PURANIC VIEW OF HARI

Vipin Kumar and Radha Gupta

J-178, HIG Colony, Indore – 452011(India)

Puranas assign much importance to Hari and it has been said that the worship of Hari is more important than that of Vishnu. The monkeys which helped Lord Rama in reuniting with Sita are also called haris. Their leader Sugriva , who has been called a hari, has got special importance. The word meaning of Su-griva is – having a good neck. In vedic literature, griva symbolizes the inner voice(gree root means Vijnana). In Somayaga, some rituals are performed for few days before starting the yagna. These are called Pravargya and Upasada. Pravargya symbolizes attaining a state of high energy, in scientific terms, attaining a state of lower entropy. It has been said in Brahmanic literature that some firm base is required to establish this state of lower entropy, just like our head is established on neck. This base has been called Upasada in yagna. It is assumed that by Upasada ritual, which is done silently, demons are forced to leave the yagna place or vedi. Not only that, by this act of yaga, the sun is able to get united with earth and moon and thus is able to form different parts of a year which is called samvatsara. Vedic literature refers it as the union of praana, vaak/speech and mind. This ritual can give us an idea what can be the actual purpose of haris. As has been said in vedic part of this article, the function of haris is to fetch energy from the main stream to support the self(Swadhaa). The story of Sugriva indicates that Rama has to establish friendship with Sugriva. Let the higher and lower selves be in friendship with each other. In Vaalmiki Raamaayana, monkeys or kapis have been called haris/harayah. In puraanic literature, kapi has been depicted as a state when the gross matter develops consciousness. According to Dr. Lakshminarayan Dhoot, the whole world which consists of gross matter is going towards a state of higher entropy, a state where all the energy of the world will become useless. But on the other hand, the development of consciousness is leading the world towards a state of lower entropy. Thus, the first requirement is that the gross matter is given a chance to develop consciousness in it. This is the state of kapi or monkey. The next stage is Hari when this consciousness gets united with sun etc.

Yogi Hari in Bhaagavata purana 11.2 teaches to establish 4 traits – love(with god), friendship(with his devotees), compassion(on that which can not be integrated, which is scattered?) and neglect(of those who despise). This requires further explanation in future. In Radhavallabh sect, the mantra for recitation contains four words – Radhavallabha, Harivamsha, Vrindaavana and Vanachandra. Harivamsha has been stated to be symbolic of friendship. This indicates that Radhavallabha is symbolic of love. Then can the other two words be symbolic of the other two traits out of 4?

Vedic scholars have not yet been able to support why Harayah word has been classified under synonyms for man in vedic nighantu. But Valmiki Ramayana classifies haris under vaa-nara, one who can be a man or not a man. In classical Sanskrit, even lion, fish, tortoise etc. have been called haris. One has yet to seek a vedic explanation for this fact( Rigveda 9.89.3 refers lion as hari). May be that all those systems which can help in lowering the entropy have been classified under Harayah.

There is a well known anecdote in vedic literature of king Harishchandra making efforts to save his son Rohita from being sacrificed for god Varun. It’s equivalent has appeared in puranas also in much detail. On delaying the sacrifice of Rohita, Harishchandra catches the disease of water in stomach. This is significant, because if the energy or fire in the stomach which devours food gets spread in the whole body or beyond that also, then stomach fire will be dampened. The story indicates that one has to make special provisions to keep this fire in proper state. Harishchandra happens to be the god of one mantra in Rigveda 1.28.9:

Uchchishtam chamvorbhara somam pavitre aa srija. Ni dhehi goradhi tvachi.

In this mantra, it is mentioned that let one collect the leftover in yagna and reprocess it ( The verbal meaning of this is that let soma plant which has not been crushed or used in the sacrifice, be again carried back to the chariot ). So, in vedic mantra the prayer of the seer to Harishchandra is to somehow use properly the leftover of soma. In the stories of puranas, Harishchandra has been depicted as a king who has to make special efforts to reach heaven. He has been shown as the son of Satyavrata/ Trishanku, that form of consciousness of pure Atman which has spread in this mortal body in three states and got polluted. This further gets polluted in the form of his son Harishchandra. He has got a little power to rise upward in the form of his son Rohita. His son Rohita dies and he has to become a keeper of funeral place. In spirituality, funeral place is symbolic of burning one’s sins. Rohita is symbolic of leftover energy( uchchishta ) which again and again tries to reach back to the crescent point, but is prevented by god Indra, until he has crossed 7 stages or koshas of human inidividuality. Only then the energy which is going waste ( uchchista ) can be put in it’s proper place and can become the real uchchista which is demanded by vedic mantra( In common parlance, Rohita can be considered as the power of judging right and wrong). It can be said that only after these purification, Harishchandra can really become a Marudgana, friend of Indra, as demanded by Rigvedic mantra 9.66.26. The story of connecting Harishchandra with Rohit seems to be wonderful from vedic point of view, because in vedic mantras, Hari and Harayah have been called as hawks/suparnas. Hari is supposed to go higher and higher( Harih suparno divamaaruho archisha etc.- Atharvaveda Shounak Sam. 19.65.1). In Taittiriya Samhita 3.1.11.4, Harayah the hawks rise upto heaven and come back to earth only to quench it with ghrita/butter. The connection of Harishchandra with the third trait, viz. kripaa/compassion, can be seen under Kripaa.

