>Scyrme: /* Overview */

2021-06-11T18:58:57Z

Overview

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'''Dhi''' (Sanskrit: धी), this [[Sanskrit]] word means 'understanding', 'reflection', 'religious thought', 'mind', 'design', 'intelligence', 'opinion', 'meditation', 'imagination', 'notion', 'intellect',<ref>{{cite web|title=Sanskrit Dictionary|publisher=Spokensanskrit.de|url= http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=HK&beginning=0+&tinput=dhi+&trans=Translate&direction=AU }}</ref> This word is directly connected with the word, [[Vāc]] (Sanskrit: वाच) meaning Speech, derived from Vac (Sanskrit: वच) meaning, 'to speak'. ''Dhi'' is the voiced ''Vāc'' or '[[Speech]]', it is the thought-mind or intellect. ''Dhi'' also means 'to hold' or 'to place', and indicates the activity of the intellect.<ref>{{cite book|title=Vedic Symbolism|author=Sri Aurobindo|year=1988|publisher=Lotus Press|page=26|isbn=9780941524308|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iR1L8V8bxqgC&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA26}}</ref>

==Overview==

The natural meaning of ''Dhi'' is '[[Thought]]' which corresponds to the [[Sanskrit]] word ''[[Buddhi]]'' which means 'the activity of mind', 'thought', 'understanding' and 'intelligence'.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hymns to the Mystic Fire|author=Sri Aurobindo|year=1996|publisher=Lotus Press|page=15|isbn=9780914955221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WuOFGN8s4s0C&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA15}}</ref> [[Vedic Sanskrit]] employs two words ''Dhi'' and [[Brahman]] for prayerful or meditative contemplation in which context ''Dhi'' means 'visionary insight', 'intense thought and reflection', and the word Brahman is derived from the root ''brh'', meaning 'to grow', 'to expand'.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana|author=Ian Whicher|date=January 1998|publisher=SUNY Press|page=311|isbn=9780791438152|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Qo9K9hPvQgC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA311}}</ref>
[[Manu Smriti]] describes ten essential rules for observance of [[Dharma]] (the path of righteousness or the 'Law of Being', which binds the people of this world and the whole creation) – ''[[Dhriti]]'' ('patience'), ''[[Kshama]]'' ('forgiveness'), ''Dama'' ('self-control'), ''[[Asteya]]'' ('honesty'), ''[[Shaucha]]'' ('purity'), ''Indriya-nigrah'' ('control of senses'), ''Dhi'' ('reasoning'), ''[[Vidya (philosophy)|Vidya]]'' ('knowledge and learning'), ''[[Satya]]'' ('truthfulness') and ''[[Akrodha]]'' ('control of anger').<ref>{{cite book|title=Basics of Hinduism|author=Shivendra Kumar Sinha|date=21 December 2008|publisher=Unicorn Books|page=31|isbn=9788178061559|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSOEETzRVqsC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA31}}</ref>

