is implied. The TBr 19 seems to refer, in one passage, to the quantity of primordial water. Asita, the son of Devala, once said : etávatīrvā amuşmimloke apa asan yavatih prokşaniriti 'As are these prokşaņis, so much was the water in the world'. The idea of the so-called two waters-terrestrial and celestial- also seems to be referred to in a Brāhmaṇa-passage20 where it is said, ya rocane parastāt süryasya yāścavastaduparişthata ápah 'At both sides of the sun the water exists: above and below'.
This brings us to the consideration of terrestrial waters. For man-ancient or modernimportance of water is beyond doubt. May be that the speculation about the primordial waters actually evolved out of his daily experience. The useful qualities of water are referred to many times in the Vedic literature. Keith notes: "The connection (of waters) with honey is of interest : it confirms the view that the essential conception is that the waters in their refreshing drink are the boney as they also are in Soma : thus the myth of descent of Soma is no more than the tale of the descent to earth of refreshing rain when the storm breaks forth." Water is man's most basic need. It is said that even after being used so often the water does not cease to be! (āpah etāvati bhoge bhujyamáne na kşīyante). Water exists even in the breath 128 It is water that fills the body with liquid :24 (äpo hyetamangebhyo rasam sambharanti). Water is the base of all.25 One can speak only when the breath is full of water 26! Everything is produced from water.27 These worlds are verily situated in water.28 The water is inside, and the flesh outside : (antara hyapo bähyäni māṁsāni) Particularly it is stated that all the food is (produced by) water; with water, things are eaten.30 Especially the strength is regarded as the outcome of waters !). Once the waters said to Prajāpati, 'All the wisbes live in us. Make the offering to me and then all the wishes will cling to you! You will then know what the heaven is !939 It is said in the JBr 38 that Agni divided water into so many types so that some people make their livelihood on the water dug up, some on the still one, some on the moving one. Thus Agni brought the food in this world. So it must have been on account of the food to which they are instrumental in producing that the waters were glorified the first stage. Their cleansing and purifying character must have been the second factor on account of which the waters are glorified. In the Sūtra texts, where the cleaning operation occurs frequently, this fact is indicated very clearly. For example, in the recitation that accompanies the act of cleansing of sacrificial post this quality is referred to. At another place, in the context of touching the water (by wife of the sacrificer), waters are referred to as śuddhāyuvaḥ,86 Thus the waters are referred to as the source of life as well as of cleanliness. It is, presumably, on account of this that the ŚBp86 characterises Apah as pavitram.
Regarding the healing power of waters, Griswolda7 says: "The waters are nourishing, strengthening, life-giving. It is only an extension of the same idea, when the waters are called medicina), and are conceived as the source of healing and immortality. It is the extension by analogy from physical cleansing to moral cleansing." The Apah are said to be the essence of plants. They are also the very tranquillity (śāntih āpah). As if to confirm the statement that waters are the very essence of plants, it is said that that is why only when both-waters and