In vegetable kingdom, green color can be considered as a leftover energy, the energy which is emitted by the plants after absorbing sunlight. In creatures, their five senses can be thought of as leftover energy. It has been stated that whatever energy is reaching for working of our senses, is that energy which has not reached its crescent.. Therefore, one’s duty is to somehow arrange for transport of this leftover energy to its crescent.

In vedic literature, there is a concept of soma, the ultimate food for gods. One is gross food which is devoured by all the creatures including man. This produces residue. On the other hand, there is the food of gods, soma, which does not generate any residue. How to acquire soma? In modern sciences, it has been found that those people who can survive without gross food have their enlarged pineal gland, the gland responsible for third eye, that can fetch rays from sun. This can be done by becoming one of the Haryah, those who can fetch soma. The fact of Harayah fetching food seems to be corroborated by the mention of food in Rigveda 3.44.3.

In puranic literature, Dharma and her spouse Moorti are said to have four sons – Nara, Naaraayana, Hari and Krishna. Puranas consider Hari to have these four divisions. The combination of Nara and Naaraayana is called collectively as Narau. There is no direct reference in vedic literature to connect Hari with Narau. Regarding the pair of Hari and Krishna in puranas, Rigveda 1.164.47 mentions a krishna or dark path which is followed by Harayah the hawks for reaching to heaven and then they come back from there and shower ghrita on the earth( The importance of this mantra can be guessed from the frequent repetetion of this mantra in Atharvaveda and other places). In Vishnudharmottara Purana 3.151.3, Hari and Krishna have been equated with Haya and Hamsa. Haya can be understood as one which fetches food for Hamsa, the Aatman, or in other words, our senses. There is a possibility that what has been called Haree iti ( two horses) in vedic literature, can be equated with Hari and Krishna in puranas. Atharva veda Shounaka Samhita 13.3.16 refers to Harayah carrying white/shukra to the son in heaven(Shukram vahanti harayo raghushyado devam divi varchsa bhraajamaanam). Taittiriya Samhita 3.1.11.4 refers to black colored Harayah(Asitvarna harayah suparnaa miho vasaanaa divamutpatanti). This offers food for thought how Krishna of puranas and Shukra of Vedas can be related.

There is a general adjective Vrishnaa for Haree iti in Rigvedic mantras ( e.g. 2.16.6, 3.35.5 etc.) and Vrishaa for Hari ( Rigveda 9.82.1, 9.86.31, 9.86.44 etc). This seems to have been converted into Hari Varsha in puranic literature. Prahlaada is the devotee in Hari Varsha who worships God in the form of Nrihari or Nrisimha. Prahlaada can be considered as a state of special joy which is produced from the highest level of human being, the Hiranyaya kosha. The outcome of this highest level seems to have been symbolized by Hiranyakashipu, the infamous father of Prahlaada. The god who saves Prahlaada is Nrihari. Nrihari word seems to contain in itself Nri or Narau and Hari. This state can also be equated with the upward and downward motions of the state of joy, as has been said for the word Haree iti in Braahmanas.

In Bhaagvata Purana 11.2, yogi Hari gives sermons to King Nimi. The gist of the sermon is that worshipping God is not sufficient. One should feel the presence of God in his manifestations equally well. One has to adopt 4 traits called love, friendship, compassion and neglect while dealing with his manifestation. The root of these 4 traits in vedic literature is yet to be investigated.

It is remarkable that Brahmanda purana 2.3.7.234 gives name of approximately 110 haris which is a figure quoted in Rigveda mantra 6.45.18

Puraanic contexts of word Hari