==Application==

'''Dhi''', the prefix of ''Dhimahi'' and ''Dhiyo'' occurring in the [[Gayatri Mantra]] ([[Rig Veda]]III.62.10) refers to 'understanding', and its cognate word ''Buddhi'' means 'reasoning faculty of the mind', which understanding must be transcended to experience the Ultimate Reality.<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Philosophy: An Introduction|author=M.Ram Murty|date=7 December 2012|publisher=Broadview Press|page=15|isbn=9781770483859|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chQjTOdnlLIC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA15}}</ref> The word, ''Dhira'', meaning 'calm', denotes the seeker whose intellect is saturated in knowledge which word is the combination of ''Dhi'' meaning 'intellect' and ''ra'' meaning 'fire' or 'wisdom'.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jnana Sankalini Tantra|author=Paramhansa Prjnananda|date=July 2010|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=191|isbn=9788120831421|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bq-LDHAYbzAC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA191}}</ref>
The Non-Atman i.e. the [[Anatman (Hinduism)|Anatman]], which is by its nature disagreeable, is the object of the function of ''Dhi'' (=''buddhi'') which reveals the joy (''ananda''), the nature of the individual consciousness.<ref>{{cite book|title=Suresvara's Vartika on Yajnavalkya's – Maitreyi Dialogue|author=Suresvaracharya|year=1991|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=112|isbn=9788120807297|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvcrBnKaIgEC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA112}}</ref>
[[Patanjali]] defines [[Yoga]] as neutralization of the alternating waves in consciousness; in the phrase ''citta vritti nirodha'' (Yoga Sutra I.2), ''[[Citta]]'' refers to the 'thinking principle' and includes 'pranic life forces', to ''[[Manas (early Buddhism)|Manas]]'' ('mind' or 'sense consciousness'), ''[[Ahamkara]]'' ('egoity') and ''[[Buddhi]]'' ('intuitive intelligence'), and ''[[Vritti]]'' refers to the waves of thought and emotion that ceaselessly arise and [[Nirodha]] refers to 'neutralization', 'cessation' or 'control'.<ref>{{cite book|title=Autobiography of a Yogi|author=Sri Paramhansa Yogananda|year=2008|publisher=Diamond Pocket Books|page=224|isbn=9788190256209|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsIi4ePN4hYC&q=dhi+upanishads&pg=PA224}}</ref> The root ''budh'' and its derivatives appear in the [[Vedas]] in the sense of 'kindling' or 'awakening', the word ''buddhi'' appears for the first time in ''Samkhyayana Brahmana Upanishad''. ''Dhi'' is derived from ''dhriti'' and its cognate ''didhiti'', it also refers to flash of intuition which is beyond all purely sensuous perception.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hindu Spirituality Vedas Through Vedanta|author=Krishna Sivaraman|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=192,210|isbn=9788120812543|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lktl97WdxWkC&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA192}}</ref> The mental organs are ''manas'' ('mind') and ''hrd'' ('heart'), and the mental faculties are ''citta'' ('thought'), ''dhi'' ('mental vision') and ''kratu'' ('mental power'). ''Manas'' is said to perform the processes indicated by the verbal roots '''cit-'', ''dhi-'' and ''man-''; ''dhi'' requires ''kratu'' in actualizing visions.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Origins of Indian Psychology|author=N.Ross Reat|year=1990|publisher=Jain Publishing Co.|pages=96–135|isbn=9780895819246|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0nHmSni1NEC&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA130}}</ref>

==Connection with Vāc==

'''Dhi''' refers to 'vision' or 'inspiration which is the exceptional faculty of acquiring a sudden knowledge of transcendent truth or reality', 'the inner light of visionary insight'. [[Soma (deity)|Soma]] is the Lord of Vision who dispenses inspiration and Speech (Vāc) is inspired thought (''manisa'') or wisdom guarded by the seers on the seat of ''[[Rta]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Vedic Literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas)|author=Jan Gonda|year=1975|publisher=Otto Harrasowitz Veriag|pages=66–71|isbn=9783447016032|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ogb24XeQOZ8C&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA67}}</ref> The [[Rig Veda]] links language not only to thought (''manas'') but also to vision (''dhi''), a word from which comes ''[[Dhyana in Hinduism|Dhyana]]'' meaning 'meditation'.<ref>{{cite book|title=Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights|author=Frits Staal|year=2008|publisher=Penguin Books|page=293|isbn=9780143099864|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcE23SjLX8sC&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA293}}</ref>
In the [[Yajurveda]] (29.8), [[Sarasvati]], the Goddess of Speech, is invoked to grant the gift of ''Dhi'', inspired thought, and thought is linked with ''Vāc''; [[Sarasvati River|Sarasvati]] is also known as the river of inspired thought,<ref>{{cite book|title=Sarasvati, Riverine Goddess of Knowledge|author=Catherine Ludvik|year=2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004158146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lsYKIXBOK0C&q=dhi+vedas&pg=PA27}}</ref>

The [[Vedas]] are the sacred texts of the [[Hindus]]. They are the repository of what is the known or required to be known, in other words, the true knowledge or the transcendent eternal wisdom articulated in [[Sound]] ('sabda') or [[Speech]] ('vāc'). The [[Vedic]] [[Rishi|seers]] have associated the power of speech or the spoken word with ultimacy and transcendence – ''ekam sat'' ([[Rig Veda]] I.164.46). They also know [[Vishwakarma]], the creator, as Vācaspati, the Lord of Speech ([[Rig Veda]] X.81.7) (who is also called [[Brihaspati]] and Brahmanaspati), and that Vāc or speech or utterance as [[Brahman]] is the creative principle and the absolute force in the universe; the person who has gained its knowledge is said to have attained the highest knowledge ([[Rig Veda]] X.125.5). As far as Brahman extends so far does ''Vāc'' ([[Rig Veda]] X.114.8).<ref>{{cite book|title=Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion|author=William A.graham|date=11 March 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521448208|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzYX0T-ZqTcC&q=vac+veda&pg=PA70}}</ref>

