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Mysticism and Indian spirituality
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activity which was very close to the heart of archaic man and was capable of exercising a strong influence on his character and behaviour, much more so than words, images and stories. This was ritual action. In performing a rite modelled op mythical or cosmic events Vedic man was able to take in into himself archetypal patterns of thought and behaviour which reflected the hierarchy of the world order and created in him a sense of belonging and an awareness, however dim, that the cosmic law was also the moral law which told him what was right and wrong and that it further was also the social law which determined his place in the structure of the Āryan society.
It was only later in the course of several centuries that Vedic ritual deteriorated into an over-elaborated system of ceremonial observances of the Brāhmana period in which the original mystical vision became buried. We can certainly speak of the mystical experiences of the ancient ?șis as the basis and starting point of the Vedic religion and we need not doubt that for some generations these experiences were kept alive. But it is true that it is more difficult to speak about a mystical doctrine in Vedic times since that would imply the existence of a systematic exposition and interpretation of the mystical experiences in the context of a philosophical or theological world picture expressed in well-defined concepts. However, although the language of the Vedas is poetical, symbolical and mythological and the hymns do not aim at systematic instruction of the listeners, they nevertheless convey a sufficiently clear picture of an ordered universe with a vast spiritual dimension behind it. That is expressed repeatedly by Vedic cosmogonic myths of creation -- that of Aditi, the mother of all that is, has been and will be (RV !, 89, 10), that of the cosmic purusa (RV 10, 90), of hiranyagarbha (RV 10, 121), of skambha (AV 10, 7) and that of the Indra-Vộtra combat. It was later expressed also in terms almost devoid of mythological imagery in the nāsadiya sākta (Creation hymn, RV, 129) whereby began the process of conceptualisation of
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