Understanding the Rig Veda with Debashish Banerji

New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove

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Published 2019-06-10

Debashish Banerji, PhD, is Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophies and Cultures and Chairman of the East West Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He is author of Seven Quartets of Becoming: A Transformative Yoga Psychology Based on the Diaries of Sri Aurobindo and also The Alternate Nation of Abanindranath Tagore, a book about his great grandfather. He edited an anthology about his great uncle, Rabindranath Tagore in the Twenty-First Century. His newest anthology is titled Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures.

Here he discusses the cosmology inherent in what is arguably the world's oldest religious scripture, aspects of which are surprisingly modern. He points out that the Vedas share many Indo-European traits. So, the Vedic pantheon is similar to the Greek. He refers to hymns celebrating the use of a mysterious entheogen known as "Soma". He elaborates upon the role of sacrifice in ancient India. He also notes that this ancient scripture can be viewed in a psychological context.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He has served as vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and is the recipient of its Pathfinder Award for outstanding contributions to the field of human consciousness. He is also past-president of the non-profit Intuition Network, an organization dedicated to creating a world in which all people are encouraged to cultivate and apply their inner, intuitive abilities.

(Recorded on May 22, 2019)

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All Comments (21)

@NewThinkingAllowed 5 years ago

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@grimmortal 5 years ago

Thank you for the excellent conversation, Jeffrey. You're one of the rare thinkers of our age that has left no civilisation behind, when it comes to exploring their ancient knowledge systems. Looking forward to more videos on India featuring this wise guest.
@peterblacksmith3817 3 years ago

i literally just watched your ooooold interview with Terence McKenna... then an hour later I youtube search "rig veda" because I want to learn more about it and I only clicked this video because of the title and the length! so happy to see you back in action!
@devidaughter7782 3 years ago

ritual as the "dramatization of the internal practice", all ritual is "a dramatization of psychological processes" (19:36). . . re: the divine feminine, Aditi is "the supreme goddess of the undivided realm" and "there are goddess agents that work with Indra" (29:42). this is my second time watching this video, and I got so much more understanding from it this time, having learned so much in the interim (from when I first watched it maybe a year ago) about the history and mythology of ancient India. thank you to you both for this rich and interesting conversation!
@maggieredder7628 5 years ago

As always, Jeff is making higher education and knowledge available to us regular seekers. Am an undergraduate of YouTube University....😀
@JamieZoeGivens 5 years ago

"Radical Infinity," I love it!
@chandraravikumar 5 years ago

The Sanaathana Dharmi (aka Hindu) have their own calendars in which Time IS and all people and happenings are placed in it. This is unlike the western Gregorian calendar where one person or happening is located and time flows back and forth from that point. Having said that, Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Geetha declares, chapter 10, verse 22: vedānāḿ sāma-vedo smi / devānām asmi vāsavaḥ/ indriyāṇāḿ manaś cāsmi / bhūtānām asmi cetanā that is "among the Vedhaas I am Saama . . . etc." He also declares in BG-9.17: "I am the father, supporter, mother, grandsire of the universe; In Knowledge I am the Divine Om, Rg, Saama & Yajur surely . . . " Now according to all the Calendars followed by the Sanaathana Dharmis (Hindus), and according to the SANKALPA recited by every "Hindu" to this day and right across the globe where-ever they reside, this present 2019-2020 is the Kaliyabdham 5120. That is it is 5120 years into the Kali Yuga which is firmly placed by every ancient scholar as beginning from the time of Sri Krishna leaving his corporal body. The Mausala Parva of the MahaaBhaaratha says that the great war took place 36 years before the event of Krishna leaving this material world, say about 5155 years ago. If 5155 years ago Krishna talks about the Vedhaas, ( I will not even mention the Raamaayana here, which predates the Mahaabhaaratha by millennia, and in which too we find mention of the Vedhaas) then how can we date the Rg Vedhaa, which is the earliest Vedha, to around the middle of the third millenium BCE?
@heatherjackson7961 3 years ago

Such a wonderful conversation. He is so well informed and articulate. It's been such a long time seeing such decent and knowledgeable discussions online. India has always amazed me and it's wonders never cease. Last time when I was there for my treatment i was really fortunate to meet an enlightened master during my stay at Dhanvantari center Coimbatore. Thi guy was almost unrecognisable as an enlightened man but was full of wisdom. He never told anyone or claimed that he was one, has a family, works for his livelihood and goes about just like any normal person would. He has not read the Vedas or the Upanishads but realised speaking to him that he is an enlightened soul since there was genuineness in him, clarity in thought and simple answers to all your deep questions, which was so fresh and made so much sense. Would definitely love to see such people on your show and listen to their viewpoint. I was indeed fortunate to have met him🙏.
@kabud 5 years ago

This is what Rigveda gave us too The Dawn Goddess was the Goddess of spring, involved in the mythology of the Indo-European new year, where the Dawn Goddess is liberated from imprisonment by a God , reflected in the Rigveda as Indra, in Greek mythology as Dionysus and Cronus. The abduction and imprisonment of the Dawn Goddess, and her liberation by a heroic God slaying the dragon who imprisons Her, is a central myth of Indo-European religion, reflected in numerous traditions. Ushas is a Vedic Goddess of dawn in Hinduism. Uṣas is an s-stem, i.e. the genitive case is uṣásas, whereby it connotes “dawn goddess” in Indo-European languages. Ushas is related to the Proto-Indo-European goddess *hausos-. Her cognates in other Indo-European pantheons include the Greek goddess Eos, the Roman goddess Aurora, the Lithuanian goddess Austrine, and the English goddess Ēostre (OE: ēastre), whose name is probably the root of the modern English word “Easter.” Sanskrit "uṣas" is derived from the Sanskrit word "uṣa" which means “dawn”. She is: 1. The life of all living creatures, 2. The impeller of action and breath, 3. The foe of chaos and confusion, 4. The auspicious arouser of cosmic and moral order, called : the Ṛta in Hinduism !!! She repeatedly appears in the Rigvedic hymns, where she is : - “consistently identified with dawn, - revealing herself with the daily coming of light to the world, - driving away oppressive darkness, - chasing away evil demons, - rousing all life, - setting all things in motion, - sending everyone off to do their duties”.
@anjalishekhar1 3 years ago

Stupendous ,
@peggyharris3815 5 years ago

Those roses add their own light to the interview. Very nice.
@cosmicdustparticle7481 5 years ago

Welcome back Dr. Banerji! Always a pleasure
@danielduarte2139 4 years ago

Thank you for this great interview. Another amazing interview as usual.
@emilyalder9956 11 months ago

Thank you so much for such a beautiful discussion ❤❤❤
@thePaindog 5 years ago

What does it say to all of us when a channel focused on topics that are the leading edge of Knowledge and Discovery and we discuss the oldest concepts and the most ancient people we have ever known. I think it says that the truth is true no matter where you are in time or place, and there is a sort of peaceful feeling when I realize that these concepts are link that goes beyond time connecting all of us who has discovered this in a sort of quantum tether beyond dimensions.
@auntieyoda9378 5 years ago

One of your best interviews. Thank you.
@sunnyla2835 4 years ago

I love this YouTube channel and am soooo fortunate to have “happened” upon it. Thank you Jeffrey Mishlove🙏😊
@partharoy1580 2 years ago

Thank you for rearranging the wisdom
@josedanielbazanmanzano9607 4 years ago

Very profound thinking indeed; it´s wonderful when being clearly knowledgeable they also show faith in their claims
@cabo7907 5 years ago

Thanks for the interview.