==Role of Vāc==

The Inspired thought (''dhi'') that precedes utterance though connected with speech undergoes some modifications while being transformed into speech; the [[Vedic]] [[Rishis]] tell us that the thoughtful one's produce speech with their mind ([[Rig Veda]] X.71.2), the different stages in transformation from ''dhi'' to ''vāc'' are described in the [[Atharvaveda]] (VII.1.1). ''Dhi'' is the voiced speech. Goddess Saraswati presides over speech but ''vāc'' extends far above and beyond Saraswati ([[Rig Veda]] X.125) beyond all known spheres ([[Rig Veda]] X.114.8). Vāc is dependent on breath or air; and the [[Aitareya Brahmana]] (IV.42.1) states ''Brahman vai vāk'', Vāc is the mother of the Vedas and the Vedas themselves ([[Shatapatha Brahmana]] (6.5.3.4).<ref>{{cite book|title=Sarasvati, Riverine Goddess of Knowledge|author=Catherine Ludvik|year=2007|publisher=BRILL|pages=33, 37, 60|isbn=978-9004158146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lsYKIXBOK0C&q=vac+veda&pg=PA60}}</ref>
The Vedas are a form of the ritual and cosmological ''Vāc'' (speech). Vāc is presented as consort of [[Prajapati]] (Kathaka Samhita 12.5.27.1) whom the Brahmanas express as 'the expressed' (''nirukta'') and as the 'unexpressed' (''anirukta''), the limited and the unlimited. [[Taittiriya Aranyaka]] tells us that Vāc is the imperishable one, the (''[[Aksara]]''), the first-born of the cosmic order (''[[Rta]]''), the mother of the Vedas (''vedanam mata''), the navel of immortality (''[[Amrita]]'') and therefore Vedas themselves are infinite (''[[Ananta (infinite)|Ananta]]''), immortal (''amrta'') and imperishable (''akshita''). The ''Jaiminiya Upanishad'' tells us that [[Om|Aum]] or Om, the essence of all essences, is [[Vāc]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation|author=Barbara A.Holdrege|date=January 1994|publisher=SUNY Press|pages=2, 40, 49|isbn=9780791419373|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Z8CGJBo3z4C&q=vac+veda&pg=PA40}}</ref> On the human plane the mind precedes speech, and on the cosmic plane Prajapati precedes ''vāc'' as the Lord of Thought and Speech, who brings forth ''vāc'' to unite with ''vāc'' to manifest creation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture|author= Barbara A.Holdrege|date= January 1996|publisher=SUNY Press|page=48|isbn= 9780791416396|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_H31Q_eq84C&q=vac+veda&pg=PA47}}</ref>
''Vāc'' was probably the language commonly spoken by the Vedic people as the language of men.<ref>{{cite book|title=Language and Style of the Vedic Rishis|author=Tatayana Elizarenkova|date=January 1995|publisher=SUNY Press|page=82|isbn=9780791416686|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-B0Y-IwTQAC&q=vac+veda&pg=PA107}}</ref> ''Vāc'' is another name for [[Aditi]] or [[Viraj]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Indus Script and the Rg-veda|author=Egbert Richter-Ushanas|year=1997|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=124|isbn=9788120814059|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DZYbWQbKAsC&q=vac+veda&pg=PA124}}</ref>

For the purpose of invoking [[Agni]] and other ''[[devatas]]'', the [[mantra]]s of the [[Rig Veda]] have a very essential role to play because the ''Upasaka'' when meditating is required to think of the Rcs as Vāc i.e. speech; it is for this reason that the mantras are chanted and there is a prescribed way to do that chanting. Rishi [[Medhātithi|Medhatithi Kanva]] ([[Rig Veda]] I.12.11) prays:

:स नः सत्वान आ भर गायत्रेन नवीयसा |
:रयिं वीरवतिमिषम् ||

"May Agni accept the words of praise (adoration) set in newer hymns composed in Gayatri metre and devoutly sung (chanted), (May Agni) accept the oblations made in it (in the prescribed manner) of the offerings rightly earned and belonging to the performers of rites." And, Rishi Ayasya (Rig Veda IX.46.2) praying thus-

:परिष्कृतास इन्दवो योषेव पित्र्यावती |
:वायुं सोमा असृक्षत ||

informs us that having acquired the knowledge of the highest the learned people (easily) unravel the deeply hidden meaning of the most subtle kind. This means, that each experience of ours is a re-discovery of ourselves, and that in order to really re-discover ourselves so as to understand our true nature we have to firstly awaken our mind, then make the mind speak loudly enough to be heard because [[Prana]], which is the body of the mind, is that very silence waiting to be heard. A sage of the Rig Veda (Rig Veda X.20.9) states that the creator vested ''[[Agni]]'' with three coloured flames and made it brilliant, eminent, swift-acting and hot. The sage of the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] tells us that behind all things are these three colours, the rest constituted out of them are a modification and a name. Speech is Rk or ''[[Brhati]]'' identified with ''[[Prana]]'' whose lord is [[Brihaspati]], the same lord is Brahmanaspati when speech is ''[[Yajus]]'' associated with Brahman. Speech is ''Sama''; it cannot reveal itself for it is as formless as the air on which it rides; it rides upon the streams of air constituting the wind, and words once uttered do not return to the speaker.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Illumination of Knowledge|author=Ravinder Kumar Soni|publisher=GBD Books|pages=47, 77, 62, 87, 93|url=https://www.amazon.in/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Ravinder%20Kumar%20Soni&page=1&rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3ARavinder%20Kumar%20Soni}}</ref>

[[Yajnavalkya]] tells King [[Janaka]] that the light that comes nearest to the supreme light of the [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] is the light of Vāc i.e. speech, since it is the supreme faculty of reason that finally lifts the consciousness towards the pure self-shining awareness of the Atman, and which after serving as a pointer vanishes or goes to rest.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Upanishads Vol.3|author=Swami Parmeshwaranad|year=2000|publisher=-Sarup and Sons|page=309|isbn=9788176251488|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mgwzp6-HTTIC&q=vac+upanishads&pg=PA309}}</ref> The Vedic sages have all along advocated 'Truth', 'Penance' and 'Study' as special virtues. Amongst these three special virtues Truth is held out to be the supreme virtue to be practised by all aspirants. All primary virtues are firstly imbibed from the parents; [[Satyakama Jabala]] acquired the spirit of truthfulness from his mother, and [[Sanat Kumara]] taught [[Narada]] that Truth has to be sought for realization – "when one indeed understands Truth in its reality one speaks the truth".<ref>{{cite book|title=In Search of True Happiness|author=Ravinder Kumar Soni|publisher=Soni Parivar|page=14}}</ref>

While describing the rituals associated with the [[Ashvamedha]] [[yajna]], in the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]] we are told that the neighing of the horse, representing the cosmos, is Vāc.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sources of Indian Tradition|author=Stephen N.Hay|date=May 1988|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=28|isbn=9788120804678|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBWzV-TRXzkC&q=vac+upanishads&pg=PA28}}</ref>

==Claim for primacy==

A sage of the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] after declaring that the syllable ''[[Om|Aum]]'', having the individual and also the cosmic efficacy, not only serves to help the meditation of the individual person but even the Sun travels the universe singing ''Aum'' as does ''Prana'' moving in the body (Ch.Up.I.5.1,3) explains that that ''[[Om|Aum]]'' is the essence of all beings on this earth, the essence of a person is speech and the essence of speech is the [[Rig Veda]] (Ch.Up.I.1.2) but the essence of [[Samaveda]], which is the essence of the Rig Veda, is ''[[Om|Udgitha]]'' which is ''Aum''. He declares that all speech is interwoven on the symbol ''Aum'', in the same manner as the leaves of a tree are woven together on a stalk (Ch.Up.II.23.3). Speech is the fuel of fire which is man (Ch.Up.V.7.1). Mind consists of 'food', the Prana consists of 'water' and speech consists of 'fire' (Ch.Up.VI.6.5). [[Narada]] is told by [[Sanat Kumara]] that all this is but a name by which one knows, even then speech is greater than name because if there is no speech neither righteousness nor unrighteousness would be known, but surely the mind is greater than speech for mind is the entire world (Ch.Up.VII.2 & 3) establishing the claim of the mind (''dhi'') for primacy over speech (''vāc'').<ref>{{cite book|title=A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy|author=R.D.Ranade|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|pages=83, 214, 245|url=https://archive.org/stream/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926.djvu/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926_djvu.txt}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Indian philosophy}}
{{Rigveda}}

[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Language and mysticism]]
[[Category:Philosophy of mind]]
[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
[[Category:Vedanta]]

Dhi (Hindu thought) - Revision history

>Scyrme: /* Overview */